Warp Factor 3

(Spotted at Ayr Classic Show 2013)

Jumping Jack Flash

(Via: piratetreasure)

Prince of Darkness

One for those who own and run old British bikes.

(Via: Facebook - DSG)

Music to Ride to

On the night of May 29, 2013, Rush drummer Neil Peart will perform with his bandmates, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, in front of  6,300 people in Glasgow. That afternoon, Neil commutes to work on his BMW 1200 GS motorcycle, via a muddy singletrack in the Cairngorm Mountains. He tells us why (LINK)

Landmarks 2013 (Complete)

As I mentioned in an earlier post I had almost completed this year's Landmarks Challenge. I managed to collect the last couple of remaining photos last weekend. So, without further ado, here is this year's effort.

01. Blue

02. Chrome

03. Red

04. Green

05. Black & White

06. Yellow

07. Nature

08. Water

09. Energy

10. Technology

11. Information

12. Something that makes you smile

13. 12 O'Clock (-ish)

14. Old

15. New

16. Narrow

17. Tall

18. Hidden (usually)

19. Looking down

20. Shadow

Big Brother

Having stopped to take a couple of photos outside Torness Power Station on my ride on Saturday I was a bit bemused about half an hour later to be stopped on the road by two heavily armed officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (no, I'd never heard of them either) and asked, politely, to show them the photos.

Apparently, my taking photos of my bike on the public road in front of the power station had set off alarm bells and the two officers were despatched to question me in case I was up to no good. Apparently Big Brother was indeed watching me.

Handing over the camera I said that they could delete any that they didn't like, but they said that there wasn't anything on it that couldn't be picked up off of Google Earth and gave it back to me. We had a short chat, they apologised for the inconvenience and that was the end of that.

It was all quite amicable, and the two officers concerned were as nice as could be. It's just that I'm not used to encountering armed police. Regular police in the UK carry, at best, pepper spray, although there is an ongoing debate about whether they should also have access to tasers. These two, however, were armed to the teeth, with assault rifles and handguns in addition to tasers and pepper spray. Actually, I was surprised that they could both stand up they had so much equipment hanging off their belts and flak vests.

After all of that, I decided not to use any of the photos for the Landmarks Challenge, which was why I was taking them in the first place. Torness isn't really that interesting to look at from the outside and I decided to use something else instead.

You can't tour on a single!: Sincerest form of flattery?

You can't tour on a single!: Sincerest form of flattery?:

More years ago that he probably cares to remember, mr. combo was Regalia Officer in the MZ Riders Club. One of his most inventive designs f...  (click on link above for the rest of the article)



No, no one is paying me anything, I'm afraid. Still, it does seem as if the shirt struck a chord with folk. One guy I know was offered money for the one he was wearing when he visited the US a few years ago.

Cold War Warriors

NVA (East German Army) troopers in Berlin 
- Brandenburg Gate in the background

(From Facebook: Ostbikes)

Smallest Library in Town

The Book Nook, Athelstaneford, East Lothian

You are invited to take a book and put one back

Edit: my thanks to BridgeClub for this info on other similar phonebox libraries.

More Nifty Footwork

New Mustang pegs

Again, I found the standard riding position on my Tiger a bit cramped after an hour or so, and again I was to find that you couldn’t adjust the standard Triumph footpegs. I had replaced the ones on the Sprint ones a year or so ago (details here), and now it looked like I was going to have to do something similar on the Tiger.

Reading a number of forums the general consensus was to fit Mustang footpegs which, while not adjustable, are about 1" lower and can save your knees seizing up. Well, it had to be worth a try. 

The bloke who makes them is located in the US but I found a UK supplier and ordered some on the 'net. A couple of days later I received a parcel which contained a pair of pegs and some fitting instructions.

Original Triumph peg

The footpegs are held on by a small pin with a circlip to prevent it accidentally coming loose, and there is a spring holding them in place. You withdraw the pin and remove the old peg. Then you fit the new peg by simply re-inserting the same pin, and making sure to fit the spring the right way around. In all, I reckon that it took me about five minutes.

New peg, pin, circlip, spring, and old peg

New Mustang peg fitted

And what is it like to ride now? Well, I went for a bit of a run after I fitted them and found that it made quite a difference. It's amazing how such a small change can make a big difference to your comfort.

Flat Out Twin

(Spotted at Biker's Classic, Spa, Belgium 2013)

Bannockburn

Tiger Cub?

A Chinese made Zontes Tiger 125

A girl at work was quite excited to hear that I had a Tiger as she has one as well. This is what she came to work on today.

Choices

It's Friday night and one of these is getting opened

Room To Swing a Cat

Billboard near my work

Landmarks 2013 (Update)

Well, that's us midway through September now so I thought that I'd check and see if anyone other than Bridge Club (Part I & Part II) had made any progress on this year's photo challenge?

I've been sorting through my photos and I've picked out nearly enough to complete the categories that I came up with in an earlier post. A few more and I'll have done the whole thing, and I'm hoping to get those I'm missing this weekend if the weather's half decent. Once I've the full set I'll post them up here.

This time around I didn't set out to take specific shots, rather I just took photos as normal and then sorted through the results to see what would work. I think that way they are less posed than if I'd set out with a specific idea in mind, and I'm far too lazy to go to all that effort anyway. How you decide to create your own photos is entirely up to you. Interesting is better than artistic, and feel free to edit them however you like.

Even if you don't manage to get everything on the list, don't worry, I'm sure that we'd still like to see whichever ones you did manage to come up with. Don't forget, there will be a small something awarded for some of the photos that I like best, regardless of whether you complete the whole challenge or not. Please note, the choice will be that of a Benevolent Dictator. My rules, my decision.

So, let us know how you are getting on.

Ural Racing

Believe it or not but folk actually race Urals.

(Via: Ural Blog)