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Continue reading →: When do you really own a bike?
For a while, a couple of years ago, I had an ST1100 – a Honda Pan European. It was THE most competent bike I’ve ever owned. My business partner, James, and I rode back from Cornwall one freezing February – him on his Triumph TT600, me on the Pan. I…
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Continue reading →: When is a Ural not a Ural?
Owning a Ural makes you do strange things. Often, you find yourself turning off a perfectly serviceable road that leads somewhere and down a track that doesn’t. Just to see what’s there. This happened to me yesterday.
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Continue reading →: Why it takes longer by Ural
You don’t buy a Ural to go fast. Urals are Russian motorcycle combinations, built like tanks (but slightly heavier) and rather slower. Based loosely on the 1930’s design for the BMW R71, they’re still made in Siberia. That means they’re designed to deal with Siberian roads and weather. Speed is…
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Continue reading →: In speed camera land, numbers mean what we like
It’s pretty clear that there are a lot of people who don’t like speed cameras. I’m one of them. But my objections are based on what I’ve observed by training drivers and riders. I think I know what makes people safe and what makes them dangerous. By and large, compliance…
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Continue reading →: What are speed limits for, Daddy?What are speed limits for? Depends who you ask. Some people would stick up their middle finger and say “for ignoring”. Others would treat them with the reverence of a holy relic and demand they’re never, ever broken. A rather fundamentalist view of limits – and their enforcement – has…
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Continue reading →: When Urals don’t start.
I felt like a right prat this morning. Had done a full fluid change on the Ural at the weekend. Used cheap, mineral 20w/50 (rather than that expensive, thin semi-synth stuff) and the engine sounds so much sweeter. I’ll drop it and change it again in 750 miles. Did tappets…
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Continue reading →: All’s fair in love, war and PR
Well, there’s a surprise. Since Oxfordshire County Council pulled the plug on speed cameras, speeding has increased. A bit. In a couple of places. Where the limit was too low anyway and the cameras sited on long, straight roads. OCC’s media team has, predictably, gone semi-hysterical, with the headline “The…
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Continue reading →: Bentley Drivers’ Day 2010 – Communism meets Capitalism
Absolutely the best event at Silverstone is Bentley Drivers’ Day. There is something jaw-dropping about watching men old enough to know better ragging £250,000-worth of racing lorry (pace, Ettore) around a track at daft speeds. There’s something even better about getting the chance to talk to them in the paddock…
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Continue reading →: Bikes, bacon butties and, er, an Enfield
The Urinal needed fuel this morning. I don’t like to run her below 150km to a tank just to give me a bit of margin. So, as ever, it’s an excuse to take the longer route to the office. That’s a splendid, winding road across the flats of West Oxfordshire…
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Continue reading →: A Bayeux Breakfast.
I was over in France recently with my business partner, James. We’d been looking at various bits of WWII history and enjoying a few glasses of wine and good meals along the way. After one rather memorable Saturday evening, we just about managed to surface and shamble into Bayeux. Good…
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Thanks for dropping in. There’s all sorts of stuff here, from reviews of watches to thoughts on driving and riding. And you’re welcome whether you agree with any of it or not.
