I’ve been using a Kriega R35 for the last 6 years as my only everyday bit of luggage. It’s been half empty most days, stuffed to bursting point on the rest, and occasionally borne the extra merits of a US-10 or US-20 expansion pack. It’s been out in all weathers, all through the year, and I’ve conservatively estimated that it’s covered 125,000 miles strapped to my bulk. In all that time, distance, and abuse, it’s never let me down in any way. OK, so it’s not properly waterproof, but with a US-19 dry liner, your kit stays dry even if you end up in a lake.  The general wear and tear of use has resulted in nothing more than a slighly furry bit of velcro on the front closure, and , er, nothing else of note. It’s incredible really.

With the average biker covering about 3,300 miles per year – and assuming Mr Average wore one of these every day – it would still be going strong after 37 years! Even for a Fast Bikes reader (who averages just under 6,000 miles per year) it’ll last over 20 years.  I’d honestly be surprised if mine lasted less than the same distance again.

Nonetheless, I’ve opted for a new version to try and repeat the mileage. The R30 has a 100% waterproof main body with a six-point pack compression, and an innovative Quadloc harness – so once you’ve set the strap lengths, you just click in and out of it. There are two water-resistant outer zipped pockets and, as the name suggests, a 30 litre capacity.  It comes with an amazing 10 year guarantee, and accepts the same optional 5 or 10 litre waterproof add-ons as the R35. I’ve been using it for about 8 weeks now, and have nothing but praise so far. I’ll give you a like-for-like update in 123,000 miles…

The R30 is £129.00, the R35 is £115.00 – check them out, and the rest of the range, at the Kriega website.

Moby

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So the tale of the tape is as follows, I started with a DNS, A finish, a DNF, 2 no shows, another finish and finally on the 20^th November, Did Not Start again – but this time I cannot blame mechanical failure – I was, as at Clay Hill, beaten by the conditions, lack of stamina and ability.

But there we go, I had made a few fundamental mistakes at the start of the last round at Ford, my tyres were far too pumped and I had to drop a good 10 psi for the conditions, I was too hesitant and again – a bit light on grit to get myself round. However, having spent so much time with the marshals I was given alot of tips, advice and encouragement for next year and its being surrounded by these people with so much passion that will have me rolling again in 2012.

The only thing I really need to do is look out for a more practical bike for my ability. It was always my intention to pick something up for as little as possible and see if enduro was something I wanted to get into. That was my aim and to that end I have had a a very positive season – yes it’s for me, and now I have to increase my investment to a machine more befitting my needs and ability and get straight back into it. As for the RMX 250s that will be found a good home, I have not done it justice but at least its not in boxes in Rootsy’s garage anymore.

So all in all a brilliant season and if you are near enough to the west country visit www.mwmcc.co.uk for more info and I will hope to see you next year. Though I don’t think I will have Fast Bikes logo’s on my bike for a while, talk about a rolling contradiction…

We really hope that’s mud…

Cheers Jack for the images, and all the guys that have helped me along the way, see you next year.

Charlie

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1. Midwest Enduro Mayhem

The school is a well thought out concept that promises to bring something to the table for any level of rider, tuition will come from one instructor for every two students handpicked by Chris with notable inclusion of current BSB Riders. You can expect an education on braking, your positioning, acceleration, lines and most intriguing of all for me is this will all be done in a race style – Warm-up Laps, Free Practice sessions and Superpole. Like with racing itself you will have live timing on screens and sheets to measure your improvement throughout the day with the chance to hit the podium and spray champagne all over the grid girls.

This is all going on at the recently resurfaced Mallory Park, interestingly the first circuit Stalker ever raced at and with its fast, slow and technical sections is the perfect venue for you to cut your teeth in the race style ‘experience’. The school is well supported too via key brands such as D.I.D chains, Maxxis tyres, KBC Helmets and Scorpion exhausts to name but a few. There is also an impressive fleet of Kawasaki ZX-6R’s to start you on your racing experience, once you have completed the supersport then they may even roll out the ZX-10R superbikes for you – and if you impress enough you may even progress into the big leagues and actually race with Chris as your mentor.

I rode with Chris once before at the WSB event at Silverstone, what he imparted to be in a 30 second passing boosted my confidence and riding massively, imagine what 8hrs will do!

So as soon as you sign up you will receive the intro pack (pictured), containing sliders, T-Shirt, Decals and other useful track day bits – Now that would look good under any Christmas Tree… I am leaving a space as a hint under mine.

Charlie

Chris Walker Race School contacts: 01455 844078 - chriswalkerraceschool.com

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I started the season by purchasing a 1992 RMX 250s from Rootsy, had it built, then rebuilt after the first round debacle of the engine continually flooding and finally finishing my first ever three hour enduro in the second round – knackered – elated and desperate to blog what I saw as an enormous personal success. The bike spent more time in the back of our Primastar than it did in the mud at the beginning of the year.

This all came tumbling down though on the 19^th July, my first wet round at Cley Hill bought all of false optimism hurtling down with a severe bump. The weekend started productively enough – Beaky Saunders and I walked the 12km course on the Saturday to prepare for the following day, it was wet – real wet – but hopes were that the properly spirited riders in front of me would fling all of the damp shit up before I bumbled my way through. It was not to be.

I am not ashamed to say that that 3^rd round broke me completely. I was off every 20 yards, slipping my way round all over the place – my tyres collecting mud meant I may aswell have been on slicks, I was just not getting the speed up to spin the mud off the wheels. I ate dirt – time after time after time – after only one lap I gave up – having dragged the bike up out of ditch after ditch I didn’t have the energy to kick start her. Even three cans of Red Bull had no effect.

As heart broken as I was I took solace in the fact that I was not the only one to crack under such adversity. Glenn (my brother in law who initially laid down this gauntlet of enduro racing) faltered after a single lap too, Beaky however flew round like a proper pro. “You need to Man up – Find your inner grit and get on with it” was his advice. He was absolutely right – I have put too much into this to quit, but believe me I almost did.

The next two rounds passed on Sundays I could not make. But on October the 16^th Chickwell Farm gave me the opportunity to start again, perfect weather, brilliant course and a renewed optimism for me. For this round I had removed my head light and fitted a number plate which hid the age of the bike to an extent, prepared for the warm conditions with a Kriega Hydro pack on my back and kept repeating – Man Up, just Man up. I flew round, getting faster all of the time and enjoying it thoroughly. Over the course of three hours I got round 11 times, my fastest lap was 12:30 – some two and a half minutes off of my first lap which you have to be happy with.

I did get absolutely shattered at the two hour mark mind and started making mistakes, I hit logs at the wrong angle, head planted over the bars across a couple of whoops and planted my foot so convincingly at one point that my boot went under my back wheel. This was beautifully captured by resident photographer Jack Stinger – and a great advert for my Sidi Crossfires – no shame in this name drop – they properly saved me from a broken ankle.

So onward to Ford on Sunday. This is promising to be a hard one, wet and cold and pretty unforgiving. Glenn’s work commitments and Beaky having mechanical issues sees me tackling the final round alone but I have a lot to prove to myself. In the end I have excuses – I have never done this before, I am 37 years old and most competitors appear to be younger than my 19 year old bike. But the rest of the riders help you along the way and its all done in a fabulous spirit.

Will let you know how Sunday goes, if I am limping round Motorcycle Live then you know why – its time for me to man up again.

Visit the Midwest Racing website for more info about the series.

Thanks to Jack Stringer for the use of his images.

Charlie

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Erm! OK Dan I think I follow…. When you hear an automotive designer talking like a NASA scientist, you quickly realise he’s not going to be your regular two-wheeled speed freak. Daniel Simon is actually a vehicle concept designer. Originally from Germany and once senior designer for Bugatti and Volkswagen; His clients now include the likes of Honda and the film industry.

I’d thoroughly recommend seeing more of his work at  danielsimon.com. Admittedly I love Sci-Fi, but even if you don’t his site is a great mash-up of fantastical engineering, aviation, and motor sport. He not only designs, but also creates all these beautiful 3D and visuals himself.

Active as a livery stylist in Formula One Daniel is also pretty busy in Hollywood; Collaborating with the likes of Ridley Scot. He has penned stunning vehicles in films such as Tron Legacy, Captain America. and is currently working on Oblivion, a film to star Tom Cruise, and set for release in 2013.

Daniel’s book ‘Cosmic Motors’ is available from Amazon, you can follow his work on Facebook and you can also see his very cool motor sport and aviation photograhy on Flickr.

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The first Ducati I was really aware of was the 851. The neighbour of my best mate had one, and incredibly he commuted on it daily, and parked it outside his house all year round, whatever the weather. The noise stirred my soul though – I knew I wanted one. The 888 did nothing to put me off, and by the time the 916 was released, I was spending more time thinking about Ducatis than anything else.

Ducati 888 SP5 – sadly not owned by me

The only spanner shaped thing in the fulfilment of my desires was a significant lack of moolah. I came close to getting my hands on my first Italian in 1997, but the fear of reliability issues and endless bills eventually got the better of me, and I bought a Yamaha TRX850 instead – yes, the poor man’s Ducati 900SS of the day.

It wasn’t until years later that I finally got to ride a Ducati – and felt the crushing tide of disappointment wash over me. I was lucky enough to ride a flurry of Ducati models, each one leaving me no more excited than the previous one had. The 998 was the only salvation, but the allure of Jap fours with their effortless power, smooth delivery, bulletproof reliability and easy handling was too strong. I’d fallen out of love.

After of few years though, the clinical supremacy of the Jap fours was beginning to leave me a little cold, and the tangible soft spot I had for the overwhelmingly unpopular 999 was doing a good job of keeping a spark of admiration alive for the red brand (yellow Ducatis don’t exist to me). And then, a couple of years ago I bought my first Ducati, a 900SS – the bike I’d nearly bought in 1997. It was, in almost every way, the lowest performing Ducati I’d ever ridden, and yet I loved it. The light weight, nimble handling and thumping 2v motor conspire to hurtle you down the road with surprising pace, a full aural assault, and great emotion.

My 1993 Ducati 900SS

Ever since I fell back in love, I’ve been hankering after more – and the 916 family has always been at the front of the queue for my affections. Eventually you have to give in, too. So I’ve been hunting for a few months now, but nothing has quite felt right enough, or affordable enough, to make me hand over the cash. But that changed this week after I appealed for a good clean bike at a good clean price via our Facebook page. Only one reader offered their Ducati up for scrutiny, so I headed down into Dorset in our Primastar, armed with a wad of cash. And as if by fate – it passed the test.

So I’ve finally got a 996 – the last of the desmoquattros before the 998 commenced the Testastretta family. It’s an early one too – chassis number 80 to be exact, registered in early October 1998. It’s not immaculate, but I’ve seen worse from some of our longtermers at the end of a year of use – so I’ve no complaints about the beauty of my 996, which celebrated its 13th birthday this week.

My 1998 Ducati 996 Biposto

Excellent condition aside, it’s the originally that helped to close the deal. The cans have been changed for thunderous carbon SilMoto ones, the mirrors are genuine colour coded ones, a carbon hugger has been added, and a taller screen fitted. That’s it. And I’ve got all the original parts too – which are also in excellent condition. It even came with all the original books, both keys (one of which has never been used, and still hangs from the supplying dealer’s leather fob), and a patchy history – which is the only let down.

I’ll be giving it a full service, new belts, and a fresh pair of boots before I go anywhere on it, and while it’s not going to be a total garage queen, it won’t be seeing salt, and will only see rain if we get caught out. I’m not going to ruining its originality either. This will either be the beginning of something beautiful – or the most fantastically attractive nightmare. I’ll keep you posted.

Moby

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Well how about one of these barmy ‘pisspot’ lids from Borat’s beloved Kazakhstan instead?

You can see all the styles at the Daily Mail’s website.

They are only concepts from the Kazakh marketing agency Good!, but with enough interest, maybe we’ll see them produced one day. We’d love to see more wacky designs like these in racing, how can we forget the infamous, AGV’s ‘big-face’ Valentino Rossi lid, penned by design legend Drudi Performance.

If you click on this AGV link you can add a pic of your own face to a helmet, I tried, but it wasn’t pretty, I should have used a snap of the dog! Let us see your results and if you see crazier designs out there, tasteful or not, please send us the pics.

Andy C

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Let’s start with MotoGP at Indianapolis which is a bit of a Mickey Mouse track. Praise the Lord, because the Yanks have resurfaced most of the circuit and banished the multi-tarmac surfaces that caused so many issues, and crashes. Still, I can’t think of an epic race that’s taken place there.

Last year Dani Pedrosa whooped ass and took the victory, from Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo. This season, Pedrosa looks to stay on his Repsol Honda and rekindle the form we/he know he’s capable of – he looked set to win at Brno last time out, but crashed early on.

But let’s be honest, Casey Stoner has to be favourite. He’s frickin’ awesome right now. He wasn’t in with even a sniff of the victory at Brno, but managed to take advantage of his rivals’ misfortunes to extend his championship lead to 32 points.    Whoregay (who’ll be riding the gorgeous red and white liveried M1) needs to start pulling serious points back if he’s going to retake the title but, unless an injury occurs, Stoner and the Honda look invincible.

Gossip suggests Marco Simoncelli will stay at Honda next year, ousting Dovi for the third factory Honda. After his debut podium last time out, Super Sic should be interestingly confident at Indy.

Home boys, Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden, always shine on home soil and have a good history at Indy. Spies really needs to get his elbowz out and start properly hassling the elite, while Hayden has the perfect excuse in that the Ducati is utter dog poo. Valentino Rossi, even with his upgraded GP11.1 tweaks, will struggle to make the top five.

In other news, there are lots of rumours flying about regarding our Cal Crutchlow. Let’s hope Cal can stay on his Tech 3 Yammy in America and cement another year in the MotoGP paddock. Bradley Smith and Eugene Laverty are reported UK names to join Tech 3 in 2012.

Talking of the UK, British Superbikes head to Cadwell Park this weekend, without John Hopkins. In case you didn’t know, Hopper crashed the Rizla Suzuki during MotoGP practice at Brno and needed surgery on his hand. Due to the ‘Showdown’ finale in BSB, where only the final three rounds really matter for the top six, Hopper is safe along with series leader Shane Byrne and Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill.

Reigning champ, Ryuichi Kiyonari, has to find some pace to stop Michael Rutter and the rest ruining his championship chances. Kiyo has lost some serious mojo. Also, look out for Tommy Bridewell and the latest installation of Rob Mac’s musical R1 chairs, plus Josh Brookes jumping the Mountain. The party in the Park is always a spectacle.

Fagan

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One of the star attractions at the event will be the monthly custom competition, organised by Warr’s and the infamous Ace Café, which has been ongoing since spring. The style showdown is a chance for owners of the area’s most individual Harley-Davidson motorcycles to show off their modified machines.

The very best individual design at the event will win a prize of a £250 voucher for parts and accessories, which is also offered at all monthly contests. The grand final, where the ultimate winner will be crowned, will be held on 27 October. The prize at stake is the holiday of a lifetime for two to the legendary Daytona Bike Week in the USA.

The forthcoming bank holiday event is also an ideal chance to take to the road with one of the very latest Harley-Davidson models – the Harley® Experience truck will be there throughout the weekend, with a selection of amazing motorcycles for test rides. All riders who have held a full motorcycle licence for at least 12 months and remember to bring both parts of the licence with them are eligible to take a free test ride!

The full programme of events includes a Harley night at the Ace Café on 25 August, followed by a full day of demo ride availability and Bike Night at the Ace on 26 August. On the 27th, the demo rides continue, and a highlight for the evening is an American cruise-in. The big one is 28 August – when visitors can enjoy all the above, plus live music from the Aaron Keylock Band and a chance to win an entry into the Daytona Bike Week prize!

Only riders who can provide both parts of their licence will be granted test rides. They can be pre-booked now at www.warrs.com . For more information on Warr’s H-D or to check out the latest range of motorcycles, visit www.warrs.com , www.facebook.com/warrscustoms or visit the dealership: Warr’s Harley-Davidson, 611 King’s Road, London, SW6 2EL.

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You could, however, nip down to Winchester where the British Motocross Grand Prix is taking place and watch the world’s best mud-pluggers tear up some dirt. Shaun Simpson, Tommy Searle, Max Anstie and several wildcards will be flying the Union Jack, plus you may bump into a few BSB racers like Tommy Hill and Chris Walker who are expected guests.

For a timetable and ticket info, go to britmxgrandprix.com

Also on this weekend is the West Wales Motorcycle Show, organised by the Carmarthen & District Motorcycle Club. In its fifth year, the show coincides with the club’s 15^th anniversary and includes stunt shows, auctions and even dog and falconry displays. Dog-tastic. It promises to be a family affair, with £7.50 entrance cost and kids go free. Visit carmarthenmotorcycleclub.co.uk for all the info.

Fagan

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