When/Where/Pics was the last time you rode your bike ?

[Noggin]

I used to ride all year in the UK. Can't really do it out here, although I did ride the baby Duke up here at Christmas one year!! LOL Chilly but lush!

I can't find the pic of the last time I rode, but it wasn't much fun - didn't like the bike and it hurt a lot!!

The last time I rode a bike I love was 14th August 2017. The pic is with some friends bikes outside a mates house, I think the girl attacking my TL had the R1200! She made my bike look like a dinky toy! LOL

[scottyuk]

I have ridden all year every year since getting my licence as I commute. This is an exceptional time and as such my mileage is way down due to home working. I still go out for a pleasure ride which helps my mind. I'll pick and choose days a little based on weather e.g. why do a wet Saturday if the Sunday is sunny, but if both are wet then I'll just go out anyway. I've got good gear and don't get wet. It still clears my head and it keeps my riding skills tuned. I avoid ice and snow (although not always when commuting) but otherwise don't mind the weather whatever it is.

[Noggin]

I have ridden all year every year since getting my licence as I commute. This is an exceptional time and as such my mileage is way down due to home working. I still go out for a pleasure ride which helps my mind. I'll pick and choose days a little based on weather e.g. why do a wet Saturday if the Sunday is sunny, but if both are wet then I'll just go out anyway. I've got good gear and don't get wet. It still clears my head and it keeps my riding skills tuned. I avoid ice and snow (although not always when commuting) but otherwise don't mind the weather whatever it is.

The mental side is what I've missed so much for so long now. I can't wait to be back on a bike in the summer and start to feel like me again!!

[Scuffmark]

It's now got both wheels out and sent off to C J Ward in Burton for powder coating back to original. I doubt it will turn a wheel much before March/April.

@mangocrazy , I'm looking to get some rims coated , could I ask if you've used C J Ward for powder coating before or is this the first time ?

They don't appear to have a website only an address and phone number.

[mangocrazy]

It's now got both wheels out and sent off to C J Ward in Burton for powder coating back to original. I doubt it will turn a wheel much before March/April.

@mangocrazy , I'm looking to get some rims coated , could I ask if you've used C J Ward for powder coating before or is this the first time ?

They don't appear to have a website only an address and phone number.

Hi, I found out about C J Ward on the RDLCCrazy website (bunch of LC nutters... ). So many people had used Wards and had glowing reports that I was convinced. I later found out that Niall Mackenzie uses them for all his powdercoating for restorations. I dropped my wheels off in person and they showed me a couple of sets due to go back to owners. They were absolutely immaculate. The place itself is hard to find and is proper old skool. Nothing fancy, but the quality of work is superb.

[Wossname]

I'm a bit odd - I quite enjoy being out and about on the bike in iffy conditions, having to make extra allowance for stuff like gravel, mud, wind, rain, dark - out for a couple of hours and home light of heart with a smile. Tho there are limits, I admit. Down side is having to clean a very mucky bike. I've almost solved that by only cleaning it every 2nd or 3rd ride. It also means that I'm not too unsettled by bad weather the rest of the year.

And it's now upset by "stay at home" — I struggle to justify a long ride for a short walk.

[Noggin]

I'm a bit odd - I quite enjoy being out and about on the bike in iffy conditions, having to make extra allowance for stuff like gravel, mud, wind, rain, dark - out for a couple of hours and home light of heart with a smile. Tho there are limits, I admit. Down side is having to clean a very mucky bike. I've almost solved that by only cleaning it every 2nd or 3rd ride. It also means that I'm not too unsettled by bad weather the rest of the year.

And it's now upset by "stay at home" — I struggle to justify a long ride for a short walk.

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

[Yorick]

I'm a bit odd - I quite enjoy being out and about on the bike in iffy conditions, having to make extra allowance for stuff like gravel, mud, wind, rain, dark - out for a couple of hours and home light of heart with a smile. Tho there are limits, I admit. Down side is having to clean a very mucky bike. I've almost solved that by only cleaning it every 2nd or 3rd ride. It also means that I'm not too unsettled by bad weather the rest of the year.

And it's now upset by "stay at home" — I struggle to justify a long ride for a short walk.

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

I always hated riding in the wet, but loved it when I was racing. Pushing right to the edge was fun when you're young and daft

[Wossname]

I'm a bit odd - I quite enjoy being out and about on the bike in iffy conditions, having to make extra allowance for stuff like gravel, mud, wind, rain, dark - out for a couple of hours and home light of heart with a smile. Tho there are limits, I admit. Down side is having to clean a very mucky bike. I've almost solved that by only cleaning it every 2nd or 3rd ride. It also means that I'm not too unsettled by bad weather the rest of the year.

And it's now upset by "stay at home" — I struggle to justify a long ride for a short walk.

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

That was great, apart from the "late" bit..... !

[Scuffmark]

It's now got both wheels out and sent off to C J Ward in Burton for powder coating back to original. I doubt it will turn a wheel much before March/April.

@mangocrazy , I'm looking to get some rims coated , could I ask if you've used C J Ward for powder coating before or is this the first time ?

They don't appear to have a website only an address and phone number.

Hi, I found out about C J Ward on the RDLCCrazy website (bunch of LC nutters... ). So many people had used Wards and had glowing reports that I was convinced. I later found out that Niall Mackenzie uses them for all his powdercoating for restorations. I dropped my wheels off in person and they showed me a couple of sets due to go back to owners. They were absolutely immaculate. The place itself is hard to find and is proper old skool. Nothing fancy, but the quality of work is superb.

Cheers, appreciate the input

Google tells me there less than 20 minutes away so I'll pop in next time I'm passing.

[Noggin]

I'm a bit odd - I quite enjoy being out and about on the bike in iffy conditions, having to make extra allowance for stuff like gravel, mud, wind, rain, dark - out for a couple of hours and home light of heart with a smile. Tho there are limits, I admit. Down side is having to clean a very mucky bike. I've almost solved that by only cleaning it every 2nd or 3rd ride. It also means that I'm not too unsettled by bad weather the rest of the year.

And it's now upset by "stay at home" — I struggle to justify a long ride for a short walk.

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

I always hated riding in the wet, but loved it when I was racing. Pushing right to the edge was fun when you're young and daft

LOL I was old and daft when I got to learn I should have been young and daft - but he was older so thought I was young enough to be stupid

TBF - road riding with him in the wet did give me a load more confidence in the wet on track

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

That was great, apart from the "late" bit..... !

Yup. I still miss him. I didn't have anyone else to go ride with (not like we did). Equally, I got three years cos when I met him he was back on the bike for the first time after serous heart failure/surgery. By the time he was on his last few rides (cancer) his amazing wife, Michelle, used to help him get his bike out on Sundays so he could go play


One of my all time best memories was the last rideout (we didn't know it was). Every Sunday he started with, "we'll take it steady today" (I had that written on my race bike - cos it was never true!!), and this particular day he'd had an orange sized lump removed from under his arm on the Wednesday - so he was wary about riding too stupid, although he did tell me he was ok on the brakes!! LOL His wife definitely helped with the bike that morning! I think he was actually thinking of not riding that day but when he called me on the Saturday, I said that if he wasn't up to it it was fine and I'd pop round for coffee - instant reaction was "of course I'm fine, I'll see you at 7.30!"!!!

As we headed for Chepstow, he/we got peed off by some people riding badly (filtering badly around us, both sides) on the bit of road from the M4 up to the big roundabout at Chepstow. Just after the roundabout there were some traffic lights at roadworks. The group was stopped just ahead of us and it was about half a mile to the point where you can choose which of three ways to go to the cafe we were headed for. Steve lifted his visor and called to me - "we're going whichever way they are going!!" I'd already started laughing before he said that. He knew those roads better than anyone I've met and usually the 'take it steady' fell away quietly as we were riding - he wasn't usually as forthright as that!!

They chose his favourite route and he'd overtaken all 6 bikes before the third corner! Sadly one of the middle bikes didn't like it or the fact that I was on a baby Duke and kept blocking me - but I got past him in a couple of corners (I might have been a bit aggressive/rude!) and we hooned to the cafe

We arrived giggling like a pair of kids. Another friend was already there and we told him what had happened in between giggles, Steve had to admit that he couldn't take his jacket off cos he thought he might have opened the stitches of the wound under his arm but he had the biggest grin on his face!! The other bikes arrived a good 5 or more minutes after we had and totally ignored us

The first time I was out after his funeral, I was bimbling back from the cafe until I saw two bikes behind me lining up to overtake. So I tried to stop that! Ended up losing one, a big Ducati sportsbike, and the other, I think it was one of the big Dukes or a Ducati Multistrada, stuck with me from the cafe to Chepstow (well, he dropped back in the twisties and caught up on the straights!!). Was awesome and Steve would have been laughing along with me!

We waved goodbye when he stopped to wait for his mate. Next weekend I saw another friend out there who had spoken to a customer of his who'd been trying to keep up with someone on a 690 Duke that Sunday - Duncan took great pleasure in telling him it was a girl and she was riding a 390!


Sorry - not sure if I've dragged this down or just written too much! But I love thinking about those rides - three years of learning and laughing. Steve and Michelle were two of my best friends in Bristol and I miss them. TBH, if Steve was still alive I'd probably try harder to come home in the summer to go riding!!! And now I'm going to message a friend of mine to find out if he still has Steve's ZX9r - cos I know Paul won't ride it, so I might be able to borrow it when I'm back!!

[Trinity765]

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

I always hated riding in the wet, but loved it when I was racing. Pushing right to the edge was fun when you're young and daft

LOL I was old and daft when I got to learn I should have been young and daft - but he was older so thought I was young enough to be stupid

TBF - road riding with him in the wet did give me a load more confidence in the wet on track

My late riding buddy used to love riding in the wet - he wasn't much slower in the wet than the dry Not so keen on frost!! LOL But damn I learnt a lot about wet weather riding by following him! We were regularly the only bikes at the breakfast stop on a wet Sunday!!

That was great, apart from the "late" bit..... !

Yup. I still miss him. I didn't have anyone else to go ride with (not like we did). Equally, I got three years cos when I met him he was back on the bike for the first time after serous heart failure/surgery. By the time he was on his last few rides (cancer) his amazing wife, Michelle, used to help him get his bike out on Sundays so he could go play


One of my all time best memories was the last rideout (we didn't know it was). Every Sunday he started with, "we'll take it steady today" (I had that written on my race bike - cos it was never true!!), and this particular day he'd had an orange sized lump removed from under his arm on the Wednesday - so he was wary about riding too stupid, although he did tell me he was ok on the brakes!! LOL His wife definitely helped with the bike that morning! I think he was actually thinking of not riding that day but when he called me on the Saturday, I said that if he wasn't up to it it was fine and I'd pop round for coffee - instant reaction was "of course I'm fine, I'll see you at 7.30!"!!!

As we headed for Chepstow, he/we got peed off by some people riding badly (filtering badly around us, both sides) on the bit of road from the M4 up to the big roundabout at Chepstow. Just after the roundabout there were some traffic lights at roadworks. The group was stopped just ahead of us and it was about half a mile to the point where you can choose which of three ways to go to the cafe we were headed for. Steve lifted his visor and called to me - "we're going whichever way they are going!!" I'd already started laughing before he said that. He knew those roads better than anyone I've met and usually the 'take it steady' fell away quietly as we were riding - he wasn't usually as forthright as that!!

They chose his favourite route and he'd overtaken all 6 bikes before the third corner! Sadly one of the middle bikes didn't like it or the fact that I was on a baby Duke and kept blocking me - but I got past him in a couple of corners (I might have been a bit aggressive/rude!) and we hooned to the cafe

We arrived giggling like a pair of kids. Another friend was already there and we told him what had happened in between giggles, Steve had to admit that he couldn't take his jacket off cos he thought he might have opened the stitches of the wound under his arm but he had the biggest grin on his face!! The other bikes arrived a good 5 or more minutes after we had and totally ignored us

The first time I was out after his funeral, I was bimbling back from the cafe until I saw two bikes behind me lining up to overtake. So I tried to stop that! Ended up losing one, a big Ducati sportsbike, and the other, I think it was one of the big Dukes or a Ducati Multistrada, stuck with me from the cafe to Chepstow (well, he dropped back in the twisties and caught up on the straights!!). Was awesome and Steve would have been laughing along with me!

We waved goodbye when he stopped to wait for his mate. Next weekend I saw another friend out there who had spoken to a customer of his who'd been trying to keep up with someone on a 690 Duke that Sunday - Duncan took great pleasure in telling him it was a girl and she was riding a 390!


Sorry - not sure if I've dragged this down or just written too much! But I love thinking about those rides - three years of learning and laughing. Steve and Michelle were two of my best friends in Bristol and I miss them. TBH, if Steve was still alive I'd probably try harder to come home in the summer to go riding!!! And now I'm going to message a friend of mine to find out if he still has Steve's ZX9r - cos I know Paul won't ride it, so I might be able to borrow it when I'm back!!

I too used to have a biking buddy like this. He taught me how to ride and didn't slow down much in the wet. We travelled to Wales many times and one morning, looking at a map and realising we'd done all the roads over and around the Black Mountains we decided to check out all the dead ends. It was a very hot summer day and along one of the dead end roads we decided to stop by a bridge and paddle for a bit to cool down - we usually wore vests and cycling shorts under our leathers for this kind of occasion. Our bikes were parked just off the road and while we were getting our biker gear back on a jeep came hurtling around a corner, two young men in the front and two young women in the back. They didn't expect to see us there and the driver jumped (even though we weren't on the road) and as they passed one of them shouted "slag". My buddy and I continued getting our gear on in silence and without hurrying. Before we put our helmets on I asked "How long is this road?", he looked at the satvan "Nine miles". We started the bikes up and then hooned off after the jeep. We caught them up and my friend went past them, he said something to the driver, I don't know what, and as I went past I lifted my visor and shouted to the girls in the back "Real men ride motorbikes"

[Amulree]

Went out today and started in sunshine. By the time I got to Gleneagles a cold drizzle had set in and the clouds started to look as if they were bearing snow.......here we are at Gleneagles:
IMG_20210103_143709714_HDR by Joe Lamont, on Flickr
In these parts the Council really keeps on top of road gritting - they do an excellent job. The result is a salty bike - on this exhaust header the caked salt came off in a sheet as I washed it!
IMG_20210103_151310837 by Joe Lamont, on Flickr

[KungFooBob]

You deffo need a fender extender!

[scottyuk]

My fender extender didn't do much today
(...and yes I did use more tyre than that! It's just the last few miles home isn't very twisty! )

20210103_135242 (Small).jpg (212.12 KiB) Viewed 1266 times

[Bigyin]

My fender extender didn't do much today
(...and yes I did use more tyre than that! It's just the last few miles home isn't very twisty! )

The joys of salted roads ..... this was my 636 after a New Years day run out with some of the old Visordown crew back in the day. It was immaculate before we went out, even the polished wheel rims

[mangocrazy]

I simply couldn't do that to any bike I owned. And what do you actually gain by going out in freezing conditions, with massively reduced grip, greater likelihood of an off and the knowledge that every mile is slowly corroding your pride and joy.

Madness.

[Taipan]

If I can get grip, i'll go. But then I commute, rather than ride for pleasure, and I'd rather be on a bike than on public transport, especially at the moment! I save over an hour a day on my commuting time, being on a bike and I'm warmer than when I'm standing around waiting for a tubes and trains and of course, i'm guaranteed a seat!

[Scuffmark]

I'll ride anytime of the year, mainly shorter rides in the winter iI'll admit and I don't bother going out if its raining but if it rains when I'm out, so be it.

I take the cleaning of the bike as something I've got to do when I get back home, making sure its dried and re-coated with wd40 or gt85 for protection. Can't say my bike looks any worse for it and I come home feeling distressed,

[weeksy]

and I come home feeling distressed,

So would i


But i rekon you mean de-stressed