VisionBee, a dynamic motorbike research company are conducting some research and development for a famous motorbike manufacturer.

They want riders of motorbikes over 500cc, which were bought from new since 2013, to give their views and opinions on future generation bikes and accessories. 

This will be held in Watford on 17th May, from 8pm for around 2 hours. Those who qualify and take part will be paid £100 for their time, which includes travel expenses.

If you fancy being part of this, contact Simon on [email protected] letting him know which model you own, when you bought it, your name, your age along with your telephone contact details.

If you cannot make this date, do not worry as there are another few projects coming up over the year, so you can still get in touch. 

The event has been blighted for the past few years with dreadful weather and chilly temperatures, however this year that was all a distant memory, where the sun shined, the temperatures soared and the only thing in the sky that caused any concerns was the Spitfire from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fleet that flew overhead and dipped its wings to salute to 25 years of the NABD!

We arrived to be greeted by the lovely marshals, before we headed to the main area to park up. Nice wide pathways lead to very organised camping fields where motorbikes, trikes, cars, campers and tents all pitched side-by-side, proving that they can all live in harmony.

As ever the comedians were painfully funny, with Rob Mulholland being truly amazed certain jokes were being appreciated more than ever, the most humble John Porter playing to the largest crowd he had ever played to (more of that we think John) and the most animated Rick Hulse telling hilarious stories of his barmy friends who hold things up with a brick in a frozen fish fingers box...

So as the volunteers, committee, attendees, bands, dj's and comedians, recover from this much-loved event, filled with laughs, excellent bands, barrels of ale, lashings of beer and cider, where friends met up, people met facebook friends in the flesh and where new friendships were made, we would like to say a great big well done to everyone involved in the organising of this outstanding event and for those who give your time to support the wonderful cause that is the NABD. 

Rick Hulse telling hilarious stories at You've Been Nabbed

THE BIKER GUIDE are proud to be affiliated to NABD

Hardwarexpress stock a full range of Motorcycle batteries to fit an extenisve list of motorbikes, with a very easy to use on-line Battery Finder - Just enter your make and model in the battery finder and the battery you require will be displayed.

High performance Motorcycle batteries from just £12.99.

Rnging from conventional 6 volt and 12 volt, YTX range, Yumicron, Yumicron CX and the YTZ range - all of these batteries have very specific characteristics which are designed to meet the different requirements of various motorcycle models.

When I started to tour around Europe, I had the ideology of aimlessly wandering and as the sun goes down rocking up at a delightful hotel, that welcome you...

The reality was far different, with no room at the inn (due to a local festival, national holiday or simply as they thought we were going to cause havoc as we arrived on a motorbike), over-priced hovels and dirty, flea ridden rooms or simply not finding somewhere (sometime in rural France and Germany you cannot find a cafe open never mind a place to sleep), we now plan the trip before we go. This way we find lovely places to stay, in areas/towns/cities we want to visit and enjoy (at great rates) and thousands of miles later would not do it any other way now.

Twice in Germany we had a final destination and went through other countries to places en or a bit off route.

We used the Biker Friendly Accommodation on thebikerguide.com to stay in places we really wanted to stop at as they looked really Biker Friendly and interesting and also used booking.com to find places in specific towns/villages/areas. We then programe the whole lot into a bike sat nav when at home and on the day just go, knowing we have places to stay and a route planned.

Of course we close the sat nav and wander, but it is there to get you out of the copious amount of road work with no diversion signs, find the gorgeous place in the middle of nowhere you booked and can find you petrol and food if needed.

Its also worth pointing out that by doing this we know how much everything has cost and its always nice to see the rate card at the hotel for the room you paid €35 for is 3 times that if you had indeed 'rocked up!'

We plan trips sort of like this...

Find a final destination then plot the route using Google maps, riding 150- 200 to each destination. Ideally two/three days at a place, so you get to see something when there and have a day off the bike - or even so you can go somewhere on the bike without being loaded up. When we did one nighters we found it too much of -

'riding/getting there/taking stuff into accommodation/unpacking/shower/eat/drink/sleep/get up/pack' and again and again...

Personally we prefer accommodation on these long trips rather than campsites, plus its extra weight on the bike.

We use a sat nav to get us to places which takes a lot of stress off from when we used to do it by maps. Would not do any distance now without one, as you enjoy the ride so much better. Plus can program sat nav in the UK before you leave. 

Sat nav v maps

I used to like the idea of being spontaneous and also did not fancy using a sat nav however once you have tried to get a room somewhere to find you cannot get one as they are full due to a local festival, over priced (Italy circa 2001, 11 pm in a roadside motel style @ 175€ comes to mind) , you cannot find one (sounds strange I know but there are miles and miles of nothing in parts of Germany - well apart from excellent scenery) and to book into somewhere and find it awful, we now do as above - i.e. find a final destination and plan route around it. We use a combination of Biker Friendly accommodation on www.thebikerguide.co.uk and if there is nothing in the area we want we also look on booking.com.

We did a trip a couple of years ago with the final destination being Colditz Castle, which you can stay in. Went in July for 3 ish weeks with everything booked, set into sat nav and you know what - thank goodness as it rained everyday but one. We would set off with the next place in the sat nav - take off route when we wanted and arrive at destination stress free. We stayed at some great places, travelled fantastic roads and routes and would pass by others at the side of the road battling with a big wet soggy map to find their way.

I think once you have used a sat nav on a big trip which gets you to destinations easy, gets you out of a diversion and back on route, helps you navigate/find food and petrol, you wonder what you did before the United States military released the technology for GPS!

Bikesafe2016 is coming to Northamptonshire, a family road safety day with a difference. 

Organised by Bikesafe and Northamptonshire Highways, Bikesafe is a police led motorcycle initiative that is run by most forces throughout the UK.  And this year we are bringing it to Northamptonshire and the iconic Rockingham Circuit in Corby on Saturday July 16^th.

Not only bringing it to the county we are delighted to announce our charity partner will be The  Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. They will be there on the day collecting with proceeds from the gate also going to this cause.

Northamptonshire Highways are passionate about supporting the service and, not only close to our hearts, but close to Lee Anderson, whose life was saved by air ambulance staff after a serious bike crash.

Lee can’t remember much about his life-saving helicopter journey from the A508 in Northamptonshire  to Coventry Hospital, but he does know that without the air ambulance’s help, he is unlikely to be alive.

He said: “What happened to me could happen to anyone. My wheel was faulty and I slid 40 metres into a telegraph post which broke a lot of my ribs and my collarbone in four places. I have thought a lot about it since it happened and the more I think about it the more I owe them. The last thing I remember is telling them that I couldn’t breathe. I found out later that my lungs had filled with blood. The air ambulance came with a doctor who gave me pain-killing drugs, used a scalpel to get into my ribs and pushed into my lungs to release the pressure and I was taken to Walsgrave University Hospital. The journey would have taken more than 30 minutes by ambulance – by air it took six. I think that, with the help of the doctor who was also transported to the roadside by air ambulance, it made all the difference.”

Mr Anderson, 48, was in a critical condition for 24 hours until he was moved to the cardio-thoracic ward for a week. He was fitted with a new metal collarbone and six weeks after the crash he was back to work.

He added: “I was saved by a team of people – not only the doctor and the pilot and paramedic, but also the people who shake collection tins on street corners, the fundraisers, which is why I think it is important to support air ambulance week. We need the pilot, the doctor the paramedic – the whole team to make it work, and that is expensive, but there’s no doubt that it saves lives. While one-off donations are great we are desperate for companies to choose the air ambulance as their charity of the year.”

Lee is urging people to visit the National Bikesafe Show and Track event at the Rockingham Circuit to support the air ambulance. The air ambulance receives no Government or National Lottery funding and needs to raise £1.7m each year just to keep flying and saving lives.

In August alone the specialist crew flew more than 80 times to save lives.

For more information about the air ambulance or to donate to the charity visit www.wnaa.co.uk or call 0845 130999.

The event runs from 10am until 5pm and parking is free.

Gates to the show open 10am. But to be first on the track he assessed rides start at 8am.

The police assessed ride and track experience can be booked at www.bikesafe.co.uk

The National BikeSafe Show & Track Experience @ Rockingham Motor Speedway, Mitchell Road, Corby, Northants. NN17 5AF

To register for information and updates please simply email [email protected]

For more details about the show see the event facebook page

Follow on Twitter @nnhighways @bikesafe

Northamptonshire Highways, the partnership between Northamptonshire County Council and KierWSP 

www.northamptonshire.gov.uk

www.kierwsp.co.uk

BikeSafe is a Police led motorcyclist advisory, assessment and referral scheme. www.bikesafe.co.uk