On a lighter note me and a couple of friends once again got together on a SUNDAY NIGHT (yes Martin… yes) to have a fun filled night of poker, debating and Gin. A good time was had by all; we played poker for 5 hours straight while pretending to talk like Romans and referring to each other as Baccus, Spurius and Martinius. Yes children, alcohol does make you look cool. Ask Martinius, the guy who fell in the bush on the way home. Nevertheless we all had a good time and nobody got ridiculously drunk (as I have stated before I hardly ever drink); I do however have one tip for anyone who is going to consume a ¼ bottle of Gin in a few hours, don’t accompany this with 4 packets of Cheesy snacks (Mini Cheddars to be precise). You will wake up with possibly the worst smelling breath known to man-kind (and I did brush my teeth and mouthwash thank you). Yes ladies, how are you feeling about this possible date now?

It was -6C last night and my poor little princess – Betty – had trouble starting this morning (I’m talking about my bike by the way, I don’t go out with an 80 year old woman, much to my annoyance). I think the spark plugs didn’t like the cold as I left her/it (?) for a moment and then back to normal. I have ploughed on through Winter in snow, -10C and whatever nature decides to push my way and have never had issues with the cold so I was rather confused when this happened this morning. Oh well, all is solved now.

Not much else really, you probably just wasted about 3 minutes of your life reading this and for that I am truly sorry. Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back. EPIC GLADIATOR QUOTE FOR THE WIN! Alright I’m gone…

P.S. One more thing, is it only me that finds the answer to this question a little strange? This is a help guru for God’s sake! I draw your attention to the last two lines and don’t ask how i “came” across this hahahaha. It had to be done. Sorry. By the way i also thought her name was Jedi at first, that would have been awesome.

CAN’T SEE A WAY OUT?! DON’T SWALLOW YOU FUCKING MORON!

Comfort

I chose the boots a size larger than I normally am as it was quite difficult to get them on in the beginning due to the quarter zipper (as with most motorcycle boots). Looking back now I am so glad I chose a size too big (they don’t feel big at all) as I have experienced NO discomfort at all. I wear the boots all the time which is mainly on my commute and I keep wearing them when at my destination. They look perfectly presentable when under trousers/pants which is mainly due to the lack of toe slider and PU hard shell. I like this as very rarely does one get their knee-down on the morning rush hour.

They are perfectly comfortable to wear all day while walking around and are of course equally at home on a motorcycle. I have tried them on several different bikes; cruisers, naked and sports and they fit all well.

Protection

The protection is nothing when compared to racing boots, but as I have said before who goes racing in the rush hour? Protection is adequate and reflects the design, they faired well when my bikes weight was crushing my lower leg in an accident where a blind taxi driver decided to u-turn in the road so they have gained my loyalty! Teknic is a fairly well known brand and this does put your mind to rest a little.

As far as specific protection goes there are reinforcement plates in the shin, ankle and toe. They aren’t the sturdiest boot on the market but they don’t claim to be. The toe shifter is reinforced as well and the whole boot is made of leather.

Looks

I love the looks; they look perfectly normal under jeans and look the part when I have race gear on too. I’ve found that the best look is with them under Jeans, a leather jacket and leather race gloves. But since when do I give out fashion advice? I’d brand this look under the “Streetfighter” category and they go best with cruisers and naked bikes.

Weather Proofing

The weather proofing surprised me actually. I have NEVER been wet while wearing these. I have been knee deep in snow, ankle deep in rivers and have felt like I have ridden through a monsoon but the boots kept faithful to their end of the bargain and kept me dry the whole time. It is seriously like they are 100% waterproof, and for leather I just can’t believe it! Top marks here then!

The warmth factor is also impressive and I have ridden with these in everything from 30C to -6C (admittedly with double socks) and they have kept me warm from start to finish.

Generic

A handy little feature within the boots are the “anti-slip” soles. Although I have rarely needed this while riding the bike I chose to wear these boots through the snow which accompanied the worst winter in 30 years and while everybody else was slipping and falling on their arse I was stood up like Hercules helping the damsel in distress. This has also saved me a couple of times from an embarrassing fall when I have been riding in icy or slushy conditions and had my foot slip out from beneath me.

Another bonus is that in all this time I have cleaned the boots 3 times. 3 TIMES! That is insane, I admit that they were absolutely filthy but my excuse was that it all added to “the look”. By the time I cleaned them there must have been 4 months of road salt and shit on them and they still brushed up perfectly!

Overall

Overall then the boots are fantastic; they would suit most riders perfectly, whether you’re touring, commuting or just hooning around on some twisty back roads. They are certainly worth it for the relatively cheap price tag. I would be happy to buy another pair but am now looking to widen my collection with some race boots next (as I will be changing bike soon). I’ll still keep these though and will use these for the normal commute and everything else which is probably about 90% of my riding.

*Sorry about the horrendous picture quality but I snapped these with my phone today in a utility room haha. I’ll crop some of when they are in the sun for tomorrow.

To welcome in Spring (and to discuss manly things) me and a couple of friends had a little get together last night (I know it was a Sunday haha). Absinthe was drank, Whiskey was drank, Gin was drank and a good time was had by all! This was exceptionally strange for me as I don’t really drink that often, and when I do it is spirits as I like the taste better, even still though it was a pleasant experience. We were discussing our upcoming trip to Amsterdam, finances and all the usual guy talk which doesn’t really need to be elaborated here.

70% Absinthe is not recommended for a beginner.

As well as this I found this very strange and slightly offensive picture in a clothing catalogue the other day:

What an insult! If that is the “biker” look then I suppose I’ll have to buy a car. Not… likely. On crisp clear days like today where the roads are nice and dry there is nothing better than hooning around on your bike coming home from work. While I was looking through the catalogue’s surprisingly small Men’s section I noticed that there were loads of pictures where male models were wearing tatty “poser” clothes while sat on various run down bikes. Odd? From personal experience motorcycles are not that big of a sex magnet (to most women). It must be the type of bike I ride because judging by the catalogue a worn looking 09 Kawasaki KLX 250 is THE ULTIMATE PUSSY MAGNET! I like the KLX, it’s a great bike but it’s not the bike you pick to impress the ladies, they don’t really go for helmet hair anyway haha.

I’ll upload the review tomorrow if I get chance but it will be up shortly if not. Follow me on Twitter and stay safe my compadres.

This past year has been full of ups and downs, mainly ups (or what I can remember) and I am really looking forward to the remainder of 2010. At the start of the year I had really high aspirations for 2010 but none of them have come true so far, mainly because the weather has put a “dampener” on my mood. 2010 is looking to be good from now on though as I outlined in the last article. To celebrate the 4^th year birthday of Dinkoman.com I am going to a strip club. Seriously…

I can’t wait for the weather to improve for when I get my new bike. Finally I can get suited up in my leathers instead of the filthy textiles I have become accustomed to wearing. Bring on knee-down season haha, I can’t wait!

Today was another day of carefully plodding down my road in the mixture of slush, ice and snow. I swear my neighbours think I am certifiably insane; today I set off as one was taking his dog for a walk and he gave me the strangest look of confusion and admiration. It was awesome. Right now I’m sat here, 6 minutes to midnight listening to Brad Sucks while writing this article and talking to a few internet buddies. I might organise some ride outs later this year when the weather picks up. There are a few guys on some forums I hang out that are talking about it and I think it would pretty cool to all hang out.

Mail

Anyway, Saturday I awoke at about 12:30pm and found that I had been left 4 presents by the mail man. This months software review package came (AVG Anti-Virus Pro on a 2 year license), which is a joy as AVG has just this minute saved me from a virus I acquired on the Pirate Bay website (not a torrent, an ad from the site strangely). One can never have too many Anti-Virus programs. Unless you are like me that is and have amassed a collection of 11 based on product reviewing.

My second item to come through the mail was my Visor Stickers. The picture you can see at the top of the screen is me in one of my helmets. As you can tell I have added a few arrangements to it which attract quite a lot of attention from wherever I go. Seriously if you want “people” to talk to you then stick a red Mohican on top of your helmet and voila! Well seeing as I get all this attention I thought that I may as well whack a sticker on there and get myself some free advertising. The below picture is the result of this and I must say – I am really impressed. The order arrived quickly, stuck on easily and it looks great. Check out xtreme2xcess to order your own.

Yet another joyous surprise on the motorcycle front was that I awoke to 5 2010 Honda brochures for various bikes! Plus a letter inviting me to come for a test ride on the VFR 1200. Great! I really love Hondas and am actually thinking of buying one as my next bike sometime around April. Honda seems to have the most relaxed approach to bike sales as well and it’s something that I really value as a customer. If I want a test ride on one all I have to do is pop down to my nearest dealer and the hour after I am riding whatever I choose. Clearly I think this is an amazing idea and as a result I would be willing to put my money into the Honda brand.

The fourth item to arrive was a booklet of financing and money. Exciting I know…

Snow

Once again it snowed on Sunday which laid a good three to four inches on the ground. Seeing as now my only option is to travel by motorcycle (I don’t do buses, sorry) this made for quite an interesting Monday morning commute. My commute is about 10 miles and most of the roads were just wet, with snow on the parts cars had not been travelling on. This rule excludes both the road where my house is and the road where work is. They were covered with Ice, slush and snow – add on the bonus of me living on one of the steepest hills imaginable, having practically bald tyres (still legal) and you have yourself a concoction of fun and ass clenching antics.

Needless to say I did arrive safely and me and the bike had no issues. Oh, there is now just the fact that everyone that saw me, which was probably in the thousands, now thinks that I am a complete lunatic. This doesn’t really bother me as my mother always told me I was anyway.

Holidays

As promised in my last article I will now inform you about my upcoming vacations. I don’t know for certain yet but sometime in July I will be going to Amsterdam! I’ve been to Bruges before but never Amsterdam and I am really looking forward to it. I’ll be going with 3 of my best friends on a “minicruise”. I have been on one before but I was 11 or so, therefore I can’t really remember much about the actual ship. I do however know that there is a casino, shopping centre and several bars onboard for the 18 hour journey. Sounds good enough for me! If anyone knows any good things to do in Amsterdam (aside from the obvious) then message me on twitter or through the contact page.

Also I’ll be going on holiday to a couple of other destinations (one of which will probably be Spain by the looks of it). I’d really like to go to Taiwan as well on one of Mordeth13’s tours he is setting up but I will have to see how much money is available as I will probably not be in the best financial situation soon. So that may have to wait a while. I may be moving there in the near future anyway due to the fact that I can get a job teaching English. We shall see. Positives for England are… oh nothing.

So then, as you can see, quite an eventful couple of days. I am looking at purchasing a Honda Hornet 600 soon. I really fancy the revvy CBR engine they have (13K redline!) so this will stretch my monetary situation. This and the fact that I am moving to Scarborough. Oh and the fact that I still have a ton of things I want to do! I’ll have to spread the costs though and will have to wait a couple of years or so, as I will be more financially stable by then.

P.S. I’ll be posting about my VIP trip to an executive box in Wembley to watch NFL last October soon as well. Our box was next to the owner of the New England Patriots so that was pretty cool. I may be going again in September as well to watch the band Muse.

As I said before, more reviews coming in the next couple of days, follow me on twitter for up-to-date adventures about my life (actually quite mundane) and *Sign of phrase not currently found*.