Wednesday 29 June 2005

cbr600r v.s. Toyota MR2 Turbo Rev3

Sunday night and Allan's going up north in his MR2 , it would be a shame not to tag along on the bike and have a nice run.......

Was great fun without going too fast, must do it again.
J

Monday 27 June 2005

New MINI wheels now on.....

Yep , its true the wheels arrived on Saturday and were fitted within 10 minutes :-)
so heres a few pics to give you an idea......
Click to get menu of all pics

18x8 Compomotive MO ET43mm in silver fitted with 215/35/18 Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres

I think they look fabulous if not a little cartoony , yes it looks way 'over wheeled' for a MINI lol.
Only done a few miles but already the ride feels better.

Monday 20 June 2005

Road Pilot pic / Bike stickers removed

Well here you go , exciting its not but heres a pic of the position of the micro road pilot I fitted recently into the MINI.



Dave came round on Sat to show of his newly lowered Integrale , sweet or what?



Removed the side CBR stickers from the bike , I like 'clean' lines.
A work of warning though , it took me ages to get all the glue off , whilst terrified I was gonna scratch/damage my bike paintwork!



Tyres have arrived , so I will be getting my wheels this week. woohoo
Better get those springs ordered....

Wednesday 15 June 2005

Micro Road Pilot fitted

Micro Road Pilot
Ho hum I did actually attempt to fit this on Tuesday night however after some over enthusiastic yanking on the power cable I managed to fuse it internally!!!!
So I had to order a new one , what a pl*nker...
Anyway it arrived today (quick or what?) and I've now fitted the unit to the car.
In a somewhat unusual place up near the rear view mirror.
[TODO : In car pics to follow]
The GPS receiver on the dash RHS , which seems to work just fine even though I have a heated front window which can hamper reception. There are small strips either side of the windscreen that dont contain an element.
Quick road test and it seems to work just great :-)
Also fitted the whiter sidelights bulbs which look great compared to the 'brown' colour given off by the originals.

Clear indicators for bike arrived today too :-)

Next step is to get wheels on MINI(when they arrive) and buy some eibach springs to lower it ....

Missing the bike in this weather , but tommorrow it could be dry.........

J

Monday 13 June 2005

Wheels may arrive soon / My little sister gets married...

MINI
tyres have apparently been located for my wheels so they could be here soon :-)
Alas the intercooler looks to be further away than ever , the design has been improved and I have said I will just wait for the newer style....
Also the Micro Road Pilot arrived (I couldnt resist after my recent speeding offence) on Saturday (but sat in a box all weekend!) , so I'll try and fit that soon.
Bought once again from newministuff.co.uk along with some brighter sidelight bulbs.

BIKE
Disclock for the bike seems on eternal backorder !
Hopefully my clear indicators will arrive soon too...
A few days without biking (due to weather and circumstance and Im champing at the bit to get out again , addictive this bike lark ??? Not half :-)

WEDDING
On a cheery note a big congratulations to Mr and Mrs Graham , my sister got married yesterday , she looked stunning and the weather held out just enough at select occasions. Top notch day (although Im now very tired).
Pictures of the bride and groom and me in a black kilt( i was an usher) may follow if I ever get my hands on any.



J

Wednesday 8 June 2005

1000miles+ / Speeding

Ok quite a lot happening these days..

Personal
On a personal front its a tough 10 days , our wedding anniversary was Friday last week , Tuesday this week would have been Nicolas 33rd birthday and this Sunday coming , my sister gets married and has her reception at the same place we did , its gonna be an emotional Sunday.... thats as much as Im gonna post publically....

Bike
1000 miles + Speeding Ticket
Bike continues to get much stronger as the miles pile on.
With all the tough emotional issues its been really helpful to don the leathers and head out onto the open road.
I passed 1000 miles on Sun night (see pic) and in fact was off on Tues too and the bike is now at 1290 miles :-)
Fuel economy is around 100 miles extending to 120+ if you keep the revs below 8k.
In fact I have now passed my test for 4 weeks and I got my first speeding ticket
:-(.
Needless to say I wasnt hanging about , but luckily the police were very pleasant and I got a fixed penalty of 60 notes and 3 points, officially done for 88mph in a 60 limit (lets just say this was a really good result for me...).
Didnt put a damper on my day though (I had bigger things on my mind), and I continued up loch lomond side and on toward rest and be thankful and lochgilphead.
Roads were warm and dry , so I got a chance to improve my cornering technique.
As far as I can tell the 6 points in 2 years New Driver rule doesnt apply to me as I've had my main car driving licence for 15 years, and the 2yrs applies to your first licence, and motorcycle entitlement is considered an addition.
Still to be 100% confirmed though , anyway I needed to slow down a bit anyway...




Clear paint protection film
Ordered from the US and I fitted the pieces that go onto the tank (as I was already marking it). Not adhesive but the stuff you spray water on first then spend ages get the bubbles out :-) It took a while to get a good finish but I think I did a good job. Well worth it.

MINI
Not a lot to report , still awaiting tyres and the Intercooler .....
After my recent points Im now seriously considering the micro road pilot GPS esp as the SPECS cameras are now being hooked up down in Ayr.
[Luckily it doesnt effect me on the bike though , (big grin...)]

J

Friday 3 June 2005

6th Anniversary

Well today would have been our 6th year together whilst married.
A somber day that has hit me much harder than I imagined.
And to come is Nicolas birthday on Tues...
My heart aches , there is no more to say...

Wednesday 1 June 2005

Bike@850miles / MINI wheels update

Bike@850miles
Decorating jobs to be done in Ayr to help my sister and her fiancee (before the wedding in 2 weeks time!) , so if the sun is shining it would be a crime not to use the bike. Several jaunts up n down M77 during night and day.
I have to say the 600RR is a very easy bike to ride.
Engine seems to be definitely bedding in well , on more than one occasion over the last 2 days I have had 'steering head shake' under full power in 1st and 2nd which is new ! I guess a steering damper may be in order.
Love the shiftlight on the RR at night time :-) , during the day I have to say I cant see it in my peripheral vision.
Definitely feel its producing more horses at the back wheel.
Throttle snatch/progression I still find tricky at junctions and roundabouts.
Even though I'm not pushing the bike too hard , I can still only manage ~100miles for the 8 bars of the fuel gauge (i.e. down to the reserve light)
Checked out the theoretical speeds on the bike in each gear(using Gear Calculator .......)
1st 74mph
2nd 103mph
3rd 123mph
4th 141mph
5th 158mph
6th 171mph
seems a bit ambitious, next time out ,I'll check this (!)
Disklok on backorder.
Will probably buy clear indicators if the 04 ones fit the 05 bike.
Still not fitted crash bungs (I now have 2 sets sitting in the living room..)

MINI wheels update
Well its certainly taking a long time. New wheels are apparently finished but now the delay is for the tyres I requested. Hopefully this can be resolved soon before the summer ends!!!!!!
Intercooler should be here soon too........

l8r
J