Knight Design Hunter Tread Ulysses Footpegs Review - updated 25/03/2015 - Updated 10/03/2106

The Ulysses has been in Krazy Horse Customs for nearly a month now as having the clutch worked on and a "more torque" kit fitted (will post about that after holiday but basically fitted the 900 front engine sprocket and primary chain - you loose 10% of top end but the Uly will never see 135 with my, not so, waif like figure on it...) and was hoping to get to riding again last week but......  went to collect....  paid the bill..... wheeled the Uly out of there workshop...... and...... and..... (Short version) The starter clutch goes south....  Starter spins up fine.... But not engaging the engine..... talk about timing.... So its wheeled back into the workshop.

George at Krazy Horse is a real star but even he was just standing there mouth open.... Me... I just had to see the funny side of it and go Ho Hum stuff happens...

Anyhoo the pegs....

Been looking at the Knight Design website for a long while now as quite like there peg options and the standard Uly pegs are just OK in the dry but, to me, downright dangerous when wet. Having your foot slide off mid corner is, to say the least, disconcerting.....

So when they put an add on there site for testers for there new Hunter style pegs for the Uly I sent a "yes please" mail.....

and three weeks ago I had a mail from Alicia asking if I would like the first pair........ and the answer to that is the photo above...... there stock photo any my photo below....

Popped over to Krazy horse yesterday to "offer up" and they do look very good....

The Uly is up on the workbench, stripped, ready for the starter part so hopefully I will be up and running again in a few days....  will be booking the ferry/ camp site to catch up with my friends in France..... just as a little test run you understand.....  but, seriously its more like withdrawal symptom for not having two wheels for a month....

Update post with fitted photos soon and a review after the holiday and a couple or three thousand miles......

Oh yes... in case anyone in the UK is interested in a pair the import duty was just over £25....


Well boys and girls the Uly is back on the road so time for a few miles to check all OK before I head to France.....

Foot pegs now fitted....  So what do you think..

They looked big in the above photos and small when fitted on the bike...
They are the same "tread" length but with only a 3/4" drop, not the standard 1".
Can't say I noticed the height difference but they are definitely  more comfortable

(sorry the camera angle makes them look out of square)

Really Like these pegs already as there gripy but do not restrict movement and the "feel" to me is near perfect.

Its like you are on the pegs rather than just having a slab of something under your foot.

lots of rain here today so ploughed through a few deep puddles with absolutely no lose of grip... superb..

Different angle but still look tiny...
must be me cause cameras never lie.... lol...

In case your wondering the gear lever is an SES Race Products (CB500) billet job with a nice big bearing, not a bush, and I drilled a few holes to make the peg adjustable...




Well its a thousand plus miles into my French trip and i thought.... time for an update.....

The pegs are breaking in nicely.... It does seem, at times, that a little more angle across the surface would be better as on the higher mileage days I found myself feeling like I was just on the front edge and not the whole peg... Do not notice this at all on shorter/ more normal runs....

But after an "entertaining" run through Grenoble..... miles of really bad, half dug, half done, potholed (read.... where's my front end gone....) and multi cambered road works..... all in the pouring rain.... the pegs were BRILLIANT....

NO hint of a slip and standing on the pegs through the worst/ deepest holes and so called ramps..... I never missed my footing or felt unsafe/ unstable..... SOooo pleased that I have these pegs as the originals would have been a nightmare...

My riding companion was impressed with my acrobatics too....

If they wear away, break or in some way disappoint I will add it here.....

Oh yes bumped into a very tall Dutch 2009 Firebolt rider who loved his 2" drop Knight Design pegs..... Just thought I'd mention....

 Update:-

Well its 8000 miles plus later and the pegs have been superb.
No problems in the ice and snow and the right hand peg has
no visible wear yet with the left showing so little wear to the "points" that it does not show in the photo (unless you zoom in)

Really impressed with the quality of the anodising and overall finish of the pegs as I don't clean the Uly often (this pic was taken straight after a long ride out) and they just seem to keep clean, not that I've been off road lately.

Don't regret buying these one bit as these are the pegs the Uly should have come with, new.

10 Sept 2016
Short n simple update on these brilliant pegs...

Well its 18 months and several thousand miles down the road and I could put a couple of more photo's on here but I don't think you would be able to see the difference...

Yes there is a little more wear on the points but nowhere near the wear I would expect and yes there is a little more wear/scoring on the pivot point but the pegs are still rock solid.

All I can say is, for me, if these pegs got stolen or knocked off by a cage... I would buy another pair in a heartbeat...

Happy Riding All
P

France with Friends Part Three

The next stop was the very beautiful municipal campsite in St Eloy les Mines in the Puy du Dôme, just above Riom/ Clearmont Ferrand,  which is set right next to

a lake.
St Eloy has a purpose built farmers market hall and is also a "sports" village so there is plenty to do and see

But anyway enough info and back to the story...

For the last few mile of the ride o the campsite the TDM had Ben making some odd noises from the rear wheel so, on arrival, Ric easily found the problem as the rear sprocket carrier bearing was shot...... not good..... but as mentioned in part one Ric was the only one of us with breakdown cover..... handy....

So a few phone calls later a car was

arranged for the next day.
So Ric, slowly, rode the TDM up to Mountlucon to be repaired and a short pillion ride with me, I know Ric but I did miss that bus...., to collect the car...

Strange thing was though as we were waiting to collect it started to rain....
Not enough to be a problem but Ric was grinning from ear to ear.......

So I put some leggings on and follow Ric, nice and dry, in the car....

The next day the heaven's really opened up so we all crammed into the little Clio For the day.

The whole area's full of some of the oldest known volcano's and is a cyclist paradise. On Pay du Dome itself is a panoramic viewpoint, spoiled by the radio mast, and when its not covered in mist is a must.....

We also found a weird little cameo making workshop set inside a cliff face. You walk up through it spiraling around a central "ladder" structure that had these moulds on that were transformed into cameo's by the action of the natural mineral spring water flowing over them..... Really strange and even spooky place....  Is also very near this.....  http://www.coursedecote-montdore.com
which unfortunately was happening the following week..... when we were back home..... the locals were all hyped up about it as some very big names would be there.... Great day out though

Still raining, lightly, the following morning but Ric had had a text saying the bearing was in and to call later so it was a stroll around the twin and market for the morning.... Lots of "hippy" stuff I did not expect to find but also loads of geology/ rocks and beautiful local jewellery.

Long story short..... Bike fixed...... Car returned....  Rain stopped..... And it did not rain again for the whole trip.....

Peter The Ipswich Monkey

Different times, different world, back in the early 70,s life was simpler in some ways as not so much choice, you enjoyed the things you had and no "PC" in any sense to worry about. Things just were, not the multitude of grey there is these days.

Not sure where dad got him from but Peter was a Sabaeus, or  

Green, monkey and most definitely not as cute as the little fellow on the right.

He was kept in the conservatory, much to my mother's dismay, and I thought it was brilliant as he seemed to love me. Peter would sit happily on my shoulder and groom my hair but if anyone came near me, especially my mother, he would stand and spit and try to swipe anyone who came to close....

My brother thought it was a great game to tease Peter until he got just a bit to close one day.... made me smile....

And then there was the incident with Robert, my school friend, from next door who walked in behind me one afternoon and Peter spun round and.... well all I can say is that Rob has very quick reactions..

Big argument between the parents again and Dad had to find somewhere else for Peter.....

Now at the same time we had this very nice Avery with loads of little finch size birds..... and Dad thought it would be an good idea to lock the birds in the back of the Avery and put Peter in the front. It seemed a logical plan for one night......

But in the morning I came down to mother storming back into the house. So I stroll outside to find Peter sitting there biting the head off one of the little birds and then calmly grabbed another and pulling its wing off and all around him were bits of bird and feather......

It would seem that Peter had torn a hole in the netting letting out the panicking birds and although I don't know how they are in the wild, watching him, it was more like he just wanted to see how they were put together rather than killing them for food.

Dad did clean up the mess this time because Mum told him he had to. I was glad about this as I cleaned out the rabbits... another story for another day.

But this is not the end of Peters story as he escaped from his next home and ended up in the local newspaper as he had gotten into the rafters of the Cobham Road bus depot, now a transport museum, where it took staff and reporters a couple of days to catch him..

Don't know where Peter ended up but my father told me that he had escaped again and was found climbing on a ship in the port of Felixstowe that was heading back to Africa but I don't know if that's the truth or he was just being kind. So I do think of him sometimes.... mostly in the mornings when my hair is a mess....

Never really felt the need for a pet... maybe this was because of all the animals we had or because of my fathers, sometimes, illogical viewpoint on what a pet was... As he liked to have things but, apart from the horses, get someone else to look after them or maybe its because of when he thought he would toughen us up by cooking my sisters pet turkey for us for Christmas.

My father was not in any way a bad man he was just from an old farming family and values were as different in his day to mine as mine are to today.

Keis Chicane Heated Grips Review Update 25/3/15 - Update 10/09/2016

The original heated grips on my Buell Ulysses are getting to smooth to hold but after 5+ years and 36,000 miles.... I'm impressed they still even work...

Have been looking at Oxford and other makes of grip for a few months now but I was over at the Adventure Bike Shop in Acton (nr Sudbury) the other day and came across the Keis (AME) Chicane heated grips and immediately thought "that's a good idea"....

The good idea is that all the electronics are in the grip itself and that means individual heating control (think about it). Now this might not sound much to you but my left hand is always colder than the right and as they have 6 heat settings its 3 on the right and 4 or 5 on the left..... Toasty finger tips all round....

First off - in the box are.... the grips (which have a soft and slightly tacky feel), the lead that connects them to the battery.... and that's all folks.... No bulky controller taking up handlebar space, or hanging off the mirror mount etc....

Each grip has a little button and a tiny, but bright, blue light. Press once... One flash.... First heat... Press twice.... Two flashes etc up to the top setting of six.
The led also slowly varies in brightness to show its warming up.

The grips themselves are slightly barrel shaped and, to me, fit better in the hand than "normal" grips  and with light summer gloves there is no problem pressing the little button on the go but with thicker or winter gloves its difficult... but not impossible. If you wire these straight to the battery then this could be a pain in turning down the heat if you find them to hot.

The grips are designed to auto shut off when the voltage drops to 12 point something so in theory when you turn the engine off and the grips should go off by themselves so you do not get a flat battery  but I would suggest having an off switch somewhere..... just to be safe.... not stranded....

As the Uly has its heated grips controlled but the right hand switchgear  I just spliced into the wiring and he presto I can either use the little button or turn off and on by the switch, same as the originals.... Cool..... or should that be hot....

The throttle side grip is also the throttle tube and has six different cam ends for the cables so its just a case of unhook the cables of your old throttle tube.... match up the cam end piece and snap it on (simple) hook on the cables and that's it..... No damage or need to cut off/ destroy your grip etc.... and if you don't like the new grip just put your old one back on.... simples....

The clutch side also has an inner sleeve (which is a nice tight fit to the bars) with an aluminium band that secures the grip to the bar by means of an Allen bolt. This does work really well but I did not like the extra distance this meant between grip and switchgear.... So I removed the band, cut off the excess tube, and used a dab of glue so I now have a flush fit and no problem reaching the switchgear (big palms and short fingers so don't get me started on getting gloves to fit properly). In case your thinking... Glue... I have a set of Acerbis dual road guards fitted so the grip cannot slide off...

So far I have only done a few short trips, and its not been that cold here this winter so I will update (and add photos) as time, and the miles, go on...

But my initial thoughts are - love the soft tacky feel that requires almost no effort to hold - less vibration getting through, compared to the original Buell grips and, for me, money well spent, as they are not the cheapest grips out there.

Update.... 07/03/2014

Just covered 200 odd miles today and must say these grip are com.....for........table........ No effort to hold and definitely smooth out the vibes... Have taken a couple of photos with the nexus 7 but cannot seem to get them on here so it may have to wait another couple of days to when I'm back home.

Had a play with changing the heat settings on the go - no problems using midwieght gloves but might rotate the throttle side grip to see the led better at (cough) cruising speed's....

The grips feel very much like the "Gel" ProGrips I have used in the past and I hope they are just as long lived.... time will tell....

Update....25/03/2015

Well folks its a year and almost 10,000 miles later
and the grips are getting a shine in places but with little
lose of the original "tacky" feel; there still soft, comfortable and needing very little effort to hold.

Winter was not to bad in this neck of the woods but as the wind was bl**dy freezing most of the time the grips got a lot of use and gave no problems.

In fact the only time I had a problem setting the temperature, with gloves, was when I was trying to show someone how easy it was.... typical......

Anyway.... final thought..... these are not the cheapest option but are very well made and I do not regret fitting them one little bit.

Update 10th Sept 2016
18 months and several thousand more miles on the Uly...

As with my Knight Design pegs review. I could put a couple of photos on here but they would not show any difference...

I would say that the "grey" is getting darker, maybe its a little UV damage or a natural over time thing... more likely is from greasy fingerprints when working on the bike... But either way it does not really seem to affect or degrade the grip...

I would say they are less "sticky" but not in any way that affects how easy these are to hold...

And even after all the miles there is very little rub off of material... ie no "bits" on your hands if you ride without gloves....

And overall they are still a thousand times better than the originals, which felt like smooth plastic at the mileage these have now done...

Would I buy another pair if these packed up/split... Yes...

Love the fact that these have no extra box on the handlebars and, highly. suggest that you keep all the supplied bits, and your original throttle tube n grip...

As if you have these and change your bike... you might just want to refit them...

Happy Riding All
P

Cars and Shopping Trollies.....

Had a theory for a while now that supermarkets are a big factor in the dumbing down of peoples driving abilities....

As they have gotten bigger, and more plentiful, is seems that the conection between the trolley and the car has gotten closer as peoples ability to know, or even care, where there trolley is in relation to anyone or anything else is getting transfered to the road....

In the supermarkets people blindly swing trollies about behind them blocking off isle while, supossibly, looking at an item...... or they blindly charge our of an isle with no consideration for cross traffic...... or just simply stop and natter right across the end of an isle...

And finally in the car park, although most people do put them back in the racks, some just leave them scattered wherever or, even worse, just let them roll away into another car, lamp post or person.....

So that's NO spacial awareness......  NO lateral thinking and NO care or consideration for anyone or anything around them....

Yesterday was an perfect example of this...... (and easily the hundredth time I've seen this happen and the second time involving a police car.......)

The Norwich Rd in Ipswich is quite simple one long queue of traffic, in both directions, for most of the day.....

So I am heading into town..... at 10 miles an hour.... slipping the clutch, as usual, on the Buell....

Spot this Volvo, hundred yards away, coming out of town wanting to turn right and, as usual, no body letting him turn...... 

When the car that's two in front of me simply stops and puts on his right indicator.... just a he,s passed the, already, stopped Volvo.......

Speechless........ where can we go..... where can he go.... who can anyone go..... 

As the driver had had no thought about letting the Volvo turn first and he simply just sat there expecting a gap to suddenly materialise so he could drive on unhindered......

Speechless.....

What the idiot had done though was to pull up alongside a police car........

So..... the nice policeman wound down his window...... Reached across to the other car and tapped on its window........ Which was duly wound down.....

Nice policemans repeatable comment.....        Are you a complete idiot.......

Silence…........

Nice policeman's unrepeatable, and correct, explanation of events …........ (Insert own comments here...) followed by MOVE IT...... NOW....

Silence..,...

The blue lights did a quick spin......

Then he stalled it......

Then the wipers went on..... front and rear....

Then he kangeroed off.....

Laughed..... Nearly fell off the bike........

The nice policeman was still laughing to, when I passed him....

So, guys n gals, don't queue across a junction and please think....

IF I LET SOMEONE OUT MAYBE THEY WILL LET ME OUT..... 
                        (not the other way round)

France with Friends Part Two

After many worried expressions and repeated questions about campsites we arrive in Calais and its warmer..... a lot warmer than the Dover we just left..... Nice....

Me I had switched from my gortex to a mesh jacket, on the ship, with Ric and Neil commenting as usual about my lack of "proper gear" but at the first stop...... off came the heavy, and now hot, leathers.........

Quick Note... Always wear the correct gear when motorcycling but when its hot dehydration can, all to easily, easily catch you out.... Been there and its not funny......

So fuel and water and go over a few rules before we set off again..

One...

You  WILL pull out on the wrong side of the road and its not a case of "if" but always a case of "when"....
You have to be aware that its when you pull out after a stop, petrol station, cafe or nature break......that you are most likely to do it.....

Even after all these years on a clear road I still pull out wrong side occasionally, scary...

Two.....

If you make a wrong turn or miss a roundabout exit wait there as when I realize your gone I will, after a cup of tea....., come back for you.

And most importantly......... Three.......

NEVER EVER ARGUE WITH A FRENCH POLICEMAN.....that just get more expensive the more you say........

Be humble...... Doff your cap... If you are in the wrong ( is speeding) DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES.... Just say, and look, sorry....  Lots cheaper in the long run.... Being marched into jail for the night or to a cash point with the gendarmerie saying  "Money.... Now"  just spoils a holiday.

So we head on into France. The autoroute,s are a great way to get where your going but if you have the time.... take the A roads/ route nationals you see so much more but as we only had a week the autoroute it was... or should have been....

Made a mistake at the double exit for Charles de Gaulle airport which ended up with us flying up this ramp with a sharp left, knee down, turn at the top and we are suddenly......  right alongside the runway..... I mean you could see the faces of people in the windows...... Looking at us....... as there taking off...... You could feel the vibration through the handle bars....... Bit to close for comfort.......

And then we come to this taxi rank/ drop off area but the bit I most remember was that it was one lane in.... Two lane taxi rank with central columns and one lane out.....
I remember it because on the first column were two signs.... Marseilles left and Bordeaux  right..... But..... But.... its single lane out....

My fault for the wrong turn so onto Paris...... Not a problem...... But I had not realized how much Ric, really, did not want to hit Paris...

We were getting nearer and nearer when Ric suddenly cuts across in front of me and heads down an off ramp... Trouble was there was no on ramp at this junction and I had no idea where we  were in relation to anything... We could see the raised autoroute above us but not how to get to it.... And my French is..... Not good.... So asking the way was not going to help

We do a couple of laps, on the cobbles, and then spot a sign for Disneyland so head out..... Nice straight road not so nice traffic lights.... every 10 yards.... Neils GS started sending up smoke signals and had to stop..... so with the bike and Neil both happily smoking away..... and, luckily, my "all France" map had the junction up ahead on it.... in another 5 minutes and we were clear of Paris... Yea....

Heading south again but on a route national the day was passing quickly and thoughts turned to where to stop when, after riding through a very run down grey little village we turned the corner and there was this beautiful bridge over the Lorie..... And the Château Sully Sur Lorie.. Simply stunning....

The campsite ran from the château wall to the river.... Beautiful grassy camping area with a few trees and a sandy shore line....

The shower block was a bit WW2 concrete though.... Functional, but basic.... Very basic.

So...10ft wall.... Big grassy area with 20 tents or so already there, and a couple of landrovers with tents on the roof...

I look up to see where the sun is and work out where to it might rise from in the morning while the other two simply started to pitch their tents out in the middle..... away from anything..... people...... shade..... O...K.....

"You want to camp there" I said and a combined yes came back.... O....K......

All pitched, showered and sorted we walked through the château grounds to the village and found a pizzarea...... Well rural France does shut early....  Bit of food and a couple of 1664,s went down well and its back to the campsite at the end of a very very long day....

Me... I get up nice and early.... sort myself out and sit there in my chair.... with my coffee and brioche/ ham sandwich.....  and waited for the sun to pop up over the château wall..... on this even hotter morning....

Up it pops..... 30 seconds..... and out they both pop...... SO funny.....  and they called ME names........ Dark coloured tents and decent sun shine... not a good mix for a lay in....

Mind you if you are moving on every day it saves you setting the alarm clock..

Perhaps a more mellow day today..... We'll see in part three...

France with Friends..... Part One

Part one of many in this saga methinks.....

Holidays to me usually mean only one thing..... Motorcycle touring in France....
Anywhere below Orleans is good as the north, to me, is still a bit Agincourt....

Been doing it for three decades now and usually go by myself but around the millennium I con.... er.... convinced two friends Ric and Neil to accompany me........ Oh the fools....

Neither of them had been abroad on a bike before and they were both looking to me for advice..... Nah..... Not gonna happen..... I,m was  just gonna watch them make the same mistakes I did.......  And that was pretty much how it went...... And it turned out to be, possibly, the best ever holiday I've had

My usual habit on holiday is to find a little "municipal" campsite well out of the way of anything remotely touristy and simply enjoy the roads 'n' scenery and if I spot something worth looking at I may stop for a gander but never ever plan anything and for the evening meal I would try to find a, simple, out of the way, backstreet, place where the local eat........ So nothing like what most people get up to then........

In truth I used to simply hide away..... Not think about problems, life or work....

So it was a total change for me..... I had to actually think.......  Carlsberg........

My bike was a Honda VFR750FJ, owned this for 14 years in total, 5" CBR rear wheel, Ohlin's rear shock, outback seat, and yes that is not a Honda front end its a Yamaha Thundercat. The complete front end is a  straight swap. took me an hour and a half to fit and boy what a difference in handling, not to mention the extra breaking power.....

Neil had a very odd Suzuki GS650GT

Nice little bike with strange handling and very frugal fueling. The bike was an American import and was a chain drive whereas the UK GT models were all shaft drive and, as we found out later, had not had the emissions plumming removed properly.

He did burn less fuel than Ric or myself but ended up with burnt out valves, cylinder head etc

Ric rode a Yamaha TDM850. Which I wish i could say that he put so many miles on it the results are shown on the left but the mini bikes are just a later hobby, The TDM's are amazing machines, could not believe the engine braking they have. Ric was also the only one of us who had breakdown cover...... More on that later........

Anyway plans were made..... Ric and Neil - Where are we going..... Me - South..... Ric 'n' Neil - Do we book campsites..... Me.... No..... That's the plan done then.....

Ferry,s booked and a meeting time arranged for 6am at Tesco's Copdock Mill and at 6 Ric and I duly arrive........ We wait.... No Neil...... Phone Neil.....  errr hmmmm... yes... who..... Neil its 6.15 and were Tesco's...... What!!... Bugger.... Crash..... Be there in 20..... and he was, which was quick as he lives over 12 miles away......

So off we trot to Dover getting faster and faster as we went and arrived at the port just in time to be loaded straight onto the boat.... Literally down the ramp and into the parking lane behind the other, now moving, bikes and straight up onto the boat, don't think we even stopped...

Natural break point here I think folks as Part two starts in Calais....

Snakes and Sleeping Bags....

Among my many and varied friends is Ali Treeman, who is definitely the most "varied" of them all, and he used to carry round this very nice
little python called Smeagle.

Now Smeagle was a really friendly snake and he even had a friendly little face, seriously.... made a good anti theft device to as Ali often wrapped Smeagle around the handle bars on his bike... or in his crash helmet.....

Now I was camping for the weekend over at the Edwardstone White Horse for its spring bank holiday beer festival and was, steadily, working my way through the beer list when Ali arrived and proceeded to catch me up.....

Problem was, though, that Ali had brought Smeagle, in his pillow case, but not a tent.....
So I suggested that he share with me, as I had a 4 man tent and only me in it.

It was a really good evening, as usual, but then again cant think of a bad evening at the Horse as Cliff and Penny ran an amazing little, out in the sticks, place with bar billiards, shove ha'pny and no electronic games...

So when Cliff finally kicks us all out we stagger back to the tent and crash........

Now Smeagle had been in his pillow case all evening but when I was startled awake at 2 o'clock in the morning I realized that this was no longer the case as the "thing" I had hold of, by my neck was in fact he...

Can only be glad that I used to wake up alert, in those days, and I immediately let go.... And Smeagle just, calmly, carried on down inside my sleeping bag........ a mummy style bag..........  not a big roomy square one.....

Guess he thought my sleeping bag was warmer than his pillow case...

But I now had, more than, a slight problem as Smeagle was wrapping himself around my thighs.....

Actually had two BIG problems as.........
One.... I had no idea which way his head was facing, or where it was....
Two... I move about A LOT in my sleep....

So I am there punching Ali and calling him, just, a few things.... but would he wake up.... NO... not on your life... or on the life of important parts of my anatomy.....

Longest night of my life...... Not that I did not trust the snake but if I went to sleep and started rolling over then something was going to get bitten or crushed.....

And to cap it all when he did, finally, wake up, and I informed him of events, he simply shrugged he shoulders, smiled, and said " Well I guess your warmer than me"

Thanks Ali......

Snooker Memories - The one and only Alex Higgins

From 1979 to 1984 I was the cellar-man at the Corn Exchange entertainment complex in Ipswich. A superb job that had me, as well as all the in house events, running all over town setting up mobile bars for everything from concerts, council meetings, parties, weddings, shows and big "in the park" events..... crap wages but brilliant job....

While I was there the Tolly Cobbold Classic (also 1979 - 1984 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolly_Cobbold_Classic ) snooker tournament was happening I would just like to impart the one, out of many, memory of that event.

Alex Higgins had won the first "Classic" event in 79  and he was late for the start of the second..... quite a bit late.... in fact he was still in a helicopter, with Kirk Stevens, when the first match started and he was meant to be playing in the second....

If I remember correctly the two Taylor's, Dennis and Graham, were playing the first game and they did make the game last allot longer than it needed to, as they had been told that Higgins was late.

I was in the technicians office at the side of the stage when up the back stairs, literally, staggered, Alex and Kirk. the were swaying away, holding each other up, and everyone was looking at each other thinking....

hows he going to play... what do we do....

when......

Alex Higgins was a star, a true showman and a brilliant, if eccentric, player.... The man just stood upright, shook himself and said "give me my cue" and went from drunk to sober in the seconds it took him to assemble it.

And then he simply strolled out the door to a crescendo of applause and even went on to win the classic for a second year.

Meanwhile Mr Stevens  was slumped in a chair, holding a basket..... he was playing to....

I have many memories of Alex but watching him transform and then perform that day is the one that truly stands out.

ttfn

Street surfing is not optional in motorcycling

Street surfing is not optional in motorcycling

I recently used the above quote in a Facebook message to a good friend who had an unfortunate slide this summer and It got me thinking about accidents and injuries as I hate to think how many times I had  bounced down the road in my younger days.

Started riding at about 8 years on in the woods and foreshore where the Orwell bridge now stands. Initially on little Villers powered "bikes" and then on to larger triumphs, Norton's and BSA,s as in the late sixty's no one wanted the British stuff.

Jap machines were faster, didn't handle but, much faster so you could by a 500/ 650 bike for a couple of quid, with a full tank of gas, and just rag it about the woods... Really hate to think about how many bikes my brother and I destroyed as teenagers.

Anyhoo the street surfing comment came to me because of a memorable slide on a DT175 in about 1975.

I was coming into Ipswich, along the Hadleigh road, and as I turned left into town I suddenly found myself sitting on top of the bike, which was on its side underneath me, with both feet across the front wheel. No idea how my left leg cleared the tank and bars but there I am sliding towards a petrol station.....
Not a big problem you might think but my problem was not the patch of diesel I had just , unknowingly, hit but with the fact the the early DT,s had a high and side mounted exhaust.......  that I was now sitting on.....  Still sliding...... Getting warmer....... Wonder if they have some eggs to go with this bacon......

Guess there are two basic types of accidents.... Those where it all happens so fast you have know idea about anything and those where it all goes into slow motion and you see everything unfolding in front of you.

The DT slide was instantaneous but I have had many where I had time to roll a fag, if I actually smoked, and I must admit I quite liked the adrenaline rush.

Take my little "incident" in September 2012 (not going into how bad car drivers have got in general lately - do that another post) I'm I Bury St Edmund's and I'm heading towards this roundabout as I  follow a MPV who was turning right - I see this Golf to the left and did not get that glazed/ straight through you look so imagine my surprise when, as the MPV in front of my turned off, I heard the engine revs rise on the Golf.
I just look at him, he was still looking behind me while pulling out, and think " this is going to hurt"  -  didn't panic -  just lent towards him so as he hit me the bike slid rather than being punted over....
When I'm on his bonnet he, finally, sees me.... And brakes..... And I slid off.
Very lucky that this all happened at about 10 mph

Really spooky thing was that my niece, who I had not seen for months, was in a car coming up the other way and saw the whole thing. I am still sitting on the floor when she comes running up to me, shaking more than I was.... Just another small world moment I guess.

Its strange but I knew I would be all right because I had time to, was able to, react whether through 50+ years road riding, all the enduro and trials riding, or just because I fell so many times I don't know....

I do know that ridding off road make you a far better road rider. Your responses are quicker and you don't panic if you come out of a corner broadside.....

I am not, in any way, trying to belittle any accident as I have lost far to many friends, over the years, and seen parts of some of them that were meant to stay on the inside.

Ride smart ride safe and if you can try riding off-road.

ttfn

New Toy - New Lens

New Toy

Bought a new camera lens of fleabay the other day and a football sized ball of bubble wrap arrived this morning

I mean was it well packed or what as the lens itself, a 10mm fish-eye, is tiny, only half filling the box it came in which was, just, a 3" cube. But kudos to the seller as there was no way this lens was going to get damaged, short of nuclear fallout..

So you just have to play with new toys..... just to check they work you understand.... and the result is the pic on the left of my humble abode and bearing in mind that this is a fish eye lens with, about, a 170 deg angle, my very small abode and yes that's the front end of a VFR on the mug.

The camera is a Samsung NX20, to which I upgraded to from the NX200 as I found myself really missed the optical viewfinder of my old Nikon 90X set up that I used for my pics in the 90's. It was a really nice handling camera but with cost of all the lenses and developing, in those days, it did keep me fairly brassic.

Like all new cameras its full of bells, whistles and effects, some of which are even useful, did think that this "sketch" effect was pretty cool though.

I always considered photographs as "other peoples memories" and, to that end, lately it has been really good to get so many great comments back from those posted to date.

Well time to put some clothes on (please........ refrain yourselves....) and go out and find some more victims for Facebook.

ttfn

Great Danes and Other Animals

Great Danes and Other Animals

Up before 7 today, bit of a shock to the system, as the old Honda is in for new rear brake pipes, ready for its MOT. And they have this adorable Great Dane."guard" dog who, after 10 minutes of "Oh no who is this invading

my space.... don't like it....... run away into my corner,
simply glued itself to my leg, sat on m foot, looked up as if to say "well you gonna pet me or not"

Love guard dogs like this... lets you enter... But you can never leave.....

Anyhoo brake pipes replaced, anti roll bar rubbers etc  etc done and I got to thinking about the home i grew up in.

As, although at the time it seemed simply normal, I now realist that I had a very eventful, if frugal, upbringing as my father ran this scrap yard cum garage and my mother was very inventive in she spent what little money we had.

But where the Great Dane comes into the story is that we always had animals..... Many and varied.... very varied....... and sometime far to many.....

Would come home from school find.... pigs, goats, turkeys, rabbits, horses, an avery full of finches and monkeys.( good story about the monkey and the finches but that's for another post)... usually one species at a time but on occasion....
Dad sort of looked after things for people, only way I can explain it really, so 200 rabbits would turn up for a couple of month and then be gone... and then maybe some pigs rutting around for a week or three etc

Dad like liked BIG dogs so we have several Great Danes, Alsatians on a couple of Rotties and mum liked small dogs.... toy poodles, Chihuahua's etc 
Better than watching the telly some time watching a Chihuahua tie a Great Dane up in knots...

Anyway it just reminded me that I had more toys to play with than other kids even if they were not real toys, in the usual sense, but cutting up an old car with a gas axe when your nine is great fun...

And then there was this one bonfire night when dad had stacked a couple of cars he wanted to burn out for scrap..... but he forgot about one petrol tank.... 
I learnt that cars can fly........ right through the neighbors fence.

Yes folks you are right there were often times when my parents did not talk for a while and other times when Mum was very skilled in a different way of using a frying pan.

Into the Unknown - not so much an update more a spell check....

Into the Unknown

2014

Like a lot of people I suppose "never thought I would make it this far" and its taken the last two years to work out how strange the previous twenty two have been.

Walked away from someone in 1990 because, as my brother puts it, of being a complete commitment phobic but that's not a complete untruth or a complete truth either.

Anyway hiding never works and everything is still there when you open the door.

2014 awaits and its time I started taking photographs again as its been the one thing that I have always enjoyed even if I was not always sure why I was doing it.

So the plan is to take a few photos of anywhere I am and do a bit of a video/ photo year and any info/ idea/ memory that pops up along the way will get included.

I like the "gezzer with a grudge" blog and like him my thoughts are simply my thoughts. You don't have to agree with them, you don't have to read them but if you do..... then Thank You and if they make you smile..... even better.

New to this..... lots to learn.... and the car is in for brake pipes tomorrow so we will see what that turns up.....

28/03/2015
Car, amazingly, still running, it is a Honda though......
Videos... Where are the videos...........  Doh......
Not taken enough photos....
Not written enough blogs.....
Not put enough miles on the Buell.......
Amazed that I am about to hit 100 views on one blog.......