The job was done professionally by of Mike at Ultimate Bike Gear. Time was taken to correctly torque up the relevant nuts and bolts and a coating of ACF-50 grease was applied afterwards to help stop winters claws taking the shine away from my 20’500 mile bike. The ride home felt good even though it was peeing down. Crucially the bike no longer slipped sideways when riding over drain covers that are littered around every bend in my town.

Need to get some careful miles on the new tyres now before the fun begins.

 Front tyre after a short wet ride home

Rear tyre having followed the front tyre home on the same short journey

Check it out

Having ridden the 6 with the high bars for a year I can tell you now that its like adding 20 bhp to the engine because you’re inevitable lower with the standard setup so there is less wind drag on the bike so it goes and then goes some more… Need to learn to behave again. Also need to build up my arms and core strength again because after a quick 20 mile blast last night I was knackerred. This morning though another 30 miles and I was back on form again. The R6 is such a planted bike even on the crappy winter roads of Cambridgeshire.

The bikes running nice and smooth after the winter service I’ve been giving it over the Xmas break. Tomorrow a standard exhaust can is arriving by courier courtesy of eBay. I’m going through a return to standard thing at the moment. I like the look and sound of the blue flame can thats currently fitted but for £85 ive managed to pick up an original Yamaha can still in its wrapping from the factory. For that money i reckon it was a steal because they are over £1000 new from Yamaha.

Ride safe out there readers. The UK is still in winter so the roads are still crappy and covered in winter salt…

Morning all. Happy new year to everyone. Thought i’d share some stats with you all regarding Fatbiker.co.uk. Our most popular read of 2011 was this post regarding the Royal Enfield EFI. The post was read over 8200 times in 2011 and that doesn’t include repeat reads where more than one visit was made from the same IP address… I reckon that sums up the popularity of the new range of Royal Enfield bikes. One has to say congratulations to the brand as its gaining more of a following very day.

In 2nd place came my review of the Tutoro chain oiler. This is a manual chain oiler made in the UK. They are on the cusp of releasing an automated version so watch this space for a review.

In 3rd place was my review on the MP3 Yourban. This is a dizzy 3 wheeler scooter that can be ridden on a UK driving license without the need for the motorbike tests. This bike really is good practical fun. The speeds that you can take corners even in poor conditions is pretty cool. Go check one out sometime.

Next came the 18v Cordless pressure washer by Nomad. This is a battery powered pressure washer. Pretty cool for those like me working out of a garage disconnected from the house with no water and so on… a Pretty handy bit of kit to have available.

Lastly in the top five reads on fat biker came the Griplock review. This little baby currently retails for £45 including delivery in the Uk. Its so simple to use and travels everywhere with me and the bike. It won’t stop a determined thief because they’ll just life the bike in to their van and drive off but it’ll stop the thick hits that want to wheel your bike around the corner for a laugh… Recommended…

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with the traffic the site is generating…. Not bad for a fat man and his mate waffling on about their bikes and the kit they use…

The job of changing the plugs on the R6 is not the easiest of jobs. You need to have hands that can get in to the small working area between the top of the rocker cover and frame and are strong enough to remove the coil packs above each plug. On top of that you have to lift the tank and remove the air filter housing. Due to the high bar conversion on my 6 you have to first remove the handle bars and their risers before you can remove the tank so basically a a small plug swap requires half a strip down.. Slight exaggeration I know but it feels like it when you’re taking lots of parts off…

All plugs in and a quick start up to confirm all 4 cylinders are firing. You’ll soon know because things will be lumpy if one cylinder isn’t playing ball.

Moral of the story… Always ask for the old parts when you’ve agreed to have a service. If the garage cant produce the old bits they’ve probably not completed the service…

Next job… Oil change.

3500 miles of use? You tell me…

Im hoping to remove some of the crash bungs that the previous owner had fitted. They are helpful but the frame bungs are a bit too close to my boots when riding.

if there is anything juicy i’ll report it accordingly.

Check it out here

After a good ride around the lanes I made a pit stop at Haywards of Cambridge. Im known there having purchased 3 bikes from them over the years so its always good to see the guys there and have a look see over the latest Guzzi’s and Royal Enfields. For 2010 Guzzi have tweaked a couple of their bikes namely the Stelvio and the Norge. The new Norge looks like a really good mile muncher and would take you along that journey in real comfort. The tweaks to the bike are too many to list here so Google is your friend but needless to say, the tweaks have really changed the bike in to a real contender for the touring market. The Stelvio has seen a couple of tweaks too namely new headlight assembly, new large tank and new wheels. The new tank fixes a real issue that my old Stelvio was blighted with. A 120 mile tank range was a real problem for a bike if its style.

Haywards also had a V7 Cafe Racer parked up outside glistening in the Autumn sun. The detail on that bike is amazing. I spent a good while drooling over it taking in the details. Its things like the brackets that hold the front fairing in place. These rods are not just screwed to a safe point on the bike. They are fixed with quality bolts and are made up of quality alloys. The rear sets are excellent too and really looks the part. All the bike needs is a set of Arrow exhaust cans and it’ll be the perfect Sunday bike. Maybe a perfect bike to park along side a Yamaha R6 in ones garage

Royal Enfields are really taking off too. Their range is looking really good and the build quality is for ever improving. If you have £4000 to spend on a commuter bike. Dont get a scooter, get an Enfield. You’ll have so much more fun to and from work. Their MPG is amazing too. Some riders are able to get 100mpg without actually trying too hard. In these times of seriously expensive fuel you have to think about the long term savings owning a Royal Enfield can offer. Parts for these bikes are cheap too. Whilst at Haywards a guy came in with his rear light missing because someone had nicked it. Instead of being charged £50 for the red lens he was charged £10 and it was fitted for free so he could drive home safely…. Food for thought me thinks.

All in all, a good visit and one I recommend to any bike owner that fancies a slice of a different pie.

Been off air for a while as summer holidays and work commitments have left us with little time to get out and play bikes. We’ve been for the odd jaunt but we’ve probably only covered a few hundred miles at best

Today we took the R6 for it’s annual MOT. For those of you outside the UK an MOT is an annual test that all vehicles have to go through when they reach 3 years of age. It covers the basic mechanics  of the vehicle to make sure its road worthy. Unfortunately for us the R6 failed. Nothing serious mind you as the garage picked up was a loose hand grip on the left bar. This can be easily resolved with a bit of glue and should then sail through the re-test for another year. Shame though as time is tight at the moment and getting the re-test in before the existing certificate expires will be tight.

The HJC helmet that we took delivery of is proving to be a good long term helmet. Its quiet and very light. We recently used our Arai helment that we’ve been running for 5 years and it actually felt really heavy. Surprising really as its not heavy at all.

We’re working on securing a test exhaust system for our Kawasaki and may have news and pics on that soon. No details as yet so watch this space.