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New Tyres for the GSXR - Battlax 023R


The tyres on my new bike were looking a bit squared off, and the tread was very low, so i ordered some new tyres.

After reading some review i decided to give the Bridgeston Battlax 023R's a try. These are supposed to be Sports Touring tyres with a harder compound rubber in the center for high mileage and softer more sticky compund rubber on the shoulders for going round corners quickly.

Now they've been delivered, the next step is finding someone to fit them for me!! - thats a job for the weekend :)

Best Bacon Roll in London

Every morning on my walk from Cannon Street station to the office i have to resist the fantastic smell of cooked bacon that wafts from the butchers shop on Wattling street. 

The aroma of freshly cooked bacon is so enticing that sometimes i just cant resist and find myself drawn into the shop to hand over £2.50 for what i believe to be the best bacon roll in London.

The secret seems to be that before the four slices of bacon are expertly inserted into a freshly baked warm baguette, they are first cooked in the juices of other meats, to give the bacon a really meaty, juicy, slightly spicy flavour that is totally out of this world!

I defy any non-vegetarian to be able to walk past this place first thing in the morning and not be tempted to buy one!!

Exploding Aubergine Leaves Alien Remains.


Ok, so the weird looking "inside out alien thing" in the photo below is not the mangled remains of a crashed extra-terrestrial UFO pilot, its origins are from much closer to home.

 Believe it or not this is what an aubergine looks like after its been baked in the oven for slightly too long and explodes.

Not really too sure what went wrong, but  I guess it was in the oven a bit too long, and we should have probably put a couple of holes in it to release the steam, but we didn't, so when it came out the oven it exploded with a loud "POP" scattering its tentacle like innards all over the chopping board.
The noise was so loud i heard it from a another room, and actually thought the oven had exploded as it sounded  just like an electrical explosion..

But look at it! its hideous, it really does look like some kind of exploded squid or alien creature.... but mixed with some garlic and blended down, it still tasted great :)

My New Summer Toy - GSX-R 600 K7

So, after many year out of the saddle I decided to get back into motorcycling.

My first ever motorbike was a very old Yamaha DT50 (with twin rear shocks!) which my Grandad bought for me as a present when i was 10 years old. We spent many happy hours stripping it down and putting it back together, and i've loved bikes ever since.

GSX-R600 K7 in Blue and WhiteI passed my bike test when i was 17 years old (many years ago!) but because of living in London, its always been difficult to own a bike. Without secure parking, bikes are too easy a target for thieves and vandals, so apart from a short stint with a Gilera Runner SP180 (that people kept trying to steal!) i've not ridden on the roads for about 6 years.

Now that ive moved out into 'the sticks' (Sevenoaks Kent), and i have a secure double garage, i decided i no longer had any reason not to get a bike, so i started looking and found this very clean, '57 plate Suzuki GSX-R600 K7.  The GSX-R (or GIXXER) was always one of my dream bikes as a lad, so the possibility of owning one was pretty exciting.

The bike was being sold by a dealer down in Southampton, so i popped in to take a look. I liked what i saw, but i didn't show too much interest. When i got home i found the same bike for sale on eBay with an "Offers" button, so i clicked the button, put in a cheeky offer (£250 less than the asking price) fully expecting the offer to be rejected. The next morning i woke to see an email saying my offer had been accepted - I was soon to be the proud owner of GIXXER!

So i HPI checked the bike, transferred the cash and arranged for it to be delivered to my mum's house in the New Forest saving myself an expensive delivery charge from Southampton to Sevenoaks.

The plan was that i would go visit my mum, check the bike over, take it for a short ride around local roads to get back into "Biking Mode", then ride the bike the 110miles home. Of course this meant that my first ride on a bike for over 6 years would be a 110mile ride on motorways on a powerful sports bike, that i'd never ridden before - Needless to say, many people thought i was crazy!!

The day of the ride came, and i was so excited - not at all nervous (i don't really do nerves). I got on the bike, fired it up, and immediately got back into "Biker Mode". Having learnt to ride as a kid, the controls were all very instinctive, and I had no problems remembering how to ride. In fact it was just like being a teenager again on my Aprilia AF1-125 that i had when i was 17.

After a local ride round my old neighbourhood, and stopping off to show a few old mates my new toy, i set off for the epic first ride home...
130miles later  -yes i took a few detours ;) i got home. I had a sore bum, but apart from that it was a very enjoyable ride.....  Feels good to be "A Biker" again....