Time to “Chase” the dreams.
ride
Ride to the NorthCape
TimeCapsule – 2015 – To the very far ends and the corners of this planet.. I thought it might be one of the lovely lone experiences but it was tarnished by the hundreds of tourists that land on this spot loaded in buses like the cattle going to the free slaughter pilgrimage (Apologies for the pun too, if it sounds too harsh but that was my personal thoughts).
On one hand, It was quite an amazing ride when I come to think of it but not an experience I would like to share about the actual NordKapp visitor center. Hundreds of tourists filled inside the shop and cafetaria like this is all they came here for. I would have preffered to stick to the very wild north but the weather was pretty cold for summer equinox and forced me to battle through the rainy downpours.
Thanks to all those who helped and also to those, who didn’t. It all makes a worthy experience in the end.
A slow and nice one to enjoy the curves of Norwegian North(without touching the brakes)
Will I ride there again, quite definitely yes but not to the very NorthCape but the likes of bordering northern islands. I loved the isolation of 98 instead. No videos but you would enjoy the Wilderness and the freezing rain\wind and awesomeness of no one for miles.
KEIS Heated Inner Gloves – REVIEW
All these years riding in winters and yet knowing that I do not like the cold fingertips I was on the hunt for the heated gloves. There are lot of options to choose from at first and too many questions as each seller has its own selling point. A lot of time spend finding out the real good ones as these all heated gloves are well over £150 mark in general. First few brands that come to the mind are GERBINGS, KEIS, EXO2, WEISE(latest), ALPINESTARS and few others (I possibly don’t know of).
I had my own limitations in terms of what I want – as I wear a HG leathers jacket which has a zipper and cuff that is not too big to take any wide cuffs from the gloves inside it yet close it perfectly fine for riding in rains. I wanted something that would slip inside my jacket at the same time. I was surprised that none of the glove makers think of this thought that biker would want to avoid the water coming down the gloves and letting that water get inside of your gloves. Really a shame as that was my biggest deciding factor.
I headed to the Infinity Motorcycles store, Hanger Lane as I wanted to be 100% sure before investing into something that I would regret later. Jack was kind and courteous enough to explain me the inner workings of these gloves and which one would suit me as I was cutting down on my options as I was sure that I do not want any glove going over my jacket instead it needs to go under the cuffs.
Coming to the point where nothing really fits to what I wanted KEIS inner gloves at £59.99 was the only thing I could think of. I would say, a bit of limitation but yet that is all I could get. I was offered a external charger at £59.99 if I want these inner gloves to be operated separately without fitting them into the battery but it would have proved too costly in real essence of it. Most other products from the KEIS gloves range have heated element on the top end near knuckles. This was the only pair that has heated element on the fingers as that is what I actually need instead of heated upper knuckles or upper part of the hand.
Now, after the first day of its usage I can officially tell you the good, the bad and the ugly about it in practical scenario. My ride to work is about 100miles and just under two hours in the early morning rush hour on the variable tarmac conditions from country roads, Motorway riding and city traffic.
Fitting/getting into one : Ok, all said – these are not the thinnest of the inner gloves you would think of. If you have got the thick fingers be ready to check these with your ideal over gloves. I have decided to use them with the lobster kind of over gloves as my HG normal finger leather gloves are too tight and very uncomfortable to wear these inside. I also bought SPADA Eighty 2 Lobster kind of gloves along with these to enjoy the toasty fingers. I later ending up ordering HALVARSSONS JOX Gloves as the SPADA length was issue fitting it inside my leather cuffs again. Fitting wise these would take one to either getting used to feeling comfortable or ordering a different type of over gloves. I found it quite annoying joining these to the power supply coming from the battery when wearing lobster kind of gloves.
Heating/Comfort : Alright, here comes the good part – you would have your fingers feeling toasty within first 2minutes and you would feel quite good warmth getting generated around your fingers. Lovely to feel the warmth but soon you would know that this will get to the point where you may want to stop it from heating but there is no kill switch. Either you take the heat as it comes or remove it from the power supply. There is no science around these very basic gloves but when on the move you would realise they just maintain the equilibrium for the fingers when on the motorway as the wind-chill factor eventually pushes the limits of real testing. These do come out quite good on the motorways and full marks on the heating elements in it. You can use these gloves for hiking in snow or even cold climates if you shell more £’s for external battery that can last for couple of hours as the selling peeps say.
Price : These are towards the higher end of pricing but then it does offer what you want out of it. I would possibly add to this blog when I have thoroughly tested these to the use . I do feel these are expensive as anything under £50 would have made these hot sellers for all the winter riders. Just a tenner over £50 and it kills the general riders approach to it.
Alternatives : WEISE Montana Heated Gloves @ £199.99 but they would keep you full on blast warm and the comfort wise too good for what they offer. I did not find KEIS fully heated gloves to the price they are selling them for – they seem pretty normal for the price you would not want to pay for them. Alpinestars heated gloves are fairly out of stock on most online and in-stores so they do not have niche market in real scenarios for them.
My Ratings : 4.5 out of 5
Bottomline: If you can afford these for few winter rides you accomplish then go for these without a doubt. You will struggle for first few times getting used to them but once you find the right comfort with them – these will keep your finger frostbites as things of the past.
Feel free to ask if any questions.
Forget your fears
Winter is here and so are the winter blues. I get on and ride through the fear that the fearful may never do it. Do it what your heart believes in – Be it love, be it passion, be who you are and face your fears.
Morning of 18.11.13, England. Ready to ride – 7c, Fog and wet roads. 100miles to go.
Another milestone, 49000miles on the blue bird.
Kawasaki ER6F – Ride Review
The Reason why it all has to be done is because my real ride has gone in for a full engine job which leaves me with this courtesy motorcycle from the workshop.
So the full story on my bike unfolds here in this video. It is a bit more of emotional meltdown to know that I had to get this done at this stage but I am not left with any other option before I get myself killed if it locks up while riding !!
As of now, since you know the whole story about my ride – Here is the additional story of the courtesy ride. I have been on it for 550miles when I did this review but by the end I return it back it would already have gone well over a 800miles in a period of 8days and here is the real review.
I do not write what people do because I do not get paid to do these things but I get the pleasure to share these real opinions in the real world. So for the full details of the why you should and should not buy a “Kawasaki ER6F” or rather also known as “Ninja 650” watch the video.
In all honesty, it is a city bike. No hidden reasons but if you are light and small person this is the way to go and if you are riding it mostly in the city through the traffic.
I am myself not a big lad and too tall. At 178cms, I cant really enjoy this bike on the open roads or on the motorways.
“-“ The maximum top end is 110mph, the brakes are shabby – even though they are with ABS, Suspension feels really not meant to do two up on it ever and to add more – it is a beginners bike in all honesty.
“+” The good points, its a small, light(178kgs), compact, traffic friendly, easy to filter through traffic, good mileage, thumper, two cyclinder parallel twin and Nifty Fifty bike.
Don’t expect anything more out of this bike – It is good “A to B” bike ONLY.
FreeBirD 