Author: Richard Morris

Two Years Old

| Richard Morris

Yesterday I took the ST in for its second annual service at the massive mileage of 15,435 and sadly an immodest cost of nearly £400.

As parking is scarce on our estate and the nearest visitor space is constantly in use by the family in the house next to it, despite their having a large with space for two cars in front, albeit with a room over the top of the front space. Maybe that’s why there always using it, because:

  1. they always have loads of kiddy shite in front of the garage; and
  2. they’ve already managed to crash into the brick pier and take out a load of it…

We have split our double garage into the Pain Cave (home gym equipment) and the Man Cave (two motorbikes and tools) and ordinarily we park the ST on one of the spaces on the drive in front of the Pain Cave and the Abarth 124 Spider on the drive in front of Man Cave.

When family come to stay, we can sometimes play Car Tetris and position the Abarth across the front of the garage doors to get three cars on the drive:

Car Tetris

Car Tetris

But with some family members it can be easier to park in the visitor space if it has opened up, so we park the Abarth there to block it.

And so it transpired that with the ST booked in, I didn’t want to move the Abarth so the only other viable option (with Alison’s workout regime in full flow) was to fold up my Brompton Nine Streets into the boot and ride it home and then back again to collect the ST afterwards.

Meanwhile back to the service and their advisories. They noted that the front tyres are 56% and 52% worn – having already been replaced for £300 at 12,231 miles – and the rears now need to be replaced as they’re 92% and 78% worn. They quoted £147 each, but when I rang to check, I was told they wouldn’t guarantee like for like Pirelli P Zeros, so I’m getting them done on Monday at Kwik Fit for £340.

They also said the brake fluid usually needs replacing every two years at a cost of £75 which I was skeptical about. However on checking this is apparently recommended, so having said no to Group 1 already, I added that to Kwik Fit at a cost of £53.

They also checked the rain sensing wipers which I’d reported was playing up despite my having made sure the settings were right. There’s been a very recent software update, but even so they checked and said they’d needed to simply apply the correct settings…  We’ll see.

An expensive few days!

Same Again – ish!

| Richard Morris

So after riding home on the Brompton yesterday after dropping the ST off for its second annual service, I again trusted Apple Maps to direct me back to Group 1 and set off.

And yes, it was a different route with more roads, although avoiding the really major routes. An interesting route too, including the first stretch alongside the Blackwater River again, avoiding tree roots and brambles before emerging into a car park for the second road drag, which meant dealing with traffic and commuting car drivers.  All of which went really well with nothing but courteous drivers slowing down and/or passing me with plenty of room.

Near to the end, I was directed into Farnborough Business Park which I went through easily … until the end at the back of the Village Gym: contractors were working overhead and had closed the footpath. Ah. Rather than retracing my route, I went right … and into some more vegetation through a small lunch picnic area and some lightly-trodden path through the trees. I eventually emerged through a hedge and across a planted border near to Group 1.

Back on the Chain Gang

| Richard Morris

Well now. That was nice!

I last used the Brompton when I was commuting in London from our home in Rotherhithe. And then COVID-19 happened, so I worked from home. The company saw cost savings and I had been advocating remote working anyway, so we ended up having new employment contracts with WFH as the default.  That meant we didn’t need to be in Central London any longer, so three years or so ago we moved out to Surrey and I started a lot of indoor cycling instead.

The only use the Brompton got was then by my stepdaughter in her year out between doing her Batchelors and Masters in Law.

Until today!

The estate where our house is has limited parking and of course all the numpties move in to houses with one parking space for their SUV and van to use (it’s always that mix…). That plus the narrow streets means parking is at a premium.  We have space for two cars on our driveway in front of the double garage (which is actually the Man Cave for the motorbikes and the Pain Cave for our home gym).  At a push, we can play Car Tetris and creatively park them, but it’s a bit of a palaver. So when the family on the corner briefly vacated the visitor space they use all the time (!) we put the Abarth there as we have family coming up to stay this weekend with a whole host of children, so they’ll need to park on our drive.

This meant that when I needed to take the Focus ST for its second annual service this morning, we didn’t want to lose that space by collecting me in the 124. Instead, I decided to dust off the Brompton, pump up the tyres, and shove it into the boot to ride back on from the dealership.

I’ve only ever done the trip there and back by car, so once checked in, I unfolded the Brompton, popped on my helmet and gloves, and entered Home as my destination in Apple Maps with directions for pushbikes. And that’s how I followed some cycle paths and woodland trails more suited to a mountain bike back home.

Multiple Personality Disorder

| Richard Morris

So there have been some changes this week.

When we bought the car in 2024 we put on a personalised number plate: AF17 BOD, to ‘spell out’ A FIT BOD, but we’ve recently had a change of plan and instead decided to register another one with Alison’s initials, AJM. So I got in touch with the DVLA and asked them if they could release a plate for me, which they did: ST24 AJM.  ST because it’s on a Focus ST, 2024 because of its age, and AJM for Alison’s initials.

Because we are planning to sell the existing persona numberplate, we had to first apply online to remove it and put it onto a retention certificate, a process which takes less than 5 minutes.

We were given the car’s allocated registration, RY24 YEK, and given both a certificate number for AF17 BOD so we could assign that one immediately to another vehicle if we wished and a certificate to allow us to get some new numberplate made up, but not the new V% certificate number.

In order to assign our new personal registration to the car, we now needed the V5 number for RY24 YEK, which they post to you and don’t give it to you online or by email. So for the intervening period, to ensure the car was legal and insured, I had to put some new numberplate on and change the insurance, both of which are ‘wasted’ costs.

The V5 then arrived on the Friday, so I was able to immediately go online, assign the ST24 AJM registration number to the ST, slap on some new ‘plates that I’d already had made up, and change the insurance again! Fortunately the DVLA handles the tax/road fund licence so that automatically transferred across.

So in the space of a week, the ST has carried three different registrations!

 

 

 

February 2026 Stats

| Richard Morris

After the hideousness of the 40 days of January 2026 things improved with a much quicker February.

I continued my normal exercise regime with a combination of rides on ROUVY as well as getting some of my usual  John Hallas’ Weekly Challenges on FulGaz done.  I’ve also recently enabled the warm-up and cool-down features on ROUVY to actually record the distance I’m cycling before and after each structured ride.

On FulGaz, I also completed their “Tour d’Australia” challenge with a couple of nasty, longer rides thrown into the mix.

I finished February with another consultation about my knee and a recommendation to go ahead with a partial knee replacement, which we’ll do in the early summer…

So, here are February’s stats which might look slightly different to usual again as I had to significantly increase screen resolution to fit them all in:

February 2026 Statistics

February 2026 Statistics

Activities: 63 Distance: 575.65 km Time: 16:34:43 Calories: 17,096

Turning to my weight, at the end of January I weighed 92.1kg and at the end of February I weighed 91.7kg, which is down by 0.4kg.

Body fat percentage was down from 28.2% to 27.7%, which is nice.

November 2025 Ride Selfies

| Richard Morris

We had another fortnight’s holiday in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, so I again hired a Specialized Allez Elite from Easy Riders Bike Centre and went for a morning ride each day from the villas at Bahiazul along the FV-1 to Tamaragua and/or the FV-104 between the shore and the famous dunes.

In total, I managed 300km whilst we were there (plus some walking/hiking).

I continued doing my little selfie videos to annoy friends on Facebook, so here’s a collection from November 2025, all shot on my Apple iPhone 17 Pro.

Bahiazul Resort Fuerteventura: https://www.bahiazul.com/en/

Easy Riders Bike Center: https://www.easyriders-bikecenter.com/e/index.php

May 2025 Stats

| Richard Morris

May began with me looking forward to a long weekend in Cornwall on the BMW R1250RT and that didn’t disappoint, even if it – meaning Cornish Pasties, cream teas, and pub meals – led to a few days off from the Pain Cave.

Most of my time other than that was spent in the Pain Cave for more FulGaz rides, mainly my usual  John Hallas’ Weekly Challenges, but also the FulGaz Winter Escape Tour 2025, which they put out for the riders in the Southern Hemisphere (remember that FulGaz was started in Australia).

Anyway, here are May’s stats:

May 2025 Statistics

May 2025 Statistics

Activities: 27 Distance: 444.96km Time: 17:47:57 Calories:  18,569

Turning to my weight, at the end of April I weighed 86.8kg and at the end of May I weighed 87.0kg, which is up by 0.2kg. Body fat percentage was down from 25.6% to 24.8% which wasn’t bad considering the pasties.

Eight Months Later…

| Richard Morris

Later

So we’ve had the ST for a little over 8 months now, in which time it’s carried us 5,500 miles.

Part of that has been to travel down to the myriads of kids and grandkids in the South West as originally intended and as the 11 grandkids (so far) are all of that sort of age, it’s meant loading it to the gunwales with presents at Christmas, for instance:

Cram Packed!

We’ve also bought a Ford load space carpet mat to protect the OEM carpeting in the estate area as I do shove the Brompton into back when I pick up the youngest stepper from work sometimes, and we also want something for when we start putting full-sized MTBs or similar in/on it.

That will be the next move: fitting some roof rails and bike brackets to the roof.

So what have we learned to date?

Well it’s fairly economical but that’s only to be expected when it demands to be driven quickly, and it is fast and it is quick as well.

It’s spacious.

There are some nice design touches, like a separate loadspace below the main flat boot area with its own waterproof tray to stow wet shoes and boots away from coats and clothes; and like the retractable carrier bag holders and bungee bag areas behind the wheels. And of course the remote handles to fold down the 60/40 split  rear seats.

Other features we love? Well there’s the dual zone heating/cooling, the heated seats and best of all the heated steering wheel. The displays are very clear and quick to react, and I can just put my iPhone in the bay and it charges and connects wirelessly, although as it’s pretty much black I forget it’s in there when I get out…

Features we loathe? Obviously as the car is later than July 2024, it comes with the nagging, but fortunately we can turn that off with one long press of the limiter button on the steering wheel. So our normal routine is get in, throw iPhone into storage area, press the ST button, and press and hold the limiter button.

One problem we’ve had so far is that when the temperature drops below zero, the hand sensors in the door handles to lock and unlock the doors don’t work.  And another is that the iPhone can overheat when it’s providing navigation and it’s on the wireless charger, so it turns itself off to prevent overheating.  Not good if you’re relying on it for navigation. Fortunately the built-in navigation seems to work OK.