2007 September blog

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Arrived at the Paris Expo in Porte de Versailles at 08:45 in time for the 9O'clock Honda press conference. The problem was that Honda got my accreditation this year and they were on the other side of the fence where security refused to let us in. So the Honda rep came out with a pass, not mine though and I still don't know where that is. I got in and got my French friends in too as their accreditation was also inside the security with the press office. Poor organizing by the Paris press office and shit facilities to work in. So I filmed, photographed, interviewed and published. Headed into the press office several times to connect to the wireless and publish pictures to the server for editors around the world. Had very little time to update these pages unfortunately. I was invited to dinner in the afternoon with Honda on the Seine, but had to cancel as my return flight was just after 9 in the evening. At 7O'clock I was still FTP'ing pictures from the press room when I had to break it off and catch the Metro to the airport in order not to miss my flight back home. Around midnight I was back home and continued working...

Flew in to Paris this afternoon after riding the SH300i to Liverpool airport. The Scoot is just perfect for this kind of mission! 90mph top-speed, 35litre top-box and narrow and agile. Great! Arrived quite late at Charles de Gaulle and took the blue line into the city centre where I grabbed a taxi for my hotel and a rendezvous with my friends at Motards-Online. I have worked with them for around three years now, but never met until now. That was cool. The bar closed at 10 so we had to settle for for something non-alcoholic which was fine as tomorrow will be busy!

If you have watched a few of the Raptors & Rockets videos you will know that we do our own music too. With the help of my friends Carlos Ballester and Charlie Allen we have added some cool music to the motorcycle films. A few months ago Charlie featured on this video shoot for the song "You Shuda Killed me" featured on several of our videos. Watch it below. Check out the Raptorsandrockets band here. TS

Finally got around to pick up the 2007 Honda CBR600RR today. It's a nice black and white one. I am surprised first by how useful the sixth gear is on the motorway even at lower rpms. That's not the norm with in-line four 600's. More about the 600RR, videos and pix soon. TS

Yamaha 2008 news day today. Had a lovely weekend with my girlfriend, then I get back into my office. Bloody lazy bastards to be chased for money all over the world, a lazy no good Yamaha server that only allows one picture at a time download and yet another time the CBR600RR test had to be postponed as I was fiddling with the Yamaha news. And after returning the Triumph America last week I was supposed to pick up the Honda SH300i down in London only to arrive and find the bike hadn't been left out with security for me due to some E-mail problem facing 240 bloody miles back on my bike that had lost its brake light cover on the way from Hinckley to Slough. Then I faced a fuel starvation problem due to a crap Suzuki fuel pump that had me hit the engine kill switch every now and then whilst on the move to maintain 70MPH+ speeds. Needless to say, I saved myself the hassle the day after by staying home. The other day some low-life nicked my original Cagiva Raptor pipes too which in effect means I have to purchase a new road-legal set if I ever want to get it MOT'd again! But it is the non paying customers of mine that bugs me the most at the moment. A major magazine in Australia still owe me for more than 7 pages of material from 2006, someone else in Australia owes me for a test, someone in the US owe me for material in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the Greeks owe me a couple of thousand pounds from 2006 and 2007, a Swedish magazine owe me for something recent that has been screwed up on the way, the biggest magazine in Spain, South Africans etc. All in all about 10 grand and yes I have lost my patience otherwise I would not have mentioned it. Thank God I have E-zines, UK, German, French, Norwegian and Chinese clients too, because they always pay on time! Very few people know this, but I will sometimes have a bourbon and coke when going out. I'd never ever do a fine single malt in any other way but neat, but bourbon is acceptable. I would then usually ask for a JD with coke. But at this particular bar in Manchester I had had an argument with a friend and was in a bad mood. I knew this bar didn't have JD, so asked for a bourbon and coke please. I had to say it three times to this woman at the bar before I actually asked for what I really wanted, "fucking bourbon" please because she really didn't understand what bourbon was! I was served a lovely tequila with coke and I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy! It's all about blowing out steam and hopefully this is it! Thanks, Tor.