Monthly Archives: February 2014

London Motorbike Show Feb 2014

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Some of you reading this blog may have recently attended the London motorbike show held at the ExCel centre in the Docklands which was held for 3 days 14th – 16th Feb 2014.  London Motorbike ShowHopefully you spotted us and came across for a chat, we were on the Kawasaki stand this year working alongside the Kawasaki Riders Club as their Motorcycle Touring Experience Partner.  This is something we are extremely pleased about and are looking forward to developing in the future.  You can read about how they and we got on at their facebook page.

We have been asked “do we have to own a Kawasaki to come on one of your tours?” – to which the answer is “No” – all marques of motorcycle are welcome to join us whether it be on a tour or on one of our ride-outs, having said that we will be working with their Riders Club to involve Kawasaki motorcyclists as much as possible.

The show is smaller than the one held at the NEC, Birmingham in November/December each year which was commented on by several people we were chatting to, but it seemed to be well attended and there were many of the main manufacturers on site and live shows going on at different times during each day in the Revolution action show which saw John McGuinness and his team mates Ian Hutchinson and Jamie Whitham battle it out with the opposing team headed up by Michael Dunlop with his team mates Michael Rutter and Phillip McCallen, these shows always drew big crowds of spectators and we had a good view of it from where we were positioned 🙂

Shane ByrneOn the Kawasaki stand on the Friday of the show, three time British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne unveiled his 2014 Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki bike and in this photo he was being interviewed about the year ahead.  Also on the stand that day was Stuart Easton who will partner “Shakey” in the 2014 season.  Chris Walker was also on the stand throughout the weekend talking with people who are interested in his Race School

With being on a stand it is not always easy to get around and see what is on offer but we do know that there was a Custom Bike Championship at the show with around 50 motorcycles on display and the winner was Destiny Cycles with their bike ‘Carousel’.  Interviews were held throughout the weekend by several people from
The Adventure Zone such as Simon Pavey, Nick Sanders and Charley Boorman (amongst others).  Whilst in the Adventure zone some of you may have visited Paul and his team at Open Road Rentals, worth taking a look at if you are in need of a rental motorbike and you can find their details on our links page.

Hopefully you enjoyed your visit and whatever your experience of the show was it will have been a good way to start the 2014 motorcycling season 🙂

Building a Motorbike garage!

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Over the winter months, and particularly the ones we have been experiencing in the UK tail end 2013 into 2014, the number of days you can actually get out there and enjoy a day of motorcycling are limited, but in the world of two wheels there always seems to be something we can do and for us that has been to construct a motorbike garage!

We made the purchase from Asgard and it arrived in early January.  Groundwork had to be done first with the laying of a base for it to be housed ongroundwork! started on the 30th January – Jan supplied the brews whilst Geraint put in the effort!  Thankfully it was completed that same day as the weather “turned turtle” on us for the next few days and it was not until yesterday (4th Feb) that we were able to start construction…….

Let construction begin!Don’t let the cheerful grin on his face fool you – we did not start too well as we had panels 1 and 2 upside down for about 15 minutes trying to work out how to interlock them 🙂   but once we’d “re-chipped” ourselves it all took shape quite easily.  We had the help of a friend and as long as Jan continued with the supply of brews and butties we ended up completing it in 3.5 hours!

The Dragons DenWe’ve named this the “Dragon’s Den” but in truth it’s going to be used to house the Honda VFR 800 Vtec which was originally destined to be sold but once Geraint fired up the V4 and heard the engine, he could not bear to part with it…….

No doubt there are many motorcyclists out there who find it hard to part with a favourite motorbike.  We have the Kawasaki Versys 1000 as our preferred bikes for touring now – great comfort, performance and fuel economy make this an ideal bike for long motorcycle tours whether it be single rider or two up and luggage, but there will be several times during the year no doubt when the VFR will emerge from it’s “lair” and ride some of the fantastic roads we have in the UK.

We would recommend the garage to anyone so maybe worth checking out the Asgard website – construction was simple albeit you need two of you to do it – what has been hilarious are some of the comments we have received during the course of construction – check out our fb page and let us know which you think are the funniest 🙂