Top Riders in the area on Saturday helping with charity C2C Challenge

This weekend a team form Merit Merrell Technology will be undertaking the “Coast 2 Coast Challenge”.

Starting in Workington, Cumbria on Thursday 19th April they will be travelling 140 miles in three days, finishing at Tynemouth, Tyne & Wear on Saturday 21st April.

Over the three days the route will take them along Main Roads (4%), Minor Roads (50%), Cyclepaths / Off-Road (46%) and will include some very hilly climbs, the highest point being 609 metres above Sea Level.

 
At first  they wanted to do this “just for the hell of it” but soon realised that  they would be using up a lot of energy for nothing more than personal satisfaction and bragging rights.

Therefore, they decided to take on the challenge as a “Charity Event”, so that their efforts can raise money for some very worthwhile causes.

 
Merit Merrell Technology is very lucky to have close links with the Biking Community and are delighted to announce that Bradley Smith, Brent Nichol, Taylor MacKenzie and Niall MacKenzie will be joining them for the last day of the “C2C Challenge”.

Bradley is competing for the 2nd year in the Moto2 Class before graduating to MotoGP next season on a Yamaha. Taylor competed on the world stage last year in the 125cc Class and will be competing in the British Supersport Championship this season.
Niall MacKenzie is Taylor’s father and is the only person to have won the British Superbike Championship 3 years in succession after competing for most of his career on Factory 500cc bikes in the World Championship. .

For more details please click on this link  : http://www.meritmerrell-charityevents.co.uk/

First of the Easter Egg Photo’s now online

The first five hundred are up there in cyberspace......    your photo’s from the 2012 BikeWise Easter Egg Run.

There’s only one or two (thousand),left to sort out and upload and they will be spread out over a number of albums over the next couple of weeks , so it might take you a little while to look at them all and see your smiling faces (not half as long as it is taking us to put them on the internet !!)

So,  click on the this link to PHOTOBOX and you will be able to view all the pictures

You can also order prints, direct from there and they will be delivered to your home usually within 24/48hours - so you could be ‘hung’, in a frame, on the wall of your house, on your pride and joy..... before you know it !

(Any commission received from these photo's will go towards the running cost's of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club which is run by volunteers)

If you know of anybody who was on the run, then please send them a link to let them know where the photo’s are.

Once again THANKS for making it a special ‘BikeWise’ day.. the costumes, helmet and bike decorations and smiling faces really make it 'special' to be part of the biking community up here in the North East.

Many Thanks to all the photographers who took the photo's, recording the day's events and in particular all from the Durham Photographic Society : http://www.d-p-s.org.uk/

Remember to put the 1^st July in your diary - BikeWise 2012 and also try and keep the afternoon of Sunday 10^th June free, when there’s another BikeWise event you might want to come along to (Our younger riders will be racing in the 3rd round of the Scottish Mini Moto Championship at NE Karting at Warden Law – and its better than watching BSB, WSB or Moto GP)

More Videos Online from the Easter Egg Run

We’ve now uploaded six video’s from this years Egg Run.

If you CLICK HERE or on the picture it will take you through to the website page where you can view the video’s and try and find yourself !!

Photo’s will go online over the next couple of weeks – we’ve quite a few !! so we’ll let you know when they are online

First of the BikeWise Egg Run Video’s online

The first of the BikeWise Egg Run 2012 video’s has gone online.

This was taken at South Road, Durham, more video’s will be uploaded over the next couple of weeks so keeping checking back.

If you want to view all our Egg Run videos from this and previous years then Please Click On This Link

‘Border raiders’ again in 2012

Fantastic news from our BikeWise Mini Bike club riders who were racing up in Scotland at the first round of the Scottish Mini Bike Championship whilst we were taking part in the Easter Egg Run.

Junior A  -  saw Owen Mellor and Shay Simpson taking part and Shay came 1^st

Junior B -  Jack Hoy was 2^nd & Rishon Hickey 3^rd

Junior C – James Alderson was 2^nd and Andrew Thornton 3^rd

Featherweights – James Alderson 2^nd

Middleweights – Kai Simpson was 1^st

If the season continues like this we’ll need ‘Securicor’ to bring all the trophies back over the border !!

Two rounds of the championship are planned for this year at Karting North East at Warden Law, on Sunday 10^th June & Sunday 9^th September,

so put them in your diary and come along and see our local riders racing – it’s free to watch and you can get a cup of tea or coffee in the cafe.

Easter Egg Run 2012–THANK YOU

Firstly a BIG – THANK YOU – for making our eighth Easter Egg Run the biggest yet.
The weather wasn't so good this year, however thanks to the six hundred and eighty eight (688) of you, with internet access, who took the time to pre-register on our website. It made it much easier for ourselves (and hopefully for you) at the start and we will also now be able to keep you informed via email as to ‘What’s Happening in the BikeWise world’ in future. With those of you who registered on the morning we had over 800 bikes out on the road.
A fantastic mix of riders on the day, with quite a few new ‘L’ riders joining in the ‘fun’ as well as some nice trike’s.
Some riders put some quite serious mileage in, to get to Durham for the ride and we really appreciate your support.
Yesterday we raised almost £900 for the Meningitis Research Foundation, that means since our first Egg Run in March of 2005 we have raised over £9500 for the Meningitis Research Foundation and is a testament to the generosity of YOU – the bikers involved quite apart from the hundreds of Easter Eggs handed in, which we will distribute in the coming week.

In addition, it was fantastic to see so many people ‘camped out’ at the side of the road to cheer and wave to riders on many with deck chairs in place, clearly set up to enjoy the spectacle!

It’s great that the Easter Egg Run is becoming a social event not only for the motorcycle community, but also for the people of County Durham and Darlington who come out in force to cheer us on our way.

We were joined at HQ by as many as we could accommodate and riders were given a short road safety presentation by PC Ali Bonar of the Durham Police Motorcycle Section, who invited riders to sign up to BikeWise Training and Durham Advanced Motorcyclists to enhance their riding skills. Keith Fisher also presented a certificate of Appreciation to the Motorcycle Section from the Boundary 500 Group.

The Easter Egg Run is organised by the BikeWise team, but we couldn’t do it without the support of the Cleveland Bike Section, Durham Advanced Motorcyclists, Darlington based stunt rider Dave Coates, all the volunteers who help prepare police HQ and serve the teas and coffees, members of the Durham Photographic Society and of course our own Chief Constable Jon Stoddart and the executive team of Durham Constabulary who have always supported the aims of BikeWise.
Please keep checking the website for photo’s and video’s of the event – we are working ‘feverishly in the background to get these uploaded onto the internet but it will take time and we cannot go any faster than our bandwidth allows !!
But the biggest thank you is to those of you who took part; your generosity is beyond doubt and without you none of this would happen, so once again - thank you all you all for your support and look forward to seeing you at BikeWise 2012 on Sunday 1^st July at the Police HQ.

Where the BikeWise Easter Egg Run Starts from

We’ve been asked by one or two people where the BikeWise Easter Egg Run starts from this year?

It’s Carrville Park and Ride on the Junction of the A1(M) and the A690 Roads on the outskirts of Durham.

If you click on this link it will take you to a Google Map of the location and you will be able to click on the top left where it says Get Directions to find a route from your home.

(Please don’t worry that the map says BikeWise Mini Bike Club – This is one of the locations that we use when we run our club for our younger riders)

See you all on Sunday – The BikeWise Team

Photo’s online from latest meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

Photo’s are now online from the latest meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club which was held outdoor at Carrville Park & Ride, Durham on Sunday 25^th March .

As always, ‘Many Thanks’ to all who helped build (and take down) the track, for signing riders on and marshalling throughout the day – your help and support is greatly appreciated as we couldn't run the events without you.

Many Thanks to John Attle for taking the photo’s.

Next opportunity to ride a mini moto is at Karting North East at Warden Law on Monday 2nd April 2012 from 5pm – 8pm

Cost of these sessions (which are not run by the mini bike club or under ACU Rules/regs) are £15.

BikeWise Mini Bike Club members will receive a £3 discount on this price on production of their ACU licence when signing on.

To view the pictures of the Carrville meeting, please CLICK HERE and then click on the relevant thumbnail image.

Mini Bikes season starts at Karting North East (Warden Law) next week

Mini Bikes return to Karting NE at Warden Law, starting Monday 2^nd April 2012.

The sessions which are mainly held on the Junior Kart Track are from 5pm – 8pm and will be held every two weeks commencing Monday 2^nd April 2012. (through to Oct)

These meetings are run by Karting North East who have worked closely over the years with the BikeWise ‘team’,  to provide riders with the opportunity to lawfully use their mini moto’s at their Warden Law venue.

The cost is £15 and their are no age limits – so anybody can go up there and jump on their mini moto and live the Barry Sheene (or Casey Stoner) dream !!

 

If you don’t know how to get to Karting NE please click on this link for directions : http://bit.ly/KartingNE

For further details of all events and activities held at Karting North East, please visit their website at : http://www.kartingnortheast.com/

Hein Gericke : 2012 Catalogue launch–Darlington - this weekend

Alison and the ‘team’ down at Hein Gericke at Darlington  are planning a start of season open weekend / 2012 catalogue launch across March 31st and 1st April and are inviting us all to drop in this weekend.

This would not only be a perfect time to call into the store and collect the new 2012 HG catalogue but also see the new range of leathers, textiles, boots, helmets, gloves, and latest accessories.

During the weekend they will have the tea/coffee on with a selection of ‘slimming cakes’ and biscuits to enjoy, chances to win kit with various competitions and some other surprises along the way.

Also at the moment, they have a fantastic offer which is available now, a superb cleaning kit comprising of 1 litre of HG cleaner, HG chain lube, HG chain cleaner, sponge and bucket to keep it in, this retails normally for £29.99 however it is being sold for £12.95 with a FREE £10 gift card (T&C applies to gift card use)

Visit at 171/179 Northgate, Darlington DL1 1UB or call for more details on 01325 464 664.
View Hein Gericke Darlington in a larger map

Next Meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be on Sunday 25^th March 2012 at Carrville Park & Ride at Durham

(See Where we Meet on the website for location)

Signing on at 1000hrs for a 1030hrs safety brief/start

If there is any doubt about the weather conditions (Rain/Wet) then please check the Mini Bike Club homepage where a notification will be posted before 0915hrs if the meeting has to be cancelled on safety grounds

Photo’s online from last BikeWise Mini Bike Club meeting

Photo’s are now online from the latest meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club which was held at our new indoor venue at QC Space, Peterlee on Saturday 25^th February .

As always, ‘Many Thanks’ to all who helped build (and take down) the track, for signing riders on and marshalling throughout the day – your help and support is greatly appreciated as we couldn't run the events without you.

Many Thanks to John Attle for taking the photo’s.

With the change in weather we are hoping to get outdoors soon, so the date of our next meeting will either be,  Saturday 24^th March (indoor at QC Space) OR  Sunday 25^th March (Outdoor at Carrville). Please check your emails or the website closer to the date and we will let you know where we will be holding the event

To view the pictures of the indoor meeting, please CLICK HERE and then click on the relevant thumbnail image.

Police Motorcycles from Cuba

Many Thanks to Mick Alder from BikeWise Training for these pictures of Cuban Police Yamaha Virago’s.

Mick pointed out that all the riders were wearing ‘spurs’ on the back of their boots ??

Is that to kick the engine and squeeze a bit more ‘horsepower’ out of it !!

For more pictures of Police Bikes from around the World – please visit the gallery page of the BikeWise website and click on the thumbnail picture

http://www.bikewise.org.uk/galleries/

A couple of pictures of the Met Police’s Special Escort Group Honda VFR1200’s, which are replacing the BMW R1150RS bike’s they have used for a number of years. Expect to see a lot of the Honda’s this coming summer with the Olympic Games being held in London and lots of high profile escorts being done by the SEG. See more British Police bikes in the British Police Motorcycles gallery

If you’re out and about with your camera then please take some photo’s of Police Motorcycles in the UK or anywhere in the world and forward them to us at durham.bikewise@gmail.com with a few words as to where you took the picture etc. and we’ll upload it into our galleries

Next Meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be on Saturday 25^th February 2012 at QC Space, Peterlee.

(See Where we Meet on the website for location)

Signing on at 1000hrs for a 1030hrs safety brief/start

Please note that we cannot train new members at this indoor venue due to restrictions on space but you are more than welcome to come along and watch. As soon as we get outdoors again at Carville (March/April time) we will be able to train new members to ride

See you all on SATURDAY

Return VAT on Air Ambulance fuel payments.

The Air Ambulance Service is forced to meet rising fuel prices year on year including VAT.

The Air Ambulance Service have saved successive governments millions and millions of pounds funded by charitable donations given by the general public to run what has proven to be an essential service.

Whilst the Lifeboat Service has been exempt from VAT on fuel costs since 1977, a similar privilege has not been afforded to the Air Ambulance Service; We call on the government to have an urgent review of this situation and in doing so We call on the government to return in the form of grants to Air Ambulance Service providers all the future VAT which the Treasury collects from them so that the Air Ambulance Service is in practice exempt from paying VAT in the same way as the Lifeboat Service.

Sign this petition

MCN Fantasy Road Racing 2012

MCN Fantasy Road Race, in association with MCE Insurance is back for 2012 !

Once again the game is totally FREE to play. All you have to do is pick a six-man team of riders, comprising the stars of MotoGP, World Superbikes and British Superbikes, then just sit back and let them win you some fantastic prizes!
 
 





The game starts at 04:00 GMT on Saturday, 25 February and once again there will be some fantastic prizes up for grabs. Official prize details will to be announced soon, on the prizes page.

The top prize is Yamaha's brilliant FZ8 (worth £6,999) - so give yourself a chance of winning and enter your team of riders today!
For more information on prizes, just click here.
REMEMBER: Your BSB performance will be put to the test, too, in the MCE BSB Game Round competition, with the two highest scoring MCE BSB riders for each Game Round winning special prizes


Once you’ve registered then join the BikeWise League – so that we can all share in the fun.


The PIN number you need to enter the BikeWise  league is : 711  (Tell all your friends)


Last year, BikeWise Training’s Bob Brown, was top our own BikeWise league, after a ‘gruelling’ season, managing a multi million pound budget and some of the world’s best motorcycle racers. Bob only wishes that Sunderland would finish top of the Premier Football League (in his dreams perhaps)

If you want to look at your racer’s in action then check out our Moto GP and WSB photo galleries on the new BikeWise website at www.bikewise.org.uk/galleries/  (photo’s will be added as the season progresses)
So – register your team and enter our league – it’s all FREE and you could have a lot of fun and win a bike or tickets to a BSB round

Photo’s online from the latest meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

Photo’s are now online from the latest meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club which was held at our new indoor venue at QC Space, Peterlee on Saturday 4^th February .

 

We were short of staff on Saturday so, ‘Many Thanks’ to all who helped build (and take down) the track, for signing riders on and marshalling throughout the day – your help and support is greatly appreciated as we couldn't run the events without you.

The date of our next meeting is Saturday 25^th February.

To view the pictures of the indoor meeting, please CLICK HERE and then click on the relevant thumbnail image.

Next Meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be on Saturday 4^th February 2012 at QC Space, Peterlee. (See Where we Meet on the website for location)

Signing on at 1000hrs for a 1030hrs safety brief/start

Please note that we cannot train new members at this indoor venue due to restrictions on space but you are more than welcome to come along and watch. As soon as we get outdoors again at Carville (March/April time) we will be able to train new members to ride

See you all on SATURDAY

Dave Coates will be riding at BikeWise 2012

 

Once again our local Darlington based world record holder - Dave Coates will be performing at BikeWise 2012 on his Yamaha's.

This is Dave's 17th consecutive BikeWise - a fantastic achievement and we are now seeing second and third generations of families enjoying the skills that Dave shows on two wheels - long may it continue.

Dave will be performing a couple of shows during the day ( times to be finalized and published later on this site ) and he will be available at his van throughout the day for autograph's, photo's and any questions you might like to put to him...

 

 

 

 

To learn more about Dave visit his website at : http://www.davecoates.co.uk/

To read more about what's happening at BikeWise 2012 which is being held on Sunday 1st July, please CLICK HERE

Cannon Motorsports to bring their 1996cc V-Rod to BikeWise 2012

Chris Hannam of Cannon Motorsports from Leeds are to bring their

1996cc topfuel blown nitro V-Rod to BikeWise 2012.

This bike is normally run at Santa Pod Raceway where it has achieved best runs of :

best et 1/4 mile et 7.12 @ 200 mph

best 1/8 mile et 4.50 @ 169 mph………

Great opportunity to have a close up look at a Drag Bike and to talk to rider Chris Hannam to find out more about drag racing

 

 

 

Further details of the bike are shown below :

opcon supercharger  : can run up to 90 percent nitromethane : 1996cc 45 degree v twin : 4 valve overhead cam : 800 bhp plus : gearbox  2 speed b&j trans : multistage clutch 3 plate clutch : fuel system , 18 gallon waterman pump with bdk valve controlled by ams 1000 (to be updated to the new 2000 over winter) : msd harley ignition : 100″ chassie : pm wheels and brakes : racepak v300 datalogging  : bike weight 1000 lbs  with rider 1400lbs

To read more about what's happening at BikeWise 2012 which is being held on Sunday 1st July, please CLICK HERE