Bourton-on-the-Water

Bob and Bonzo met up at Fromes Hill cafe for a small bite to eat before heading east to the picturesque village of Bourton-on-the-Water in the Costwolds.

France

Bob, Chinny, Bonzo and Ray have just returned from a week spent making a nuisance of themselves over in France.

While I did not manage to get over there myself, Bob and Ray were very kind to send me 1 or 2 pictures to give me an idea of the fun and frolics that took place while they were away. Bob has also kindly (or more accurately I've hassled him) to write a few words regarding their trip which I hope to post soon.

In the mean time if you have a few hours to waste you can find over 70 pictures here

DSA "practise your theory test" website

Highwaylass has just posted a link on her blog where you can practice your theory test, both car and motorcycle.

I would highly recommend that if you have the time to visit the site (you have to sign up but it’s free) – I just about managed to scrape a pass – I got 43 out of 46 but I think a couple of my answers were more luck than judgement.

Check out www.theory-tests.co.uk if you want to have a go (and don't forget to post your score)

Please say hello to Flo

I would like to introduce my new squeeze, my new ride, my new bringer of thrills – Flo

After selling my Sprint ST last week I then spent almost all my waking hours pouring over Internet forums, eBay and the local newspapers in search of a new bike until eventually I found a nice looking Honda CBR1100xx Blackbird that was being advertised only about 50 miles away, so after work my lovely wife and me drove over to have a look at the bike.

After checking the bike out and chatting to the owner a deal was struck and I rode home on my new bike.

It’s obviously very early to tell as I’ve only done about 100 miles but I’m very happy with the bike, clearly loads has already been written about this bikes amazingly powerful engine and everything I’ve read it true – WOW! But one of the things that impressed was how the bike handled, it seems to hide its weight very well.

I’m now look forward to a clear weekend where I can get out on Flo and give her a good old fashioned spanking!

Sold my Triumph Sprint ST

On 24 August 2008, after nearly 2 years of ownership and 8,563 miles I've now moved on and sold my Sprint ST, I do hope that Ed the ST's new owner gets as much fun and enjoyment out of her as I did, and good luck with the IAM observer training ED.

Why? I'm still not sure, I noticed that my wandering eyes had started checking out other bikes, firstly it was just an occasional glance out of the corner of my eye, then it started getting much harder to ignore them, either sitting in a car park or dealers showroom, showing off their lithe smooth lines I started getting the urge. You know what I'm talking about? please don't let me be the only one.

So what are you going to get next I hear you all ask? I'm still unsure (typical!) I do like the look of Yamaha's 1000 Fazer with it's nice looking engine, comfortable riding position and great engine, but then again I've always liked quirky looking bikes such as BMW's R1100 but the Mr Sensible in me fancy's a Honda Blackbird. OK it helps that almost all of my mates ride Blackbird's and they are forever trying to tempt me over to the dark side with promises of endless power, great build quality and reliability and I must admit that even though the bikes been out for over 10 years it still looks good (there are a couple of rumor's of a slight change for the 2009 model)

As with most things in life we try to make decisions with our heads, thinking things through and weighing up the pros and cons but in the end all of a man's decision making is done by another part of his anatomy - his heart!

Hunstanton

It had been over 2 years since we had last been to 'Sunny Hunny' so we thought it was about time we headed east and sampled the delights that Hunstanton had to offer, no we are not talking about cockles and mussels (alive, alive-O!)

We decided to stop early in our little run as we were heading past The Long Itch Diner so we stopped to fill up our bellies with a nice Traditional Full English breakfast for the long day's riding ahead (well that was our excuse and we're sticking to it)

After breakfast we climbed aboard our bikes and headed north via some lovely back roads through Lutterworth and then into the market town of Market Harborough and after navigating it's one way system we picked up the B664 into Uppington where we decided on a nice quick blast along the A47 towards Peterborough.

I love the A47 into Peterborough but I didn't love the strong winds and we spent most of the A47 after Peterborough trying not to get blown clean off our bikes and when things started to ease off guess what we found the other side of Guyhim - Traffic! it was chock-a-block with car, caravans and horse boxes, it must have been over 10 miles of almost stationary traffic so instead of enjoying the country side the next few miles were spent attempting to get pass all the cars. In fairness I was quite taken aback by the number of vehicles that moved over to the left side of the road so that we had more room to pass them, It got to the point I wondered if we were being followed by an unseen police car with it's blue lights which was making the cars move out of the way.

Once we arrived at Hunstanton we headed straight for the promenade where bikes can park for £1 so after stumping up a quid we decided that a little walk along the seafront was in order, it was a shame as it was so blooming cold so we decided to only stop longer enough to have a cup of coffee to warm up and look around the other bikes that were parked up before we got back on our bikes and headed home.

Our return journey was very similar with the exception of being forced to stop at the Little Chef on the A47 at Uppingham for more coffee and cherry pancakes!

As always a few more pictures can be found here

The Long Itch Diner

Today's little jaunt was only going to be a short one as Bob had only just that morning arrived home after playing Captain Jack Sparrow on a narrow boat holiday, he was the curse of the seven seas we think it more a case he was a pain-in-a$$ along the Grand Union Canal.

Chinny also came along for the ride or more likely the promise of fried food, which he duly paid for (Thanks mate!) so we decided that instead of a long ride out to Wales or other places in the land of far far away we decided to to head the 20 or so miles over to the The Long Itch Diner as we had heard that it was a very popular, biker friendly place.

When we arrived at the The Long Itch Diner the first thing we noticed was that the place was busy which is usually a sign of good scoff. so after parking up and checking out the menu we decided to order the Traditional Full English breakfast that consisted of 2 sausages, 2 bacon, a well cooked egg, 2 black pudding, beans, tomato's and for me the highlight of the breakfast was the mushrooms, the breakfast also came with 2 rounds of toast and a proper cup of coffee.

During our mass scoffing session we discovered that all of our bikes were due MOT's within the next few days so we decided to head to Arch Motorcycles over in Leamington Spa and see if they could fit us in for the test.

After arriving at Arch Motorcycles we found out that we had turned up almost with perfect timing and they were just finishing off an MOT and could perform all 3 MOT's so after hanging around talking to the guys at Arch Motorcycles we finally left with 3 new MOT's - Thanks to the guys over at Arch Motorcycles for the friendly banter and of course thanks to Chinny who paid for today's scoff.

A few more pictures can be found here

Round House Cafe

It’s Saturday so that means only 1 thing, You’ve Been Framed is on! Ohh and it’s time to get the bikes out for yet another episode of the amazing adventures of Rig, Bob, Chinny, Ray and the unforgettable Bonzo!

Only as usual Rig couldn’t make it today due to “family commitments” or so he says, we all think he’s turned to the dark side and is out road testing Harley Davidson’s in his leather chaps and tasselled jacket.

As with all good long hard ride’s the key to success is lubrication and that’s even more true when you get Bonzo and Chinny together, they both need loads and loads of lubrication in the form of copious amounts of tea and a full English breakfast or in Bob’s case a plate of Bacon and Beans (go figure!) at the Round House Cafe on the A40 near Monmouth.

After everyone was full to the brim (If my memory serves me correctly Bonzo was close to over flowing) we jumped onto our bikes and went looking for some great roads and of course even more food.

The beauty with meeting up near Monmouth is that you’re starting at the gateway to one of the best bike friendly countries in the world – Wales – it really doesn’t matter where you go in Wales you will find some great roads and some amazing scenery.

After a ride along the A40 through Abergavenny and down a few other interesting roads, including a stop off at the canal basin in Brecon for Bonzo to get some photo's of some ducks we stopped at the West End Cafe in Llandovery for more tea and finally ending up at Builth Wells for a well earned rest before saying goodbye to Ray and Bonzo and heading home.

A few more pictures can be found here

Sunday Jaunt

Due to my eldest son's birthday being on the Saturday I couldn't make the trip to Aberystwyth to eat ice cream and look at students...cough...err, I mean look at classic cars so instead me and Bob set out the following day for a little ride around a few of our favourite roads.

We started the day by heading down the excellent A6006 from Ashby-De-La-Zouch into Melton Mowbray where I persuaded Bob to try a Mc Bacon Roll while I gorged myself on a Double Sausage & Egg McMuffin.

When we left McDonalds we then picked up the incredible B6047 from Melton Mowbray all the way into Market Harborough where after several attempts we eventually found Midland Superbikes that was to be out next port of call. After expertly dodging the burger van parked outside we had a wander around what can only be described as a large warehouse that was packed with hundreds of second hand bikes and then eventually found the spiral staircase that led us up the parts and accessories department where Bob managed to pick up 2 pairs of EBC HH pads for his Blackbird.

Once we had left Market Harborough we decided to let Bob's new Garmin Zumo 550 GPS unit lead the way through the back roads towards Bourne and it was along one of these roads, not far from Rockingham that we came across the 82 arch Welland viaduct

After taking a few photos we then carried on our little jaunt towards Bourne and once we got to Bourne we picked up (not literally as it wouldn’t fit into Bob’s Givi box although that wouldn't normally have stopped Bonzo) the A151/B676 back into Melton Mowbray and then onto our final stop of the day for coffee and scrummy cake at the Alpine Restaurant that is part of the Grange Garden Centre. Well worth stopping at if your passing.

After scoffing our cake we then headed back home via the A6006

A few more pictures can be found here

A couple of updates

Can I firstly apologise for the lack of updates at RigsVille over the last month, due to a shoulder injury I’ve been kept off my bike for the last 6 weeks but I’ve just had the all clear for me to get back on my steed.

In my absence all the other lads have been out enjoying themselves and they have taken great pleasure in telling me what I’ve been missing and what trouble Bonzo’s been getting himself into.

The 1st update was a few photos from when Bob and Chinny met up with Ray and Bonzo over at Fromes Hill Cafe for breakfast.

The 2nd update was another meeting of great minds (and Bonzo can along as well) but this time the meeting place was the Round Table Cafe near Monmouth after which they found a few ducks for Bonzo to play with and they ended up at the West End Cafe in Llandovery for more cake and biscuits.

Rays 2008 CBR1000RR Fireblade

At last years NEC Bike Show Ray spent quite a bit of time on the Honda stand, we thought at the time he fancied one of Honda's press girls but it turned out he was getting his rocks off looking at a different Honda badge, the new CBR1000RR Fireblade

It turns out that Ray has gone and replaced his 2005 CBR1000RR Fireblade with a brand new 2008 CBR1000RR Fireblade - the lucky bugger!

Ray collected his new bike on the 13th of March and due to poor weather he has only ridden the bike home from the dealers.

A few more pictures can be found here

Abergavenny

Saturday was a surprisingly beautiful sunny day for February so we decided to meet up the Bonzo and Ray at the Round Table Cafe on the A40 near Monmouth, the only problem was that as usual we were running a little late so that forced us to use the M42/M45/M50 so after 70-odd miles of mind numbing motorway we eventually met up at the Round Table Cafe for our usual start to the day, a scrummy breakfast (OK, in this case it was brunch as breakfast had finished) – Thanks Bonzo for the Brunch.

After we had finished our brunch we decided to head down one of our favourite roads, the B4521 into Abergavenny. After 20 miles of slipping and sliding around corners, along straights covered in mud from all the tractors we eventually made it safely to Abergavenny and the (almost) world famous Oasis Snack Bar (Bus Station Cafe) for coffee.

While we were lounging around the cafe we got chatting to a guy on a Honda Valadero (Sorry I forgot your name) who told us about a new Honda dealers that had just opened in Cwmbran and seeing how Ray is looking at replacing his current 2005 CBR100RR Fireblade with the new 2008 CBR1000RR Fireblade we decided to have a ride over and take a look.

Once again thanks to the guy on the Honda Valadero as because we are useless and couldn’t understand where the Honda Dealers were he offered top show us as he was heading in that direction.

15 miles later we arrived at Dragon Honda’s new showroom and was impressed at the spacious layout, the various make and models of bikes on offer and the free coffee (try the hot chocolate, it’s very good)

After having a look at the new 2008 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade and a number of other good bikes including a tasty BMW 1150GS Adventure and 2 amazingly engineered trikes we decided it was time to start heading home, we said good bye to Ray (and f&*k off to Bonzo) and headed back towards Monmouth via the A472 road through Usk and once again started up the A40/M50/M5/M42 home.

A few more pictures can be found here

Sorry mate I didn't see you

I've just found this great video on YouTube and thought everyone would also like to see it.

If only ehh?

Photo of Scott

Above is a photo I took of Scott after his 4 hour black belt grading, poor thing (you should have seen him the day after)

Another reason to be proud.

We have yet another reason to be proud of our eldest son Scott

Last Sunday he took and passed his Karate Black Belt!

Scott has been training for the last 5 years, attending lessons at least twice a week as well as numerous courses and he has always trained hard and tried his best.

Both myself and my wife are extremely proud of Scott, he didn’t have a good start to life and was in hospital for over 8 months when he was born and on more than one occasion we were told that he would not survive the night but Scott being Scott, even at that early age showed his now extreme determination and managed to pull thru.

Scott was nil by mouth for over 10 years and was fed by a machine for up to 18 hours a day and as a result has very poor gross and fine motor skills and is very small for his age but with his determination and his Karate training he has come on leaps and bounds to the point that he is now a BLACK BELT!

If anyone is interested in Scott’s problems you can read more here

I hope to post a new photo of Scott with his Black Belt in a few days...

Scotty – Well Done Mate, Love You Loads!

MBI Riders Choice Awards

It’s time for you to have your say in this years prestigious MBI Riders Choice Awards.

This is where you, the average biker get a chance to cast your vote and tell the motorcycle industry who you think has produced the best new motorcycle, product, service, individual and also the worst!

Voting only takes a few minutes and there’s no need to go through any lengthy registration process or give any personal details.

To make your voice (or should that be click?) heard simply head over to the MBI website and cast your vote now!

Website Problems

Arrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh!

Yet again within less than a month the company that hosts our main website at www.RigsVille.org.uk has a problem with the server that hosts our website.

The problem is based around an excellent website plug-in called AspJpeg that allows us to generate thumbnails for any photo's that we use on the fly.

Currently if you visit RigsVille you will notice that the website seems perfectly OK, that is until you select a page that contains any photos, for example the Bike Rides section.

Now you will see an error message due to the failure of the plug-in on the web server to generate the thumbnail photos.

This isn't the 1st, 2nd or even 3rd time that this problem has occurred and from what I'm led to understand it can be caused by a Microsoft update being installed and the fix is to simply re-boot the server.

I'm very sorry for any inconvenience that may cause anyone trying to access the website, hopefully it will get sorted within the next 24 hours or so......

Deflated?

Due to having a bad shoulder since the end of October I’ve been unable to get out on my bike for a while but I did notice in December that my rear tyre had lost quite a lot of pressure, so I pumped the tyre back up to the correct pressure and had a good look around the tyre for any nails, screws or small furry mammals that might have got lodged into the tyre causing the problem.

After an exhaustive examination (OK I spun the rear wheel a couple of times, kicked it a few more and made that sucking sound through my teeth that all mechanics seem to do) I couldn’t see anything obvious (obvious as it a 4 foot spike) so I decided that after all this hard work I should treat myself to a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea and have another look later on.

Much later, OK, the following day I checked the rear tyre and while it seemed still fully inflated so I checked the tyres pressure and it had gone down from 42PSI to 39 PSI – Crap! This means I got me a puncture!

This time after I had pumped the tyre back up I spent more time examining it but I still couldn’t find anything that might such cause a puncture, I took the wheel off the bike and using my best BMX puncture repair skills I found a big bucket and subsequently attempted to not only soak myself but drown the wheel in water in a vain attempt to see any air bubbles so that I could find out where the problem was.

After getting completely soaked (did I mention that it was a very cold day?) I gave up and decided to leave it to the experts.

Saturday morning saw me rechecking the rear tyre and then riding slowly down to Wheel House Tyres in Coleshill to see if they could do something with the tyre.

When I arrived at Wheel House Tyres they quickly took the wheel off and they also couldn’t see anything obvious so they decided to replaced the valve and clean the wheel rim in case there was some debris that might cause the problem (I have already looked for small furry mammals myself) and as it turns out when they went to replace the valve they found a very small hole in the valve that may have been caused but the super trendy anodized valve cap that I had fitted (They were on the bike when I bought it – honest!)

After they replaced the valve and fitted a standard valve cap they pronounced the job sorted, this was great news as not only did they find a problem, it was only the valve and that means not having to buy a new tyre or having to ride about on a repaired tyre.

Total cost?

£12.50 happily spent

Nominations For Annual Motorcycle Awards 2008

The nominations for the annual MBI Motorcycle Awards 2008 have opened!

MBI (Motorcycle Bloggers International), a group of over 142 Motorcycle Bloggers and News websites (of which RigsVille are proud members) is organizing this annual event.

What makes this yearly award more interesting than any others, is that it's you, the reader, who decides who gets nominated, it's you the reader who will vote for the nominations, so it's you, the readers who vote the winners!!! It's totally in your control.

Do you have a favorite motorcycle? (Sprint ST?)
Lust after one you can't afford? (Sprint ST?)
Admire someone who has done a lot for the motorcycle world?? (Rig?)

Now is your chance to make your voice heard!

All you have to do is head over to the MBI website and place your nomination but hurry as nominations close at the end of January and remember that anyone can nominate you don't need to be a MBI member to take part.

Happy Christmas from RigsVille

Everyone at RigsVille would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and lets hope that 2008 bring some great biking rides and in Bonzo's case even bigger breakfasts.

2007 NEC Bike Show

I've just uploaded some pictures of this years NEC Bike Show, they can be found here

Aberystwyth

We started the day meeting up with Bonzo and Ray at Fromes Hill Cafe where we had our usual excellent breakfast before heading onto the A417 into Leominster and picking up the excellent A44 until we had a quick stop at Crossgates Cafe

After we had refilled on coffee we stayed on the A44/A470 and followed this great road that's full of fast sweeping bends all the way into Aberystwyth.

Once we had found the seafront and parked our bikes next to loads of other bikes we stopped for yet another coffee and then it was time to head home which we did again via the A44 all the way back to Worcester and the Midlands.

A few more pictures can be found here

Grindleford Station Cafe

Grindleford Station Cafe was the destination for today's little ride out as it's only 80 miles away but they are some of the best roads in the area including the A515 through Ashbourne and the B5056 towards Bakewell

Once we had arrived and gorged ourselves we as had to start headed back home but headed home via Tideswell and the A515 into Ashbourne and then due to time issues we jumped onto the A52/A38 home.

A few more pictures can be found here

A proud day to be a Dad

Sorry but this post has nothing to do with motorcycles but I’m so happy and proud that I just had to post this.

For anyone that doesn’t know both me and my eldest son, Scott both study Karate and are members of the Shukokai Karate Association.

Last Sunday (September 30th) was our Karate associations National Championships held in Birmingham, now neither myself nor Scott were competing this year (I did win 1st place in 2005 for Kata but that’s enough of me blowing my own trumpet.) We went along to this year’s competition to cheer on and support a number of our fellow students who were taking part.

After a couple of hours watching and cheering on our friends just before the main event, the men’s black belt division the chief instructor of the association, Malcom Hudson stopped the proceedings and asked for Scott to come and join him in the centre of the hall.

Scott was then given an award for his “Dedication to Training” for his continued effort in training in Karate all through his illness.

We are all very proud of Scott, as any parent would be but even more so when you understand all the medical problems he has come through, all with a brave face and a never ending smile.

Scott – I love you mate.

Bournemouth

It was mid-August and Bob was starting to get itchy feet and he wanted to go and have a paddle in the sea (probably to soothe the itching)

So early on a Saturday morning myself, Bob and Chinny jumped onto our bikes to meet up with Ray and Bonzo, we had decided to meet them at junction 17 of the M4 so we took the excellent A429 Fosse Way from Warwick south and around Cirencester and past Malmesbury until we hit the M4.

After meeting up with the lads we decided to head back into Malmesbury and look for breakfast.

After parking up in Malmesbury (It was nice to see that they had put out the flags to celebrate our visit) we had a little wander around this lovely looking town and eventually found a little cafe called Summer Cafe on the High Street where we had our breakfast baguettes and coffee.

Once our bellies had been filled and our bladders emptied the next part of today's trip was to head south through Devizes and around Salisbury and then down the A338 until we reached Bournemouth

After wandering around Bournemouth for a couple of hours, walking along the pier, ogling all the very attractive ladies on the beach including one brave lady who seemed to have forgot her bikini top and trying to keep Bonzo off all the fair rides we decided it was time to saddle up and start the long journey home.

Rather than retrace our route back we decided to take a slightly different way home that included the A350 from Blandford Forum north through to Warminster where we had a quick stop at a local pub for refreshments (diet coke) before carrying on up the A350 back to junction 17 of the M4 where we said our goodbyes to Ray and Bonzo and we then retraced our earlier route back up the Fosse way.

All in all we had a great, if very sweaty day and covered over 445 miles and after all that Bob never did get his paddle.

A few more pictures can be found here

Aberaeron

Saturday morning saw myself, Bob and Chinny meet up again with Bonzo and Ray at Fromes Hill Cafe for our usual start to a day out on the bikes, a nice big fry up!

Unfortunately I had leave after breakfast to go to my niece Taylor’s 4th birthday party so while I headed back up the M5 with thoughts of birthday cake and orange squash the others decided to head for the seaside for some sticky rock at Aberaeron.

A few more pictures can be found here

Hartington

Due to other commitments only myself and Bob could get out today and even then I had to be home early, so we we decided upon a little run into the Peak District for breakfast.

We took our usual route through Lichfield and down the A515 until we stopped for petrol at just before Sudbury when I bumped into Boycie and Big Dave from t595.net who were also heading out for a little ride of their own. After getting some advice from Boycie about some of the local roads we jumped back on the bikes and headed back up the A515 into Ashbourne

After make our way through the traffic in Ashbourne we stayed on the A515 which is a great, if busy and heavily policed road until we turned left onto the B5054 and headed into Hartington. Like most of the B roads within the Peak District this a lovely road with some great views but due to a lack of time we stopped in Hartington upon the recommendation of a mate of mine at the local tea room where we had our usual breakfast before heading back out onto the roads and headed home.

A few more pictures can be found here

Breakfast Run

After a couple of years being unable to ride his Blackbird due to health reasons, it was great to see Chinny again

As with almost all our ride outs we arranged to meet up at a cafe, in this case we were meeting up with Bonzo and Ray so we decided to meet at Fromes Hill Cafe as this is half way between where we all live.

After our usual excellent breakfasts we decided to have a ride along the excellent A44 from Bromyard, through Leominster and stopping off at Crossgates Cafe for yet more food.

Here we had to call is a day and head home due to people having to get back early but it was great to see Chinny back on the road.

A few more pictures can be found here

PilliGrip Seat Cover

Many thanks to Cara over at Jangle Jangle for reviewing the PilliGrip Seat Cover for us, you can read all about the PilliGrip here
 

Email Updates

Thanks to the clever people over at FeedBurner you can now signup to receive updates via email.

The service is safe and secure and neither RigsVille or FeedBurner would pass on your email details to anyone else.

If you wish to be notified via email when we update RigsVille, simply visit RigsVille and click on the What's New link on the bottom left of the page and enter your email address.
 

France and Spain

It's June so that can mean only 1 thing, it's time for Bob, Ray and Bonzo to head to France and Spain!

This year they had 12 days to travel down through France via the ferry crossing at Cherbourg and into Spain so that Ray could have a paddle in the sea (wearing his thong)

This year’s trip wasn’t without incident and included both Ray and Bonzo dropping their bikes for no reason at all. Ray’s alternator failing on his Fireblade and Bob’s battery on his Blackbird frying itself and needing to be replaced in the middle of Spain.

One highlight of the trip was visiting the Millau Viaduct and overall they had a great time, rode some amazing roads and ate some wonderful food.

--Lucky bastards!

A few more pictures can be found here
 

Hank's Back ! !

After a couple of years in the wilderness Hank's got himself another bike.

His 1200 Trophy is a 1997 model with just over 49,000 miles and a full set of Triumph luggage.

Welcome back mate!

A few more pictures can be found here
 

Round Table Cafe

After meeting at Bob's place for a cup of tea we arranged to meet Ray and Bonzo for breakfast just outside Monmouth at the Round Table Cafe that is part of the services on the A40.

We decided that rather than go via boring old motorway we would travel down to Stratford-upon-avon and then the the A46 towards Evesham and then jumped onto the M5 north for a few miles until we turned off onto the M50 (what did I say about boring old motorways?)

After getting to Ross-on-wye we stopped to get petrol as unknown to me Bob's fuel light had been on before we hit the M5, at the petrol station Bob managed to put 19 litres of petrol into his bike, so assuming he had a full tank to begin with he only had 2 litres left!

10 Minutes later and we had arrived at the Round Table Cafe where we met up with Ray and Bonzo and tucked into our very expensive breakfasts (Thanks Bonzo)

Bonzo didn't have much time today and soon had to head back to Cardiff, so after saying our goodbyes (Bob, Ray and Bonzo are meeting up again in a few days as they are all off to France and Spain for 12 days) me and Bob headed back towards the Midlands.

A few more pictures can be found here
 

MOT Time!

It's that time of year, well to be more accurate, for my Sprint ST it's the first time.

My Sprint ST is now officially over 3 years old and is due an MOT test.

Now I know that a bike that's only 3 years old shouldn't really have any problems but that doesn't stop me worrying about it, as a young lad I hated MOT tests, my bikes would always fail on some minor issues such as bent forks, lack of tread in the tyres or missing headlight bulbs!

I had recently serviced my bike including new brake pads front and back, a new set of tyres and a complete going over with a fine tooth comb but that still didn't stop me worrying about the forthcoming MOT test.

Obviously I needn't have worried though as it passed without any problems, so I have 12 months to go until I start worrying again.

Now I just need shop around for my bike insurance as thats due in 3 weeks time....

Today is Ben's 8th birthday - Happy birthday BB Monster!

Willingham Woods

We started today’s little jaunt with breakfast outside at the lovely Wharf side Cafe that is located at Sutton Cheney Wharf. Here you can sit and watch the narrow boats pass by while munching on a bacon batch or in Bob’s case a nice big fry up!

After we had finished our food we headed up the A447 towards Coalville and then onto the B5324 into Melton Mowbray, from here we carried on though the town and onto the B676 into Bourne. From here we decided to use Bob’s favourite toy (no the other favourite toy) and use his Garmin GPS to get us to Market Rasen where a couple of miles along the A361 you will find Willingham Woods

After following the A15 around Sleaford we finally approached Lincoln and we were rewarded with not only some great views of Lincoln Cathedral but also loads of AWAKS airplanes lined up on the tarmac at RAF Waddington

After Lincoln it was just 16 miles up the A46 to Market Rasen and after a few wrong turns we eventually found the Willingham Woods cafe.

The Willingham Woods cafe is just off the main A631 and is part of a small car park where people park up and go a wandering around the local woods, or if your a biker you can buy a cup of tea and a bacon batch and sit and admire all the other motorcycles parked up. Guess which one we did?

The atmosphere was very relaxed, probably aided by the unusually warm weather we were having but it was very relaxing sitting on our asses on the grass bank watching all the bikes (and ladies) pass us by. After an hour we decided that it was getting late (remember Bob's ASBO?) so we jumped back onto our bikes and decided to take the more direct A46 to Nottingham and then the A42/M42 home.

More pictures can be found here
 

Red Marley Hill Climb

The Red Marley Hill Climb is classic motorcycle hill climb that takes place near Great Witley in Worcestershire. This was the 1st time I had been to this event and from what I had heard about it I was really looking forward it.

Due to everyone else having other commitments only myself and Bob we decided rather than go the boring direct route we would take a nicer route past Stratford-Upon-Avon, Arrow and south of Worcester so that we could call in to Fromes Hill Cafe for a quick breakfast.

Unfortunately when we arrived at Fromes Hill cafe we found it closed so we decided to head for Great Witley and get a burger instead.

After following the signs for Red Marley we came upon a queue of traffic leading up to Great Witley and then we were directed in to the field set aside for bike parking.

The only complaint I have with this event was the bike park, it was located near the entrance (nice) but it was on the side of a hill and the field was very bumpy (bad) but the organisers had thoughtfully placed a stack of wooden cut off’s near the entrance for you to place under your side stand to stop it sinking into the field (good). The problem was that with the incline of the hill and the rough ground it was very hard work just keeping your bike upright in fact I saw 3 riders lose their balance while attempting to park their bikes and each on toppled over and onto the grass, in each case there didn’t seem to be much damage excluding the riders pride.

After successfully parking the bike we then had a little walk up the hill to the entrance and paid our £5 to get in (kids go free!) and I had to almost physically hold Bob back as he wanted a go on the bouncy castle but I managed to convince him that food was more important that him getting a few jumps in...

After a baguette and a coke we settled down on the grass and watched the racing. One of the nice things I noticed (apart from all the lovely ladies) was that because it has a hill climb you could watch the event from almost any where, that is as long as some twats don’t come and stand right in front of you while you and a couple of hundred people are sitting on the ground watching the racing and block your view very thoughtful bunch of twats there were, especially the guys in the cowboy hats how cute (sic)

Highlights of the event included watching some brave soul on a bright yellow scoter attempt the hill and he almost made it to the top, much to the crowd’s enjoyment!

There was some great classic machinery on display and the air was filled with equal amounts of dust and Castrol-R lovely and quite a few riders didn’t quite manage to get up the hill with one or two deciding they would have a better chance by going sideways into the roped off area!

After watching the racing for a few hours, having a wander around the handful of trade stand that were there and spending 30 minutes queuing for the toilet we decided to brave the bike park and start heading home.

The event was extremely well organised, well marshalled and not overly priced and well worth a return trip, only this time I think I will take the car (and the kids) as it’s much easier to park.

More pictures can be found here
 

Breakfast Blast

Last Saturday morning I met up with Bob and a friend of his Jeff (GSX-R600) at Bob’s house ready to ride down to Ross-on-Wye to meet up with Bonzo and Ray. Due to us leaving Birmingham 30 minutes later than expected we had to abandon the idea of taking the twisty scenic route and instead decided to jump onto the M42/M5 and then the M50 so that we didn’t arrive too late at the services on the A40 near Whitchurch/Symonds Yat.

After we arrived at the services and met up with Bonzo and Ray we then spent the next half hour tucking into our plates of sausage, bacons and beans we decided to have a ride down one of our favourite roads the B4521 between Ross-on-Wye and Abergavenny.

The B4521 is a really great road, full of tight turns and nice scenery and not too busy and once you get to Abergavenny. you could always stop at Abergavenny Bus station, a very popular bikers meeting place, but today we didn’t stop here we carried on along the A40 towards Brecon but turn off along the excellent A479 through Talgarth and then along the A470 until we reached Builth Wells where we stopped in the local car park.

After Builth Wells we headed out onto the A481 though Hundred House until we hit the A44 then we turned right and followed it until we stopped for petrol in Leominster, here we said our goodbyes to Bonzo and Ray as we had to get back to Birmingham early and after filling up our tanks we carried on along the A44 until we hit the M5 at Worcester, then it was just a quick dash up the M5/M42 for home.

In all a short day with only 230 miles covered but it was filled with some excellent food and some excellent roads, shame that we had to take Bonzo with us ;)

Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera (I left it at home charging the batteries as we had a family birthday party that I needed it for) and Bob’s camera decided to play up so we don’t have any pictures of today little ride.

MBI 2007 Awards Announced

The 2nd annual Riders Choice Awards have been announced by MBI.

Voting took place over the last couple of months with over 1,000 people from 88 countries nominating and voting for their favourite motorcycle products.



The Riders Choice Star awards winners are:

* A Rider's Dream - To ride the Silk Route, from Istanbul Turkey to Xian, China
* 2006's Best concept motorcycle or scooter - Desmosidici RR
* Best exhibition of 2006 - Intermot
* Best looking new in 2006 motorcycle - Triumph Daytona 675
* Best manufacturer’s website - BMW Motorrad
* Best motorcycle or scooter blog - Scooter in the Sticks
* Best new in 2006 every day motorcycle - BMW F800S
* Best new in 2006 scooter - Piaggio MP3
* Best new in 2006 motorcycle - BMW F800ST
* Object of lust - Ducati Desmosedici RR
* Thumbs up - Ardys Kellerman
* Wish we’d thought of that - Piaggio MP3
* Women riders booster of the year - Ardys Kellerman



The Riders Choice Fallen Star winners (losers) were:

* Thumbs down - Billy Lane
* What were they thinking? - Speed TV Superbikes
* Worst manufacturer’s website - Icon Motorcycle Gear

To see all awards and descriptions, plus runner ups, click here.

Hurry up and place your vote!

Hurry up and head over to the MBI website to place your vote for this years 2007 awards as voting ends soon.

The 2007 MBI awards are YOUR chance to vote, voting is free, easy and will only take a few minutes.

There's no need to register, give your email address and you can if you wish only vote for the sections you want to.

To vote just click the link below.

Motorcycle Bloggers International

Elan Valley

We started the day meeting up with Ray and Bonzo at Fromes Hill Cafe for our usual get together and fry up. This was also the first time we had seen Bonzo's new blackbird so we spent the next 10 minutes looking over his bike trying to find faults, unfortunately we couldn't find much wrong with the bike so had to settle on find faults with the owner instead…

Many hours later we settled on having a ride over to Elan Valley as the scenery is great this time of year and the cake in the visitors centre is also very nice.

We headed into Leominster and then out onto the excellent A44 all the way to Crossgates where we stopped for petrol, after filling up we headed into Elan Valley and stopped at the visitors centre for the promised tea and cake, unfortunately the centre was closed so we decided to have a wander around the dams via the mountain road that would eventually take us back to Rhayader and more opportunity for cake.

It must be said that the scenery around the Elan valley is outstanding, even more so after the heavy snow that had come down the previous week as this helped fill the dams up and they were overflowing with water.

After our gentle ride around the mountain road we headed back to Rhayader and then onto Crossgates where we stopped for our tea and cake at last. Here we said our goodbyes to Ray and Bonzo and me and Bob started 100 mile trip home.

More pictures can be found here
 

Bonzo's New Bike

In September 2006 Bonzo had his Blackbird stolen, he would have replaced the bike straight away if it wasn’t for the insurance company being a PITA and dragging their heels, but at the end of December 2006 they eventually paid up so Bonzo was on the lookout for another blackbird.

In February 2007 he eventually found a second-hand 2005 Blackbird for sale at motorbiking.co.uk in Bournemouth so off he and Ray went and picked it up and now Bonzo’s a happy man.

Bonzo's new Blackbird is a second-hand 2005 model with less that 5K miles, it's in excellent condition and came with a rear hugger and a very nice silver colours double bubble screen and a P&P Seating Viper seat.

More pictures of Bonzo's bike can be found here
 

2007 MBI Riders Choice awards

It's that time of the year when you get your chance to vote in the 2007 Motorcycle Bloggers International Riders Choice awards!

There are over 15 different awards ranging from the worst manufacturer's website, Best new in 2006 motorcycle and Best motorcycle or scooter blog.

Voting is free and open to everyone but hurry as voting ends on 12th of March with the winners announced on the 15th of March. To vote just click the link below.

Motorcycle Bloggers International
 

Fox's Diner

Saturday morning was cold, blooming cold in fact but that didn’t stop me and Bob leaving the warmth and comfort of chateau-la-bob for the mostly dry roads of Oxfordshire.

The plan was to have a ride around the Cotswolds and end of at Fox’s Diner for lunch and surprisingly that’s what almost happened.

We planned to head down the A429 into Stow on the Wold and then to A424 into Burford and a quick blast along the A40 then turn off onto more local roads like the B4044, A4074 and end up at Dorchester On Thames for lunch at Fox’s Diner.

Well I did say that we almost stayed on plan except that I was in front and totally forgot about turning off at Stow and kept on going all the way past Bourton on the Water and only remembered when we hit the junction with the A40. No worries I thought so we just headed along the A40 into Burford and then keep going. And keep going is what I did until we reached Oxford. Opps I forgot again to turn off the A40 near Eynsham.

Due to my poor navigation ability we decided to resort to the old favourite - GPS. Bob entered the details into his trusty (or should that be rusty) Garmin GPS and off we went, pass the turning for the A34 and into Oxford city centre!

The GPS was set for shortest route, not fastest so in it’s wisdom it took us straight through the centre of Oxford where we had great fun battling with loads and loads of bloody pushbikes.

We eventually survived Oxford and made it to Fox’s Diner just in the nick of time as we were both starving!

Fox’s Diner is obviously a very popular biker’s cafe, it was packed with bikers with everything from Trikes, Sports bikes, a very dirty Honda Blackbird, and a very nice and clean Triumph! Outside there’s loads of easy bike parking, no gravel covered hills here and there’s loads of outside tables, inside it’s also very nice and according to Bob the breakfast was good as well.

After we had eaten we went outside for a chat and to look at the bikes in the car park, also next to Fox’s Diner is MPS Express which is useful to nip in and have a wander around.

More pictures of the trip can be found here
 

Motorcycle Bloggers International

RigsVille is very proud to announce that we have been accepted as members of
Motorcycle Bloggers International

Motorcycle Bloggers International is an informal association of people who ride motorbikes and write about it. Members come from all walks of life and cultures. But they have two things in common: they enjoy riding and writing about it.

This is a very prestigious event for RigsVille and we hope to be able to make a very valuable contribution to MBI.

Each year MBI invites bikers from all around the world to participate in the MBI Riders Choice awards, this is where people can nominate many motorcycle related categories including products, people, organisations and many more - check out the 2006 awards or you can even take part in this years awards by placing your own nominations
 

Christmas Presents

Like most bikers, the majority of the items on my Christmas list to Santa contained motorcycle related stuff, mine included a new GPS to replace my excellent but non waterproof Garmin I3 (no chance but it was worth a try) some DVD's, a PS2 game and a new set of EDZ thermals

One of the other things on my list was a set of Philips Blue Vision H4 headlight bulbs - I have always liked these bulbs as not only do they give a view of the road on dark nights but they also have a distinctive blue filter that creates the distinctive blue light that matches the blue of the bike.

My wife bought the bulbs from Power Bulbs who are a great company that I have dealt with before on a number of occasions.

Come Christmas morning and I'm sitting in the living room with my wife and 2 children, all of us eagerly opening presents and I open my gift that contains the Philips bulbs.

Wow!

Great!

Just what I wanted!

I thank my wife and Children and pass the gift to my wife to examine, only then does she notice that there is something missing!

When my wife ordered the bulbs from the Power Bulbs website she noticed a big banner advert saying:

"Buy any pair of headlight or indicator bulbs, and receive a FREE pair of Philips Blue Vision W5W sidelight bulbs. More details."

The free bulbs were missing from the box (she had not checked when they were delivered as there was a label asking you to check that the bulbs were the correct fitting before opening, so she didn't)

OK they were only a pair of sidelight bulbs, not a major problem but she thought that it they would look good in the middle eye of the Triumph's headlights, So there I am at 9am on Christmas morning sending an email to Power Bulbs asking if there is a problem with the order as the free bulbs were missing.......

3 hours later!!!!! I got a reply from Power Bulbs thanking me for my enquiry and informing me that the free bulbs were included within the order, they are inside the box that contains the bulbs (You couldn't see them as the cardboard packaging was obscuring them)

So not only am I an idiot for not looking correctly but Power Bulbs provided an response time that many other 'customer focused' company's would find hard to beat but they did so on Christmas day!

Christmas Day FFS!

Many thanks to Power Bulbs for not only a great product at a great price (£19.45 including free postage) but thanks for proving 1st class customer service.
 

Roman Roads

As per our usual Saturday morning ritual we started the day with a fantastic breakfast at the Touchdown Cafe, Wellesbourne before deciding to spend the day exploring the tranquil and picturesque roads of the Cotswolds.

We got as far as Halford where our paths crossed the Fosse Way and we took one look at the big black clouds and decided to turn around and head up the infamous Fosse Way.

The Fosse Way was a Roman road that linked Exeter to Lincoln and being an old Roman road it’s a very straight, and bumpy road but it has very little traffic and few speed cameras, in fact the section that we rode didn’t have any speed cameras…that we saw)

We continued north up the Fosse way until it crossed another old famous Roman road Watling Street, otherwise known as the A5, it’s rumoured that near this point (where the Fosse Way and Watling Street cross one another) The battle of Watling Street took place in around 60ad between the Britons (under the command of Queen Boudica) and the Romans.

Once onto the Watling Street we headed south east towards Market Harborough, once past we then picked up one of my favourite roads the B6047 to Melton Mowbray and our next stop for coffee and a warm by the open fire at the excellent Alpine Restaurant that is part of the Grange Garden Centre in Ashfordby.

We next headed west onto the excellent A6006 through Wymeswold and Rempstone until we crossed the A6 and then continued along the B5324 until we got to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, then it was just a few motorway miles home.

The great thing about today’s little ride was that we covered 2 of my favourite places to eat and 3 of my all time favourite roads, even if they were all covered in crap!

Sorry for the lack of photos but we were too busy riding our bikes!

NEC Bike Show 2006

I must admit that I wasn't overly looking forward to this years NEC Bike Show, I'm not sure why but the last few years shows have just been more of the same and were getting boring but due to work commitments myself and a few of the others couldn't make it to the show mid-week so we decided to brave to crowds and visit the show on Saturday the unexpected bonus to this was that my eldest son Scott could also come along.

We arrived at the NEC around 9:50 and after waiting in the ticket queue for 10 minutes eventually paid our £15 for our tickets, by then the show was open but not being ones to rush around and we decided that food was more important that bikes and so we headed into Weatherspoons for breakfast and coffee.

One we had gotten into the show it was nice to see that things had not changed and that there was many young ladies in tight fitting clothes, Scotty was in heaven and so was Bob.

The show contained it usual stands displaying motorcycles, motorcycle accessories, magazines, books, DVDs and Credit Cards? but Scotty was happy as he clambered aboard any and every bike he could and he was over the mood when he found a BMW F650 Dakar and the KTM stand.

I must admit that I really enjoyed this years show, why? I'm not sure maybe it's because I didn't spend any money on any Bike Show 'bargains' or maybe it was just down the fact that we spent the day talking bikes, looking at bikes (and girls!) and eating!

More pictures of the trip can be found here

Sherwood Forest

After reading about the lads at JangleJangle going to Sherwood Forest and playing at being Robin Hood we decided to have a little ride over that way for a change as Bob wanted to audition for the role of the sheriff of Nottingham.

As with most of our trips the day starts with a excellent breakfast and today was no exception as we decided to call into the Salt Box Cafe near Derby. After finding a table as the place was packed as a bunch of guys and gals from the Christian Motorcyclists Association had also stopped here for a break while on one of their runs. Bob demolished a Tattie Breakfast in his usual gusto.

After being suitably fed and watered we headed onto the A515 into Ashbourne and then onto the A517 towards Belper. Once at Belper we went through Heage to get onto the A38 which we took north until we crossed the M1 then carried on the A38 to Mansfield, from there is was just a short ride to Edwinstowe and the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre. (note that if you visit in a car then there is a £3 parking charge but if your on a bike it's free!)

After playing dodge the leaf litter in the car park we parked the bikes and had a stroll around the visitor centre, which is quite a large area consisting of toilets, exhibition hall complete with the obligatory shop, restaurant and other bits and pieces. Once we had walked around the exhibition, played sword fights with wooden swords in the gift show (and nearly getting thrown out) we decided to go and find this big tree that everyone seems to talk about (Major Oak) Unfortunately after walking 100 yards we came across a sign telling us it was a 20 minute walk and Bob was unable to walk that far due to his gammy leg so we decided the best course wasn't into the forest but the restaurant instead.

Once we had warmed up with a nice cup of coffee, had a letch at a load of foreign ladies in tight jeans it was time to head home as it was starting to get dark (Bob's ASBO prevents him from going out at night)

For the trip home, due to the dark skies, we decided to jump onto the M1/M42 and head south.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, Bob had forgotten the memory card for his camera and mine was playing up.

More pictures of the trip can be found here