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10th December Club Night Pre-booked Xmas Meal Eastham Ferry Hotel Ferry Road Eastham CH62 0AU

Issue No 191

December January 2013-2014

W I R R A L A D VA N C E D M OTOR C Y C L I S T S Group Council 2013 ~ 2014 Web Site

IAM Group 5115 http://www.w-a-m.co.uk

Chairman

Rob Tutchings

chairman@w-a-m.co.uk

Vice Chairman

Tim Brown

vicechairman@w-a-m.co.uk

Honorary Treasurer

Lindsay Boston

treasurer@w-a-m.co.uk

Membership

Luke Windsor 0797 907 1701

membership@w-a-m.co.uk

Associate Coordinator

Derek Jeffries 07957341692 Rob Cooper 0151 648 4503

associatecoordinator@w-a-m.co.uk

Honorary Secretary

secretary@w-a-m.co.uk

Events Organiser

Dave Spotswood events@w-a-m.co.uk

Newsletter Editor & Minute Secretary

Peter Lovatt

newsletter@w-a-m.co.uk

Group Shop

Martin Titley 0151 632 3570

groupshop@w-a-m.co.uk

Chief Observer

Mike Boston

chiefobserver@w-a-m.co.uk

Other Council members Ian Roberts Nina Jeffries Ken Smith Rob D’Cruze

CONTACT WAM

MAGAZINE TEAM:

Rob Cooper Coopers Upholstery The Old Bank Everton Valley Liverpool L5 0RH

Distribution: Magazine Dispatchers and the Post Office!

Editor: Peter Lovatt Duplication: Martin Titley

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Obituaries Sadly we lost two past members of WAM in November.

Cliff Halliwell was a member in the 90’s and was one of the first Senior Observers in the club. He was famed for his mahogany tan and was always smoking his favourite cigars.

Glynne Parry-Jones was also a member and was famed for his smile and sense of humour, and was a regular rider on the Sunday runs a few years ago. Of course, Glynne had a penchant for ice cream and was regularly seen with a ice cream cone in hand.

For those people who new them, they will be sadly missed. **************************** Thanks to Geraint Hughes and Billy Baxter for each doing a talk at the November club night. The room was packed, and more details are inside this issue.

Also this month we have the WAM Christmas Meal - thanks here to Dave Spotswood and Nina for organising it. Please be prompt for the meal, and afterwards we’ll go up to the usual club night room for a social.

Read Rob’s write up about the last official Ride out inside this issue.

This pic is of the group at the Rhug Estate.

So all I’m going to do now is sign off for the final newsletter of 2013, and say thanks to everyone for the articles sent to me, which makes compiling the mag a bit easier. Keep sending them in!. And Congratulations to everyone who passed the IAM test this year - the latest Hall of Fame is inside!

Pete 3

WAM Club Night - November Thanks to Billy and Geraint for the talks on November club night. It was an excellent turn out, the best for a long while, and I think it was very informative, inspirational (Billy) and educational (Geraint’s video) yes, there are idiots out there!

Here are some pics taken on the night.

Below is a quick pic of one of the onboard videos shown by Geraint. It might be hard to make out, but the arrow points to a car overtaking vehicles blindly going into a left hand bend, having crossed a solid double white line. Imagine if you were coming from the other direction at the same time‌...

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A packed house listens intently to both our guest speakers, Geraint and Billy (right)

Billy at club night

And we have a message from The Blind Veterans Association, below: Dear All Thank you so much for having Billy and I at the Club meeting Tuesday.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you.

For those members who weren’t at the meeting, Blind Veterans UK believes that no-one who served their country should battle blindness alone. For more information http://www.blindveterans.org.uk/ how-we-help/ We are extremely grateful that your 5

club recognise the value of the support we offer at the Llandudno Centre and have shown a commitment to fundraising for us. However, as we explained at the meeting, their are many ways in which you can support us in addition to individual giving.

As part of my role as Regional Fundraiser for the Llandudno Centre, it is my role to generate income across the whole of Wales, the Wirral, Liverpool and Cheshire.

We are currently trying to mobilise fundraising in the wider area and would be grateful if you or anyone you know would like to support us by taking on roles such as volunteer collectors and organising coffee mornings. We would also love it if you could all act as ambassadors for the organisation. Do you know someone who has served – could they qualify for our support? Please let as many people as possible know about the work we do.

If any of you would like to come and see the work we do at the centre first hand, please feel free to contact me and let me know if you would like me to arrange a tour for you.

If you would like to find out more about the different fundraising activities we undertake please contact me with your email address and I will include you in our quarterly update electronic mail out.

I look forward to seeing you all again in the future. All the best Victoria Beech Regional Fundraising Officer

And here is the latest WAM Hall of Fame

Tim Williams

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Carl Mason

Julian Snow

Keith Williams

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Nicole Rigsby

***************************

Congratulations in Passing the IAM Advanced Test to:-

Nicole Rigby Pattrice Bodenes *****************************

Sunday 20th October 2013, and the last Official Club Ride Out, Via Llandudno and Snowdonia, North Wales.

I was hoping the numbers might have been swelled by the Wales only Motorcyclists of WAM, but the Met Office once again forecast rain, and lots of it! so I was joined by a group of hardy, rain loving motor-cyclists, and we were not disappointed!

From The Tudor Rose where we donned our water proofs because us weather wise lot could see the heavy black clouds throwing it down across the Dee, we set off on the A494 to Mold, and then whilst heading north on the A541 towards Denbigh we were treated to one of natures’ finest sights: riding through heavy rain 8

with bright sunshine behind us, and in front there was the brightest and most complete rainbow I have ever seen, really quite spectacular. After about a mile of this amazing splendour, the sun disappeared, but the rain didn’t!

We then cut across country on the B5381 to Llandudno where we had hoped to visit Billy Baxter at the North Wales Blind Veterans HQ. However that wasn’t possible so we continued south on the A470, In Llanrwst we went over the humpy bridge and onto the B5106 to Betws-y-Coed. This is where the rain really got out of 5th gear and into overdrive. Even heavier than the Lake District trip!

Lunch was very welcoming in the café with the marquee where the rain was coming off the canvas in bucket loads; at least it was warm and the food was good.

Then a miracle occurred. It stopped raining, well almost. Some of the group had had enough, but as much as I tried to convince them we were on our way home, which we were in a round about way, they knew the A5 was the shortest route and they were not for convincing, mainly because they knew of the optional loop as advertised that we were taking. So with the brave five of trusty and hardy leftovers, being the eternal optimist I knew the sun was not far away; and so it was, after a damp and foggy A5 and A4086 and A498 to Beddgelert, we were eventually rewarded with glorious sunshine.

Passing the concrete carbuncle across the Lake of the now decommissioned Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, the wind blew and blew across the exposed A470 and my GS 12OO Adventure with boxes and my Son as a pillion has the aerodynamics of a brick, we found ourselves being blown about all over the place, and I could just about make out my pillion comparing that section of road to a ride at Alton Towers! Not sure what that says about my motorcycle control!

Passing Bala we soon got to The Rhug Café, and as the pictures prove the sun was out and there we are still drying out! A brisk return to Wirral and home about 4 ish had seen yet another excellent days motorcycling in one of the most scenic parts of the Country, and yes that’s despite the wind and the rain.

This brought a damp conclusion to this years official club rides, but we will start all over again on March 16th 2014 and then every 3rd Sunday apart from April because of Easter and June when I’ll be in Belgium, when the official led rides will be on the 4th Sunday.

Next year I hope to visit the five National Parks, all quite possible from Wirral, those being Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons plus the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and of course the Lake District. If anyone would like to suggest particular locations to visit, or if you would like to lead a ride please let me know.

Rob Tutchings. WAM Chairman and Lead Rider.

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WAM and Bikesafe.

WAM has continued it's support of Merseyside Bikesafe again this year. The last of the six weekends was held on 12th / 13th October, with 14 attendees looking to improve their riding. The course has recently moved from the Hyperbaric Unit at Murrayfield to the Emergency Services Training centre near Seacombe ferry.

The purpose of Merseyside Bikesafe is to reduce the Killed and Serious Injured statistics for motorcyclists by 'bridging the gap' to advanced rider training. This year has seen an improved and successful collaboration between WAM, Sefton Advanced Motorcyclists and RoADAR Merseyside and plans are in place to continue the programme through 2014.

Until the end of last year, 2012, the Police National Bikesafe initiative varied between 1 or 2 days depending on the area. Merseyside Bikesafe, always based in Wirral with substantial help from the Road Safety department of Wirral Council, was a two-day workshop run by Merseyside Traffic Police Officers and assisted by the essential presence of WAM, SAM and RoADAR observers.

2013 saw a shift in layout so that the 2 day weekend became one day Bikesafe based on the Bikesafe national curriculum, principally by police riders and assisted by our volunteer observers.

The Sunday sessions are now officially ‘rider assessment days’, where following the handover from the Police, the Groups take over and build on what the attendees learnt on the Saturday. This gives each pair of attendees a ride with a Group observer, usually to The Ponderosa and back.

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Each attendee has two assessed rides followed by some more classroom based presentations and the whole weekend winds up with a goodie-bag that includes information about further training with WAM/SAM/IAM/RoADAR/ROSPA, including an invitation to join one of our Fixed Length Courses.

If you are interested in helping with observing in 2014 please let one of us know.

To help on the Saturday you need to be a WAM observer and assessed by Eric from the Police Bikesafe Team. Helping on the Sunday is just another WAM observing day, the only difference is that you get expenses of ÂŁ25 each day, but don‘t do it just for the money, believe me !.

I hope to remain in a position where I may continue to coordinate WAM and its involvement with Bikesafe, and also continue doing some observing. Currently thanks must also go to Bob Irving, Ken Smith, Tim Brown and Graeme Thow for assisting with the observing and waving the WAM flag.

Robin Tutchings, WAM Chairman.

Tim Brown, WAM Vice Chairman

***********************

Carl Mason receives his Pass Certificate at the Tudor Rose from Derek

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Illuminating!

A short tail of how to reduce the consumption of carrots at teatime.

Imaging holding up a candle and a magnifying glass together and trying to illuminate the road ahead with the light given off. Well, it’s been like that on the Tiger 1050. Dip beam not too bad, but main beam - well I’m not sure where the light went…… With the twin headlight on the Tiger - one is Dip and the other Main beam, and if, sorry, when the dip beam bulb blew, you were literally riding into the unknown (and unlit!) That happened a few years ago on a long club weekend in Wales. Riding back to the Hotel in the dark was a challenge - I was leading and unfortunately, I didn’t eat my carrots that day.

Anyway, from time to time I’d have a go at fiddling with the existing projectors to try and get better light out of them. I found Philips Extreme Bulbs a good improvement over the stock H7 dip and H9 main beam. Indeed I even modded the main beam to H7 as there are no upgrade bulbs for H9 (as far as I know).

But recently Triumph has brought out the Tiger Sport 1050. This bike has gone back to using conventional reflector type headlights, and now this bike uses twin Dip and twin Main beam lights too, handy if a bulb blows……

Not having a death wish yet, and not wanting to eat a zillion carrots, I decided to plump for a set of Tiger Sport headlights. Looking at the Tiger 1050 forum, there are a few postings about riders that have either changed or are thinking of swapping the lights over. Being Triumph, apparently the nose fairing is the same on both bikes. So the headlight aperture is the same, but the Tiger Sport headlight is not a direct swap, as the side fairing brackets on the headlight unit are different, and the wiring is different to accommodate twin dip and main bulbs.

So I bought a new pair of Tiger Sport lights and spent several weeks getting relays and compatible connectors to make up a small intermediate wiring loom to enable the existing 1050 wiring loom to power the new twin light set up.

At the moment, dip beam is on permanently, and main beam is in addition to this, just like the standard Tiger 1050 set up, but on the standard Tiger Sport, flicking the main beam cuts the dip. So I’ve got 2 x 55w PLUS 2 x 55w with all lights on. I think this could be a problem at low revs, but I’ll see how it goes and see if the electrics can cope. With projectors, it was just 2 x 55w with both dip and main beam.

So if you see a dazzlingly bright white object catching you up and wobbling towards you, it could be me.

Pete (and Tiger 1050) 12

Pete’s Tiger 1050 with Projector head lights Yes those small poxy circular objects masquerading as lights

And below the 1050 with Tiger Sport headlights fitted No more carrots will have to be eaten from now on!

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It’s January, the outside air temperature is 3 degrees above freezing, the road is dry and the wind is in your hair as you enjoy the freedom of your motorbike at 70mph, how do you feel? Cold is the answer!! Whilst in our cars, vans and trucks we are able to turn the heater up and keeps ourselves warm, on a motorbike we have to wear extra layers of clothing, so much so we look like the Michelin man.

Why do we feel so cold - the answer is wind chill.

So what is wind chill? A human body loses heat mainly by two main methods.

Warm air near the surface of the skin being replaced by cold air and therefore removing heat form the body, and secondly in the act of breathing we take in cold air which is then warmed and as we breathe out we lose that heat.

The stronger the wind the faster the heat is removed from a warm body and this is effectively wind chill. The wind chill formulas account for the loss of heat from a warm body (including animals) by warm air around the body being replaced by colder air.

At 70 mph and with an outside air temperature of 3 degrees Celsius the wind chill works out at around minus 18 degrees, brass monkeys and all that! This is what the temperature feels like because of the effect of the wind. Despite several layers of clothing, gloves etc., we will still feel the effects. The heat from out bodies is conducted through our layers of clothing to the final outside layer which is cooled rapidly by the flow of cold air.

So what other hazards can the biker face (other than every other road user) with the weather? The wind can also cause problems because with only two wheels the stability can be quite badly effected especially with a crosswind. A head wind can be worse, a 30 mph head wind means that at 70 mph indicated on your speedometer the wind of your body is travelling at 100 mph.

Rain. Not only does the rain reduce the insulation of your clothing but it also affects the grip of the tyres of the bike on the road. The rain also reduces the visibility of a motorcyclist. Fog and low cloud affects the biker in that visibility is very much reduced and made worse by the moisture forming on the visor. Snow and ice have fairly obvious risks, you don’t see many motorbikes when it is snowing heavily, and again with only two wheels, ice on the road is very dangerous.

tips for motorcycling are as follows: 1.

If it is snowing or there is ice on the roads, catch the train 2.

If the temperature is less than 10 degrees Celsius, catch the train 3.

If its raining, catch the train 4.

If its foggy, catch the train 5.

If its windy, catch the train

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WIRRAL ADVANCED MOTORCYCLISTS

Diary of Events www.w-a-m.co.uk *************************

December 10th Club Night - Pre-booked Christmas meal *************************

January 14th Club Night - May be a video or quiz - to be confirmed *************************

This is the link for the WAM Official Forum, set up for Members of Wirral Advanced Motorcyclists ONLY. It is a forum for Associates, Observers, and members of WAM to discuss Official Group Rides out, riding techniques, FLC matters, and similar topics. To join you MUST give your name and Postcode when you Subscribe.

Group name: WAMOfficialForum Group home page: http:// uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/WAMOfficialForum Subscribe: to subscribe to the group send a BLANK email to WAMOfficialForum-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk Unsubscribe: to UNsubscribe to the group send a BLANK email to WAMOfficialForum-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk Once your submission has been approved, you can then post emails.

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DISCLAIMER:-

The articles published herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute of Advanced Motorists Ltd, or the Wirral Group of Advanced Motorcyclists. They are the opinions of individual contributors and are published with the view that free expression promotes discussion and interests. So you have been warned.

Interested in doing the Advanced Car Test? Wirral Advanced Motorists are the people to see. Go to www.wirraliam.co.uk