When ever there is a chance to be out on the road we will be there and in this case it was a bit cloudy but that wasn’t going to stop me from going out on the bike. At least the weather was cool, we could ride without feeling the heat of our machines or the weather. It seems people thought it was going to rain so the roads were a bit empty and we got an early start to the riding on Friday and we were going at full throttle. This time around everybody who was riding with us is an experienced rider, just Duke was getting familiar with our style of riding but he is more then capable of handling himself and at times his skill amazed me.

Halfway through our ride it started raining, and common sense says to slow down but with all honestly a lot of common sense goes out the window when the streets are empty and our bikes are revving nice and loud. Duke is used to London weather so he is used to riding in the rain, so as I was pushing it he was right behind me while a few of the guys slowed down (Kubayashi). There is a lot of construction going on in the Shuweikh area and that is pretty much killing me at this rate, new holes to deal with. There is another route we are thinking about exploring but we need to check it out on an alternative day. But we were enjoying the lovely roads while they were empty and its becoming a habit that we end our ride at Q Cafe for a quick bite. On the next ride I’m going to try out the Canon G15, these were the last pics taken by the Canon G12 before that nasty fall that rendered it useless.

The cold is here and we have the streets to ourselves, well at least that is what I think when I wake up at 6 am after 4 hours of sleep. Honestly riding gets me so excited that I just want to get on my bike and rip the streets apart. Recently the streets have been somewhat empty and people don’t start riding except around 8 am for a good hour we have the streets to ourselves and we do ride like hooligans.

We usually discuss the route before heading out, everyone is fueled up and we head our way. My rule is simple if someone is new to riding he become someone’s wingman and follows him at a steady pace, not a hard pace like the way some of us ride, if we are only experienced riders then it is every man for himself from point A to point B, and we honestly ride fast. This time around we had the Ducati 1199 Panigale join us with an experienced rider. I have ridden with other machines and the Diavel can hold it’s own with 99% of the machines, hard accelerations and going into corners, but the Panigale is a machine of a different breed. He was pushing into corners where I felt that I was scratching the limit of my riding skills, it was still going, that machine is a beautifully fast and insane in corners.

It was a hell of adventure and took a few different routes but I need to go and look for a few different routes to keep things interesting. I still think about Khasab Oman and Hatta UAE, those corners were beautiful. And the weather these days makes me want to ride, and even with the rain I want to ride, this cool weather just feels so good.

ARAI DUCATI CORSE RXV CARBON HELMET

They took the best Carbon Fiber motorcycle helmet and made it even cooler, I LOVE this version, but I don’t love the price. I would love to add this to my collection, but I don’t think I will be getting it any time soon. I think I wouldn’t wear it because I would be afraid to damage it.

Price: $4000

AGV ROSSI WINTER TEST HELMET

I’m not the biggest fan of AGV Helmets because of the lining and they just don’t fit my head very well. But I love the Valentino Rossi designs they come up with and this is one of my favorite ones. I love how they incorporate the Sun design as well and the black and yellow colors.

Price: $800

ARAI DUCATI TRI-COLOR HELMET

I can’t help but love Arai helmets because it kept my head safe from two crashes and they are just so damn comfortable. There is something I can’t resist about the Tri-Color design, the bikes and now this helmet. I just find them so appealing and I think this is the coolest Tri-Color Arai helmet yet.

Price: $900

AGV Rossi “Five Continents” GP-Tech Helmet

One of Rossi’s original designs with his colors, it is just one dynamic helmet. Honestly I would just place it as a furniture piece and never wear it. It doesn’t match any piece of motorcycle clothing I have but I do LOVE the paint work on it.

Price: $530

NEXX XR1R CARBON HELMET

A very cool helmet with a fun Carbon and White design, now this one I would wear since it goes with a Red, White, or Black motorcycle. And I have tried this helmet before, loved the lining, and very comfortable.

Price: $600

AGV GP Tech Rossi Limited Edition Faces Helmet

Now this one is all Valentino Rossi, this one you really can’t where, but it is a work of art. It has an Andy Warhol touch to it with the pop art feel, I would have this a shelf piece as well. This is for the Rossi fan, they would adore it and take care of it.

Price: $800

It is just that simple! Don’t Touch My Bike!

People in the region do not have a concept of Bikes, they think Motorcycles are like Bicycles, and they just want to get on them for cool pictures or act like they are riding. But it is a very different relationship that the owner has with his bike, touching a man’s bike is just as bad as touching his woman, he will do something about it, and probably with a violent result.

90% of Bikers are very friendly if you ask them to take a picture with a bike, they will take the picture for you. And if you have your kid they will probably put your kid on the bike for you to take the picture. It is two things, the bike’s can be damaged from soneone who doesn’t know what they are doing, and the bike might fall on a child if its pulled the wrong way.

What drives me nuts are the moms who just send their kids to the bikes like they are play things for them and let them climb it. I have had my fair share of altercations with them and they act like nothing is wrong. Your letting a 4 year old grab on to a mchine 10 times his weight and 4 times his height, something will go wrong. One time a child grabbed my bike and burnt his hand because he put it on the exhaust pipe, he is a child he doesn’t know any better but I would expect the mother too.

Then there are people from South East Asia (India & China from my Experience) who have zero concept of personal property. They see the bikes and they just want to get on it and take a picture, I have had my fair share of shouting from afar to get people from throwing their legs on the bike.

There is a special bond between a rider and his machine, that is why they take it very personally, they love and adore their machines, so if you violate his machine expect some to violate you.

I bet they weren’t doing the speed limit when they were making the video! lol

I seriously want all of these machines in my garage, beautiful machines, I do love the Italian creations. Its a very fair comparison between the machines and their real life use. I loved the video, very well shot. I have tried three out of the four bikes, I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on a new MV Agusta yet but I will try one in the near future. As usual the BMW is top dog, its just such a well designed machine. The Panigale in my opinion is the sexiest machine out there, even though it gets a little too hot, its still one very enticing machine. The Aprilia is an excellent machine as they said but I think it’s made more for the track then the street.

My Preference of Bikes:

• Ducati Panigale
• MV Agusta F4R
• BMW S1000RR
• Aprilia RSVR

This started off back in early June and we were discussing the details about going on a nice long bike and we were discussing the locations and honestly UAE was a nice location to start with. I didn’t want to rent a bike and do a tour, I wanted to ride on my bike on a trip not another bike. There were about six of us as I mentioned in the other post but by the time it came to commit only four could commit from the six, and it was a solid number so we went ahead with the idea. All the major planning and details were being discussed over the few months but the major travel arrangements didn’t happen except until the first week of October, I probably should have started it earlier since everything would get booked up on Eid and I thought we were going to go to odd places and there would be availability but I was very wrong, we hit German tourist territory with about 3/4 of all the locations we went to.

Bike Travel Preparation

• We did as much research as humanely possible.
• Luckily there are a lot British nuts in UAE who ride so we found a substantial amount of youtube videos for the areas we were heading towards so we knew what we were in for
• Tristar serviced our machines and got them prepped by checking every nut and bolt on our bikes
• I got a Garmin Nuvi 1490 LMT with updated Middle East Maps from Seas & Deserts
• Mapped everything on Google Maps including stops and made sure we were on track to the nice curvy roads

Setting Up The GPS

• I got the Ram Mount for the Garmin Nuvi 1490LMT
• Installed the Garmin Battery Cable thanks to Tristar
• The GPS wasn’t budging in speeds upwards of 240 kph so it was perfect
• I transferred our routes through a program called Tyre which you can download here
• I double checked our route on the Garmin Device and modified it slightly since it wasn’t 100% as we wanted

We got information from Tristar on which shipping company to use and we also checked a few others. We decided to have our bikes shipped to Dubai and start from there, we didn’t want ride from Kuwait to UAE because I heard that Saudi is a very boring straight line, no curves so it would be tiring and no reason to ride it. After a little research and a few quotes we went with Al Sawan shipping since they have had experience shipping motorcycles to Europe and other locations in the Middle East for other riders. They got our bikes to Dubai within 5 days ready in a storage facility, so picked them up from Dubai Green Park Community on Wednesday morning and road back to Dubai. It felt like we were the wild pack and about to embark on an insane adventure.

This is the route we took:

• Day 1 – Dubai to Ras Al Khaymah
• Day 2 – Ras Al Khaymah to Khasab, Oman to Ras Al Khaymah (Curvy Road)
• Day 3 – Ras Al Khaymah to Fujeirah (Curvy Road)
• Day 3 – After we got to the Hotel we took a ride from Fujeirah to Kalba then Hatta and Back (Very Curvy Roads)
• Day 4 – Fujeirah to Al Ain (Again Very Curvy Roads through Kalba and Hatta)
• Day 5 – Al Ain to Dubai (Straight Line & Boring)

We had to pack 7 days worth of clothing into a small tail pack on the back of the Diavel, and I carried a back pack which was a bit uncomfortable and not a smart idea. I brought a laptop and a few things which didn’t require and taking up space. So on the travel days I was in a bit of an uncomfortable position. I didn’t know the exact routes and the GPS gave us about 90% of the right routes, the thing is I double checked it as much as possible.

I had my GoPro Hero2 attached to my Helmet and switched it on during the curves which was a lot of fun. The one thing I just had to keep in mind was to switch it off at border crossings, but we had a few incidents at security checkpoints where the camera was running but I didn’t know they were there and they asked about it if it was running. So I just had to keep it in mind during our trip since we had a few places that we crossed that I put the GoPro away.

There were three parts to the ride that I loved, Khasab Oman, a beautiful two lane road by the coast head from Ras Al Khaymah to Khasab. It was thrilling to ride and felt brand new, I wish to ride again soon, we just didn’t have the chance to fully enjoy it. Then there were the curves just before Fujeirah, it was just over the top, high speed curves and then some tight curves up in the mountains, I was excited while riding, I haven’t seen roads like that in my life.

When we got to Dibba Al Fujeirah after the first set of curves we were riding by the coast with some very beautiful roads passing by the Gas Storage Facility in Fujeirah before getting to our hotel. It was fun and Fujeirah had the most modern mall, I think it was called City Centre, very nicely done. We dropped our things and went riding to Kalba since it was only 15 KM away and then continued another 60 KM to Hatta which we went through the infamous tunnel, I loved hearing from my screaming exhaust and I think so did the people outside the tunnel. The Diavel really is another name for Devil because that’s what it sounded like screaming through. We found a few Wadi’s which we stopped by, it really was a fun adventure, and took some pictures there as well. Then we rode back to the hotel and decided to turn in after getting some coffee. The one thing I have to say is that you can find a Starbucks in every location, I was shocked, they are everywhere.

Next day we headed out for our longest ride over 230 KM and surprisingly we only had to fill once even with the Monster riding with us. We hit the fun curvy part on the way to Hatta and through the tunnels, its such an amazing road. Then when we came close to the Oman border the roads became straight and it got a bit boring, so it was a little over an hour of straight highway, and as we got close to Al Ain the roads were turning into a major highway, four lanes on each side. When you get into Al Ain it is a beautiful area with lots of vegetation, and it feels like the old Sharjah that I remember from the 90s. And one thing for sure is that it was extremely clean, every road so clean, in UAE & Oman.

Throughout our ride we only got caught in traffic during the evening in Dubai as we were leaving. The best times to leave are early morning so you can enjoy your day where ever you are going. Everyone gives us way, about 90% of people on the road were nice to us or indifferent. The other 10% are a bit crazy but compared to Kuwait it’s a walk in the park. We spent most of our day riding and when the sun sets we are back at the hotel, getting a bite to eat and passing out to walk up at the crack of dawn when possible.

Our Hotels:

• Palace Old Town – 1 Night
• Hilton Ras Al Khaymah – 2 Nights
• Nour Arjan Rotana Fujeirah – 1 Night
• Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet – 1 Night
• Palace Old Town – 1 Night

Since the moment the GPS was switched on we travelled a total of 1402 kilometers all over the UAE and a bit of Oman on Day 2 & Day 4. It was a hell of a trip and to top it off we went wakeboarding in Dubai Marina which was a lot of fun. I only got upstaged by my young cousin and I was falling face flat into the water, but I enjoyed it. The ride to Dubai was exhausting because it started getting a bit hotter then we expected and it was all a straight line, it was very boring, so hitting the water right away was exactly what was needed. This was probably one of the best rides I have been on and the roads in the UAE are better then any road I have seen in the UK or all of the West Coast of the US. The Diavel and Monster S4RS were more then capable for a very long trip and taking roads of every kind and I’m hoping to do something like this again and soon.

Using The Helmet:

A Helmet has an average of 5 to 6 year shelf life from the day its manufactured, with about 3.5 to 5 years of use. The helmet is single use protective gear, one impact it will protect your head and thats it, that is what it is supposed to do. It has a hard outer shell, impact lining, foam, and then the padding. The foam starts to lose it’s elasticity and starts to become a bit brittle after the four year mark but it depends on the manufacturer. As an example Arai stop’s servicing helmets after 7 years from date of manufacturing, so they are very confident of their helmets and they are one of the best.

Personally I tend to replace my helmet every three and half years but then again I have more then one helmet since there are a lot of cool helmets out there.

A Dropped Helmet:

As I mentioned Helmets are a one time impact time of product, one time and then buy a new one. In reality dropping it off a chair or a low high won’t do anything but cosmetic damage. I have recently dropped my Scorpion Helmet and the rear wing cracked but the helmet seems intact, and it fell off my bike onto the asphalt. It also depends on how well the helmet was constructed, keep in mind that it was designed for an impact with your head inside of it, so if it falls on its own it isn’t too bad. But you can not guarantee then integrity structure without having the helmet xrayed by an expert. If you can’t then it isn’t worth the risk since its supposed to be protecting your head your better off just getting a new one.

So after what the Scorpion has been through, I will be retiring it and using my other helmets at this stage.

This will probably be one of the most intense rides I will ever take, we have been planning this for over three months, but the real planning started about a month back. We got our bikes prepped, we were initially supposed to be 6 guys but due to work conflicts we dropped down to 4 guys on this little adventure.

The Machines On This Trip

• 1 Diavel Carbon
• 2 Diavels
• 1 Monster SR2

I have done some long distance traveling before but not in the Middle East so this is going to be a new one. We are as preparred as can be at this point. I mapped out everything on Google Maps and ported it to my Garmin Device which is mounted to the left side of my handle bar. I mapped out our routes exactly, calculated what we needed and the distances between stops and the gas stations in the vicinity and some areas don’t have gas stations so we needed to plan for that.

I have to thank Tristar for all their support in setting this up. We know its the beginning of riding season but they took our bikes serviced them, and even recommended changes for a long trip. I got a rear bag mounted to the back of the Diavel which doesn’t look too bad in my Opinion. I changed out my rear tire since it was a little abused so I had to ride it out a bit before taking it to UAE. They also recommended a transportation company for us since we didn’t want to ride through Saudi, so they were very helpful getting this trip off the ground.

Right now all our bikes are waiting for us in a storage area close to Jebel Ali. We get there, we ride them to Dubai and then the 1000 KM+ adventure begins.

The beast has arrived, it wasn’t enough that the S1000RR was such an insane bike, they took it up a level with the HP4 and surprisingly the price isn’t too bad for a superbike that is meant to annihilate the competition. The one thing that they have done with this machine is give you a lot of option to choose from and then the other goodies such as the carbon fiber. I just love paint scheme on this BMW, I would love to get my hands on it.

BMW HP4 – Base Model ($19,990 MSRP):

• Dynamic Damping Control (DDC) semi-active suspension
• Launch control
• Akrapovic full titanium exhaust
• Seven-spoke forged aluminum wheels in gloss black
• Radial Brembo monobloc brake calipers
• Race ABS with new IDM calibration
• Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) with new 14-step adjustability
• Gear shift assistant

BMW HP4 – Standard Package ($20,525 MSRP):

• All base model items
• Pillion Rider Package that includes a rear seat and rear footrests to accommodate a rear pillion rider (priced at $285)
• Heated Grips

The Premium Package ($24,995 MSRP):

• All base model items
• Competition Package (individually priced at $4,470):
• HP carbon engine spoiler
• HP carbon trim
• HP folding clutch and brake levers
• HP rider footrests – adjustable
• Forged aluminum wheels in Racing Blue Metallic
• Sponsor decal kit (not mounted)
• Pillion Rider Package (described above)
• Heated Grips

Optional extras: Heated grips ($250) & an anti-theft alarm ($395).

This Friday I had only had one bike to ride which is the lovely Ducati 1098s, the Diavel took its own little adventure in preparation for another Epic trip. Getting on the bike is a must every week, and I love taking advantage of the empty roads. This was one of the rare times that I was riding solo, I was used to it in the early years of riding in Kuwait but I got used to riding with a few people every weekend but this time around their machines were not available for the outing.

I took the sea side right after getting a quick drink at Starbucks like usual, and it was a bit humid but just as long as you are riding the weather isn’t too bad. Its still a mix of cool and hot, and the humidity doesn’t help. When it gets cooler I know there are going to be a lot more bikers on the road. The funny part is seeing the people out driving with their top down enjoying their convertibles and I can’t blame them, its just too nice to stay indoors.

Since this was the first time in a while that I ride solo, I was riding a bit more aggressively then usual, I just wanted to push myself a bit and try a few things out during the ride and I have really missed riding the 1098s, when its summer you can’t really ride that bike, it just gets too hot in the wrong places. But I remembered why I loved riding it, it sends chills down my spine when flying around the corners, a rush like no other.