The idea of a race bike on the road has always been attractive to motorcyclists. Modern bikers relish the power, handling, and brakes of competition-developed machinery and pioneer motorcyclists were no different. Harley’s Fast Roadster was based on the boardtrack racer but fitted with mudguards, a chainguard, and conventional handlebars. Who needed a gearbox or lights? One of the civilizing
Monday, 28 January 2013
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Very Wrong
Sometimes, somebody comes up with an idea that sounds good at the time.
I am not sure this was one of those times....
I am not sure this was one of those times....
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
A bad road?
We all love posting about some of the great roads we have ridden. But what about the worst road?
A road may be straight, it may be boring, or it may be dangerous. What is your worst road and why? I challenge you to find a road worse than this.....
This is mine. It is very close to where I live and is only wide enough for a single car at a time. Often wet, both sides of the road have horrendous potholes and the middle is full of loose stones. In short, this public road is really dangerous on a motorcycle, so I am forced to avoid using it.
Share your worst road near you.
East Herts Council, you should be ashamed of this....
A road may be straight, it may be boring, or it may be dangerous. What is your worst road and why? I challenge you to find a road worse than this.....
This is mine. It is very close to where I live and is only wide enough for a single car at a time. Often wet, both sides of the road have horrendous potholes and the middle is full of loose stones. In short, this public road is really dangerous on a motorcycle, so I am forced to avoid using it.
Share your worst road near you.
East Herts Council, you should be ashamed of this....
Friday, 18 January 2013
The Printing of my Book
I had the opportunity this week to see my book being printed, so of course, I grabbed that chance with both hands and with my son, Jeremy, we went to the plant of one of the UK’s few large format book printers, Butler Tanner & Dennis.
Located in Frome in Somerset, Butler, Tanner& Dennis have a 166 year printing history and their reception contains a very old printing press used by the firm.
The plant is very large indeed and contains all manner of machines needed for book printing and manufacturing. BT&D proudly claim they are one of just a few companies that do everything under one roof in the production of books. For someone like me that has no experience of or any prior knowledge of printing and making books, the plant is a marvel of machines and looking at most sets up a guessing game of trying to work out what they do. Some of the machines are brand new and a marvel of modern technology, but at the same time, these are used alongside many that are decades old and still work perfectly well today.
The plant is laid out broadly in the order that a book is produced, with incoming materials such as paper at one end and the completed book exit at the other. The paper store is large but paper having come from specialist plants in many countries. Unlike newspaper production, all of the incoming paper is cut into flat sheets, not rolled.
My book was printed on the newest and biggest printing machine in the plant, a Heidelberg, which is capable of printing 15,000 sheets an hour at peak. Yes, you did read that right, 15,000 large format sheets an hour!
At about 12 inches by 12 inches (30cm) mine is a large book, and each of the sheets going through the printer contains 20 pages of my book on each side. The printing of the book pages is therefore done at a phenomenal speed.
This is the machine that makes the plates. They are very thin and made from aluminium. Each sheet going through the printer needs 4 plates (cyan, magenta, yellow and black)....
This is one of the plates ready for printing.....
A close up of part of one of the plates – and a picture of Chris Luhman of Everyday Riding....
The huge Heidelberg printer. With its six printing positions. Just four were being used for my book. The paper gets fed into the far right hand end, passes through the six printing positions and the left hand end is where the printed sheet is dried. The completed sheets are delivered in a neat stack at the left hand end.
The top of the yellow printer. It is hard to see from these pictures just how fast everything happens. This drum is spinning at an incredible speed....
The guys opened the side panel of the drying area, so we could see the sheets going through that part....
A not very good picture of the completed sheets being stacked. It is really just a blur....
The printed sheets measure 63 x 47 inches / 1.6m x 1.2m and each contain 20 pages of my book. Due to the way the sheets are folded into sections of the book, half of the pages are printed upside-down.
Each machine in the plant has a “minder”. This is Julian Keel (AKA Biff) who was looking after the Heidelberg printer. He can adjust many aspects of the print as the machine is working. We watched him run off a couple of stacks of different sheets while we were there and I would say he has a very challenging job....
As each stack of printed sheets is finished, they are moved by a fork lift truck to a waiting area. These are not my stacks, but a book just ahead of mine in the production process....
When the whole book is printed, the large sheets are folded into 2o page book sections by some amazing folding machines. Prior to actually folding the sheet, each is perforated to make the folding flatter. Depending on the size of the individual book pages, these machines need to be set up for each book....
Once each 20 page section of the book has been folded and prepared, these are loaded into a long machine that first stitches the sections and then collates those sections. Each section has a printed mark so the machine can automatically check that the collating has been done properly and all sections are in the correct order....
The collated sections then begin to take the form of a book. These are known as book “blanks” and are stacked ready to be moved to the next part of the production process. Note how the pages are just rough cut at this stage....
On a separate production line, the hardback covers are manufactured. This is still done in the same plant, by a different team. Known in the trade as “cases” these are not for my book, but another just ahead of mine....
Next is a very clever, multi-function machine that brings together the cases with the book blanks, trims the pages to the correct size and glues the book into the base to make the completed book. All that is left after this is to add the dust cover, or “jacket” as the printers call it....
A similar process happens with the softback books, but a totally different machine is used to bring the various parts of the book together....
Quality control is important at every stage of the process, with people having to sign off every part of that process. If they didn’t check each stage until the book was completed, a minor problem in one process would mean rejection of the whole print run. This is where the completed books are checked....
Overall, the visit to the plant was fascinating. Having never before understood how a book is produced it was terrific to see each part of the process. The guy managing the production of my book, Clinton Walker, went out of his way to show us around and explain the process to us. Along with the Key Account director, Jeremy Snell, we were made to feel very welcome and it was clear the team at Butler Tanner & Dennis are excellent at what they do. I am really looking forward to seeing the end result.
When the book is finalised, they need to be shipped to the various supply locations and then we will be ready to go, in time for the book launch on 4th march.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
demo ride, demonstration, experience, Girl on a Harley, Harley Ride, Harley Tours, lane filtering, Lane splitting, melbourne, motorcycle safety, riding a motorcycle, Youtube Harley Rides
Here’s Why Lane Splitting Should Be Legal For Motorcycles
Know Someone Who Needs to Learn About This?
One of the most controversial subjects, in the world of Road Safety, is the subject often referred to as Lane Splitting.
Its something that if you haven't been at least a passenger on a motorcycle before, that you will not understand. Its something that we demonstrate to our customers when we take them out for a Harley Ride in Melbourne. If you
Friday, 11 January 2013
Conference, discounts, Down Under, experience, Gift Voucher, Groupon, Harley Davidson, Harley Tours, melbourne, pleasure, Quality Experience, Red Balloon, Red Balloon Days, Tourism Australia, travel coupons
Groupon Discounts - the truth behind their facade
Just over a year ago, I was getting calls a couple of times a week from Groupon, Living Social and their "coupon clones". Their claim was that they could bring my company, "heaps of new work, and that there were thousands of customers queuing up to buy my product that I was supposedly missing out on.
The problem is, as I pointed out to them, that volume sales doesn't match the service I provide
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Time is running out.
A little while ago, I reminded my readers that they could get a free copy of my soon-to-be-published book called France-In-America. All you needed to have done to qualify for a free copy was to have been one of those people that commented on my blog while I was on my road trip across the USA.
I have had many people sending me their postal address (to gary@garysfrance.com) so I can send the book, but I am yet to hear from some of the people who commented the most.
So, time is running out. Some of my readers really encouraged me to keep posting about my trip due to the many comments they were making. One person made just one comment on my blog and I am happy to send that person a free book, but I am not happy that I am yet to hear from some of the people that really deserve one. It is you that I want to say thank you to, so if you'd like a copy, send me your address!
I need it by 14th January.
I won't be asking again.....
I have had many people sending me their postal address (to gary@garysfrance.com) so I can send the book, but I am yet to hear from some of the people who commented the most.
So, time is running out. Some of my readers really encouraged me to keep posting about my trip due to the many comments they were making. One person made just one comment on my blog and I am happy to send that person a free book, but I am not happy that I am yet to hear from some of the people that really deserve one. It is you that I want to say thank you to, so if you'd like a copy, send me your address!
I need it by 14th January.
I won't be asking again.....