Can you be unfaithful to a Pair of Boots?

Some of my readers will remember I wrote on my blog about the boots I wore every day on my four-and-a-half month ride across the USA. They were so comfortable for the dual purpose of both riding and walking. Sadly however, after 21,000 miles, they were beginning to fall apart and had to be gracefully retired when I reached home.

Feeling somewhat unfaithful to those old boots, I went a bought a new pair. Knowing the old ones were so good, I of course had to buy exactly the same – Alpinestars Shibuya WP shoes. Same colour as before.

Here are the old boots compared to the new. Like cousins standing next to each other. I think the old boots look remarkably good considering they have been around the block so much!

As we went through so much together, I can’t bring myself to throw the old ones away though.

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My Blog Gets Ripped Off !!

It’s funny what you can find on the Internet sometimes. Yesterday I found a blog called Harley Davidson Motorcycle which when I looked at it a little closer, I realised the person who created this blog had ripped off and copied nearly my entire USA Tour blog!!!

UPDATE - It has been suggested to me the copy blog might have been created with the intent of spreading a virus, so I have removed the link to the copy blog to prevent anyone from accessing it.

Virtually all the posts on this rip-off blog for September last year are direct copies (words and pictures) of my blog.  The same applies for almost every posting I have ever made.  What a scum-bag!

While it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this is just plain copying!

I have formally complained to Blogger. I will let you, my true readers of this, my genuine blog, know what happens.

It would be really funny if this posting was copied into the rip-off blog!

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Petrol Prices - You Pay How Much ???

I read a posting on Bobskoot's Blog a few days ago about petrol prices. Bob said that fuel in Vancouver had risen to $1.311 /ltr = $4.96 /US gallon.

Bob would probably cry if he had to buy fuel in the UK. Are you sitting down Bob?

My local petrol station was selling regular fuel today at £1.337 per litre. That is £6.082 per UK gallon or £5.053 per US gallon. (UK gallons and US gallons are different).

In US dollars, that is $8.203 per US gallon!!!

With the various conflicts happening in north Africa and the Middle East, these prices are forecast by some to rise by 50% by the end of the year.

Anybody want to buy a Range Rover?

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Dream Rangers

Some of my readers may have seen this video. It was sent to me by Greg who has followed my blog for a while and it is so good, I wanted to share it.

My hope is that everyone who rides feels like this one day....

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London Custom Bike Show Video

For the second year running, the London International Custom Motorcycle Show was held at the famous Alexandra Palace on the north side of London. I went with Ian Solley of 7Ages Custom Motorcycles who posted some good pictures of the show on his blog.

From looking at the Harley-Davidson Road King UK blog, I could see Axel also went, but sadly we didn’t bump into each other. I much prefer this smaller custom show to the main London Motorcycle Show. The people are more interesting and so are the bikes. There is more innovation on display and while the bikes are highly polished, the organisation, the stands and some of the people are not. That somehow makes it better for me.

Instead of taking regular pictures, which I found quite difficult last year due to the low light levels in the halls, I decided to take a small video camera and see what I could achieve with that....

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The Leading Ladies are back!

I had a message earlier this week that my bike, the Leading ladies, after spending 5 or 6 weeks at sea, was about to arrive back in the UK.

It had been raining all week and I wasn’t looking forward to collecting the bike in the rain. However, the weather played ball and I awoke on Thursday morning to a gloriously sunny day – one of the few so far this year.

I was dropped off at the shipping agents yard near Heathrow and a few minutes later my bike was bought outside, still in its crate. I had told the shippers that I wanted to take some pictures of the bike being un-crated and they had duly obliged, with Jim and Steve being ready to take the crate apart. Evidently, the office had told the guys I was going to take some pictures, as they were adorned in some silly hats, ready to be photographed. I did have to laugh!

The crate was very substantial and was bespoke made to fit the bike. The top came off first, having been held by many screws.... There was my bike.....

Next, the sides came off and Jim and Steve posed by the partially dismantled crate....

Finally the structure of the crate was dismantled and after re-fixing the windshield and putting the mirrors back the right way around, I hit the starter button and the bike fired into life, as reliable as ever...

The paperwork was swiftly dealt with and just a short time later I climbed on the bike and rode of down the road. The great feeling of riding that bike came back to me in an instant and it felt really good to lean the bike into corners once more and to use the full power range. I forgot I had left the bike with almost no fuel in the tank, so I hastily had to find a petrol station to refill her.

As I neared my house, Jackie had heard me approach and threw open the front door to snap a picture of the Leading Ladies returning....

Can you tell I was pleased to have the bike back?.......

The Leading Ladies are now in for some special attention. First, the bike is going to have a deep clean to remove the inevitable grime that builds up during a 21,000 mile ride and then it’s off to Warrs, the London based Harley-Davidson dealer for a full check over.

What a great bike! Welcome Home!!!!

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I Want One Of These!

Last night on the TV programme 'The Gadget Show', they featured a one wheel, electric, self-balancing scooter. This is called the Ryno. It has gyroscopes to make it self-balancing and the TV presenter was riding it relatively comfortably within just a few minutes. This looks very cool indeed and I want one. It will have a 30 mile range, top speed of 20mph. It looks like a lot of fun.

I found a video on the web that shows what it can do....



I have a nagging doubt though that these would be allowed in the UK. For all sorts of bureaucratic nonsense, Segways are not allowed here and I fear the same fate would happen with the Ryno.

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