Well despite a few issues with making international payments, I’m now definitely booked with Bikers American Dream to hit Route 66.
Flights are now confirmed and the agenda looks great. Let the countdown begin!
Sadly, Global Enduro had to cancel the Sturgis trip as a group had had to cancel. Thankfully, there was another authorised trip on Harley Davidson’s website: Route 66 Westbound – 2400 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles with more or less the same dates, so definitely do-able.
This was on my bucket list and whilst I still want to do Sturgis at some time in the future, doing Route 66 will be an amazing ride with some sights along the way like Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
So I’ve booked with Italian organisers Bikers American Dream and waiting to hear further details now. Still aiming to book a Road King but I may have to go for an Electra Glide if not.
Today was Kawasaki Day at the Ace Cafe London. It was also the Virgin London Marathon and where I live the roads close at 8.00am. Despite GT taking part in the marathon – she managed a 4:00:44 finish time! – I headed off before the road closures to the Ace Cafe for Kawasaki Day, celebrating 40 years.
Of course, 11 and 23 mile markers en route were too good to pass unnoticed so I hoisted celebratory wheelies as I drove through!
Getting to the Ace at 8.00am I grabbed a cuppa and breakfast and then decided to have the ZRX dyno’d again now I’ve put some miles on it and the results were very impressive: 163.2bhp and 98ft/lb which even beat some poor bloke with a shiny ZZR1400 and Akra pipes!
Here are some photos too:
Just renewed my bike insurance with Motorcycle Direct and noting the recent speeding offence.
Protected no-claims, fully comprehensive with declared modifications and living in London. SD&P plus commuting. £158.72.
Result!
So then: a change of plan. The cost of shipping Blue Rex to and from the States was working out to be too expensive and too complicated to arrange.
Then a friend of mine announced he’d bought himself a Harley Davidson Street Bob. As I didn’t know which model that was, I went over to the Harley Davidson UK website to have a look and saw their link to their authorised tours. One happened to sit perfectly in terms of dates when London will be at a standstill for the Olympics and it also ticked other boxes: luxury, because I like a bit of that; and Sturgis.
Now since I was a young hooligan biker, I’d always wanted to go to the Sturgis Rally so this seemed too good an option to miss out on. Deposit was paid and arrangements made for “The Ride to Sturgis” with Global Enduro.
Today, I’ve had a phone call to confirm my choice of ride and I’ve gone for the Harley Davidson Road King Classic. This should hit all the right bases: a screen to stop the bugs and any rain; not too visually heavy so I can still see everything around me rather than just a load of fibreglass; some storage capacity for waterproofs and my cameras; light enough to handle reasonably; and not a ridiculous riding position or tank range.
Harley Davidson Road King Classic
As something of a dry run for the US trip, three friends and I planned a week’s holiday to play in the Gorges de l’Ardèche in France. Sadly, Purge had to cancel a few weeks before the trip for family reasons so that just left Matt, Yox and me.
The trip started early – very early: 5.00am – on Saturday, 25th June with a quick dash to the Eurotunnel terminal off the M20. Cold and wet, so I put my Hein Gericke waterproof overjacket on, not bothering with the Belstaff waterproof overtrousers which had struggled to get over my Alpinestars SMX boots and the kneesliders on my leathers.
Soggy and chilly at Eurotunnel Terminal
Matt and Yox
But we arrived and filled up with petrol before heading to find our train had been cancelled, setting us back half an hour before we’d even set off. The plan was to be in Joyeuse around 6.00pm if possible…
After the first few “splash and dash” stops to fill the bikes with petrol and us with coffee, it had warmed up and dried off so we could stash the waterproofs.
Sun Shining on the Righteous!
We soon arrived at the Hotel les Cèdres in Joyeuse despite being a little late – the hotel rang me to see if we were arriving soon when we were 150 miles away but that didn’t take us long… – and we checked in to a warm welcome and were told where the bikes could be parked safely. I’d stay there again.
Hotel les Cèdres
The most precarious toilet in the world?
Sunday 26th and we went off to play in the Gorges de l’Ardèche: a great ride up and down the twisty roads of the Gorges de l’Ardèche – max 104mph – then three beers, a very large vodka before more beer. And Dinner… We’d also stopped earlier for a light snack lunch. Matt had managed to cut his arm overnight and Yox managed to get stung by a wasp en route.
Bikes at the Gorges de l'Ardèche
Panorama: Gorges de l'Ardèche
Matt's Wound!
Yox's Sting
Light Lunch...
Monday 27th and with temperatures still in the high 30s, we decided to do an even longer day: heading up to Le Puy, then Mende, then Villefort and back and all by the twistiest, most scenic routes we could find. And we weren’t disappointed. Neither were we disappointed by the ice creams at Rosiere when we got back.
Bikes in the sun
Lozere
Omnomnom!
Tuesday 28th and we decided to go for a few hundred miles again to see the Foster-designed Millau Bridge. Millau Bridge via Ales then Mende, Villefort and back. 39C+ Lots of twisties to enjoy. Cold beer and hot pizza to finish it off!
Yes it was as hot as it looks
"How lost are we?"
Heavy Engineering
Millau Bridge
Panorama: Millau Bridge
Matt had turned French...
Wednesday 29th was our rest day. So we spent it whitewater canoeing for 24km down the Ardèche itself navigating a few sets of rapids along the way. Fortunately, we were taking our protective clothing seriously…
We took our protective headgear and eyewear very seriously...
Matt had some issues with droopage
Compare and contrast
Yox pops his cork (note shorts torn to shreds when we capsized earlier)
Alpha Bateau
So yes, we did capsize in one set of rapids and I was hit by another canoe whilst scrabbling over the rocks (still underwater) to steady the canoe for Yox and me to get back in. Fortunately, the sun was out and despite the suntan lotion, my battered shins got sunburnt! Which meant I didn’t need to concentrate on the bruises and cuts or the aching arms 
Thursday 30th and we went for a bimble about back in the Gorges de l’Ardèche again, stopping more frequently for photos this time. Still managed 80+ miles.
Once a Rexer, always a Rexer...
Yes, it was very hot
Ah, the usual!
Journey's end for the whitewater canoe trips
Friday 1st July and we realised we’d enjoyed the twisties in the Massif Central so much we should do them again and there were still a couple of routes we’d not tried before. So off we went for a 160 mile ride…
Bloody taggers!
Saint-Julien-du-Tournel
Yox's boot: proof of twistyness!
Saturday 2nd and back to the UK. Leaving a little after 8.15am, we made it back to the Eurotunnel with a couple of hours to spare, so we caught an earlier crossing. According to the TomTom SatNav unit, 688 miles on Saturday, average speed of 75mph, maximum speed of – cough – 122mph. That’s 2,111 miles that week, average speed of 59mph and a maximum declared speed of 135mph. “Declared” because the TomTom doesn’t display maximum speeds over that, so the 155mph and climbing I saw on one section of road – private, obviously, Officer! – didn’t register.
Well today I went to collect the ZRX from PDQ post-fettling. And yes, I think it looks great!
Larry mentioned that Nick had test-ridden it just to be on the safe side after they’d achieved their best-ever dyno results for a ZRX1200R on standard carbs/bores. I’d asked for a 44T rear sprocket as before and Larry suggested it would be sensible to go back to a 42T at some point as Nick had come back wide-eyed and declared it a tad berserk… We’ll see tomorrow!
Well the results of the engine work and fettling at PDQ are in: up to 158bhp at the rear wheel! Well done to Larry and the team.
Dyno Chart
Also interesting is that that was up from 130bhp before their engine work and after I’d fitted a full Akrapovic system and rejetted it myself a while before.
And to put all that into context, it was dyno’d standard but with an Akrapovic end can in July 2005 and put out 114bhp (up from c. 108bhp as standard at the rear wheel).
A quick update on Blue Rex’s progress: it turns out that reprofiling my standard cams would have been experimental and Larry wasn’t prepared to experiment on a customer’s bike, so we agreed to buy a new set of ZZR1200 cams after all along with stronger valve springs.
As the clutch had been slipping on track for a while, I also asked Larry to upgrade the clutch plates and springs whilst it was apart.
In the intervening period, its MoT has expired so it’s been MoT’d and passed.
Worse was yet to come: PDQ have been awarded the sole concession for Dymag wheels worldwide and was offering an introductory deal … so a set of 7 spoke magnesium alloy wheels in satin black are going on with a new, slightly larger section Bridgestone BT016 tyre (which should be fine for our planned Ardeche Valley trip in June) rather than a full-on trackday tyre. Oh and as my secondhand Akrapovic full system would be looking out of place now, I’ve upgraded to a new hexagonal system with carbon fibre end can to set it all off – the removed parts will be for sale on the OC when I collect it. As that won’t be for a week or two, PDQ will run the engine in on the dyno and do a pre and post run-in dyno run for a reading as to what the engine is putting out.
Well after Robspeed Motorcycles at Grimsby serviced Blue Rex and left it misfiring within 3 miles of their workshops, I decided the time had come for Blue Rex to get some fettling and proper setting up.
I’d been keeping a set of cams I’d been sold a few years ago which I was told were ZZR1200 cams. So I rang Larry Webb at PDQ in Berkshire to ask him what he suggested. He recommended fitting those cams, gas-flowing the cylinder head, fitting high compression pistons (in the existing bore sizes) and then fettling it all together properly, so I dropped it off and have left them to it.
Bad news came recently: the cams I’d been sold were actually standard ZRX1200R cams so I now have the existing ones plus a set of new ones. Larry is going to send them to the States to get them re-profiled instead as that’s what they used to do back in the day. This will add a few hundred pounds more to the existing quote, but is cheaper than buying new ZZR1200 cams which are silly expensive.
We’ll see what results we get.
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