Squirrel And Mac99 Do The NEC

[squirrel_hunter]

Well its that time of year again, it was off to the NEC. Me and Mac99 set off early with the aim to get to the show for the opening at 10:00. But for some reason mainly due to the cold and ice on the roads we arrived a little later than expected. We found the outdoor off road experience was fully booked, but managed to get in on the indoor course. We then queued for a hour to get a test ride.

Unfortunately they wouldn't let me have a go as I didn't have the paper bit of my license. It didn't make any difference last year but the orange lady behind the desk was having none of it. So Mac99 got a go on a KTM and I needed to find something to do. Luckily BMW were nice and let my try a lowered R 1200 GS. Got to say I enjoyed it, it was very stable at slow speeds and could do U turns with ease. I might blag a ride on a non lowered GS in the new year to compare.

The off road was fun, but I'm rubbish at it. However Mac99 was worse as he crashed, I only stalled. I think if I do it again I'm going to want to get some proper instruction. And on the subject of instruction, the California Superbike School put me on their hydraulic simulator. I found this very useful, they went through body position on the bike. With the simulator at the angles they put it in helped put the theory I learned from Mr Codes book into practice. I really want to book myself a course...

Also bumped into Ed and John on the Suzuki stand, while I was sat on the Gladius (nice frame, shame about the plastic tank and the swing arm; I'm happy with my SV thanks) good to see you guys. Got a load of photos of bikes, and because me and Mac99 are both big kids we went toe hunting. And we found what we seeked, though we lack firm proof.

Ride home was a pain, as the join to the M5 was closed. So we filtered through the traffic and then got separated as he took the diversion and I stayed on the motorway as they reopened it. Once again sorry mate.

Hopefully if Mac99 remembers his log in he'll put his pics up to, but heres a few of mine...


Really cool Honda (the red generator thing that is).


Mac99 getting carried away with the suede seat.


The bike that should win Britain's Got Biking Talent.


Here mate I think you've got a puncture.


Mac99 riding...


...Crashing...


...And getting 'instruction'.

I took a load of others but don't want to spool it for anyone who is yet to go up. However I'll leave you with something from Yamaha...


Technical pornography.

Awesome. Love that last picture.

Which bike would be the one you'd want to take home though?

I really like the CB1000R but dont think I could own it. Looks a great bike though. Shame Aprilia werent there. I also like the 848 but how anyone over 5'6" could comfortably ride it is a mystery to me.

You should have seen SH and Mac - covered in road salt, they'd been there an hour and still looked frozen solid

[squirrel_hunter]

Cheers for that Ed! If you thought I looked bad at the start of the day you should have seen me when I got back. Cold and tired; so I jumped in the shower and headed down the pub. Result.

I was disappointed that Aprilia wasn't there either, and there were a couple of other Italian brands that didn't appear this year, maybe next time...

Hovis just to make it clear Mac99 has not been banned. He just doesn't post much any more, that was more of a joke between me and him to be honest.

And finally G2D it would be between that RGV and this B-King...



It had been turbo'ed. Crazy. Just check out the rear tyre, because its so wide there is two drive chains to offset the wheel...

[STRAMASHER]

I like that Fireblade. Looks so much better with a proper exhaust (so must have lost power according to H***a ),lower fairing and big tank.

Don't think the Burger-King is going to get round many corners!

More pics from the NEC please.........

Ooooh, it's been I while, I may have forgotten how to do it.

1) A touring supermoto. Intriguing. This deserves a 'special' face.

The non-touring version of this was the bike I took out for a demo ride. Very good selection of bikes available there. About a dozen I would have fancied a go on.

2) Gladys. On board the new Gladys. Mmmmm real purty.


3) Detailed shots. Note nadgery bit on front downpipe.




4) Indoor offroading was surprisingly difficult. The ground was packed hard ruts. And while it's true I fell off, I didn't stall whilst doing so. So I didn't have to fail to kickstart it and have to be rescued by the nice man... etc etc excuses excuses..


5) Squirrel speeding away after stealing some poor wee child's bike...


6) It's funny because... No it's not not. Never mind, small things, small minds.


7) CSS training bike thing. This was very good. A great advert for their school. A few minutes explanation and prodding from the instructor to show you some new body positioning techniques.

1) Nice chat...


Funniest bit. Instructor says " Show me your position for entering a right hand bend" . Squirrel shifts and hangs off. " Is that it?" <nods yes> . Bang! Hydraulics kick in and the bike drops fully on it's right in an instant. Oh how we all laughed. Apart from squirrel . Apologies for blurring, I was laughing too much.


Bit more talking.


Then a stoppy. Actually body position under braking.

quality pics lads

[_Stretchie_]

I should hagve gone

; (

[Mr Speirs]

May seem a bit of a derail but does anyone watch The Big Bang Theory?
If you have I think you'll have an idea what I on about.