When bikers get together there is a great deal of talk about their motorcycles, motorcycle maintenance and even possibly the latest pro auto detailing done on a favorite vehicle. 

Cars and motorcycles both require routine maintenance as well as cleaning and detailing.

Road safety charity the IAM is offering tips from Britain’s top advanced driver, Peter Rodger.

Rodger said: "If the weather is really bad, consider whether you could postpone your journey until it settles down."

Following severe weather warnings of storms over the coming weekend, the IAM is advising on how to drive in windy weather.

• Plan your journey – is there a route with less exposure to the weather and less risk of fallen trees? Choose a sheltered route if you have the option.
• Strong winds are not constant, they are usually gusty so ensure you hold the steering wheel firmly.
• Overtaking high sided vehicles or driving past buildings can result in a sudden gust from the side as you clear.
• Give cyclists, motorcyclists, lorries and buses more room than usual. They get blown around by side winds easily. Even pedestrians can be blown about.
• Watch trees and bushes on the roadside - their branches can show you how strong the wind is.  Look well ahead, that way you don’t need to take your eye off the road and you can see any windy patches before you get to them.
• Go slow enough to cope with the gusts.  Wind can get under a car and reduce its handling and braking significantly.
• Keep an eye on what is happening to other vehicles – where they are affected will give you a pre warning.
• Go slowly enough to cope with the tree that has fallen right across the road, just round the bend where you can’t see it.
• Be careful of debris, try and have space beside you in case you need to dodge it.

www.iam.org.uk

Article first posted 25th Oct 2013

Large Hall, live bands and Marquee Games. Snatch It Back Rock playing Friday night and Smokeroom on Saturday. Giant Jenga in Marquee. Real Ales and Ciders. Prize for Maddest HAT Ride-out Saturday lunchtime. 

venue: Eastington Community Centre, Eastington, Stonehouse, Glouestershire, GL10 3SG price: Pre-book: £12.50. OTG: £15. Free patch for first 100 prebooks. £10 car charge. 
tel: 0117 9442490 
website: western-region.mag-uk.org 
facebook 
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e-mail: [email protected]

Compass Expeditions and Jo Rust Adventures are pleased to announce that Jo will be leading an incredible 16-day tour through the motorcycling paradise of Peru.

The 2017 Jo Rust’s Peruvian Adventure is set to depart from the lakeside city of Puno on the 25^th of August and travels via a hit-list of breathtaking highlights through Peru before culminating in the capital, Lima, on the 9^th of September. Apart from the incredible roads through a landscape of snow-capped peaks and jungle lined valleys, the tour will visit the stunning lost city of Machu Picchu, the mysterious Nazca Lines, Lake Titicaca and the floating reed islands of Uros as well as the historical Incan Capital of Cusco and will spend two nights in the Amazon Jungle at a luxury river lodge.

Johannesburg-born Jo Rust is one of the world’s most prominent women in adventure travel. Jo is no stranger when it comes to traveling roads less travelled. She holds a number of records, including being the fastest female cyclist from Johannesburg to Cape Town, solo, the first person to cycle around South Africa, solo, and the first woman to ride around Africa on a motorcycle, solo. Last mentioned being a journey that saw her traversing 45 000 kilometres, through 28 countries over a year around the African continent.

Jo is an avid adventurer, speaker, author, tour guide and a professional off-road motorcycle instructor.  She was the first ever female brand ambassador for BMW Motorrad South Africa and qualified as the 4th internationally accredited female off-road instructor in the world.

“We’re really happy to be able to work with Jo and we are keen to encourage male and female riders of all skill levels to sign up for this tour with Jo as she will always be on hand to provide tips and techniques on improving your bike skills along the way,” says Jerry from Compass Expeditions, “Compass Expeditions have a great deal of experience in South America and Peru is one of our favourite destinations, the route we have planned is one of our finest ”.

Compass Expeditions have a talented and experienced team based in South America and keep a fleet of adventure bikes, including late model BMW GS models and Triumph Tiger 800XCs, well maintained for the tours.

To reserve your spot of for more information about the tour - Go click

Your weekly update about the Manchester Bike Show, brought to you from the team at Instantfocus Ltd. 
Big week of news this week with two signifcant updates.

Introducing our Sponsors

We are proud to announce Swinton Insurance as our headline sponsor for the Manchester Bike Show and hope that this is the start of a long and happy sponsorship arrangement. Swinton will be on stand 486 in the premium trade hall and their logo will be appearing on all our adverts and our website moving forward. As the name suggests Swinton Insurance started in this area of Manchester and they were keen to get involved in what is their “local show”.

Harley-Davidson

Our second piece of big news is that for the first time since 2012 Harley-Davidson will be represented at the show by Chester Harley. Their appearance on site 300 at this year’s Manchester Bike Show is a precursor to the company opening a new branch on the Chester Road in Manchester later in the year. So with regard to the manufacturers most of our flock are safely gathered in with the exception of BMW, but that is a different story and not one for today.

Trade Exhibitors

As I write it is the first day of the MCN Bike Show at ExCel we had a couple of trade bookings for Manchester from the floor of the show on build-up day. In total we have added 11 new trade exhibitors since last week, so in addition to Chester Harley-Davidson on site 300 we are pleased to welcome the following companies into the small business area; Discount Workwear on stand 548, Funny Heeds on stand 551, Soldiers off the Street on 553, Steve’s Tools on 593-598, Mal Dawson (The Woodman) on 584 & 585, Small World Motorcycle Tours on 583 and Atomic 56 Clothing on site 558.

It seems that bookings in the more affordable area of the show are now starting to really gather pace, so much so that we have added more stands on the floorplan to cope with the demand. In zone 2 we are pleased to welcome Zulu-Safari.com on stand 311 who needless to say organise tours in South Africa plus Debbie’s Dream House on stand 322. All the large spaces in hall 4 have now been allocated and we have just a few smaller stands still available although two fewer as from yesterday when 1 JAC Ltd booked onto stands 433 & 434.

Clubs

There is not much to report on this front since last week but this is not unusual as the more organised clubs and individual entries have already booked some 600 or so display bikes into the show and we are just waiting for the less organised ones to contact us in a panic hoping we have some space left! We will be allocating the actual club stand numbers early next week so if you are a club coordinator please keep your eyes peeled on the exhibitor list on the show website.

Advance tickets

For the first time since we started the show in 2012 advanced tickets sales are running at more than double the previous year being 105% up on five weeks from doors opening in 2016.