Larry mentioned that Nick had test-ridden it just to be on the safe side after they’d achieved their best-ever dyno results for a ZRX1200R on standard carbs/bores. I’d asked for a 44T rear sprocket as before and Larry suggested it would be sensible to go back to a 42T at some point as Nick had come back wide-eyed and declared it a tad berserk… We’ll see tomorrow!

As the clutch had been slipping on track for a while, I also asked Larry to upgrade the clutch plates and springs whilst it was apart.

In the intervening period, its MoT has expired so it’s been MoT’d and passed.

Worse was yet to come: PDQ have been awarded the sole concession for Dymag wheels worldwide and was offering an introductory deal … so a set of 7 spoke magnesium alloy wheels in satin black are going on with a new, slightly larger section Bridgestone BT016 tyre (which should be fine for our planned Ardeche Valley trip in June) rather than a full-on trackday tyre. Oh and as my secondhand Akrapovic full system would be looking out of place now, I’ve upgraded to a new hexagonal system with carbon fibre end can to set it all off – the removed parts will be for sale on the OC when I collect it. As that won’t be for a week or two, PDQ will run the engine in on the dyno and do a pre and post run-in dyno run for a reading as to what the engine is putting out.

I won’t be collecting it until June 11th as they are going to be fitting some new Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa tyres, some crash bungs, braided hoses, a tail tidy and some bespoke graphics to hide a big stone chip in the fairing.

In the meantime, here are some photos of the bike as it is at the dealers:

Whereas before I’d be shuffling around uncomfortably after a relatively short while, the Sargent cossets your bum in comfort and even has space and a tube for you to stow something in the seat itself (in my case a ZRXOA rubber torch).

The seat is slightly slippery when you wear leathers but I find that quite useful when shifting my bum from side to side on trackdays.

Recommended.

We ended up at Halfords and after looking at a few bikes, I settled on the Carrera Kraken 09 20″. Carrera pushbikes are – as far as I know – only sold through Halfords who use their purchasing clout to bring a relatively high specification bike to market at a lower price point than you would otherwise expect. Its specification is as follows:

• Alloy Rims: Yes
• Approximate Weight (KG): 13.64
• Brake Type: Hydraulic Disc
• Chainset: Truvativ Isoflow with Power Spline BB
• Exact Frame Size: 20″
• Fork Lock-out : Yes
• Fork travel: 120mm
• Forks: Suntour XCR 120mm Travel
• Forks – Adjustable damping : Yes
• Frame Colour: Grey
• Frame Material: Aluminium
• Frame Size: 20+
• Frame-: 7005 Aluminium
• Front Brake: Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic disc brakes
• Front Mech: SRAM X5
• Gear Shifters: SRAM X5 27 Speed Trigger
• Gender: Mens
• Handle Bars: Kalloy Alloy 31.8MM
• Headset: Semi Integrated
• Hubs: Fomula Alloy Black
• Number of Gears: 27
• Pedals: Wellgo Alloy Black
• Quick Release Wheels: Yes
• Rear Brake: Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic disc
• Rear Mech: SRAM X5
• Rims: Double Wall Alloy
• Saddle: Carrera
• Seatpost: Kalloy Alloy 31.6MM
• Stem: Kalloy Alloy 31.8MM
• Suspension: Front
• Tyre size: 26 x 2.3
• Tyres: Continental Speed King
• Wheel size: 26

Carrera Kraken 09 20"

Not at all bad.

Pricing was (I thought) good: on offer in-store at Grimsby at £400 which was £50 off their previously advertised prices. Ordered and paid for and collected yesterday but not tested yet: that test will follow, especially in view of what happened next…

Having already decided to get a pushbike for London – my base during the week – I started looking at Decathlon’s stock of similar spec’d bikes and found them to be more expensive: price matching produced a heavier bike with cable-operated brakes, for instance.

So I looked at Halfords’ website and was horrified to see that the Carrera Kraken was being advertised at 20% off for web sales even though you could collect in store! Another order placed and I went to collect it at £320 (boxed) from Halfords’ Old Kent Road store. The assistant failed to locate a boxed one as it seems that their stock was assembled and on show. The bikes hadn’t been fully built or safety checked so I have arranged to pick it up this evening.

Thule 970 Xpress

Thule 970 Xpress Folded

As the bike will be fully assembled, shoving it inside my Mazda RX-8 R3 isn’t now going to be an option. I had ordered a Thule 970 Express from Wiggle (at £54 delivered) but they hadn’t processed the order after a day, so thinking this might happen, I had cancelled the order before going to Halfords. They had some in stock (at £60) so I bought one. It fits to the demountable towbar in just a minute or so and folds flat when not needed but I do find the fact that the whole shebang is effectively hanging off one support only a little disconcerting.

The rear foglight has not been working since I got the car: it turns out that the wiring loom to the towbar fitted by the dealers, Nunns, has a relay that should switch between the foglight on the trailer and the foglight on the car. Whilst the foglight on the trailer works fine, the one on the car doesn’t. Sadly this wasn’t picked up in the PDI when I bought the car. Parts are now on order.

Of equal concern is the (very expensive) iPod integration module that doesn’t seem to actually want to integrate any iPod with the Bose stereo system. Mazda list a whole load of Apple devices that aren’t compatible with the module – which, by the way, cuts off the auxiliary input circuit so you’re completely screwed if it doesn’t integrate – and I found that none of our iPods of varying age worked at all with it. They all connect fine and some can seemingly draw power. All display the Mazda logo. All have their functionality removed from the devices whilst connected. None actually work with the stereo system.

Including the brand spanking new iPod nano I got for my birthday specifically for the car. Ah…

So Nunns will be talking to Mazda over the next few days to try to find out what’s wrong. If they can’t fix it, I’ve already told them I want the auxiliary socket reconnecting and my money back for the horrendously expensive integration module.

I took a Sony DCRSR57E Handycam Camcorder With Built-in 80GB Hard Disc Drive (61hrs) – Silverwith me to a recent trackday at Rockingham last month, through the Motorcycle Folly as usual, and set out to record a session following two mates on ZRXes. I came in after the session eager to see the footage as I’d followed them for a few laps before buggering off to chase down some sport bikes.

Sadly there was no footage and the camcorder was reporting a hard disk drive error. The vibrations had been too much for it and although it did sort itself out, it seems like I need to go to flash memory on the bike.

So with another trackday looming at Rockingham next month, through the Motorcycle Folly as usual, and a three day special at Jerez in September with Tracksense (not sure whether to use Wilf or the ZRX for this one), I thought I’d better get myself sorted with another mount.

I’ve therefore ordered an SBC24 through Camera-Mount.com who are the UK distributors. I’ll post how it goes in terms of fitting, etc. when it arrives.

Turns out it’s a Micron carbon can which looks like it’ll be fairly loud, but also is smaller and much lighter than the OEM can. I fitted it in minutes and fired up Wilf to be greeted with a much deeper exhaust note which wasn’t that much louder after all. We’ll see what it’s like on the road in due course.

Second accessory was a satnav mount that fits into the stem, the “Telferizer”. Using this, the TomTom Rider v2 can be fitted either up in front of the instruments or – better still – just above the tank indent. Now all I need to do is sort out the power lead to the battery and I’m good to go without worrying about the batteries running out. A really nice bit of kit and recommended.

This evening, I drilled four big holes in the garage wall and screwed on the Abus WBA 100 Granit Wall Anchor and then screwed it all to the wall. So far so good. Final touch was to screw in the bolts that hold the plastic cover on and … the screws are too short! Grr!

Still, it’s sturdy and will be excellent to chain Wilf to when the trailer and ZRX are back in Norfolk or elsewhere.