27/02/05

Picked up Zed from Banjax on Saturday, not the best of weather for our homecoming, snow was threatening and it was peeing down by the time we got back. It was a very odd feeling; sitting on the bike it didn't feel like mine at first. Having gotten used to the clutch on the GPZ I stalled it instantly, I'd forgotten how lightly I'd set it. Brakes felt odd, but good. The weight took me by surprise again, just lifting it from the side stand required so much effort. Once we were under way we were fine however and by the time I reached the A3 I was feeling at home again. Having the instant power under my throttle hand is definitely something I've missed. I don't think I've ever pushed Zed to his limits, but I reckon I've asked the GPZ to give more than it wants. Its nice to have that reserve of power ready whenever you might want or need it.

Getting myself to Whitechapel from Dorking was a drawn out and expensive process, £1.10 from here to Dorking Station, £7.60 (yes THAT much!) to Waterloo and a further £2.30 on the tube to Whitechapel. Okay some people might not think its much but £11of petrol will take me a long way on my bike!

Once we got home it was back into the back of the garage to await a nice day for a good wash and freshly painted panels to arrive. I felt a bit bad about that... I could ride it as is (I've removed the belly panels and just left the mid panel on the right to hold the nosecone firmly in place) but I guess I'm enough of a poser not to want to show him off in this condition. I may change my mind however at the weekend.

We have a friend storing his bike with us for a while, so reshuffling the garage to fit four bikes in plus the usual junk was no small feat! A clean out is definitely on the cards, I'll get round to selling off my old panels from the RH crash soon I think.

23/02/05

Well I put 125 miles on the Geep on Sunday, what with that and getting it home, and one trip into work got me through the running in process. Unfortunately since Monday the snow has been a bit too much. It was one thing to ride through winter in central London where the snow doesn't really stick but this far out I'm not going to risk it unless I have to. 

Sent my wheels and inner fairings to Dennis to start on, will sort the rest out this weekend to send to him. It's nice to think about putting it all back together. Whatever I do there's still going to be some battle scars... but he's going to be a handsome beast again pretty soon. Am thinking (more playing wit the idea) of possibly painting the frame at some point, the Kawasaki silver doesn't touch up that well and there's a patch on the RH side where my leathers rubs a small hole in the paint for some reason, I must hold my right leg higher than my left or something. I'm wary of creating too much of a custom paint job however, I just wonder if it wouldn't look a little cleaner. Of course that would also pose the question of which colour. Black seems a sensible choice, graphite might be cool.

19/02/05

Visited Zed down at Banjax and met Martin (Les & Colin both not being in). I was very happy with both the work that has been done already, and what was said about fixing my swingarm. My forks need doing too, so am getting as much as possible done while I can. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Banjax boys to anyone needing good, honest, reliable people to work on their bikes. Although based a fair ways from me their workshop is clean, organised and well put together. I wouldn't pretend to know a huge amount about workshops but from the ones I have seen the ones that seem to be a complete state are generally a reflection of the kind of work that gets done - i.e. haphazard.

The can had arrived and been fitted - it does match. The parts I bought from the breakers weren't as "undamaged" as I would have liked, but I can swap the cover out another time when I have some spare cash.

The Geep wasn't ready to collect this morning, but I did manage to pick it up this afternoon, following what amounted to a complete top end rebuild. It does mean I have to keep the revs low for a couple of hundred miles to bed it in a bit however. This is a much harder task than one might imagine.

18/02/05

I was very worried about insurance renewal as last year we had a fight to get my ZZR insured with the race cans for less than £600. Ok yes, this year I'm over the dreaded 30, and now live in leafy Surrey, complete with garage... even so I was well chuffed today when Ronnie at Riders Choice came up with cover for both bikes for under £300!

You would be hard pressed to get me to go to anyone else for my bike insurance! 

16/02/05

The good news is Venom are sending the new can out tonight, directly to Banjax. With a bit of luck (and some help from the Banjax boys) I'll be able to hear that familiar RAWR tomorrow - if only over the phone.... yes I am that sad! The bad news is the parts didn't arrive for Geep, so I can't rely on bringing it home tomorrow. Still I guess I ought to be grateful! 

I can't believe it but the reminder for this years Race for Life has come. I did it last year in June. I managed to raise around £350, but will set myself a target of £500 this year. 

15/02/05

Well work is well underway on Zed. The guys down at Banjax seem to be taking great care of him. I'm hoping to pop down at the weekend to check on him, and with a bit of luck drop off the new exhaust. I'm hoping to repair the swingarm as well - that bit where I pulled the bracket for the chain guard clean off - yea yea, I know DIY often results in costly mistakes! Venom have changed the design of their pipes so they one they sent me was wrong. To their credit they are making me up one to match the other. Had a major panic when I thought I was going to have odd cans. Stickers and brackets all arrived from Cradley. Just need to pick up a couple of panels then ship them out to Dennis.

The Geep is in for repair, looks like the head gasket - don't ask me for the details - I don't know.... I'm a girl remember! All things going well I'll have it home Thursday night. Till then its me n Ethel up and down the A3....

06/02/05

Progress at last. Zed was collected yesterday by Ronnie and delivered to Banjax in East London. I've also ordered all the necessary graphics from Cradley, along with some brackets which hold the fairings in place which are too damaged to be used again. This might be a tad previous, as if Banjax say the broken fitting can't be repaired, I'm a bit scuppered. However I am feeling positive about it - far more positive than I have been. I've had a chat with Dennis about the panels I'm going to need re-sprayed, along with my old wheels. The black ones have been slightly damaged, they would need to have the cuts filed down and then the paint touched up, so I figured as I was sending Dennis everything else, might as well paint my old perfectly good silver wheels shiny black and then swap them next time I have new tires fitted. For details of Ronnie & Dennis see new page -  Handy Links for details.

The Geep is drinking oil something chronic - its had about 4 ltrs in the past ten days. The chap I bought it from - Tony from the Yamaha Center in Southfields is going to have a good look at it on Monday. Fingers crossed its nothing to worry about.

Ethel is making some odd noises too, we had both front wheels off yesterday and checked the pads - they're all fine - look hardly used in fact. It's kind of a rubbing noise, especially when braking... Went to have a look at the rear, but they're drum brakes and we neither of us had any ideas what to look at/for. Anyhow the noise is at the front of the car I reckon.

As for me... I'm still doing physio down at the Leatherhead hospital two mornings a week. A combination of muscle stretching and building exercises along with various fancy machines which help to improve balance. Work with Therabands to strengthen my shoulder, and hill walking to improve my walking (and stop me limping or hobbling).

I'm wary of posting too much about the state of my claim, but suffice to say the Third Party insurers are still not admitting liability in any way. I'm sure Mr Van Driver isn't visiting hospital twice a week, 18 weeks on.

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