J & S Accessories is one of the UK's leading motorcycle accessory retailers and they have put together an Advent Calendar with lots of offers, gifts and surprises on each day from the 1st to the 25th of the month of December!

There will be fantastic reductions on items such as Castor Goretex Gloves, Armadillo Parka and Alpinestars Druitt Flat Hat Black, all in time for Christmas as gifts for others or even yourself. 

Simply open the page and click on the date on the day to see whats inside...

#wheelsinwinter

As part of our wheels in winter campaign, I will be sharing with you weekly motoring advice throughout the season. This week, I am sharing some all-important riding tips with motorcyclists, guiding them through the cold, wet and windy weather.

There may be rubble ahead

When you’re riding in the rain look well ahead; make sure you have enough following distance to avoid large puddles or drain covers. And watch out for potholes that fill up with rain water because you never know how deep they are, and they are not always easy to spot. Changes in road surfaces can be very slippery and dangerous, so make sure you’re riding at a steady pace – giving yourself enough time to slow down if you need to.

Sprays of water

Large vehicles and lorries will throw up a wall of spray. To avoid the worst of it avoid overtaking or rushing passed large vehicle, especially when you’re on the motorway. Spray can also affect your ability to see clearly, misting up your helmet. Use an anti-mist spray or have a visor insert fitted into the inside of your helmet to keep out any water.

Pools of water

Heavy rain forces pools of water to form across carriageways – forcing motorcyclists to either brake sharply into the water or accelerate through it. While pools of water are unavoidable you should avoid braking or accelerating and simply ease off the throttle for a bit. Hold onto the handlebars firmly and steer ahead in a straight line to pass through the pool as smoothly as possible.

Fallen trees and branches

Be wary of narrow roads where large trees and branches fall, which will unsettle your bike. If you can, avoid travelling on roads that are affected by high winds, and take a route that is less likely to be affected – even if it means you’re on the road for a little longer.

Gaps in buildings

Watch out for any gaps between buildings and trees where large vehicles can force motorcycles to shudder. Remember, strong winds will affect other vehicles too – large and flat sided vehicles are usually more affected. See that you give them more room, and if you plan to overtake them make sure it is safe to do so when winds are less blustery.

The nine-day biking spectacular that was Motorcycle Live 2014 drew to a close today with organisers confirming a 10% rise in attendance compared with 2013 and visitors and exhibitors alike declaring the show one of the best ever.

Over 117,000 two-wheel enthusiasts and their families and friends flocked though the doors to SEE all the new 2015 models for the first time, LEARN to ride a bike, WATCH amazing live action and entertainment, RIDE on and off road, MEET racing stars and celebrities and ENJOY the UK’s best day out in motorcycling.

Motorcycle Live opened on Saturday 22 November with more than 250 exhibitors and 20 live FREE features and shows, including ten opportunities to ride a bike, filling 67,000m2 of hall space at The NEC, Birmingham. The 39 manufacturers in attendance went all out to impress with a huge variety of interactive features on their stands, including ultra-loud motorcycles being fired up, dance and drum shows, special displays of anniversary and racing machinery and much more.

Each day saw an influx of racing stars from MotoGP, World and British Superbikes, the Isle of Man TT and Speedway – including 2014 World Superbike Champion Sylvain Guintoli and 2014 British Superbike Champion Shane Bryne – taking part in signing sessions and on-stage Q&As. There were also one or two TV personalities to be spotted with appearances by the Long Way Round’s Charley Boorman, This is England actor Andrew Shim and The Great British Bake Off’s Paul Hollywood.

The show’s Facebook and Twitter pages were flooded with positive feedback from happy visitors over the course of the nine-day event: “My 11 year old daughter had so much fun yesterday. She met Charley Boorman and bumped into Bradley Smith! Came home grinning with a new jacket and a pile of goodies! Thank you so much!”

“This was one of the best exhibitions in the last few years. All (the) major manufacturers. Keep up the good work!”

“Had a top birthday today with my family & friends @motorcyclelive could not ask for anything better to do. Top show once again.”

The exhibitors were equally enthusiastic. Richard Davies, Managing Director of Three Cross Motorcycles, distributer for Peugeot and SFM commented: “It’s been a very good show. We’ve been surprised at how busy it’s been throughout the week and to be honest, we’ve been too busy on the stand to have a proper look around during opening hours! We’ve had a nose round in the early morning though and the level of interaction is great. You can sense that people have really been enjoying it.”

Chris Hollis, General Manager of Mega Motorcycle Store, runs a retail stand close to the Blackhorse Stage in the British Eurosport Entertainment Zone: “It’s been a fantastic show for us, busy from day one right up until the last couple of hours today. The visitors that have shopped with us have been buzzing from all the live action going on and the stage entertainment has pulled in a massive crowd every day. We can’t fault it!”

Motorcycle Live organiser, Finlay McAllan, said: “I’ve been involved in the bike show in its various guises for many years now and I can honestly say that Motorcycle Live 2014 has had a brilliant buzz about it. So many of the exhibitors have gone the extra mile to provide a truly interactive experience and, of course, there’s an abundance of exciting new motorcycles on display. I want to thank everyone involved for making this year’s show such a fantastic one. Roll on 2015!”

Make a date for your diary for Motorcycle Live 2015, at The NEC, Birmingham from 21-29 November. 

THE APRILIA MOTOGP PROJECT IS DEVELOPING NICELY

THREE DAYS OF TESTING AT JEREZ, LOTS OF WORK FOR THE RIDERS AND THE TEAM AND EXCELLENT END RESULTS

MELANDRI AND BAUTISTA TOOK THE NEW V4 WITH PNEUMATIC VALVES ONTO THE TRACK

Jerez (Spain), 27 November 2014 - Three full days of work for the riders and the team marked the second time on the track for the Aprilia MotoGP project. After the Valencia tests two weeks ago Alvaro Bautista and Marco Melandri got back in the saddle of their Aprilia MotoGP bikes to prepare for the 2015 season.

Once again the weather unfortunately conditioned the progress of the testing schedule, especially on the last day (Thursday), with continuous showers and a constantly wet track.

Despite the stops and goes dictated by weather conditions, the Aprilia bike managed to confirm the fact that it "hatched well", a fundamental quality for the development schedule to proceed consistently.

At Jerez the Aprilia riders were able to gain familiarity with the new V4 powerplant for the first time, an engine characterised by pneumatic valves. The engine, which guarantees higher levels of power than the first version with conventional valves, made its début on Wednesday since the work on Tuesday centred around fine tuning the electronics and set up with the old version.

131 laps were logged in Alvaro Bautista's 'three days', with his best time stopping the clock at 1'40.6, whereas Melandri lapped 123 times, putting in a 1'41.5 for his best time.

There is still a long road of growth ahead, but the indications that came out during the tests on the Andalusian track left the entire Aprilia team satisfied and feeling positive as they head into the winter break. Testing will resume on 4 February with the official session in Malaysia on the Sepang track.

Romano Albesiano: "Despite the poor weather we collected a lot of information, mostly positive. This was our first chance to get in some extensive use of the new pneumatic valves engine which proved to be quite promising both in terms of maximum power and manageability, despite all the work that still needs to be done on a mapping level. Alvaro continues to increase his engagement with Aprilia in a positive way, in terms of performance as well, although there is still plenty of room for improvement. As for Marco, he is continuing his apprenticeship on the Bridgestone tyres, a rather complex issue that would have needed the full three days of testing so one that will have to be postponed to the next tests in Sepang."

Alvaro Bautista: "We can be satisfied with the way things went, even if the foul weather slowed down our work. During the first day I continued using the bike in the same configuration as the recent tests in Valencia. We concentrated on the chassis set up, finding a few solutions that I liked and the allowed us to get to know the bike fully. On the second day I was able to use the new pneumatic valve engine. It has a lot of power but there is still a lot of work to do in terms of distributing it. Today we took a few laps in the wet which were useful in any case to assess the characteristics of the new engine in these conditions. Now we will start the winter break. I'll take a bit of a rest to recover from this long season, after which I'll get back to training so that I'm ready for the tests in February. In the meantime I will definitely be paying a visit to Aprilia to see the hard work the engineers are doing on the bike up close and in person."

Marco Melandri: "These were three interesting and very demanding days at the same time. Lap after lap I am figuring out more and more where I need to improve and what I need in order to feel at ease. I still feel quite self-conscious. I think we'll need to put in a few kilometres to find the right feeling. The new engine had a few growing pains, which is normal in this phase, but we have already seen what its positive sides are and where we will need to concentrate on improving it. We have a long period of down time ahead of use which we'll use for development so that we're ready for the Sepang tests. All the guys are working hard and the whole team is very enthusiastic. This is an atmosphere that gives me high hopes."

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