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
Round House Cafe
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.
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
