Tried my second set of earplugs this week. They’re much stumpier and the whole thing was in my ear. Which meant no high frequency deafening noise injected right into my ears. But. I’m not sure I’m going to get on with earplugs at all. I get internal noise instead. Which was off putting.

That said, I’ve ridden once since without plugs at all, and that wasn’t great either after riding with them. Hmmm.

I did plan on updating this a lot. But I haven’t. I’ve got some stuff I want to write, but, first, let’s sort out the mechanics.

So, after finally getting my bike, I found that the brake light didn’t work for the rear brake. So I got a bit of help from some really useful people at the Kawasaki Rider’s forum and fixed it myself. That felt great. So when the right indicator also stopped working I got more help there, and ordered a Haynes manual.

The advice was the bulb had probably gone on the rear right indicator. Found out from the Haynes manual that it took the same bulbs as my old Picasso, of which I still had one spare. So I replaced the bulb, and she was back on the road.

Then I decided to try an oil change, ordered my parts from the internet and waited for them to arrive. Of course, when they did arrive I dropped the bike wheeling it down my (uneven, flagged) drive, nearly taking out the neighbours car.

Since it was lying downhill on uneven flags it was a bitch to get it upright again, and when I did I found that the rear brake pedal had been pushed down and bent under the engine, jamming it on. Finally got that sorted out and got the belly pan off to do the oil.

That’s when I found that the bike has a custom exhaust system, and the exhaust pipes have been re-routed over the engine oil sump plug. So I did a partial change only, via the filter.

Anyway, bike was back on the road and the oil was half decent. Only half.

So that was when I found the front wheel slip a bit and heard a huge bang when riding. Getting home I found that the metal tab on the swing arm to which the chain guard was attached had snapped off. Plus the front-forks were leaking oil. Plus the oil light had started to come on when the engine was warm from riding and I was idling at traffic lights.

Sigh.

So I hunted round for a proper mechanic, a guy at work’s neighbour restores big engine bikes, and does other servicing and repairs. Honest contact. So I arranged to send it off to him. I think that was now nearly a month ago, taking the bike up last week. I got it back yesterday.

The front tyre was fucked. The fork seals were fucked. The exhausts were blowing. Something was fucked to do with oil in the engine and some bolt inside the engine had sheared off. Also, some critical frame boltage was dangerously loose.

Scary.

But, it’s all been fixed, I have a new tyre, and it’s had a full service. I’ve only had 20 minutes out on it, and I’m not sure how much is psychological, but the grip is much better, the engine is quieter (exhausts fixed) and smoother. Gear changes are better. The front brake much sharper.

I can’t wait to get her out on the proper roads for a real test.

Only I’ve got to drive the family car (and family) down for two weeks in the sun first.

While I was reading obsessively about bikes every second I could get whilst doing my motorbike lessons, I often read about people doing BikeSafe training days. Bikesafe is a national scheme run by the police to provide motorbike riders with advanced rider training to show them what they are doing that is wrong/dangerous and how they can make their riding better/safer.

Every story/thread/blog I’ve read about doing a BikeSafe day has been full of awe. People are amazed at the ability of a Police Class 1 Motorcyclists. These guys are riding big Pans and BMWs and keeping up easily with the people on the course who are riding Supersports bikes with bags and bags of power. These riders I hear are awesome, and what people learn on the course has really improved their riding.

The Police Class 1 licence sounds like something I’d like to know more about, so, I snagged a copy of  Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider’s Handbook, the course book that goes with the full licence course (which I assume is police only) and I’m currently reading through it.

One thing in the first half of the book has caught my attention particularly:

Local Road Knowledge

Increasing your local knowledge of the roads can help your riding. Town riding puts heavy demands on your observation, reactions and riding skills, and you need to be alert at all times.

…

But even when you know the layout of main road junctions, one-way streets, roundabouts and other local features, always plan on the basis of what you can actually see - not what usually happens. Inattentiveness is a major cause of accidents and riders are least atentive on roads thye know well. Nine out of ten accidents occur on raods that the rider is familiar with.

Nine out of ten accidents occur where you feel safest? That’s a bit of an arse really. Extra attention is needed where logic logic dictates you need it less (know where you’re going, the interval of the traffic lights etc). But it’s the old addage, familiarity breeds contempt, and you get lazy. Then something happens and you crash.

Which you really don’t want to do on a bike.