You have undoubtedly noticed that I haven’t been updating the blog recently. It’s not because I don’t WANT to or because I don’t think it’s important, it’s just that I am finding it very difficult to get motivated to get it done. And I don’t even know what the reason for it is though I do have some suspicions.
One of the reasons is that the VFR is off the road at the moment. On an attempted Putty run a week or so ago, the Fi light came on about an hour away from home. I don’t understand modern bikes and their electronics but it seemed to me that, since it was a warning light that I should heed the warning and not press on with the ride lest breakdown and subsequent retrieval and all of that involves happens. Fortunately the bike was still running so I headed home, shadowed by my brother just in case the above breakdown were to occur. It didn’t and, once stopped at home, the bike re-started without any issue apart from the blinking light.
And in the garage the bike has stayed. I checked with the brains trust on the VFR800 site and was rewarded with a graphic that showed what the blinking lights mean. Unsurprisingly, the information was only intelligible to someone who understood Honda’s arcane acronym system so I was none the wiser.
I spoke to my mechanic at the speedway the other night and, without looking at the bike, he opined that it was probably just a glitch in the warning light system itself and that, since the bike runs and starts, it is likely that there is nothing serious wrong.
However, this is an expensive time of the year for us with car and bike registrations falling due so there simply is no money available to have the fault investigated and fixed. It’s also been punishingly hot this week (and now it’s raining) so riding hasn’t been a possibility anyway. I have taken both Bexie and Goldie for their regular monthly run, both of which were enjoyable but neither of them are suitable for a long-distance run, so…
The MotoGp calendar has already been altered with the USA round *postponed* (read cancelled) and doubts about the Australian round happening even though it seems that we have probably handled the COVID crisis better than most other countries. October IS a long time away, but the year WILL rush by and the decision can’t be left to the last minute.
Despite the fact that things ARE picking up, the Australian Superbike season still looks “iffy” though most will be hoping it will happen if only to see Troy Bayliss’s boy graduating to the superbike ranks. Will he be as good as his dad?
WBSK is going to run into the same COVID-induced constraints as MotoGp with the likelihood that it will be just a European season again. Someone needs to step up to the plate and halt Rea’s amazing momentum but who is good enough to do so? Time will tell.
Locally and away from bikes, the speedway season here is starting to pick up with restrictions on crowd sizes at venues meaning that meetings are able to be run. Our last meeting at Nowra last Saturday night was one of the best in the track’s history, people are starved for quality motorsports.
Thanks for hanging in there, I do appreciate it.
This weekend would have been the Island Classic but, of course, it won’t happen. In a way I am glad because I think it would have been a very sad event for most of us with the absence of Ralph Hudson. Catch you next time.