Cold dense air...

....does wonders for the internal combustion engine.

I picked the gixxer up from my old house to bring it to my new flat
today. It was such a lovely day I thought I'd give it a bit of a run
(it is ages since I last rode it. The clock is still on British
Summer Time...). I got the usual "**** these things are quick"
sensation not having ridden for a while, but then I realised there was
something more. I was sure the wheel doesn't normally come up just
accelerating in 2nd (as opposed to shutting then opening the
throttle). And it even wheelied in 3rd with a little provocation.

The roads were mostly dry, so I gave it blast for 20 miles or so,
suitably dressed (jeans, trainers, leather jacket). Got fucking cold,
fucking quick, tho.

In short - bikes rock

 

Agreed, I went out for a last blast before putting the Triumph into
hibernation this afternoon and was suprised at how well it went and
how good the roads were. It is fair to say I was clutching it up, but
wheelies were a blast as was frightening the Sunday drivers. It was a tad
cold though.

 

Oh do **** off. Both of you.

http://www.maserver.org/Dec_19.jpg

I suppose I'd better get the skis out then.

 

:

That's what you get for living in Canada.

 

Bear says...

Jacques Villeneuve sold his fathers business from under him, his house
and went into huge debt to race snowmobiles. It nearly bankrupted the
entire family IIRC.

 

They absolutely do make sense. Only tried it once and they're something
else. Doing in the region of 60mph in the snow on (in snowmobile terms)
an old touring hack. However they don't steer on the road. At all.
DAMHIK, etc.

Of course I could go for some winter bling, as seen at the Toronto bike
show a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.maserver.org/bling1.jpg
http://www.maserver.org/bling2.jpg

 

Big girls blouse. I saw 70 year old men riding in the snow on CG125's,
when I worked in Poland...

 

Bear says...

I made a mistake in my original post. I said Jacques Villeneuve, I meant
his father, the late Gilles Villeneuve.

I only know a little about him, and this was garnered from my old boss,
James. He was such a fan of Gilles that when he went racing in Renault
5s and then Ford Fiestas in the TOCA support races, he managed to secure
number 27, which was Gilles Villeneuve's old race number.

I once watched James on TV take on Jamie Witham, who had a guest drive
in a Fiesta. James clouted Witham out of the way through a corner at
Oulton, Witham came back up the grass half a lap later and punted James
straight off the track at just the right moment into a tyre wall. I
laughed my fucking head off.

 

Bear says...

I spoke to James about it later, he said something like "I knew he was a
bike racer, so I didn't think he'd do the contact thing because they
don't on bikes, next thing I know I'm looking at Mr Firestone's finest
rejects wondering what the **** had happened"

I also spoke to Jamie Witham about it a few weeks ago, he said "I
remember that, the bloke was a ****"

 

Bear emerged from their own little world to say

I watched Whitham punt his boss off the track at the BusStop at Mallory
Park, when they both rode for Fast Orange Yamaha. The boss, Rob McElnea,
had a nasty break to his arm. IIRC this ended his race career.

 

Some off road tires would be good on a CG125 in the snow, I'd imagine.
My DT50MX was ok in the snow too.

 

Bear emerged from their own little world to say

He probably admits that now. The arm thing was probably directed at Yamaha
so he could move permanently into management. IIRC he went on to manage
some pretty good BSB team(s).

 

Who the ****'s "James" all of a sudden?

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..73063../..17250.../..3180./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^'

 

Popular music combo:

http://www.jamestheband.com/

 

"Burly Humbersider" (tm) MCN.

 

Can I just add my 'I went for a good blast today too' comment to the thread.
I pulled a reasonable first gear wheelie (for me values of reasonable, and I
can't wheelie for shit) while overtaking a Focus RS. Nothing impressive
about that (he wasn't exactly going for it), but my bike normally takes a
bit of coaxing to lift the front on the power.

As an aside, I've _really_ got to learn to wheelie properly - it just feels
so damn good.

 

Salad Dodger says...

See above and below, just to make it doubly clear.

"I only know a little about him, and this was garnered from my old boss,
James."

That's who James is. I refer to Jamie Witham as Jamie Witham, or just
plain old Witham.

HTH

 

This was a bog standard CG125 without snow tyres. It wasn't that bad to
ride on actually, from what I saw.

 

OK, here's some instructions.

1. Buy or borrow a Gixxer Thou.
2. Start engine, engage gear, pull away
3. Open throttle.

HTH

 

As was my XL125, didn't find that the plastic maggot liked it too much.