What did you do to your bike today?

Very comfy and surprisingly nimble for such a heavy bike. Driven properly it can make very good progress. It does help to have the wind protection and a big comfy Seargent seat when going on a 150 mile run at 2 in the morning!
 
Fitted a new rear shock, the original was way to oversprung for my weight.
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1ecK2hY
 
Not 'my' bike but yesterday I(and the gf) went out for a ride down to Ponderosa on a mates XJ6N, with mate and his gf on his Speed Triple. the XJ6 has a Leo Vince can and the thing sounds unbelievable. I couldn't get over it, burbles on rev-matching for downshifts, cracks on the over-run and screaming at the top of it's lungs on throttle (even just say, 20% throttle) As someone who likes loud exhausts as long as they sound good, it was perfect.

Completely different to my SV, in every possible way except it has two wheels. It felt ridiculously light and brakes were incredible. Strangely enough though, it didn't feel as balanced as my Dads Pan-Euro 13, which I took out a few weeks ago on the same roads and scraped the peg on a few bends :p It could be to do with being two-up, especially as it was only gf's 2nd time on the back :) Don't get me wrong, it was dreadful on the motorway, especially two-up but for commuting around Southampton it'd be an absolute riot. I took it for a 5 minute spin round the block before gf jumped on the back and I came back and told him i'd likely want to buy it when he sells.
 
Scuzi said:
Very comfy and surprisingly nimble for such a heavy bike. Driven properly it can make very good progress. It does help to have the wind protection and a big comfy Seargent seat when going on a 150 mile run at 2 in the morning!
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How did you get into blood biking? It's something I'd be very much interested in down the line when I'm more experienced on 2 wheels
 
NooBish AbbZ said:
Not 'my' bike but yesterday I(and the gf) went out for a ride down to Ponderosa on a mates XJ6N, with mate and his gf on his Speed Triple. the XJ6 has a Leo Vince can and the thing sounds unbelievable. I couldn't get over it, burbles on rev-matching for downshifts, cracks on the over-run and screaming at the top of it's lungs on throttle (even just say, 20% throttle) As someone who likes loud exhausts as long as they sound good, it was perfect.

Completely different to my SV, in every possible way except it has two wheels. It felt ridiculously light and brakes were incredible. Strangely enough though, it didn't feel as balanced as my Dads Pan-Euro 13, which I took out a few weeks ago on the same roads and scraped the peg on a few bends :p It could be to do with being two-up, especially as it was only gf's 2nd time on the back :) Don't get me wrong, it was dreadful on the motorway, especially two-up but for commuting around Southampton it'd be an absolute riot. I took it for a 5 minute spin round the block before gf jumped on the back and I came back and told him i'd likely want to buy it when he sells.
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I think it's actually around 10Kg heavier than your bike.

A nice exhaust note can make any bike seem amazing to ride though.
 
RyanF said:
How did you get into blood biking? It's something I'd be very much interested in down the line when I'm more experienced on 2 wheels
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Had to do an advanced riding qualification to be eligible so I did the IAM course. Once I had completed that I just contacted my local group and they did an induction day and I was on my way. Only been doing it for a month now but have done loads of runs. Some are pretty boring, transferring urgent samples and medical notes, but some are really rewarding. I did a run on New Year’s Day to deliver 4 units of blood to a maternity unit where a new mother was bleeding out after a birth gone wrong. When delivering it they came and grabbed the box from me and ran off with it saying something along the lines of “I’m so glad to see you”. Certainly turned what would have been an otherwise mundane day into a rewarding experience. Also done urgent neonatal pathology samples for sick newborns, clotting agent and plasma for people bleeding out, blood deliveries for organ transplant operations. Busy month but very rewarding! The other members are great too. Almost all of them are down to earth bikers who just love riding bikes.

Here’s a snap of what I was up to on Christmas Day at 9pm. Delivering blood to the air ambulance...
bS68YOu.jpg


Get in contact with your local group and see if they’ll let you go out on a shout with someone to see what it’s like.
 
Got all the non urgent bits to put the bike back to its pre crashed state now.
I'll probably fit the levers/bar ends tomorrow as it's supposed to be flipping cold then do the crash bungs at the weekend then the tail piece when we have some actual warm weather.

Need to find a new left mirror as well, the replacement I bought is supposed to be stock but is totally different to my old one, it magnifies so much that I can see my arm and maybe a headlight that looks like it's sat on the pilly seat so it's basically useless.
 
Scuzi said:
Had to do an advanced riding qualification to be eligible so I did the IAM course. Once I had completed that I just contacted my local group and they did an induction day and I was on my way. Only been doing it for a month now but have done loads of runs. Some are pretty boring, transferring urgent samples and medical notes, but some are really rewarding. I did a run on New Year’s Day to deliver 4 units of blood to a maternity unit where a new mother was bleeding out after a birth gone wrong. When delivering it they came and grabbed the box from me and ran off with it saying something along the lines of “I’m so glad to see you”. Certainly turned what would have been an otherwise mundane day into a rewarding experience. Also done urgent neonatal pathology samples for sick newborns, clotting agent and plasma for people bleeding out, blood deliveries for organ transplant operations. Busy month but very rewarding! The other members are great too. Almost all of them are down to earth bikers who just love riding bikes.

Here’s a snap of what I was up to on Christmas Day at 9pm. Delivering blood to the air ambulance...
bS68YOu.jpg


Get in contact with your local group and see if they’ll let you go out on a shout with someone to see what it’s like.
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My wife has had a retained placenta, twice! If it doesn't come out after birth it's still fed blood and that means it's essentially a dripping tap. The first time she lost loads of blood and the consultant had to order blood and take her in to emergency theatre. Without the likes of yourself and highly trained doctors she wouldn't have made it. Being left with my first newborn while my wife was in surgery was the scariest hour I've ever had to endure.
 
Kreeeee said:
I think it's actually around 10Kg heavier than your bike.

A nice exhaust note can make any bike seem amazing to ride though.
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Really? That’s strange :p Maybe the seat is just narrower, or seat slightly lower so it seems easier to stand up etc. My SV has a lovely exhaust note; I just love the sound of this XJ6 :)
 
Went into the garage, took the baffles out and started for 10 mins, made some loud vroomy shouty poppy flamey things happen, then covered the bird back up and hobbled out.

Having a ****ed up ankle is really taking it's toll on me now :(
 
Lakeland said:
My wife has had a retained placenta, twice! If it doesn't come out after birth it's still fed blood and that means it's essentially a dripping tap. The first time she lost loads of blood and the consultant had to order blood and take her in to emergency theatre. Without the likes of yourself and highly trained doctors she wouldn't have made it. Being left with my first newborn while my wife was in surgery was the scariest hour I've ever had to endure.
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Similar situation got me into this. Wife nearly had it after a still birth. Blood biker delivered the blood she needed at silly o’clock in the morning which is how I found out about it and why I do it now.

The NHS is bloody brilliant but on the flip side you have to ask if it’s right that some of the most critical services are propped up by volunteers. Don’t get me wrong, I love volunteering and will do it for as long as I can, but in an ideal world it would be a funded service. Anyway, I digress. That’s a topic for another thread!
 
One thing I've always wondered do they still ask you to make runs when the weather is bad or do they leave that to the odd car each group seems to have?

I'm obviously talking snow/ice etc and not a summer warriors idea of bad weather.
 
From the research I did most groups have 4 wheeled alternatives that in weather too treacherous to ride in get called in to action.
 
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