2009 Honda Vtx1300c Custom on 2040-motos

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Moto blog

Thumbs up for a chilly N.E.C.

Apart from the freaky weather I have to say last week’s Carole Nash Motorcycle Live N.E.C. show was the best Birmingham event I've attended in the ten years. I really appreciate the fact that manufacturers chose to ignore the recession giving us great stands to cater for every enthusiast young and old.  Aprilia made a welcome return and I don’t know anyone that didn’t enjoy admiring the WSB RSV4, surely the the most gorgeous bike on the planet? The Honda stand rarely disappoints and this year was no exception with banking bikes providing fun for all the family.

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.

You want a nice little car, you do.

We ran a couple of stories last week - both, coincidentally, about new Kawasakis. One was the first peek of the new ZX10R – hot stuff you’d imagine – the other, the new W800 retro parallel twin. I suppose it shouldn’t have shocked us, which story was most popular in terms of hits but it really does mark a seismic shifts in British biking attitudes that the W800 story doubled the hits of the ZX10 piece.