28-Dec-2006
Went to a Christmas Party at Andy and Sues last night and met a load of folk from GB Bikers again - it was fantastic. Here are some piccies.

26-Dec-2006
A while back, me and Nig filmed ourselves on a private road doing some 'fly bys'. Well I've edited it today with Windows Movie Maker - here are the results.

25-Dec-2006
Happy Christmas!!

10-Dec-2006
My brother Nig came over today to help me try and fix the electrical short I have on the GPZ. On removal of the fusebox we discovered all the connectors were covered in a gunky mess, probably from years of crap from the back wheel. We gave it a thorough clean and degrease and everything seemed OK - time will tell if the short has been fixed - but I'm hopeful we found the cause. Thanks bro!

09-Dec-2006
My neighbour Janis bought me a Porsche last weekend to thank me for helping her move premises with her business. Mark also got one and we've just had a few races - a lot of fun it was too! Here are some piccies.

05-Nov-2006
Been to the Bike show at Birmingham NEC this weekend - pictures here.

31-Oct-2006
I've finally uploaded the rest of the pictures from this years swiss trip - you can see them here.

23-Sep-2006
Today I took a BMW K1200R for a test ride. The BMW dealers, Allan Jefferies, could not have been more accomodating, I was very impressed with them, nearly as much as I was with the bike. The bike was awesome. Very fast, comfortable and handled like a dream. It really wasn't what I was expecting. Now if only I had £10,000!! Here are some pictures.

16-Sep-2006
To make up for my lack of riding due to the patio - I made sure I got out this weekend and did many miles - here are some piccies

10-Sep-2006
For the past three weeks I haven't managed to ride my bike at all - all my time has been spent doing this - and very pleased we are too!

11-Jul-2006
When I'm not riding bikes - I like to play computer games. I have recently been playing an excellent game which combines the two - Tourist Trophy (PS2) by the same folk who made Gran Turismo - here are some shots from me playing the game - yes these are in game shots!

09-Jul-2006
I've just returned from the lakes. As Nig said whle we were away, I should rename the site Wet Weather Bikers, because it absolutely bucketed it down. We still had a good time though - piccies.

06-Jul-2006
Fit a belly-pan to Jane's Hornet today - it looks super.

17-Jun-2006
Had a lovely ride to Hawes today - here are some piccies.

15-Jun-2006
The diary for the Switzerland trip is now up - though I do have some tidying up to do with the navigation and a load more piccies from Nig to put on.

09-Jun-2006
I have just got back from Scotland where we'd been for the funeral of Mik - it was a loverly service and the turnout was spectacular - it really showed just how loved the guy was.

The family asked for people to donate to the Air Ambulance Service in his memory - you can do so here.

04-Jun-2006
We all got back ok, a week early mind, but the trip was something of a disaster. I will be slowly updating the diary in time.

23-May-2006
Just heard the terrible news that Gixxer (Mik), GB Bikers Head Gizza and all round top-bloke has been killed while riding in France.

R.I.P Gixxer mate - you will be sorely missed

22-May-2006
The bike's packed - ready for the off now!

21-May-2006
Updated the luggage list for Switzerland - only 5 days to go!

14-May-2006
I managed to find a mono-rack for Janes bike on ebay for a total of £46 including delivery! (they are over £100 new). Unfortunately Givi make two type of fitting plate for the boxes and it came with the wrong plate for my top box. Despite Givi stating that the other plate doesn't fit on this rack, I fit the other plate to this rack! Everything seems solid so I'm happy.

Here are some piccies of the Hornet's transformation from a naked sports bike to a full blown tourer.

Less than two weeks to Switzerland - I've added to the 'Touring' section and 'Who are we' bit.

13-May-2006
Daz's bike. It turned out the cause of the problem was probably crap in the oil ways in the new rocker cover which caused increased pressure in the head, putting extra strain on a head gasket which looked to be on it's way out resulting in the blown gasket. We cleaned the oil ways in the rocker cover and head, put new gaskets in and put it back together and all seemed well.

This week, though, Daz's bike went onto 2 cylinders. We think this was simply old spark plugs, because when we replaced them today all seemed OK. Also we changed his brake pads, new oil and filter, new chain and sprockets, and bled his clutch. Apart from a spot of teathing trouble with the clutch - everything went quite well - so fingers crossed that it will be ok for the trip!

30-Apr-2006
Met up with a few folk from GB Bikers again today - still feeling really ill so I went in my car. Here are some piccies.

29-Apr-2006
More bad news - we replaced the rocker cover on Daz's bandit today. It should have been a quick and simple job. We replaced the cover, started the bike and it ran fine, then when we stopped the bike it spat all it's oil all over the floor - not good. We took the cover back off to see if we'd done anything wrong but it all looked ok - the oil was coming out of the head so we presume the head gasket had gone for some reason.

We then spent the rest of the day stripping the engine down to see if we could find the problem. Unfortunately nobody can get a head gasket for us until late next week so it will have to wait for then to be put back together.

And I feel really ill today (think it's bird flu) - so not happy all round.

23-Apr-2006
The weather has been fantastic this weekend. Nig came over to show me his bike with my old carbon end can on. It looks very nice and sounds very nice and it's also sorted out the low down power problems he was having - it was alsome to ride. I have put some piccies in the gallery - here.

I also fit the fuel repair kit to the GPZ today as well.

The kit cost £10 and is a piece of cake to fit - so I'm very happy with that aspect of the GPZ at least!

22-Apr-2006
I've been really worried about the old GPZ this week; the fuel consumption, not firing on all cylinders, and I've discovered the petrol tap may be leaking. I've been thinking that maybe going to Switzerland on this bike in a few weeks isn't the best idea in the world.

After a lot of careful consideration, and a superb ride today on Jane's Hornet, I think I'm going to take Jane's bike instead - which she has very kindly agreed to - thanks Jane!

19-Apr-2006
Well I took all the fairing off today to see if I could figure out what was bent. My neighbour, Mark, assured me it had to be the forks twisted in the yolk - and sure enough, once we slackened off all the bolts on the front end, it snapped back into place. I have a straight bike again!

Having thought about it, I am thinking the problem with the engine is electrical, because the plug that wasn't firing was getting fuel, and the HT leads do look a bit tatty. I'm going to replace the plugs, caps, and HT leads and see if that fixes it. Fingers crossed.

18-Apr-2006
Started the GPZ today - only to find it wouldn't fire on all 4 cylinders. It initially started on 2, then went onto 3 and point blank refused to fire on all 4. I put it on the center stand to have a look - or at least tried. As I was pulling it up, it rolled forward and fell on it's right side - I was not happy.

Luckily there was very little visible damage and after standing it up and cleaning the plugs it then fired on all 4. I took it for a test ride and found it dropped onto 3 cylinders under any kind of load and it was bent - I have to turn the bars to the left to go in a straight line.

I have no idea what can have caused it to be bent just from falling over or what is going on with the engine. To say I'm not happy is something of an understatement.

17-Apr-2006
I've been out and about a lot this weekend on the GPZ, running in the new camshafts, so only revving it upto 7000. It rides really nice and has a lot of roll on power and handles very well once you get used to it! On the down side I'm currently only getting 30mpg when I should be getting at least 40, so I've possibly got a problem there.

The Switzerland trip is still on - but I will have to sort the fuel economy out first. My borther, Nig, has made me some brackets for the luggage which I need to fit and then get coated. I also have a lot of things to do before we go, including:

• New brakes pads and fluid
• Sort out the short on the indicator circuit.
• Oil change after 500 miles
• Fix the crack in the fairing
• Fix the leak on the clutch master cylinder.
• Fit Nigs brackets and test the luggage.

So lots to do and not much time - again!

15-Mar-2006
Check out this months RiDE magazine. See 'Readers Ride's' - thats me that is. Fame at last! - Here's a scan.

05-Mar-2006
Been a bit hectic recently - Jane had a family emergency and had to fly to Greece. So here are some piccies for Jane so she can see the snow! Get well soon Harry.

21-Jan-2006
After all I said on my previous post - we had a really nice day today and I took Jane's Hornet out for a ride. Had an absolute blast - it was fantastic - really good to be back on two wheels again.

On a separate note, I've re-organised the site a little - so now there is a links section for site's I've found useful and a new Switzerland page in the Touring menu which hopefully will be filled with details of this years trip :)

19-Jan-2006
I hate winter - we had a sunny day a few weeks back so I took the GPZ out for a quick spin. It turned out there was a lot less grip than I thought - I was spinning the back wheel whenever I opened the throttle, I aborted my ride and went home in a huff. To think I used to ride all through winter!