say no more..t'was an awesome tour!

The Charvel Snowy white 2H on loan....

found some pics on the web...
haven't got any of my own as it was loaned out.
These guitars are amazing quality.

Moget

Sad day in Moto GP

With the untimely death of the young and talented Marco Simoncelli on lap two of the Malaysian GP.
Looking at the crash it looks like he lost the bike but instead of going into a low slide the tyres still had enough grip to keep the bike from tipping and instead of high siding or low siding, it flung the kid off to it's side and had the bike veer in sharply infield on the oncoming lines of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.
All this happens in less seconds than it takes to read two words from this sentence, so basically nothing could be done. Marco probably didn't have the time to even make a decision to get off the bars...but I don't feel he was that type of rider anyway, I reckon he took the bull by the horns and tried to keep in the race...24 years old and on lap two.
Very sad day for road racing.

ever get tired of injuries...

Tomorrow and yet again another trip to the hospital to see what they can do for my right wrist injury.
Disaster struck as I was stupid enough to agree to play in a rugby game where I should have only been on the sidelines with a coffee and a cigarette.
The injuries this year have been a new time high..or low..depending on how you see it..
First off, in march I managed to keep getting pains in my lower back. A couple of trips to the doc confirmed the worst, a compressed disc in the lower back.
This managed to effect my left hamstring which lost it's gearbox around may/june. Apparently when nerves get trapped in lower backs they send pulses to the brain which in turn decides to stick hamstrings in reverse..weird as! I could finish a 2 hour session but the gearbox just wouldn't go into third or fourth...
Then, out of nowhere...the archilles decided to start acting up..and under the foot as well went willy wonka without warning..so, at least I had my guitars and my Kawasaki to work on and drive...
..and then..the tfcc ligament in my right wrist suddenly decided to rear it's ugly head and decide to act up...this is a very bad ligament to fuck with..its a rumble in the jungle ligament that can hold you on the ropes for too many rounds..the x-ray is my left hand..titanium bolt holding the scaphoid together....

With a new project on the way that requires some serious mechanics and with the kawasaki in the garage, I'm hoping for good news from the Hand surgeon tomorrow..despite the fact that it is still painful after a month and some...And the guitars...jeez..thats just mean..

I had to give the 69 tele a shot ....

retard..?

..you become immune after the years...but remain retarded...


Update:
After todays hospital visit the verdict came in that I had two torn ligaments in my right hand/wrist and that I would have to retain the cast for another three weeks.If things don't improve then they want to go in with a camera and check out the damage.
Thought it was amusing that the hand surgeon asked me if I needed more volteraine until the next visit..
More RETARD? NEVER GO FULL RETARD!

So, once you have one of these injuries it's always good to have a look around the forums and technical info about tfcc and everything surrounding the pros and cons of operations..

the news wasn't good..so I looked around the web and came across this: the wristwidget

Now then, before you get cynical, the reason I knew the spin on this would work was after the hand surgeon today, who was a lot better than the three previous orthopedic doctors, did a few tests on my bad wrist.If I recall, he did a watson test, a derby test and several others..one of them held the same places this widget holds and all the pain went away when he relieved the pressure..thats how he knew it was a torn tfcc and xxx ligament in my hand.So, if you read the spin as to how this wristwidget works, you'll understand once you've done the tests, it's worth the investment! I'll see when it arrives of course.. 

The man who stopped japanese domination in road racing

Tear jerker

I found this on Youtube by sheer accident whilst watching the transatlantic racing from the mid 80s and the first World Superbike from Donington, which I actually went down to.

The 500cc two stroke class was without doubt the most brutal class in my time as an mc fan. Obviously I wouldn't argue with the generation that watched the TZ700/750's appear and remind us mere mortals that Lucifer did exist and worked out of a garage in Japan.
But the years of the Honda, Yamaha, Cagiva, Suzuki..amazing..the big bang engine of the Honda...and the riders taking the bulls by the horns also seemed to have it tougher than todays MotoGP who run 4 strokes with more wiring for the engine management and fuel injectors than they seem to have veins in their wrists.I could be completely wrong of course, and I wouldn't want to detract from the likes of Rossi or Lorenzo, but in my day you were a worthy champion if you survived a season on one of those two stroke beasts!

Cool pic of Jamie James in '92 on the V&H yamaha

Kawasaki ZXRR porn!

Kawasaki Race bikes

I was sent these pictures by a guy selling off his collection of road racing Kawasakis.Enjoy.

Great pics of the YZF TT F1 bikes

New racing class announced

That will include bikes like my own zxr750r.
Found this pic of Reynolds on a ZXRr, probably from the year he won the british championship.

Mine is currently in the garage awaiting an mot and some paperwork with regards the K frame. With my right wrist suffering a ligament issue and with the Swedish winter moving in, I'm not really in any hurry and the OW01 will be getting most of the winter hours as the zxr is basically already to go.

Speakers on MAX!

You gotta love Honda for going insane and building the most incredible multi cylinder machines to compete with MV.



As we all know, the Japanese have a bizarre history in TV shows...so somebody one day felt it would be a good idea to take an rc166 into the studio and to get a crowd reaction..

Best of British? NORTON NRV588

You'll probably realise I'm a wee bit slow on the uptake with regards bikes that have already been in the news..and heres one I only found out about the other day...what a beauty!
Somewhere filed away under "cancelled projects" I still own a Norton letterhead offer of a complete rolling chassis off the mark 1 Spondon Norton racers.This type filmed here at East Fortune in Scotland:



That usually brings a tear to people who know what I didn't move on..but the main issue back then , is the same now..you had to have a rotary engine to put into the chassis and that wasn't so easy...
I used to head up to knockhill to watch the JPS Nortons with Ray Stringer and Trevor Nation (think Steve Spray also raced them) and watch them firing flames six feet out the exhaust..they ran hotter than hot and sounded like the Kraken was released! The question was always surrounding they're actual displacement..some argued it was double what was being claimed, and looking at them fly past the bikes at the time made you wonder how a twin at 588cc could be that quick..

Anyway, the new version sounds awesome!




check out back in the day...plenty ow01's, rc30s and of course a norton in its infancy..

norton nrs

back in the day

misc pictures from 88fz to yzf...

As explained previously, once the OW01 was purchased , it was time to scout around the net for full race bikes or otherwise.Some are the pre-OW01s, and you can see the dna is there and the foundations.