Eunos Chump

This is the first time I've been on this, I didn't realise it was so big - there were people out along virtually the entire route, from Reading into Wokingham.  A new world record was set for the largest toy run: 1735 bikes.  That's an excellent turn-out for a cold December day. My tinsel looks very inadequate against the bike-mounted xmas tree and reindeer person. ZZR1400 not-breaking-speed-limit shock. I believe the tinsel installation would remain intact at 3 figure-speeds though ;)  Each bike was carrying at least 1 toy, which are donated to Barnados.

I'm still suffering from extreme Honda Grom want-age, but I have absolutely no use for one apart from pissing about on back roads.  Too slow for commuting, too nickable to be left in town, even with the benefit of man-maths I can't make a case for it. So how about this instead?  Enfield 500 Bullet.  Top speed is a smidge over 80, which is enough not to be a liability.  It looks like just the thing for tootling about on a sunny day.

Some pics taken this evening in the botanical gardens; will be on the plane in the morning.  This tree grew here for more than 200 years, long before any Europeans arrived. It's been a beautiful summer's day, so seeing Xmas trees and decorations seems very odd.

The new office opened yesterday, so I can come home in a couple of days.  It has a cracking view of the neighbouring building's air-conditioning plant harbour bridge.  This is Bridge street, which I am ashamed to admit I have not strayed from all week.  The office is at one end, my hotel the other, the shop where I buy biscuits is in the middle.

This project is pissing me off now, but then I always get annoyed if everything doesn't run perfectly, perhaps I should learn to be more realistic.  Went for a bit of a walk last night to clear my head, seeing as it was such a warm evening.  Hard to believe this was originally designed in the '50s.

Out again on the bike, this time south of Sydney and through the Royal national park.  It's like riding through one of the conservatories at Kew gardens.  I followed the Old Pacific highway, which includes this road built in the sea, around the side of some cliffs. Look, it's Home & Away!  OK, it isn't, I tried to visit the place where they film that but got lost and gave up. Looks lovely, but it was extremely windy and I had my hands full keeping the chunky, unaerodynamic BMW pointing in roughly the correct direction. Later in the day I visited a waterfall.  It had a car park, a visitor centre with restaurant, a gift shop... all for this pathetic dribble of water.  Perhaps it works better in the winter. I did get a present for the Mrs though.  Despite covering more than 500 miles, and even passing through Kangaroo Valley, this is the only wildlife I've seen (apart from a lizard thing, about half-a-second before I ran him over).

Rode the GS all the way through Yengo national park today, in a big loop.  It was one of my best rides ever; in fact it was a Top 10 lifetime experience. Here I am, racing a car AND a train towards the Sydney harbour bridge.  I've been over this 4 times today thanks to my poor navigation - at $3 a go. Oooh, some mountains.  Little ones, anyway.  This camera position isn't very good, but it was the best I could do. I don't know what those creatures are, but they look cute.  I didn't see any though, nor any kangaroos despite several warning signs.  Disappointing. Having a little rest - not too close to any houses, as I saw rednecks gawping at me as if they'd never seen a motorbike before.  Didn't want any Australian Deliverance shenanigans kicking off. This was the only vehicle I overtook (outside the city).  The road was so quiet I only encountered 2 vehicles going my way in around 70 miles. Interesting mailboxes.  I didn't sto

Picked up my hire bike this afternoon, it was super fun riding it back to the hotel in heavy traffic in 35C heat! Initially I couldn't get it off the sidestand, it was so heavy.  I thought I was going to have to admit defeat and ask for a tiny bike, but then I noticed the rear wheel was up against the kerb... shifted it forward, and there we go... I quite like it so far.  It's the new watercooled job, but still a bit tractorish.  Very comfy though.

I'm working in Sydney this month, here are some typical tourist photos: The Opera house is pretty impressive, but awkward to photograph.  I'd like to go and see a show here, but there's nothing playing that appeals at the moment - I suppose all their A-list celebs (Harold from Neighbours, Skippy the bush kangaroo, etc), are doing panto in the UK right now. I told you it was awkward to photograph - you need to be on a boat in the harbour really. It took almost 24 hours to get here; 7 hours on a Boeing 777 to Dubai, then another 14 on this A380.  It was OK though, I got some decent sleep AND and the in-flight entertainment system had the original series of Battlestar Galactica to watch.  That wood - it's plastic.  Like a '90s Mondeo Ghia. I became very confused by the time difference; Monday seems to have been just a few hours long. I've hired a motorbike for the weekend, a massive BMW GS1200!  I don't approve of adventure bikes, but it

Dark mornings and evenings means the ZZR is relieved of commuting duties - it's performance is unusable unless you can see a mile down the road.  This means the VFR is back as primary transport, and frankly it feels a bit rubbish now.  It's short, and upright, the engine isn't smooth, the steering is slow, the brakes are a bit feeble, and it feels BLOODY SLOW.  And it cut out on me this evening, on the busy A3 in Guildford - perhaps it's warning me not to take it for granted?  It restarted after a few seconds but I don't need that on dark, rain-lashed dual-carriageways.

Went to stay with my folks in Norfolk, and this photo opportunity came up during a blast along the coast.  Needless to say, the bike was very effective on A and B roads, in fact it often felt too much - every overtake had to be  nuclear .  I still need to get to grips with using it effectively.  Then it might start giving better economy too, I've refuelled it about 4 times over the weekend

A bike in the works car park clearly doesn't like all the recent rain.  I've been on the VFR all week because of it; strange that this is now my 'little' bike.  Hopefully the ZZR war elephant can be deployed tomorrow - commuters beware!

Collected the ZZR yesterday without any problems, the weather even stayed dry.  Done quite a few miles on it already, covering all my favourite routes and getting the feel of it's strengths and weaknesses.  So far: Very well sorted suspension Massive brakes Utterly stable Quality feel Deffo sports-tourer rather than sportsbike; it's heavy and that becomes apparent when making swift direction changes, or braking heavily (those forks really dive). Not all-day comfortable - my lower back complains after about 90 mins. Surprisingly decent on fuel (40+ MPG) Then there is the issue of speed... for now, leaving it in 3rd gear is working for me.  It'll easily pull less than 20mph in town, gives massive overtaking power on A and B roads, provides considerable engine braking, and the noise ensures I remain aware of how fast I'm going. Overall, I'd describe it as a big friendly bear.  It's large, and it'll rip your arms out of your sockets if you provoke

I've done a deal on a Kawasaki ZZR1400 today, which I've already nicknamed the Death Star as it's huge, stupidly powerful and very frightening. I gave it a good thrash during the test ride, hitting almost 50mph at one point (that's as much as I dared within central Swindon, in the pouring rain, with a 200 BHP bike with a £2000 insurance excess).  It was so agile and eager compared to the Blackbird; the gearbox is extremely slick, the brakes are phenomenal, and it was immediately more comfortable.  And of course performance is... erm... let's say sparkling . Other options were the BMW K1200S (rejected as only early models are within budget, which are prone to expensive faults), VFR 1200 (probably a good fit but I can't abide it's looks), and Hayabusa (I don't like the attention they draw, nor most of the colour schemes). Picking it up Saturday, as this Death Star needs a front tyre, service and MOT before it's fully operational.

Almost bought this today.  Took it out for around 30 mins in the far-from-ideal conditions of damp country roads, and it felt big and stable , and of course it's a cliche but deceptively fast too.  Nice gearbox, steering a bit slow, decent comfort but a touch heavy on the wrists, and my legs were quite cramped as the pegs seem high.  Nothing special sound-wise; sounds like a big 4-cylinder, a little slow to rev. This particular bike hasn't seen a lot of use in recent years.  The service history ceased in 2007, it was initially reluctant to start, and the FI light came on at one point.  Is it a lemon that never ran properly, or did the previous owner not get on with it?  It's a risk so I wasn't going to pay full price, and a deal could not be struck. Going to check out a K1200S tomorrow, weather permitting.

Serviced the VFR (oil, air, big dose of ACF) @ 59146 miles.  Also washed and re-proofed my waterproofs using Nikwax Tech Wash and TX Direct .

Fixed!  'Bodged' is the only way to describe the repair to the holed side panel, but it's out-of-sight and you'd probably never notice unless you went looking for it.

The CBR is finally being fixed - witness the pukka Honda top fairing (£209 but it came painted and with the decals), and new screen (from a Padgett's race bike).  I'm fixing the hole in the side panel, and have repainted the scratched mirror stalks, so it's ready for sale.  It is pretty good fun though, if I wasn't such a physical wreck I'd probably keep it. I had a sit on a Blackbird at the Honda dealer, and I liked it a LOT.  The bars are quite a stretch, in fact you could lay on the tank quite comfortably if you get a bit tired.  Felt big too, which is another plus.  This one was a bit ragged given the mileage (21K), and rather overpriced, but they're definitely back on the radar.  I prefer the look of the BMW which also has more of a sense of occasion about it, but there's no shortage of tales of expensive woe to be found on the web.  A Blackbird will just work, and continue to keep working.

Miserable overnight flight home (including scampering from one side of Frankfurt airport to the other in the early hours to catch a connecting flight), but I'm recovering now.  England is so lovely and green!  Some more pics from the trip: Toyota Fortuner I briefly drove.  2.7 VVT of rubbishness.  It's only sold in this part of the world - often seen (briefly) from the camera on the front of a Maverick missile.  There's load of this. Back in the office tomorrow, probably to get a kicking for my £5300 hotel bill :)

I had a bit of a ride out today, eventually I was about 60 miles from Muscat into the interior of the country.  There were some old Portuguese forts I would have liked to see, but the road signs stopped as soon as I came off the main road, and my satnav (Copilot Middle East) lacks detail outside the main population areas.  Rubbish.  Anyway, it all mostly looked like this:  Spotted this today, I looked on longingly - I'm really missing the tactile experience of a bike.  However, the standard of driving here is absolutely atrocious, way too risky for biking.  I thought it was OK last week, but that was the weekend when the roads were empty.  The working week is Sunday to Thurday, and it's total anarchy.  There's a multiple pile-up on the expressway almost every day. Also saw this - a new Renault Safrane!  Doesn't look very Renault, because it isn't - it's actually a Samsung SM5, which is in turn based on a domestic-market Nissan. Back to the hotel th

I've got a Camry hire car now, complete with my name on the back so I can find it easily (the Duster went back because of some admin nonsense).  The interior (beige velour) smells of damp carpets, which seems odd given the climate, it's only got 1 wheeltrim, and it drives like a big golf buggy. It was 43C today, I don't understand how this part of the world is even populated.