MoT 2023 and the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

We’re approaching MoT anniversary, so I thought I’d get in there early and book the ZRX in for an MoT at a local bike shop, A Force Motorcycles in Aldershot.

I trotted up there yesterday and a thorough MoT test was carried out … with Blue Rex’s first ever failure!

The Clear Alternatives LED rear light illuminates red (and amber with the integrated turn signals) but does not shine white light down onto the numberplate, so it’s a fail. There is what appears to be a small pilot type LED which might perform that function, but the general consensus appears to be that there isn’t one. I may be able to bodge something together, but in the meantime, I rode home and then took off the rear seat cowl – revealing a missing bolt to hold the rear mudguard and under seat plastic in place, so that was replaced. I then disconnected the LED light and refitted the OEM red one (having popped to the local Jet petrol station to get a couple of 21/5W tail/stop lamps) which I keep with all the other OEM parts I’d taken off*.

I also fitted the marginally larger numberplate – I think it’s the same sized font, but just more space around it – which was the other fail item – and then this morning popped back for a free retest and pass certificate.

Mileage this year is 19,621 miles, up 159 miles from last year.

*Now we’ve moved out of London, I’m expecting to do more miles on Blue Rex, such as last weekend’s Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride in Guildford & Surrey Hills, so I’ve removed the “spools” and refitted the grab rails for Alison.  Next job is removing the rear sets and refitting the standard footrests.

Here are some photos from the DGR:

Hog's Back Brewery

MoT 2022

Whilst I was in the USA doing the Pacific Coast Highway in a 5.0L V8 Mustang Convertible, I thought it was long overdue for Blue Rex to have some care and attention, so it was off to Larry at PDQ to give it a good fettle and its MoT.

And it really was a good fettle: the old Datatool alarm was finally consigned to the bin, as was the battery. The carbs were basically overhauled and a couple of pipes and o-rings were replaced. There was a new chain and sprocket set. There was a new set of tyres to replace those that were on there that were many years old and had all the grip of Donald Trump.

It was then MoT’d and it passed with a mileage of 19,462 which was 40 miles up from last year’s and was basically the mileage out of London to PDQ.

Whilst at PDQ, Larry whacked it on the dyno to see how it measured up, some 11 years after the team at PDQ had breathed on it. 154.89bhp at 10,100rpm (158.37bhp) and 90.5lb/ft of torque at 7,830rpm (91.5lb/ft), 2011 figures in brackets.

2022 Dyno Results

It’s a new dyno – so not necessarily a true like-for-like comparison – but it’s still close to what it was putting out before, which is pleasing.

I used my disabled person’s Freedom Pass to get there, so it cost me nothing and the ride back was lovely: back in a little over an hour (with a fuel stop) thanks to filtering and people working from home.

Updates

It’s been a while since I updated this blog.

I had mainly been using my Triumph Sprint GT1050 for my foreign jaunts – aka “Eurothrashes’ – but that all came to a crashing stop back in July 2019 when I got broken up a tad by a SMIDSY.

Since then, I’ve not been back on two wheels whilst various bits of me mended or were taken off because they got in the way: I’m think of the second amputation here just before Christmas 2020.

While Blue Rex was off the road, I decided that I should do something with the personalised registrations I have: 8000 RM which was on the Sprint and which is now on retention; 2000 RM which was on my Abarth 124 Spider; and 3RHM which was on the ZRX1200R which wasn’t seeing much daylight.  So I swapped the Abarth’s registration with the ZRX and bought a load of new plates to suit.

Now my latest amputation is healing well and the physiotherapy reduced, I decided to service, tax and MoT Blue Rex and it sailed through yesterday.

The mileage? 19,422 miles which means since September 2018 it’s only done 36 miles!

Happy Birthday!

Well as it’s the 124’s third birthday – already! – it was off to the dealer for a pretty expensive service and its first MoT test. Unsurprisingly it passed despite its equally unsurprising rusty rear discs (given it had effectively been parked for three months thanks to the motorbike collision). So there we are: 19,864 miles of smiles. Now do I keep it until it gives up the ghost or do I trade it in towards a sensible Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio?

Five Years Old

So today it’s five years since the Death Star – as it’s been called – came home.

I celebrated by taking it to get its MoT done – another pass – along with an annual service at Jack Lilley Romford.

It has now covered 9,484 miles (2017 6,954 miles and 2016 5,516 miles).

I test rode the new Tiger 1200 XRt at the same time. Good power, much more upright riding position and all of the toys, including cruise control and heated rider and passenger seats as well as automagic suspension adjustment. On the minus side, after not too long riding it, I had a numb bum so how it would cope with a Eurothrash, I didn’t know. Oh and the small matter of it costing £17,800 with panniers and top box! Ouch! Remember that the Sprint GT was only £8,500 (£9,500 today with inflation).

So I’m hoping that with the bar risers fitted, the Death Star might have a few years’ life left in it yet. I’ll find out tomorrow when I’m planning a blast around Kent and East Sussex.

All Prepped for 2017

So I’m happy to be able to report that all is well with the Sprint after an annual service and MoT at Jack Lilley at Romford: only 1,440 ,miles in the last year.

While it was in, they let me test drive a Triumph Tiger Explorer XRt for the day. Once I got used to armchair riding position, it seemed really comfortable although to reduce buffeting from the electrically-adjustable screen when making good progress, I needed it all the way up – I’m just under six feet tall.

Toys are impressive with cruise control and semi-active suspension and heated seats – there are two sections for the rider and pillion – which would be a boon for touring, but as will all these “Adventure” bikes it seems, hard luggage is an expensive extra. Spec’ing it up to a suitable specification brings its price to over £16,000 and there’s no way it’s worth my Sprint plus, what, nine or ten grand especially when the Sprint is performing faultlessly and is still low mileage (6,954).

The Sprint’s much nicer now since I had Michelin Pilot Road 4 (PR4) tyres fitted last year before the Brittany run and the Triumph Taloc waterproof leathers work well, both in the sun – see last year’s Eurothrash – and in the rain when I had the Sprint serviced.

 

Three Years Later…

Hooray! Blue Rex sailed through its MoT today with not even a single advisory!

Today’s mileage reads as 18,935 miles. August 2015 was 18,869. May 2014 was 18,860. May 2013 showed 16,207.

Euorthrashes on Blue Rex finished in 2013 with the purchase of the Sprint and yes, it did do only 9 miles in 2014/2015…

MoT

Yes, my RX-8 R3 is coming up to three years old (in a couple of weeks), so last week I took it to Docklands Mazda for them to carry out an MoT test … which it passed with flying colours, even producing 0% carbon monoxide emissions on fast idle and 0.04% carbon monoxide emissions at the natural idle speed.

Mileage? 55,447 miles from new and still going like it should. Plus it still looks great.

So yes, I’m pleased as I tend to hang on to my cars for a few years and there’s frankly nothing I’d want to replace it with at present, especially as Mazda stopped producing them.

I’ve also renewed my tax and insurance for another year, plus I’ll probably extend the Mazda warranty for another year, just in case ;)