 |
Currently Online
|
|
|
Login to view your stats
Richest Members:
|
|
| | December´s Competition Winners | | | |
| Congratulations go to andyjuk, ellisd82 and Westy for winning bike of the month
| 1st Place- andyjuk with 16 votes (13.01%)
 | 2nd Place- ellisd82 with 6 votes (4.88%)
 | 3rd Place- Westy with 6 votes (4.88%)
 |
1st place - receives 10,000G.
2nd Place - receives 7,000G
3rd Place - receives 5,000G
|
| |
| Honda Shock!
It would seem Honda are really tightening their purse strings for next season. Not only have they just announced there pulling out of F1, but they may be getting out of Moto GP as well. Nothing has been confirmed at the moment but CEO and chairman Takeo Fukui announced the news earlier this week. But HRC has confirmed its level of involvement in the 2009 MotoGP is under scrutiny  Honda have over the past season had 6 of the 19 strong grid and were planning 6 for the 09 season.
This is going to hit MotoGP hard if they have to pull out. And will probably confirm Rossi's shock announcement last season the MotoGP has become a boring procession.
It's going to get much worse with out the Honda's acting as a mobile chicane | |
| Well Just incase you haven’t noticed, autumn is now up on us. Not that we’ve had much of a summer this year. So I figured I’d try and share some advice for winter riding and bike maintenance. First off on top of the usual hazards like drivers in hair dressers cars and bus drivers pulling out. Autumn and winter pose a few more hazards to us bike riders. - Heavy rain and more than usual wet roads
- Leaves, mud and wet cow shit, grit and gravel on the roads
- Side winds
- Ice and the cold
Ok I hear you say. Rain is just rain but there are things you can do to stay safer and more comfortable when it’s pissing down. Apart from the mandatory all in one rain suit and over boots, there’s your visor. If you know it’s probably going to rain don’t go out with a dark visor fitted, or at the very least take a clear one with you. A wet dark visor is harder to see through when it’s raining, it also hides the road definition and makes it harder to place your bike in heavy rain. Not to mention most of the time when it’s raining, the sky is darker, adding to the tint in your dark visor. If you want to go the whole hog you can get orange or yellow tinted visors that have been developed for rain riding and riding at dusk. The inherent problem with rain is it makes the air more moist. This is a problem for full face helmets. Its hard enough stopping your visor from steaming up on a normal day let alone on a rainy day. With the air being moister and you breathing it in, it has to come back out again but it’s now warm. We all know that warm breath likes to condense on a cold surface. Your visor is a cold surface. Not only is the air passing it cooling it down, but so is the water on the outside of it.There are a few things on the market that can help. Some visors come with a pinlock system that’s designed to take an insert to help keep your breath off the inner outer layer of your visor. Or you can buy a sticky back version. You can use anti mist spray which is a chemical defogger, but it only lasts a short time, then your off the bike and spraying it all over again. Or, and this is the best one I’ve used, you can fit a Foggy.  It’s an elasticated face mask that velcro’s into any full face helmet.
Another thing to look out for is the fit of your visor. Some after market visors get around the copyrights by being slightly different in dimension. They look just the same BUT don’t fit as snugly as they should, normally around the upper seal when the visor is shut. A way around this is to use some sticky back draft excluder. Take off the visor and stick some to the helmet just above the upper seal, taking it right round to the side of the visor opening, then refit the visor. There’s nothing worse than turning your head in the wind to clear the rain off your visor and finding out the runs are on the inside of your visor.
Road surface hazards
Most of them are there all year round but this time of year they get worse. Leaves, mud, wet cow shit, grit and gravel. You’ll find grit n gravel along with bits of car and truck parts in the centre and side of the road, mostly coming up to traffic islands and chevron lines. They all add up to the same thing though - loss of traction / grip.  The only thing you can do when confronted with these hazards is to take it easy and try to avoid them whenever it’s safe to do so. Keep you mirrors clean and positioned correctly so you can check them in a hurry if you need to change road position quickly. Check them more regularly than you normally would. Remember cars don’t need to slow down for a few leaves or cow pats and soon shoot up your arse. Try and teach yourself to cover the back brake on slippery or hazardous road surfaces. The easiest way to bin your pride and joy is to lose the front on a patch of rock salt or a few dead leaves. Try and use engine braking and this will keep the bike more stable when you’re slowing for a corner but don’t chuck it down 3 gears and expect to stay on board. Steady and smooth is the best policy. Some people say to drop a few PSI in your tyres for winter riding. Well that’s up to you. By doing this your increasing the size of your contact patch, but this wont help if the road is very wet, the wider the contact patch the more water your tyre has to displace to get to the road surface.The best thing you could do is check your tyre tread depth is good, soften your suspension settings a click or 2 and make sure your throttle and chain are adjusted properly, that should help to take away some of the snatchings bikes do when coming out of corners.
Side winds
There isn’t much you can say about side winds. Look for clues, the most common place is in built up areas that funnel the wind in to open spaces. Look out for rubbish blowing across the road, people walking with a side lean, or puddles running up hill.Always be ready but don’t fight against the wind. If you do, not only will it push you out wide but when you get past it you will dive back into the kerb. I find the best way is to relax and just let the bike go with the wind lean into it and try and make sure you’re not going to hit anything coming up the other way.
Early morning or late evening
These are the usual times for severe ice on the roads and cold air. I’d leave the bike if it was icy but if you know the roads have been gritted and you’re not putting yourself in too much danger you’ll still need to keep warm. I have ridden long distance in the cold it’s not much fun but worse than that, it doesn’t matter how much of a hard bastard you are, once your cold you don’t function the same. Little tasks like braking or changing gear become laboured and unpleasant.Keep you self as warm as you can.  There’s plenty of under garments you can put on to help fight off the cold. These days there’s hi tech gear that acts as a thermal barrier from the cold but allows your body to breathe at the same time. The main parts to try and keep warm are your extremities, like your hands and feet. Once you start to get cold your body slows your blood flow to your extremities. This in turn makes them even colder and that’s what makes it harder to do the simplest of tasks. Keep your hands and feet moving, take breaks and move about during them. Invest in some good quality gloves, inner gloves, boots and boot liners. Wear a balaclava, the less heat you loose the better. If you can keep warm you’ll still be enjoying your riding. But don’t forget even though your warm the road isn’t. I know this has gone on a bit and I haven’t covered every thing but if it helps a bit I’ll be more than happy. Take Care Guys and Ride Safe.
Next week Bike preparation | |
| 
Well as we all know Yamaha tend to give us a re vamped Super sports bike every 2 years. For 2009 they are offering us this.
 Apart from its look being very different from the last 4 years offering, the bike has had a total revamp. It has had a big input from the M1 Moto GP bike of Rossi and Lorenzo. coupling this with all they have learned from the advancements in World super bikes, means it's a totally different machine.
I have to say I think they have gone a bit backward in the looks department but I'm hoping it will grow on me once I have seen the real thing. For more info and the specs
Click here
Or to add your view and tell us what you think Click here
| |
|
|
45% RECEIVED!
Current: £ 40
Remaining: £ 49
Target: £ 89
Due Date: 18/01/09
A Big THANK YOU to
this months donators:
|
|
|
Welcome to the North West Sports Bike Forum
