I wanted to have a little rant about the state of the motorcycle industry. Many of you may have noticed the steady decline in the independant motorcycle dealers over the last 10 years. The big boom in the trade in the 1990′s was great in some ways but disasterous in others. Many of the worlds top manufacturers saw the success of the small franchises as an oportunity to screw them over. First they started making the dealers jump through all sorts of corporate hoops such as matching carpets and furniture which in itself is not sop bad but then the dealers were pushed into becoming single franchise so you couldnt go to one shop to back to back a Fireblade against an R1. Multi franchise dealers are still around but its mostly the very large companies who do it. One of my favourite ever dealers was Frontiers in Wimbledon. What a great place. It sold Ducati’s, Suzuki’s and Yamaha’s as well as the occasional Bimota and even a few scooters here and there. It was not a big shop but it was a great place to go on a Saturday to drool over the latest bikes and chat to other bikers in a small friendly dealer. The difference was that it was very casual and relaxing unlike the uptight and corporate car dealers we have now. I dont know about you but when i go to one of these cold quiet modern bike dealers i just dont get a good vibe, almost like i am not really wanted. Being hounded by highly trained sales people whos sole goal is to shake me down for as much money as they can get from me. For me the death of the small bike shops is a tragedy that needs to be fixed. I want the big 4 in particular to wise up and give us back the bike trade we knew and loved before its too late.
After a pretty crappy season in WSB Tom Sykes made a return to the BSB series at Brands Hatch this weekend and did the double on the Sunday. After an indifferent and damp Saturday race Tom gave it everything to take 2 wins. Looking like he was going sideways even when he was on a straight he showed that the Kawasaki ZX10R has some fight in it after all. 
LSL have released higher bars to fit the BMW S1000RR. 
LSL Twin match bars for the BMW S1000RR 70mm higher and 15mm closer towards you over stock. Bar weights are also required (14mm) either universal or from the LSL range.
Well done to Gino Rea for a fine performance at the World Supersport round at Silverstone. An outstanding ride and a well deserved third place which is his first podium in his rookie year. Second place was Sofuoglu whilst the win went to Eugine Laverty.
After a rather nasty crash an the start led to a restart Gino rode his Honda CBR600RR to secure his third place finish despite his tyres going off towards the end of the race.
Gino is fifth in the championship on 83 points.
The next time he asks for grips i will be giving them to him.
Personally i think that WSB has it this year due to the large grid and amount of brit riders. I think it was 17 bikes on the moto gp grid last weekend in Spain, and lets face it there were only 3 riders who had a chance of winning. The GP grid needs to be at least 24 bikes in my opinion and it would be really nice to see some teams like roberts or harris return with their own chassis. I also thinks that Suzuki should be made to field 2 non factory bikes too. Hopefully with the return of the 1000cc bikes it will happen, but i wonder if they will stick with using all the complicated electronics that only the very best ever understand. I much prefered it when it was the rider who makes the difference and not a little black box. Maybe we should be supporting Magnetti marrelli instead of casey stoner. Maybe its just me but i would also like Eurosport or whoever to raise the volume of the bikes and the crowds in the background during comentary, it enhances the experience. I was watching WSB the other day and you could hardly hear the bikes at all, just Jack Barnicle talking crap. To sum up, more noise, more bikes, more brit riders in gp’s, bigger engines with less restrictions and Randy Malmola back in the pit lane for Eurosport.
Over the past year or so EBC have been phasing out the old birdswing pattern on their pro lite discs in favour of a universal pattern. The main reason they are doing this is so that the discs will no longer be sided left and right. One improvement over the old discs is the new square drive system for mounting the stainless rotors to the hubs. This clever new system rivetts the 2 parts together increasing the life of the disc significantly, the flat side of the rivett spreading the load when braking which greatly reduces wear to the alloy hub. Another benefit of the new design means that EBC have been able to reduce the number of rivetts that hold the rotor to the hub reducing weight which in turn benefits the handling of the bike by reducing unsprung weight. Well done EBC.
What a shame that the crappy weather ruined what is often a great day of racing. A win for Rutter was well deserved and lucky given the weather problems. It was very luck that no one got seriously hurt. I think Chris Walker must have had a shock coming to rest in the track covered in mud with 15 bikes doing there best to avoid him.
We have lowered all our overseas carrier shipping rates. A few examples for you:
Holland, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark £15
Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal £25
Sweden, Norway, Finland £35
We still offer Royal mail airmail for small items up to 2kg at the regular rates.
Hi Everyone. If we get enough people to sign up to our Facebook page we will start using it to send you details of special offers and new products. The offers will not be available anywhere else so please pay it a visit and join today.
If you havent already you must try the S-Doc 100 gel cleaner. Every review it has had claims it to be the best cleaner on the market. Just spray it on using the pump supplied and work it in with a brush, after a while just wash off. Refills are available too. If you are a lazy motorcylist like myself this stuff is a must have product. S-Doc has a UV protector and anti corrosion agent in it so it will help keep your bike looking awesome for years to come. Go on, give it a go.
