Thankfully he hadn't yet grown this beard

Being a senior member of the Royal Family is widely seen as involving both perks and burdens of duty and although royalist supporters might be more likely to see the balance between duty and perk leaning further in favour of duty than abolitionists, even the most ardent anti-royalist will be recognise that the role isn’t all a bed of roses.

For example although Prince William and his new wife probably had a lot more freedom of choice about their partnership in life than any preceding royal couple, it would be naive to think that either of them had anything like the freedom of choice which us ordinary folk  enjoy.

I might have used “commoner” instead of “folk” in that last sentence except of course that the Duchess of Cambridge (or if you prefer Princess William of Wales) was a commoner until about 11am on April 29^th, but that doesn’t mean she was “ordinary”.  Prince William seems to have found himself (and thankfully has been allowed to marry) a really lovely young lady who, because of their long courtship, has also been given a reasonable opportunity to understand and acclimatise herself to what she has got herself into.

As my elderly Mum said, having spent the day of The Wedding absolutely glued to the telly, the Middleton family did us commoners really proud on that day; they were much more credible as royals continues………

"Theyve got a nicer badge than us too" - a quote from the GWOCGB Forum

Sometimes you are wasting your time trying to explain even a simple truth and it’s better to give up and walk away – but usually only with people who are so blinkered and/or bigoted that they have their own agenda and so they believe, and they will only believe, whatever suits that end.  In extremes cases they seek out the wrong end of the stick in order to misrepresent any alternative view to their own.

And the wrong end of the stick is being put about concerning Federation of UK GoldWing Clubs, which I haven’t written about for a while, so I thought I take the opportunity to give the concept behind Federation another airing.

The Federation is about freedom of choice and it’s almost as simple as that.

After getting fed up with being obstructed and told what to do by GWOCGB’s Committee, a group of Wingers got together a couple of years ago to develop something different – and we believe it’s turning out to be a lot better than what we had in all sorts of ways.

I’d better make it clear before I get into my stride that I’m writing this in a personal capacity rather than as Federation Secretary, which is why this article is on my Blog rather than the Federation website.  This is about my personal understanding of what the Federation is and will become rather than a statement of official policy.  The Federation isn’t in the habit of doing “official” stuff anyway; it’s a pretty informal sort of outfit and it doesn’t have written policies any more than it has rules.

So, it’s about freedom of choice.  Wingers should be as free as possible to organise and take part in continues………

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1991 Blue Honda Goldwing GL1500 for sale.

12 Months MOT, Taxed until October.

Good condition,  71,636 miles

Original FM/AM Radio Cassette Player

New rear tyre

Sat Nav connector

Lots of Tasteful Chrome.  Also included in the sale are : Goldwing Storm Cover, 2 Helmets with intercom, sizes XL and S and Touring Bags.

This light blue colour has been a popular choice for trike conversions and there can’t be many solo bikes still available in it.  This bike featured in an article in Bike Magazine in September 1994 and a copy of the article comes with it.

The bike is in Fleetwood, Lancashire

Price £3,800

Contact the owner Ian on 0787 5560686

It’s not often that sixty odd year old men can capture the attention of 250 young school children all in one go without serious risk of being arrested these days but Bill and I managed it last week – and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the process.

A mutual friend and biker, now also a Methodist Minister, had asked us to tale our bikes along for a bit of a show he wanted to put on for the children as part of a School Assembly which he holds from time to time.

Mention the words “show” and “bike” in the same sentence to Bill and you’ve got his attention straight away so on the appointed day we made our rendezvous and rode together to Cottam Primary School in Preston.  Bill’s bike was immaculate as usual and I’d made a bit of an effort too by giving mine a wash ealrier that morning.

The bikes were parked up outside and we were invited into the Staff Room by Ray, our dog-collared biker mate, for a brew and something to eat.   The idea of being invited into a school staff room, as opposed to being told to wait outside one for a telling off or worse, was unfamiliar to either of us and there were no male teachers at this school, as in most Primaries these days, so entering an entirely female workplace was a bit of a daunting prospect to.  Nothing like as bad as having to face the Ward Sister of a gynaecology ward when I was a medical student, but you probably get the idea.

Primary schools are also like Fort Knox these days with secure doors, signing in and wearing visitors badges continues………

The deadline for entries passed at midnight last night and the winner was drawn from the correct answers this morning.

The winner is David Lockwood who lives in London.

His name and address have been passed on to HondaUK and they will send him the tickets.

Congratulations David and have a great day out.

Honda Staff at their Slough HQ

Staff at Honda’s UK head office came out in force today to take part in a range of two-wheel activities, in support of the annual National Ride To Work Day.

More than fifty riders, many carrying a colleague as a pillion, rode their various Honda machines into the Company’s Head Office near Slough, where everyone gathered for a group photograph and ‘bikers’ breakfast’, joined by hundreds of non-rider colleagues from both the car and power equipment areas within the business as well.

Honda motorcycle models spanning over 30 years, from the Honda 400 Four Supersport from the late 1970s, to a GoldWing took part – highlighting Honda’s diverse range of scooters and motorcycles as well as their impressive longevity in engineering as well as appeal.  (This is based on a Honda Press Release – you’d never guess would you!)

Other staff took the opportunity to experience life on two wheels for the first time either by taking a continues………

GoodWood Festival of Speed

HondaUK have generously offered a pair of free tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed on its opening day, Thursday 30th of June, 2011.

The tickets will be awarded to the first correct answer (drawn out of the hat) from those received by midnight on Wednesday June 22nd.  So you’ve got just over three days, that’s all.

Please submit your answer by using the  Contact Page.  In the message box on this Page type your answer and below it your name address and postcode, so that Honda can send you the tickets in time for you to make use of them.

The winner will be notified promptly by email and his/her contact details will be passed to HondaUK, so that they can dispatch the tickets in time.  Apart from that no personal details will be passed on, retained or used for any purpose.

You will find the answer to this question by browsing the HondaUK website.

Which Honda engine is so clean that its emissions contain nothing but water?

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LH cam belt and its tensioner roller

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I mentioned in an earlier article that Gloria, the GL1200 Aspencade SEi which I couldn’t bear to part with when I got a GL1800, was having some life breathed back into her after a period of storage – and that I would describe how I got on changing the cam belts, which for me was going to be a first time experience.

You can read the original article about Gloria, just how special she is and how she got her name, by clicking here.

GL1000, GL1100 and GL1200 GoldWings have exactly the same cam belts at the front of the engine.  They are toothed rubber/fabric belts and they need replacing periodically, including after an engine has been stationary in storage for a long period.  Gloria had been in storage for over three years without the engine turning, so she needed new belts anyway.  As it happens her belts were nearly fifteen years old, so they needed replacing for that reason too, even though they had only done about 12,000 miles.

Changing belts is not rocket science but it comes into the league of DIY mechanic stuff into which I have only very occasionally ventured and not at all for many years.  But having spent money on a hydraulic motorcycle bench as well as having all the necessary tools like a torque wrench, I wanted to do it myself if I could.  My friend Bill had done his belts on a GL1500 and should therefore be able to advise and help if necessary – and I’d changed the timing chains on a V8 Triumph Stag engine in the dim and distant past, so it should be possible providing I was careful.

I also took the precaution of phoning another friend for advice, Graham Whitaker, who is a professional continues………

As you might have gathered from this video clip, I really enjoyed my second proper go on a racing circuit using my GoldWing yesterday.  Indeed I enjoyed it so much that I thought that other Wingers might well find an opportunity like this one useful – so would they?

Three Sisters Race Circuit

Last year about this time I was invited via my IAM Group to take my bike to a track day laid on for the benefit of visually handicapped people, when they would have the opportunity to ride in sports cars and as pillion passengers on motorcycles provided by enthusiasts as well as to drive dual control cars provided by local driving schools.  I wrote my first experience of this up for the Blog in a previous article which you can find by clicking here.

This time I wasn’t quite so much of a newcomer, we got less rain and we were a bit better organised marshalling-wise, so I was kept busier and enjoyed it even more.  I also discovered that the compact digital camera I have used for years and can mount on my handlebars records video, hence the clip heading this Article.  It shows two laps of the circuit, starting from the pits and coming back into them.

Freddie Mercury and Queen was playing on the stereo but if you listen carefully you will hear the continues………

Hard Knott Pass from the East

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On Thursday evening our daughter and grandchildren left for home after and enjoyable (and invigorating) stay of a couple of days and it took only a few milliseconds, when Bill said he was getting his bike out, to ask if I could join him.

And we enjoyed a very pleasant evening ride, choosing a route into the Trough of Bowland and then eastwards, with the low sun behind us, through Slaidburn, Topside and than back along Cowshit Alley towards Clitheroe and homewards – timing our return perfectly so the setting sun was below the hills rather than in our eyes.  Only about 60 miles and all the brew stops were shut but nevertheless very worthwhile.

On Friday morning my appetite had been whetted and the sun was shining so off I went for a day-long solo ride out, with packed lunch but no particular destination.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and even the M6 was pleasant to ride as I used it to get north of Lancaster, which is terrible for traffic at almost any time.

I found myself drawn to a familiar route, leaving the M6 at the Carnforth exit (Junction 35) then through Burton to meet up with the A65 and then via this road into Kendal.  I stopped for a brew at the Lay By just after joining the A65 but it was uncomfortably hot in sun and I couldn’t even manage to finish reading their Daily Mirror before I was itching to get going again to cool down in the breeze.  The air temperature reading on the bike was 93 degrees F as I set off but I suspect that was an artefact of continues………