Motorcycling - touring or sports bike? - Top Autobiographies

Touring Bike or Sports Bike? Or could there be something in between?

I used to have a CBR1000F but I sold it because of lack of money, mainly because it needed a new exhaust system and I could not raise the money. Now I am determined to get up and running again but this time with a touring motorcycle.

A typical sports/tourer. Kawaski ZZR600

The CBR1000F I had was what is called a "sports/tourer". This as the name suggests combines the best of both worlds, a bike you can comfortably tour on yet possesses the looks and some of the characteristics of a sports bike. This was one of the things that really appealed to me at the time and I was quite happy with the set up.

Now however my age is having an impact and my eye is beginning to drift toward the dedicated tourer. There are several reasons for this; the first being the riding position. Though the CBR presented a reasonably upright riding posture, it was nevertheless a compromise and because I was leaning forward to a greater extent, I would at times get aching wrists.

The next thing I found was that when trying to look over my shoulder during overtaking manoeuvres or looking left and right at junctions for instance, I would find it more difficult to turn my head to an adequate amount. When I rode a touring bike with a bolt upright seating position, it was so much easier and safer.

Control comes into the equation too. When I rode a Honda PC (Pacific Coast), I found that the wider handlebars and low centre of gravity combined with the upright riding position gave me a lot more control, especially in traffic.

Although the seat was actually very good on the CBR, the seat on the PC was extraordinary especially for the pillion. Though I never toured on the PC, I could tell that this bike would be a supreme candidate for this exercise.

Fairings. The difference a fairing makes on a bike is quite amazing though some people like the raw experience of the naked motorcycle. It all depends what you want. I have done many long journeys on naked motorcycles. I used to do a trip from Preston to Porstmouth, a distance of 257 miles each way on a regular basis on a naked motorcycle and this was only a Honda CB175! At the time I did not notice much stress or wind noise; but when you are young... Later I got a Honda CB750K7 (now something of a classic) with a large touring fairing. The difference was astonishing.

The aerodynamics of my more recent Honda CBR1000F with its specially designed fairing was impressive and kept most of the wind off, including my hands. The only thing was the wind noise on my helmet was still loud due to the diminutive screen. Aftermarket screens were available of course but I never got around to trying one out.

Unfortunately, wind noise on my helmet whilst traveling on my PC was just as bad and it also suffered from a little buffeting. I did experiment with a "lip" on the screen of the PC but it would only work up to a certain speed. It may not have been set up correctly but I will never know since I was forced to sell this wonderful bike due to financial pressures but yet again the fairing generally was amazing. Incidentally, I always wear earplugs when riding a motorcycle.

So once again I am looking to get back into motorcycling but this time I know what I want and I know what I am looking for. It's got to be a touring motorcycle but it's not going to be too big like the much revered Honda Goldwing because I will not have the time to use it for touring very often. It will need to be a bit more weekend friendly.

Though I enjoyed the raw power of the CBR I never actually used it to its full potential and was more interested in the way the bike would appear to do everything in an effortless way. This got me thinking that the bike was wasted on me and what I really wanted was torque which is what you can usually get on a tourer. I am one of those motorcyclist's that likes A roads and motorways and strangely, not so much the twisties. Don't get me wrong, I like all aspects of motorcycling but it's just a preference. They do say that older riders often like torque rather than high revving engines and I suppose in my case it's become a truism.

I'm now saving and looking at ways of making some more money so I can afford to buy a second hand bike but I am more patient these days and besides, my mate who has a Kawasaki ZZR600 sports/tourer, is having an operation and will be out of commission for 11 weeks. This gives me a bit of time to get sorted. At least it gives me something to look forward to.

Whatever bike you own, ride carefully and have a load of fun this year.

How to be happy.

How you can make a difference to your own happiness

When we start out in life we have so many hopes and aspirations. I used to have ambition once, yes ambition but with age a certain type of acceptance begins to set in. Don't get me wrong I haven't given up hope altogether, it's just that you become a bit more realistic and begin to realise that if you haven't "made it" already, it begins to look like your aren't going to.

But what is making it? This question is not asked enough. "Making it" can mean many things however and it can range from becoming a celebrity with millions to being happy with eking out a living in the lonely Highlands of Scotland or in my case making a living window cleaning.

For some they will never be happy with their lot in life but it's something that we will all have to come to terms with, sooner or later. To be philosophical about it all, what it boils down to is happiness or rather, the pursuit of happiness. You can look at happiness in different ways. It can depend heavily on your expectations. As much as we all seem to baulk at what our parents and grandparents used to say; "be content with what you have". As much as I hate to say this, it becomes more of a truism the older you get. You are not going to be able to "take it with you".

You begin to realise that relationships are becoming more and more important to you rather than "things". It's okay to have things but it dawns on you that they are transient and hollow towards relationships. I used to have this thing about cars. I love cars among other things but I was always striving to get a better one, a bigger one, a faster one. I must have had over thirty cars in my time and it took me many years to get over it. I know now that the car was a substitute for a lack of self esteem in myself. If I had an impressive car then people would respect me. Sounds pretty lame now doesn't it?

I even had a phobia about number plates. I would look at virtually every number plate of every car that passed. Was it newer than mine? Most often it was of course because I was never rich and of all those cars I owned, only three were brand new. But again it's a matter of perspective.

I began to make a serious effort to appreciate what I had and how lucky I was in reality. When I saw how many people could never have what I had and how many were actually starving to death, then I was living like a King in comparison. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't as though this was any kind of revelation or anything. I had been aware of all the horrendous things going on on the earth for ages, like we all are. So why did it not have an impact earlier on in life?

Well life's like that. Sometimes it takes a long time and many years of experience and maturity to see what life is really about. We all start out with good intentions, so what's it all about? Happiness is not necessarily about fun. It may be connected but it's far more profound than that. Happiness is something that is much deeper and usually more elusive but once you get what it is, then there is much more chance that you are going to be a lot more content with life. Happiness is a deep seated form of contentment and just being able to accept life but remember this, "their is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving" but we are not talking gifts here like birthday presents. We are talking about being kind and loving and generous at every opportunity, even with your enemies.

This at first will be one of the hardest things you ever did and indeed it might take years to be able to put it into practise. There is one person that I regularly come into contact with that is always terse with me. Sometimes I want to tell him to get stuffed but I used this as an opportunity to practise what I preach. The result? Well he's still the same years later but the effect on me is strange. I feel so much better than if I'd confronted him with the same attitude. I feel good about myself.

Emergency Landing

Indian Ocean, 1974. I was the aircrew man on HMS Lowestoft's Wasp helicopter. The pilot, Lt Kidd and I, were flying on a brilliant day at 400 ft above the sea when suddenly there was a loud bang!
The pilot and I looked at each other wondering what had just happened. The aircraft flew on as normal but I could detect an increase in vibration mainly by looking at the instruments. One of these, a basic temperature gauge was vibrating more than normal and I decided to look through my missile aimer's scope which was like a pair of binoculars. This confirmed that indeed there was extra vibration present. The pilot suggested that it might have been a sonic boom from an aircraft high above us but none were in the vicinity. I suggested the aircraft's gearbox. It was then that he requested an emergency landing on the nearest vessel with a flight deck. RFA Olna was visible and minutes away.

The landing went as normal. An engineer was dispatched and winched down to Olna using Falmouth's Wasp helicopter. He did a few tests and took oil samples but could find nothing so we flew back to Lowestoft where further tests were carried out. Nothing was found but I knew deep down inside that the gearbox was faulty. I tried to tell the flight crew and the pilot but no one would take me seriously. They even sent and engineer up in 451 to check out the scope but he returned saying it was fine. I knew it had changed dramatically. I was given a direct order to fly in 451 so I had no choice. My nerves were frayed.

Flying continued as normal but when we were asked to identify a large Russian warship on the horizon, I was unable to do so since the scope was vibrating too much. It was the Cold War years and I hate to think of how many missiles must have been locked on to us before we got too close.
Years later I found out that this ship was the USSR Leningrad, the flagship of the Soviet Union.

Lt Kidd, the pilot, was fond of doing excessive acrobatic manoeuvres with the helicopter such as stall turns which made me even more nervous. The helicopter just kept on flying as normal but when HMS Falmouth's Wasp ditched into the sea and was a complete wreck, the crew surviving, they requested to borrow ours. It was then that I had many mixed emotions. What if it should crash. I would feel responsible but I was not taken seriously.

For some days I had to live with this possibility until shockingly a message came through that 451 had actually crashed on the flight deck of the Falmouth. Miraculously, the aircraft had sustained no damage and had made a heavy landing on the deck when the gearbox had failed. Yes the gearbox!
Nothing was ever mentioned about this incident in relation to me suspecting that this was the problem but nevertheless, I was completely vindicated.

I would never have made a good aircrew man though and indeed after this incident and others such as metal fatigue that later that led me to be reverted back to Radio Operator.

Long Hard Slog

I've been cleaning windows for 26 years now, which is a long time. I know most of the "In's and outs" of this business now though, I know for sure that some have done better than me. It's okay though, I don't mind. I'm sort of glad they did it but for me, I chose to keep it small and simple.

That's not to say it wasn't a successful venture, this window cleaning. When I first started, I felt like a failure and that people would look down on me. Oh how things have changed! The way the economy is going, I suddenly feel like a King. My wage is nothing to write home about but I can tell you this; it's about double the minimum wage and for a lot less hours. I get home for my dinner virtually every day and my travel costs are negligible when you compare it to the long commute that a lot of people are struggling with it just seems unfair on them.

I like working for myself as well. As some of my readers will know, I have done a hell of a lot of things before I became self employed. I even wrote a book about it and that's why I began this blog site in order to promote it. I was told to promote it. Not my style really but if I don't then no one will know I'm on the planet.

This morning I got up to do my usual shift. More glass to clean and in freezing temperatures. Yesterday the water was freezing on the some of the glass, especially the conservatories since these are generally not heated. I don't use ladders anymore which is a big bonus for me, or anyone for that matter. I spent twenty years climbing ladders before I discovered other ways of doing it. Health and safety now demand that you find alternative methods but in this case I do believe that it is well founded. Only the other day I heard of a man who had been cleaning windows for thirty years and fell off his ladders and died. I never fell off but I had some very close shaves as it were.

Don't get me wrong though, window cleaning is not an easy business to be in. I have never had any trouble with competition but it is genuinely hard physical work, ladders or not. There is more to it than meets the eye as you will find with most things in life. There really is an art to it, if done correctly, not that even I can attain to perfection. My age is something that is beginning to get in the way now. At fifty-nine, it is beginning to get a bit like hard work, which it always was but I expect you know what I mean. It doesn't get any easier to quote my Dad.

I made the most of it though, regular and consistent employment for all that time tends to pay off after a while. I was able to buy a house, a semi in a nice area and believe it or not a retirement flat in Malta. I used the equity in my house to do this but don't imagine for one moment it was easy and indeed I'm still struggling to pay it all off.

At first I was not so enthusiastic about window cleaning but after a while I began to take more interest in it such as equipment and efficiency. This all paid off too since the speed I can properly clean a window makes it all look easy. I also started a YouTube site for others that are interested in starting their own businesses. Here's the link Window Cleaning Tips and Idea's take a look just for a laugh if you must!

Most Comical Moment - Top Autobiographies

Locked in a cabin

On my second merchant ship, the Orita in 1970 I was just a young deck boy. The First Officer was obviously gay and was forever trying to get me into his cabin. I had avoided this for months but the rest of the crew intent on a good laugh, had other idea's.

One day they grabbed hold of me and bungled me into the First Officers cabin. I knew I was in trouble and was terrified. My mind was racing as I frantically tried to figure a way out of the tight spot I was in.

In the meantime, I sat on his bunk as he asked me if I would like a drink. It was then that a cunning plan flashed into my mind and as he was distracted pouring the drink, I leaped up and in a flash I was out through the open port hole and out onto the passageway that ran alongside. I can still hear him swearing.

Of course I was young and slim and I had previously practiced this acrobatic trick before and this is how I lived to tell the story!

Metal Fatigue - Top Autobiographies

Metal Fatigue!

When HMS Lowestoft had berthed in Rosyth Dockyard in 1975 the morale of the ship's company was low. We'd just finished a tour of several countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Brazil. All this seemed a distant memory in the dismal weather of the British Isles.

This is a similar Wasp

 

On families day several weeks before, the ships helicopter, of which I was the aircrew man, had dropped a live depth charge into the sea to impress the hoards of onlookers as the ship sailed slowly through the sea just off the South Coast and Portsmouth. The pilot had miscalculated the distance between the depth charge entering the sea and the actual ship. The resulting explosion was impressive but was to have some interesting consequences. Most of the admiring families were soaked by the massive fountain of water that engulfed the ship including my future wife.

Damage had undoubtedly been done to the ship but this was erroneously attributed to sabotage. It was decided by the authorities, to fly in three detectives to the ship whilst in Rosyth Dockyard using the ships helicopter call-sign 451. On return, the helicopter was folded up and slid into the hangar, the detectives scurrying below.

It was my job as aircrew man to inspect the tail rotor after each flight. I had been careless in this regard in the past but since three detectives were on board it was just the impetus I needed to carry out the task. I can still remember clearly the dim lights in the now deserted hangar, the smell of fuel and the residual heat still coming off the engine as I made my inspection. All seemed in order as it always was and I was about to turn away when I noticed something. It was like a thin watermark that ran most of the way round the tail cone. At first I could not believe what I was seeing but there was no doubt that it was a classic case of metal fatigue.

Raising the alarm it was not long before most of the flight crew were in the hangar and I was given more commendation than I'd ever had before in my career. It was a strange feeling though since I knew that potentially, I had not only saved my own life but that of the pilot and the three detectives on the very next flight.

Become an Author - Top Autobiographies

Why not become an Author?

Ever thought of becoming an author? I never thought that I could do it myself. I've even surprised myself by writing my autobiography.

I began writing in a depressed state but soon after that I found that actually getting it all down on paper (computer), I found that I began to find it therapeutic. This was an unexpected bonus and was to change my life.

I can't say that my book is anything special in a technical sense but it's more about the experiences that I had and wanted to share. Indeed, some people appreciate this.

If you feel that you have experiences that others would like to read about, then have a go at it yourself. You might be surprised at how well you take to it. I never thought that I had the ability to write a book, not that it's a masterpiece of course but that's not the point.

At the very least, you will leave a lasting legacy for friends and family and have a lot of fun on the way.