Not been feeling good.....

For the past few weeks, I haven't been feeling too good. I have felt weak and lethargic and that has meant I haven't been attending to my blog very much. I feel bad about not commenting on the blogs I have been reading and not responding to comments on my blog. Staying around the house has become commonplace and even the dog is not happy with me for abandoning many of her walks.  Mrs F has been brilliant making the patient feel better.

I have been in and out of hospital having various tests in an attempt to find out what is wrong. I have had pains in my chest for some time and that is never a good sign. So, I have had an exercise ECG to check out my heart - I passed, as there was nothing wrong there. A camera was sent on a visit down my throat to see if my guts were bad - nope, that all checked out. Pills of all different types have been tossed down my gullet - some did some good, others not. I have had electromagnetic radiation shot at me to make x-rays of my chest and ah ha - a 'shadow' was seen on one of my lungs. Shit.

More tests and an CT scan of my chest followed and the conclusion of all this? I have pneumonia! This is not a good thing, but it could have been a lot worse, so I am grateful for that.  I had seen pneumonia as something that elderly people get and I am nowhere near ready to accept age is catching up with me.

So, more tests tomorrow, with a camera going into my lungs to take a look around - nice.

Hopefully I will be back to proper blogging form soon!

Meeting Axel

I’d had an odd un-settled week, so when my pal Ian Solley contacted me on Friday night, I was more than ready to take up his suggestion of visiting the Open Day at Guildford Harley-Davidson on Saturday morning.

Knowing Ian would turn up on one of his custom bikes, I decided to take my red bike, Tradewinds. Yep, I was right as when I arrived, Ian was there on his gorgeous Caesar Cafe Racer which is about to be featured in Back Street Heroes, the custom bike magazine. Ian did show me a couple of pictures of his bike from the BSH photoshoot and both models (the bike and the eye-candy that was draped over it) are quite something.  At least, I think Ian's bike was in the photos he showed to me....

Stupidly though, I forgot to take a picture of the bike at the Open Day for my blog!

The Open Day was to celebrate the dealerships second birthday and on the way there, I remembered that another blogger, Axel, who writes the blog Road King (UK) was a member of the Hogsback Chapter. I kept an eye out for Axel and yes, he turned up. Knowing Axel is German, I suspected I might have spotted him, when I saw this HOG patch. The flag gave him away!

It was good to meet Axel as I have been following his blog pretty much since his first post. It has been interesting to read how a Gold Wing rider for many years has turned into an avid H-D fan and especially so as he has the same model as my Leading Ladies bike, a Road King Classic.

When I arrived at the dealership, I was waved into the main parking area at the front of the place. I had never been there before, so I assumed that was where I was to park my bike, which I did. I reversed into the spot where the guys had indicated to me and before I realised what was going on, a card was immediately placed under my front wheel. I hadn’t even realised one was going to be held, but my bike had just been entered into the custom bike competition! It seemed I would be staying at the Open Day slightly longer than I had planned!

The place was very busy. This dealership must be doing something right because while others in and around London are closing, this one in Guildford seemed to be thriving. The place was packed and many people were buying clothes, parts and other H-D stuff all day.

Some of the bikes in the custom bike show....

I had seen this bike and sidecar on television. It belongs to a brewery....

A very silly V8 powered bike. It did sound good though....

As I walked around, this red bike seemed familiar somehow....

This bike must belong to a woman....

I saw Jon Harris at the event. He was there with his bike ‘The Great Escape’ which is based upon the film and has a fantastic paint job. It has won the best paint category at many bike shows and deservedly so.

I found a website dedicated to Jon's bike.

This is an unusual use for a tyre. A front fender!....

This bike is called Harley-Quin. Clever....

A lovely old Harley....

More bikes at the event....

I had seen this bike at the Alexander Palace Custom Bike Show a few weeks ago. I liked it then, but now I really like it. It was built for a customer, which is just as well, because if it hadn’t of been, I would have been very tempted to buy it....

Axel was taking lots of pictures in his role as Chapter Photographer, so now doubt some of his pictures will appear on his blog. This is Axel towards the end of the day....

Congratulations to Guildford Harley-Davidson, for they put on a great day.

Can you be unfaithful to a Pair of Boots?

Some of my readers will remember I wrote on my blog about the boots I wore every day on my four-and-a-half month ride across the USA. They were so comfortable for the dual purpose of both riding and walking. Sadly however, after 21,000 miles, they were beginning to fall apart and had to be gracefully retired when I reached home.

Feeling somewhat unfaithful to those old boots, I went a bought a new pair. Knowing the old ones were so good, I of course had to buy exactly the same – Alpinestars Shibuya WP shoes. Same colour as before.

Here are the old boots compared to the new. Like cousins standing next to each other. I think the old boots look remarkably good considering they have been around the block so much!

As we went through so much together, I can’t bring myself to throw the old ones away though.

My Blog Gets Ripped Off !!

It’s funny what you can find on the Internet sometimes. Yesterday I found a blog called Harley Davidson Motorcycle which when I looked at it a little closer, I realised the person who created this blog had ripped off and copied nearly my entire USA Tour blog!!!

UPDATE - It has been suggested to me the copy blog might have been created with the intent of spreading a virus, so I have removed the link to the copy blog to prevent anyone from accessing it.

Virtually all the posts on this rip-off blog for September last year are direct copies (words and pictures) of my blog.  The same applies for almost every posting I have ever made.  What a scum-bag!

While it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this is just plain copying!

I have formally complained to Blogger. I will let you, my true readers of this, my genuine blog, know what happens.

It would be really funny if this posting was copied into the rip-off blog!

Petrol Prices - You Pay How Much ???

I read a posting on Bobskoot's Blog a few days ago about petrol prices. Bob said that fuel in Vancouver had risen to $1.311 /ltr = $4.96 /US gallon.

Bob would probably cry if he had to buy fuel in the UK. Are you sitting down Bob?

My local petrol station was selling regular fuel today at £1.337 per litre. That is £6.082 per UK gallon or £5.053 per US gallon. (UK gallons and US gallons are different).

In US dollars, that is $8.203 per US gallon!!!

With the various conflicts happening in north Africa and the Middle East, these prices are forecast by some to rise by 50% by the end of the year.

Anybody want to buy a Range Rover?

Dream Rangers

Some of my readers may have seen this video. It was sent to me by Greg who has followed my blog for a while and it is so good, I wanted to share it.

My hope is that everyone who rides feels like this one day....

London Custom Bike Show Video

For the second year running, the London International Custom Motorcycle Show was held at the famous Alexandra Palace on the north side of London. I went with Ian Solley of 7Ages Custom Motorcycles who posted some good pictures of the show on his blog.

From looking at the Harley-Davidson Road King UK blog, I could see Axel also went, but sadly we didn’t bump into each other. I much prefer this smaller custom show to the main London Motorcycle Show. The people are more interesting and so are the bikes. There is more innovation on display and while the bikes are highly polished, the organisation, the stands and some of the people are not. That somehow makes it better for me.

Instead of taking regular pictures, which I found quite difficult last year due to the low light levels in the halls, I decided to take a small video camera and see what I could achieve with that....

The Leading Ladies are back!

I had a message earlier this week that my bike, the Leading ladies, after spending 5 or 6 weeks at sea, was about to arrive back in the UK.

It had been raining all week and I wasn’t looking forward to collecting the bike in the rain. However, the weather played ball and I awoke on Thursday morning to a gloriously sunny day – one of the few so far this year.

I was dropped off at the shipping agents yard near Heathrow and a few minutes later my bike was bought outside, still in its crate. I had told the shippers that I wanted to take some pictures of the bike being un-crated and they had duly obliged, with Jim and Steve being ready to take the crate apart. Evidently, the office had told the guys I was going to take some pictures, as they were adorned in some silly hats, ready to be photographed. I did have to laugh!

The crate was very substantial and was bespoke made to fit the bike. The top came off first, having been held by many screws.... There was my bike.....

Next, the sides came off and Jim and Steve posed by the partially dismantled crate....

Finally the structure of the crate was dismantled and after re-fixing the windshield and putting the mirrors back the right way around, I hit the starter button and the bike fired into life, as reliable as ever...

The paperwork was swiftly dealt with and just a short time later I climbed on the bike and rode of down the road. The great feeling of riding that bike came back to me in an instant and it felt really good to lean the bike into corners once more and to use the full power range. I forgot I had left the bike with almost no fuel in the tank, so I hastily had to find a petrol station to refill her.

As I neared my house, Jackie had heard me approach and threw open the front door to snap a picture of the Leading Ladies returning....

Can you tell I was pleased to have the bike back?.......

The Leading Ladies are now in for some special attention. First, the bike is going to have a deep clean to remove the inevitable grime that builds up during a 21,000 mile ride and then it’s off to Warrs, the London based Harley-Davidson dealer for a full check over.

What a great bike! Welcome Home!!!!

I Want One Of These!

Last night on the TV programme 'The Gadget Show', they featured a one wheel, electric, self-balancing scooter. This is called the Ryno. It has gyroscopes to make it self-balancing and the TV presenter was riding it relatively comfortably within just a few minutes. This looks very cool indeed and I want one. It will have a 30 mile range, top speed of 20mph. It looks like a lot of fun.

I found a video on the web that shows what it can do....



I have a nagging doubt though that these would be allowed in the UK. For all sorts of bureaucratic nonsense, Segways are not allowed here and I fear the same fate would happen with the Ryno.

Progress of my Book

Towards the end of my tour of the USA, I decided to write a book about the trip. After I got back to the England and life returned to something approaching reality, I spent the time until Christmas writing one test chapter and investigating alternative publishing routes, book sizes, layouts, fonts, printing costs, book distribution methods and many other things I didn’t know writing and publishing a book.

Each of the 27 states that I visited will have a chapter of its own, plus about another 5 about planning of the tour / other introductory chapters – about 32 in total.

So far, I have written 5 out of that 32 - Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and South Dakota, plus a chapter giving tips about riding in the USA for visitors that Derek Polhill and Chris Luhman kindly helped with. With the help of a guy I used to work with, Brian Bascle, I have the cover and book title all sorted.

My cousins partner, Helen, is editing the book, my brother is doing the laying out of the words and pictures and my son Jeremy is going to draw the maps, so I am sort of keeping it in the family!

However, at this rate, I will take too long to finish writing the book, so I need to speed up somehow.

Having never written a book before, I am finding it quite difficult. To be fair, it is a book of photos supported by words, rather than a book of words that contains just a few pictures, but it is still very hard for me to do. I have always found it hard to concentrate on one thing for a long time, so I keep getting distracted and I find myself doing lots of other things when I should be writing. I am determined however to complete it and I want to finish it all and get it printed and available before the end of the year.

I will post an update in a few weeks time about how I am getting on. For now though, I must get back to writing.....

My Last London Motorcycle Show?

I went to the London Motorcycle Show at the Excel Centre in London’s Docklands a few days ago.

As I walked around I found myself wondering why I went. Sure, I looked at and sat on some of the new bikes like the Yamaha’s Super Tenere, Harley-Davidsons Blackline and the Triumph Tiger. But, I looked at helmets I have seen at every bike show I’ve been to, clothing I don't want, tools I already have and paddock stands I don’t need. I walked past insurance stands that wouldn’t insure one of my bikes and pictures of Motor GP racing I’m not interested in. I only glanced at the dolly birds, who seemed much more tarty than usual. Most shows are essentially the same and although I hate to admit it, after you’ve been to a few, they start to look the same. This one was the like that and even though I took my camera, there were so many people, I didn’t feel like struggling to take pictures of bikes without too many people in the shot. I should imagine if you are thinking of buying a new bike, the chance to sit on a number of your possible alternatives is good. I’m not in that sort of new bike market though.

As I walked around, I was bored of mainly seeing the same old things.

Deciding to try to find something different, I walked around the outside of the show and looked at some of the smaller stands and I noticed a large number of people that specialise in motorbike tours. Either I hadn’t noticed there being so many of these in previous years or their numbers had risen dramatically. I stopped and chatted with a few and they confirmed the number of such companies had gone up a lot in the past few years. Motorcycle touring it seems, is growing.

I have been a some organised tours on European roads in the past and I enjoyed them. Travelling around on such tours bikes with like-minded people is nearly always going to be fun. Of course, the people you do it with can make or break the tour and the riding is generally very good as the tour organisers have normally already planned to be on great roads. What I did notice at the bike show however was the large number of adventure tours to places like Peru, India, Africa and even New Zealand. A few of the guys I spoke to put to put this down to one simple thing – the “Long Way Round/ Down” tv programmes that featured Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman which I guess really introduced us to what is possible in adventure touring. Sure, such tours have been around for a while, but that tv series has really made them popular.

This is the list of touring companies I saw.... quite a few really!.....

Adventure Riding Academy
Adventure Peru Motorcycling
Blazin Bikes
Compass Expeditions
Dust Devils SL
EagleRider
GlobeBusters
HC Travel
Hidden Ireland Motorcycle Tours
Hispania Tours
Kudu Expeditions
M C I Tours
MSL Tours
Nurburg Ring Tours
Paradise Motorcycle Tours NZ Ltd
Pole Position Travel
Toursareus Ltd
Two Wheel Trekkers
VFR - New Zealand

I have decided to give such shows a miss in future and this will be my last London Motorcycle Show. I will go to the smaller and much more fun custom bike shows, where you really see something different in both the bikes and the people, but big general motorbike shows? – probably not. Would I consider going on another organised tour? – to a country where I don’t speak the language – probably yes. Only problem, where.....?

Nathan’s Great Road Trip Video

I was looking at Lucky’s blog, The Great Motorcycle Pizza Tour and I watched a couple of videos he had posted on there. They are so good, I have taken the liberty of also linking to them here on my blog.

These videos are about a young guy called Nathan who on the spur of the moment woke up one day and decided to buy his first motorbike and go on a road trip to Scotland. Oh, I should include that this trip was done mainly in the rain! He hasn’t even got a full motorcycle licence, so he has to display “L” plates to show he is a learner rider. He went to a dealer, bought a 20 year old 125cc Suzuki and went for a 958 mile ride on it, which as he says, "Is not bad for my first trip on the bike". He made two short videos about the trip and posted them on the web.

I have lifted the photo below from Nathans website but I am sure he won’t mind....

The videos will appeal to most people but especially to anyone that had a bike when they were young. They are brilliantly made and Nathan is very good at taking a simple story about a bike ride and telling it very well. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman watch out!

The videos are well made and no doubt took him a lot of time. Get ready for the bit about the kill switch – it’s a classic!

Keep up the good work Nathan.

The videos are in two parts.....





You can read more about Nathan's trip at www.boyonabike.com

Hogslayer - The Unapproachable Legend

Some of my readers will remember I was lucky enough to be able to go see Jay Leno's private car and bike collection when I was in Los Angeles. This was possible because I happened to meet a TV producer months before in Milwaukee, called Jim Cutting.

It was Jim who very kindly contacted Jay and asked him if I could go see his collection so I owe Jim a big thank you for getting my visit sorted. I know that Jim is making a documentary about a Norton dual-engine drag bike called Hogslayer. Set for completion this year, the production team is looking for any existing material such as film, photographs, publications and video of the dragster and race team for inclusion in the documentary. They also have some sponsorship deals available.

This is the trailer for the documentary....



Here is the full recent press release distributed by the production company....

Hogslayer Documentary in the Final Stretch

“Hogslayer: The Unapproachable Legend” Set for Release in 2011

SLINGER, WIS. (January 31, 2011) – Excitement is building among racing enthusiasts for a new independent documentary about the multi-world champion motorcycle drag racing legend – the Hogslayer. Slated for a 2011 release date, the production company, The Edge Ltd., is accepting additional documentary materials and offering sponsorships on this exciting project.

Hogslayer: The Unapproachable Legend is the true-life story of the dual-engine Norton dragster designed, built and raced by John Gregory and TC Christenson of Sunset Motors in Kenosha, Wis. The documentary chronicles the Sunset Motors Racing Team’s unrivaled innovation and unbridled courage as they faced unyielding challengers throughout the United States and Europe in the 1970’s. The Hogslayer dragster is presently on exhibit at the National Motorcycle Museum in the United Kingdom.

The project is currently being financed and produced independently by The Edge Ltd., however the production company is offering sponsorships to assist with the remaining funding and to share in the premieres and distribution promotion of the documentary. The Edge Ltd. is also offering an open invitation for anyone familiar with the Hogslayer story to submit film, photographs, publications and video of the dragster and race team for inclusion in the documentary. For additional information or to submit materials, contact James Cutting, independent producer, The Edge Ltd., at 262-224-3777 or edgeltd@charter.net.

For the latest Hogslayer news, become fans of the ‘Hogslayer Documentary’ on Facebook.

The Bikes I’ve Owned....

I have owned just five bikes which I guess is not that many really. A few people I know have got that many in their garages now!

Here are the bikes I have owned....

First a Honda C90......

I got my first bike, a Honda C90 in red and white, when I was 16 years old. Looking back now, I think it was a good bike to learn to ride a bike on, as with just 3 gears and no clutch, it was very simple to ride. I read the Honda Cub range has been made continuously since 1958 and is the biggest selling bike of all time with over 60 million sold. Wow, to think mine was one of them! When I first got the bike I thought I was pretty cool.... Okay, I was young and impressionable! I enjoyed the bike and did all the maintenance myself, all self-taught. I passed my bike riding test on this bike.

My next bike was a Yamaha YR5 350cc, in orange....

While riding a Honda with no clutch was easy, the first time I tried to ride this “proper bike”, I realised I didn’t know how to use a clutch. I was probably 17 at the time and I had never driven a car either, so how to operate a clutch was a mystery to me. I learned quickly though, on the tiny forecourt of the bike dealers and on the way home. I did ok as I made the journey without incident, but then immediately took the bike out for a ride and ran out of fuel and not realising the bike had a reserve tank (I was more interested in finding out about girls than reserves), pushed the bike to the nearest petrol station.

I kept that bike for many years and as my only form of transport, rode it everywhere in all weathers. I crashed it a few times due mainly to the stupidity of the other road users. Okay, it was probably my own stupidity and recklessness....

I then went up-market and bought my third used bike, a magnificent Suzuki GT750, known as “the kettle” because it was water cooled with a radiator....

I think I was probably about 21 at the time I got this bike and I kept this bike until I got married and had kids when a car became much more necessary and the bike had to go. I was living and working in London and even though this was meant to be a long-distance touring bike, most of the journeys I did were short, buzzing around London. It was an unusual bike and now very sought after as a collector’s item. I wish I had kept mine.

It was then many many years before I even rode another bike. I was 49 years old and in London one day I was about 30 minutes early for a meeting. I needed to find something to do while I waited, so I went to look in a Harley dealer I knew existed in west London. I hadn’t gone there with the intention of getting a bike, just to have a look. I liked the big, new shiny bikes and wondered if I could ride one after so many years of not riding. I arranged to rent one for 4 days and a few days later I rode away from the dealers on a Road King. I didn’t need 4 days to make my mind up as within about an hour I decided I wanted one and went back to the dealer and ordered my very own Road King ....

I was a born-again biker! I loved being back riding again and soon went on a few long distance trips across Europe. This Road King was the bike I did my tour of the USA on.

I attended a few Harley-Davidson rallies and had seen many of the one-off custom bikes at many shows and decided I wanted one. I had a good idea what I wanted and designed in my mind a long low bike and I found a H-D dealer in Waterford in Ireland that could build just what I wanted.  Thirteen months later I had my own dream bike....

I called the bike Tradewinds and entered it in a custom bikes show in St Tropez in southern France where it won best in class. It has done very well at custom bike shows since and for a custom bike, it has done many miles as I just love riding it. My Road King is my touring bike and my red custom bike is my show-off bike! Harley-Davidson heard about the bike and very kindly wrote about it in one of the HOG magazines and also put it in one of their e-zines

So, I have had just 5 bikes. Not so many really, but I am feeling the urge to get number six.....

The Leading Ladies are coming home!

Good News!

It seems that my black bike, the Leading Ladies, is finally on the way back home.

My regular readers will know that the bike has been held up in US Customs because of a slight problem with the administrative side of how the customs department work. Basically, when the bike was imported in New York, the system US Customs use in NY is electronic and the bike was “released” using their computer system. When it came to exporting the bike from LA, the customs people there said they wanted to see the import paperwork containing the official stamp to demonstrate the bike was imported properly. Well, the customs people in NY said they cannot provide that piece of paper because they deal with everything electronically. It seemed the bike would sit there until this was resolved.

The result was that the bike had to be re-imported (on paper) so that somebody could then produce a piece of paper with the stamp on it. This has now been done and I was sent a copy of the paperwork and the long awaited stamp.

The great news is the bike was then quickly cleared for export by customs. I have heard that the Leading Ladies will be leaving Los Angeles on a ship today and will arrive in about 4 -6 weeks time. Yeah!!!

I Have a Bike Again!

There is still no news about how the paperwork is going to repatriate the Leading Ladies back to the UK. I will follow this up with the shippers today to find out what the current status is.

I did however get my red custom bike back over the weekend. This meant driving a 792 miles round trip in 3 different countries and crossing the Irish Sea on a ferry!

My red bike is now three years old and was in need of a little bit of work, so while I was on my tour of the USA, it went back to Waterford Harley-Davidson in Ireland where is was built. The main thing that needed to be looked at was a starting problem. The bike has a large engine at 1800cc / 110 Cubic inches, and being a v-twin with a lot of compression and a heavy starter motor, the battery was never really big enough to start the bike properly. But, there isn’t room to put a larger battery in the bike, so I have always struggled to start the bike especially when it is really cold.

Waterford H-D therefore took the top of the engine off and installed a decompression system that reduces the compression on the first few turns of the engine thereby needing less power to crank the engine over. It works and the bike is now much easier to start. The twins carbs were tuned and a few paint dings were touched up, along with a few other bits and pieces.

The bike was ready so I drove from home (A on the map below) to Waterford which means heading west across a good deal of southern England, over the Severn Bridge (B), right across Wales where I got a ferry to Ireland and on to Waterford (C)....

I did think about riding the bike back, but only for about 3 nano-seconds as the weather forecast was dreadful with rain and snow forecast. I therefore jumped in my car and took the trailer. This was crossing the Seven Bridge....

Driving onto the ferry....

The ferry was pretty big, so I went outside on the sun-deck (they have got to be kidding calling it that!) and took a few pictures....

Famous across the world for its crystal, Waterford is the fifth largest city in Ireland. Sitting on the River Suir, it’s history can be traced back to 914 AD when the city was founded by Vikings....

I stayed in the Tower Hotel, so-called because it sits opposite Reginald’s Tower, said to be the oldest civic building in Ireland....

I walked around the centre of Waterford and noticed a Merry-Go-Round and Christmas tree in the town square, no doubt both fenced off due to imminent removal post Christmas....

I spend most of the day at Waterford H-D chatting with the guys and some of the customers. The ferry back wasn’t until late at night so I had plenty of time. Lenny the Dealer Principle was on good form and we sat and talked about all sorts of issues for a long time. This is their workshop....

The ferry back across the Irish Sea left late in the evening and docked at one o’clock in the morning. I had to wait until every other car had driven off the ferry as my trailer was too tall to exit without lowering the ramp inside the boat so I could leave by the lorry exit....

It was a long drive home through the night and I was tired when I arrived a 7am. I unloaded the bike later after the sun had come up and finally I had a bike in my garage once again....

All I need now is my Road King back!