2012 Honda Sabre (vt1300cs) on 2040-motos

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Moto blog

Used: MOTOTENT by Lone Rider

Since wild camping in the UK is generally regarded as trespassing, I opted for a crowded campsite in the heart of Sussex, open fires allowed, to see if the MOTOTENT is worth the £399 price tag. On the face of it the MOTOTENT is essentially a two man dome tent with a porch, Well I can pick up one of those up from Argos for £100 or less. Also I was struggling to understand why you would buy a tent that you can sleep in and store your bike in overnight, certainly in the UK most places you are likely to stay are fairly secure campsites.

Honda announced a hardcore version of the Africa Twin

At the Motodays show in Rome, Honda announced a hardcore version of the Africa Twin, featuring Dakar styling, technical innovations and a price tag that surpasses the exterior of the motorcycle in severity. The Italian division of Honda has comprehensively modified the CRF1000L, giving it the dashing style of an experimental vehicle along the way. There is a pretty good attempt to endow the motorcycle with the features of a Dakar monster.

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.