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ZRX MoT Test 2024

Posted by RHM on 2 July 2024
Posted in: Diary, Kawasaki, ZRX1200R. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Another year has passed and the ZRX’s MoT expired whilst we were in Berlin, so I made arrangements when we got back to get its MoT done.

Last year, it had been given an advisory for the Akrapovic full system fitted, so to be safe, I decided to fit the baffle before taking it in. Ah…

It’s held in place by a small bolt which was proving fiddly to fit, so I took the baffle back out to try to screw the bolt in and remove it a couple of times to remove any soot build-up …and instantly dropped the bolt which then rolled all the way down into the headers.  This meant taking the system apart, which is more time consuming rather than difficult as other than the bolt on the silencer strap to the rear shock, the rest of the system is held together by springs and I’ve had the spring hook for years now.  Once dismantled, Alison’s slimmer fingers were enlisted to reach in to grab the errant bolt.

Refitting the Akrapovic with the baffle was a doddle and so off we went, only to find we narrowly avoided a crash with a car pulling out … because they didn’t hear us (or see us).

A quick cuppa at a nearby McDonalds – Alison’s coffee was crap as expected – and back we hopped to find Blue Rex waiting with a full pass with no advisories.

Back home and the baffle was whipped back out again in a trice for safety’s sake.

Mileage this year is up to 19,918 miles from 19,621 last year: a massive 297 miles from the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and a couple of trips down to Bahnstormer Alton.

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 2024 – Guildford Surrey Hills

Posted by RHM on 20 May 2024
Posted in: Diary, Kawasaki, Multimedia, Photos, ZRX1200R. Tagged: , , . 1 comment

Well despite the dodgy weather forecast in the lead-up to the event, Sunday dawned bright and a bit crisp so we dressed up in our dapper finery and jumped on Blue Rex to ride into Guildford.

We weren’t sure who’d be there but as it turned out Charley Boorman was there on his Bike Shed-branded Triumph Thruxton RS which looked just great in that burnt orange.

Alison was doing videographer duties up back and we’ve got a couple of hours’ footage on one of the GoPros …and here’s a teaser:

I suppose being Surrey might explain the three Vincents/HRDs there plus a number of other lovely machines including a couple of army-specced bikes and a similar RAF liveried one (with two equally vintage riders that I saw).

Charley Boorman’s Thruxton RS
Blue Rex looking shiny
Laverda Jota
Guildford High Street
Alison looking perfect
That Laverda Jota again

We stopped at Loseley House to regroup and then continued the ride, ending up at the Hog’s Back Brewery where we stopped for Aperol Spritzes and a pulled-pork bap:

Yours Truly

Yours Truly

Alison

Alison enjoying the sun

After a relatively brief stop, we headed home.  Once parked up, didn’t Blue Rex look great?

Blue Rex after DGR2024

Blue Rex after DGR2024

Getting Ready for DGR 2024

Posted by RHM on 18 May 2024
Posted in: Diary. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

We’re doing the 2024 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride again this year and again we’re joining the Guildford – Surrey Hills ride which last year had over 550 bikes attending.

If you want to donate, you can here:

https://gfolk.me/RichardMorris

Distinguished Gentleman's Ride 2024

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 2024: Please Sponsor Me!

A friend mentioned some YouTube clips he’d watched and we’re on a few:

At 58 seconds in.

https://youtu.be/qAyDd1hlCM8?si=t3y2jGx-gZ_l3ca1&t=361

At around 6 minutes in.

And more here at 4 minutes in:

So today it’s a few final checks and a refuel before tomorrow’s ride. I have done some damage to one of my glutes and hamstring, so sitting is painful. What could go wrong? 🙂

Bye-Bye Gilles Rearsets

Posted by RHM on 25 April 2024
Posted in: Accessories, Diary, Kawasaki, ZRX1200R. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

Well it had to happen eventually!

Way back in the mists of time, I used to organise and instruct on trackdays for the Motorcycle Folly.

Initially, I just had the ZRX, so I’d use that but to make it less unsuitable, I fitted a set of Gilles rearsets to push my feet backwards and upwards (with a consequential increase in the extent to which my knees would have to bend):

Blue Rex side-on

Blue Rex side-on

Note also that in that photo there are no grabrails or pillion pegs fitted.  That was fine when I was doing almost 100% solo riding, but since remarrying someone who loves being on the bikes with me, I’ve refitted the pegs and grabrail.  That always led to some clash of feet, no matter how much we tried to be careful.

Fast-forward to buying the BMW R 1250 RT LE and getting off that and on to the ZRX and it’s a case of “have my footpegs fallen off?”  So couple those two issues with the degree of necrosis in my knee and with a heavy heart, the Gilles rearsets were removed last weekend and the standard footpegs refitted.

End of an era.

MoT 2023 and the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

Posted by RHM on 25 May 2023
Posted in: Accessories, Diary, Kawasaki, Multimedia, Photos. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

We’re approaching MoT anniversary, so I thought I’d get in there early and book the ZRX in for an MoT at a local bike shop, A Force Motorcycles in Aldershot.

I trotted up there yesterday and a thorough MoT test was carried out … with Blue Rex’s first ever failure!

The Clear Alternatives LED rear light illuminates red (and amber with the integrated turn signals) but does not shine white light down onto the numberplate, so it’s a fail. There is what appears to be a small pilot type LED which might perform that function, but the general consensus appears to be that there isn’t one. I may be able to bodge something together, but in the meantime, I rode home and then took off the rear seat cowl – revealing a missing bolt to hold the rear mudguard and under seat plastic in place, so that was replaced. I then disconnected the LED light and refitted the OEM red one (having popped to the local Jet petrol station to get a couple of 21/5W tail/stop lamps) which I keep with all the other OEM parts I’d taken off*.

I also fitted the marginally larger numberplate – I think it’s the same sized font, but just more space around it – which was the other fail item – and then this morning popped back for a free retest and pass certificate.

Mileage this year is 19,621 miles, up 159 miles from last year.

*Now we’ve moved out of London, I’m expecting to do more miles on Blue Rex, such as last weekend’s Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride in Guildford & Surrey Hills, so I’ve removed the “spools” and refitted the grab rails for Alison.  Next job is removing the rear sets and refitting the standard footrests.

Here are some photos from the DGR:

Joe Wicks, Alison and me
Alison guarding Blue Rex
Midway Point
Guildford High Street
Alison checking her iPhone
Journey’s End
Laverda Jota
Guildford
MV Agusta
Hog’s Back Brewery
Nimbus
Alison guarding Blue Rex
Guildford High Street
Midway Point
Kettles
Hog’s Back Brewery
Alison checking her iPhone
Guildford High Street

MoT 2022

Posted by RHM on 29 June 2022
Posted in: Accessories, Diary, Kawasaki. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

Whilst I was in the USA doing the Pacific Coast Highway in a 5.0L V8 Mustang Convertible, I thought it was long overdue for Blue Rex to have some care and attention, so it was off to Larry at PDQ to give it a good fettle and its MoT.

And it really was a good fettle: the old Datatool alarm was finally consigned to the bin, as was the battery. The carbs were basically overhauled and a couple of pipes and o-rings were replaced. There was a new chain and sprocket set. There was a new set of tyres to replace those that were on there that were many years old and had all the grip of Donald Trump.

It was then MoT’d and it passed with a mileage of 19,462 which was 40 miles up from last year’s and was basically the mileage out of London to PDQ.

Whilst at PDQ, Larry whacked it on the dyno to see how it measured up, some 11 years after the team at PDQ had breathed on it. 154.89bhp at 10,100rpm (158.37bhp) and 90.5lb/ft of torque at 7,830rpm (91.5lb/ft), 2011 figures in brackets.

2022 Dyno Results

It’s a new dyno – so not necessarily a true like-for-like comparison – but it’s still close to what it was putting out before, which is pleasing.

Larry was also kind enough to grab a socket and a screwdriver to swap out my Pazzo Racing clutch lever for a shorty one when I collected it.  A previous problem with trapping the gloves over my non-existent fingers when pulling in the clutch…

I used my disabled person’s Freedom Pass to get there, so it cost me nothing and the ride back was lovely: back in a little over an hour (with a fuel stop) thanks to filtering and people working from home.

Updates

Posted by RHM on 9 June 2021
Posted in: Diary. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since I updated this blog.

I had mainly been using my Triumph Sprint GT1050 for my foreign jaunts – aka “Eurothrashes’ – but that all came to a crashing stop back in July 2019 when I got broken up a tad by a SMIDSY.

Since then, I’ve not been back on two wheels whilst various bits of me mended or were taken off because they got in the way: I’m think of the second amputation here just before Christmas 2020.

While Blue Rex was off the road, I decided that I should do something with the personalised registrations I have: 8000 RM which was on the Sprint and which is now on retention; 2000 RM which was on my Abarth 124 Spider; and 3RHM which was on the ZRX1200R which wasn’t seeing much daylight.  So I swapped the Abarth’s registration with the ZRX and bought a load of new plates to suit.

Now my latest amputation is healing well and the physiotherapy reduced, I decided to service, tax and MoT Blue Rex and it sailed through yesterday.

The mileage? 19,422 miles which means since September 2018 it’s only done 36 miles!