UK | Moto-Abruzzo

12/05/202012/05/2020

E10 ……… no it’s not a boy band!

Did you get around to watching ‘The Last Motorcycle on Earth’? Well this post is about a little of that fiction meeting reality right here, right now.

After much deliberation it looks like E10 fuel got the UK government green-light in February 2020 and will be on a forecourt near you in 2021 … probably/maybe. It’s been on the horizon for almost a decade, but thankfully we’ve not had to deal with the tank bloating, seal destroying gut-rot fuel that’s the scourge of the EU .. but times are a changing as the song says. It looks like the current ‘Premium’ fuel (E5) will become the ‘Super-Unleaded’ and E10 the Premium. Like Europe, it’s use will be optional unlike some countries where it’s introduction and use are mandatory. One note of concern though …. the proposal only protects E5 supply for up to five years after E10 is rolled out, presumably supply could then disappear from forecourts almost overnight, making refuelling an unmodified Capo awkward to say the least. And five years isn’t a long time!

On occasion I would use it while travelling through Europe, but only one tank at a time, then I’d use E5 fuel to clear it out of the system and always on a journey where I knew I’d burn through it before I arrived at my destination. I never left it stewing in the tank for longer than a couple of hours. So this looks like it’s time for one of those other jobs that have sat firmly on the garage shelf for the last 12 months – lining the fuel tank with Caswells Epoxy resin. Even after that’s done, I think I’ll try to steer clear and take the price hike to ‘Super-Unleaded’ on the chin…… while I can anyway.

09/05/201603/05/2019

New sprocket and battery

It was heaving with rain and the Capo’s air-temp readout on the dashboard struggled to make 3°C as I rolled off the Dover ferry at just past midnight, welcome back to wintery England! The worn front sprocket I hadn’t replaced before starting the journey was now noticeably noisier with an extra 1,350 miles on it even though I’d ramped up the Scottoiler to keep everything well lubricated in the face of such shitty weather. Overall a good run up, marred only by the small rip in the riders saddle caused by the zip on my Halvarssons trousers when throwing my leg over the bike …… I’m sure this damn bike is getting taller with age! As I left Dover, I flicked the heated grips on and hit the M20 thinking that this is about as bad as it gets – then the sleet and hail started!

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Yuasa YTX14H-BS battery 14 days later, as I rolled back up the ramp onto the same boat, it was all quite different – a warm, bright morning with the promise of a nice day ahead and the Capo running sweetly with a new Ognibene 7164-16 sprocket. I’d also treated it to a replacement Yuasa YTX14H-BS battery* as the old one was beginning to show warning signs – slightly lower standing voltage and low voltage while cranking. I’d arrived at Dover a bit early and didn’t realise they’d put me on an earlier sailing (fine in principle) but it was one of the boats I hate, with a long curved (wet) ramp up onto the car deck….. never nice on a heavily loaded Capo.

One of the perks of a bike is that folks just wander over for a chat, be it a fuel station in Switzerland or a bike park in Broad Street, Oxford and 99% of the time the experience is enriching …… but as I rode off that damn ferry I could have happily kicked the two wheels from under the overbearing, opinionated plonker who’d happily eaten up 5 minutes of my life telling me everything that was wrong with my bike and how wonderful his was – then he promptly rode off in the ‘trucks only’ lane!

The return leg was as trouble-free as the first, with the Capo rolling into the barn with 97,145 miles on the odometer. Only a near miss with a kamikaze gull which almost took out the windscreen being memorable – that and Swiss road works!

The replacement Ognibene sprocket certainly lives up to its ‘silent’ name. It was noticeably quieter even just spinning the back wheel while on the main-stand; let’s see how much life I get out of it compared to the usual Renthal sprocket I use (avg. 15K miles). It looks well made and the tooth profile is very similar to the Renthal, but only time will tell. Purchased in the UK from: biketorqueracing.co.uk for £27 inc VAT & P&P.

*Special thanks to Jim at Abbey Motorcycle Instructors for getting the YTX14H-BS battery at short notice – you’re a star fella! 😀

18/12/201528/04/2019

Busy, busy and busier still!

Calais docks ...... a bit quiter than the war-zone approach roads! 3,000 miles, six days, one exam and enough fog to last a lifetime ….. Yes, the last run of 2015 to the UK and back is over! The return bought with it oodles of goodies and an unwanted guest, the dreaded UK winter cold that then turns into bronchitis, oh what fun.
After getting back and between snuffling, shivering and coughing up gunk thick enough to glue shelves up with I managed to give the new Capo Rally-Raid frame a damn good de-grease and inspection. It all looks good and other than the usual wear and tear befitting a 12 year old part (in UK weather!) it’ll be a fine starting point for the bikes rebuild. It also gave me the opportunity to look at the differences between the standard and Rally-Raid frames. Does it really justify a new part number just because of a fresh run of serial numbers? Or is the difference more involved?

In fact it turns out the Raid frame is quite different. All the modifications are around the swing-arm pivot points and cross brace/suspension mount. Five reinforcement plates in all …. Making the difference in frame prices work out at roughly £50 per modification! Mind you, that’s chicken feed when compared to the list price – £3,193 (Std) / £3,440 (R-Raid)! 😯

Oh and the exam ….. Well I took the Advanced (full) Amateur Radio Licence – the last of the three levels in the UK. Thankfully the head-cold wasn’t an issue, it would be a further 12hrs before that little puppy made itself known. So six months of preparation and study boiled down to two hours of pen-pushing on a Monday evening. FACT – did you know tummy-rumbling is catching, just like yawning … I know, I was there! 😳 Anyway, did I do all that studying justice? Is it an early Christmas present or a can of Gold Label and a cry behind the bike sheds ……..

…….. well say helloooo to the new full licence callsign:

M0ZRX

Unfortunately ‘ETV’ had gone, but to stick with the bike theme I chose my old Kawasaki ZRX1200 Eddie Lawson rep instead! Next stop – let’s see if the Italians will give me a reciprocal licence as well, it would be very kind of them! 😀

06/09/201326/05/2016

That time of year again

Fresh back from another whirlwind trip the Capo and I are quietly recovering at home and taking stock of the events over the last two weeks.

2,931 miles in total
Average fuel – 48.6mpg ( 5.98l/100km) with a best of 53.5 mpg (5.19l/100km) and a worst of 43mpg (6.22l/100km)

Throughout the Rally-Raid behaved impeccably, doing exactly what it was designed to do. Not once did the over inflated media fragility give me any concern, no pyrotechnics under the fuel tank or gushing fountains of fuel anywhere, hell even the wheel bearing didn’t disintegrate into pixie dust. It seems as though the only victims of this trip have been the Anakee 2 tyres ……… now squared off at the rear and cupped at the front, although still legal (UK) with 2.2mm/2.3mm tread still remaining – and now with a total of 14,762 miles under their belt! Will these things ever die?

The trip itself had highs and lows ….. after 13 years I’ve decided to walk away from motorcycle training, at least for the moment. That bulky laminated card issued by the DSA (Driving Standards Agency) has lived in my various jackets an awful long time and I somehow feel naked now that it has gone. And of course I feel a little sad at giving up something that has given me immense enjoyment over the years. But it had to happen.

On a brighter note though, I got to meet up once again with Andy (Beasthonda on the AF1 forum), this time at the Oxford Hein Gerricke store. We had a great chat about all things Caponord (especially electronics and dashboards! 😉 ) and a fine cup of tea while ogling a wide variety of bikes as they came and went. Sadly for both of us, time was short so we couldn’t put any miles under the wheels together, but next time……………

Many years ago I used to love reading the American ‘Flying’ magazine, especially a column entitled, ‘I learned about flying from that’ – tales of near disaster and mortal mistakes etc. So here’s my bike rider version.

I LEARNED ABOUT RIDING FROM THAT

Never pass a viable fuel station with a reserve light on, even if you know by experience that you’ll reach the next (and better in your eyes) station with ease – just because you’ve done it before a hundred times. Big mistake, because today you’re going to get bitten.

So I’m heading North past Colmar in France with 20-30km to go before the Aire du Haut Koenigbourg services …… except at 5Km the traffic suddenly slows and bunches up. Our two lanes are being merged into one. Now I’m almost at the services with a solid concrete wall either side funnelling us onward and no sign of the exit for the services. Then I see it, walled off, bright red and white barriers cheerfully letting me know that the North bound traffic can just jog on by, no exit for fuel for you lot. Oh bloody wonderful!

And so I ride on in this concrete funnel trying to juggle my options. What bloody options! Best I can hope for is not to conk out in this one-lane hell hole. After another 10km (eternity!) we spew out again into two lanes, except now I’ve got to ride in Über-economy mode to stretch out whatever vapour I’m running on. This whole landscape is fields either side for pretty much as far as you can see, but finally the GPS pipes up and offers me a way out, at lest I’ll be off the fast duel lane and on quieter country roads.

Fuel at last ....... and a fine patch of diesel to park on! After another 15 minutes of lefts/rights, bends and roundabouts I spot the fuel station ahead …….. and it’s one of those 24hr unmanned jobs. The Capo rolls to the pump with 263.7 miles on the trip. 1st card goes in (UK) …. we don’t accept it. 2nd card (UK)…. nope, we don’t like that one either. 3rd one (Italian) …. Wahay thank God!!!!! I swear the French still have a grudge with us Brits you know. The pump clicked off after 22.27 litres and I think that’s about as close as I ever want to get to pushing a Caponord home! Lesson learned ….. until next time! 😉

05/01/201326/05/2016

DVLA data

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid - DVLA register of taxed/SORN bikes Well here it is …. the third quarter data for 2012. Including mine (August 2012), the UK has a total of 13 registered Caponord Rally-Raids – that’s a loss of three in the last year. Will 2013 see us drop into single figures? For those not familiar with UK registration, SORN means “Statutory Off-Road Notice” ….. in other words the owner has declared the bike will not be used on the highway, so probably garaged, untaxed and stored for winter. Hence the seasonal fluctuation you see on the graph.

So how about the standard Caponord? Well, 293 are registered altogether, 5 more than the end of 2011 …… ‘new’ old-stock or imports? I wonder.

If you want to see how many of your favorite car or bike are still registered in the UK then pop over to: http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/