You simply have to know where and how you are going to store all of the essentials, otherwise, where would we be?
Category: General Ramblings (Page 12 of 19)
General thoughts on bikes… and stuff.
Damned if I know… so I thought I’d ask the people who would know… the overlanding community over at Horizons Unlimited.… I asked…
Interesting question.. I thought I could answer it pretty well… in fact I’m a bit of an armchair adventure motorcyclist – that’ll change in September – but I’ve read every single book I can get my hand on and talked to so many people….
So it was interesting when I was reading Ted Simon’s latest book – Dreaming of Jupiter – that I found myself thinking..
“He’s not really being an adventure motorcyclist because he’s staying in hotels”
How stupid is that? I just caught myself in time and called myself many silly names… but it got me to thinking… what is it that makes a biker and adventure motorcyclist? Where does the line start?
In September I’m off to Morocco – I’m going on a CBF600 and will stick to the main roads where I can. Morocco is a well trodden route and as I’m not going off road, and I’m not on a KTM or a GS. Does that mean I’m just on a biking holiday?
Then in July next year, same bike, but this time I’m going to Russia and back, is that adventure motorcycling or just a long road trip on the bike?
Is going RTW on a bike and staying in hotels adventure motorcycling? Or do you have to rough it at every opportunity and try to break records?
It’s quite interesting when you think about it and I discovered that I was being really rather elitist with no good reason – I’m sometimes a prat.
What do you think? (not about the prat part)
I got a whole host of replies, some saying that we shouldn’t be snooty and should just experience the adventure in our own heads, to others who feel that in this day in age, being continuously connected means we’re never really having an adventure… I’m still not sure what it is… but have a read for yourself and say what you think.
Now the thing is this week I’ve been tucked away in Cashmore towers because the lady of the house has required a nurse – and as you know I’m quite good at doing that kind of thing – in any case I took the opportunity to carry out a few repairs to the CBF – oil change, brake pads – that kind of thing. All was progressing well until I did this… to the left hand brake calliper…
Now, fortunately I was at home this week so I thought, no great issue I can afford the time to order a second hand part off ebay – see the auction here – and wait for it to arrive.
I’m already frustrated because I can’t get out of the house (not to mention breaking a £100 part off my bike), but to make matters worse there’s a postal strike and it doesn’t arrive until today – 7 days after I ordered it – nothing to do with the breakers sending it – just the bloody post!
But guess what – here’s what they sent me…
Can you see the difference here? I bloody can, and it means I’m going to have to drive into work all next week in the bloody car because the bloody breakers sent the wrong bloody part.
Now where’s my book – ahh there it is – Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Rather amazingly the bike turned up this morning – over a month since the accident Bikers Legal Defence have returned the bike good as new – in fact they’ve not just returned the bike but also all the parts they removed – some of which are still in useable condition.
Here’s what was damaged and replaced
- Rear Mudguard
- Number Plate
- Rear light lense
- Rear light bulb
- Givi Top Box A/M
- L/H Givi Pannier Rack & Locking Stud
- L/H/R Panel
- Gear Lever
- Side Stand
- Generator Cover
- Handle Bars
- L/H Bar End Weight
- Clutch Lever
- Clock Surround
- L/H/F Panel
- Centre Front Panel
- Front Subframe
- L/H Mirror
- Givi Touring Screen
- LH Fr Footrest Complete
- Stopper for Above
- Rubber Step Lower
- Aem Step
- Washer
- Rubber Lower Step
- Collar
- Bold Cap
- Plate Step Lower
- Ring Handle Weight
- Rubber Handle Weight
- Weight Steering Handle
- Rubber Handle Weight
- Headlamp Assy
- Gen Cover Gasket
- Centre Stand
- Front Mudguard
- Gear Lever Rubber
- Rear Side Panel Spacers
- Black Screen Trim
- Lh/Rh Side Case Mtg Brkt & Ctre Support
All that came in, with labour at £2,282.23… so how close was I to having the bike written off?
So very true! I love reading about other people planning their own trips – and the language they use to explain the hardships that face us on the road – those very hardships which make the trip worth doing in the first place.
I don’t put a lot of quotes on this blog but I read this over on Horizons Unlimited this morning and it made me laugh – a lot – I just wonder if it’s only us mad bikers that this is funny to?
Once again, I am packing for a trip where the the temperature can range from “why the hell is my helmet filling up with smoke – shit, my hair is on fire again” to “that had better not been my other testicle that just rattled down my pant leg. I wasn’t done with it yet!”. Welcome to travel in Canada.
Read the whole thread over at Horizons Unlimited HUBB
My commute to work this morning was dull. It wasn’t the usual cascade of sleepy car drivers sipping their tea from silver thermos mugs and swerving as they mis-judge the gulp hole and spill it down their pristine shirts. It was divine.
The roads were empty, the filtering was fun, and the weather thankfully staid dry.
I love the Summer Holidays… children should be sent home from school more often.
It takes three weeks, or there abouts, for a motorbike and rider to head up the Atlas mountains, decend into Marakesh and laze in Casablanca.
Welcome to the Journey To Morocco blog. A testing ground for a much larger journey between three friends in July next year – you can read more about that in Journey To Russia.
This blog is a very simple record of one of that teams journey in September this year, a place to test the technology and the methods that we’ll use on the big one.
That’s aimed at all the people who drove past a really nasty bike accident today and just decided to look and laugh instead of stopping to help the poor sod who was falling over the place and unable to stand up.
I’m sorry that sounds harsh – no hang on a moment I’m not – it should be harsh. Accident on the really busy Parc Royal junction of the North Circ, biker taken out, stumbling around and we were the only people to stop and help.
We coned off the bike, took some photos, made sure he was safe and that the police and ambulance were on the way – the thanks we got? Shouting from drivers who were forced to divert around the damaged bike demanding that it was moved ASAP.
Wankers.
With Russia being postponed to July, I’ve been flapping around trying to decide what it is I’m going to do for three weeks in September.
Options;
- Go to Russia anyway
- Ride round the UK
- Ride to Africa
- Cancel leave and come to work
- Go for a walk
So, some of those options are out of the window – guess which ones 😉 and others are appealing – Africa in particular…. update soon 🙂