The Motorbike Thread

[smurphy]

That seems to be the reaction everywhere I read about them. To be honest its just the style I find really cool. Obviously I know nothing about bikes and how they ride, my opinion is based entirely off of pictures. Triumph are also badass.

[TheWay]

*sigh*

Then again, all that chrome and they stuck plastic clocks on it. Plus, I could never go back to spoked wheels.

[Minto]

4 more hours on the big bike today. Ready for my mod 1 now!

My neck was killing me after the ride, such much head turning

[satriales]

So my passport expired last month

My trip begins on Monday, so I'm going to have to spend tomorrow in London at the passport office trying to get it renewed same day.

[Minto]

Mod 1 test booked for next Thursday.

[False]

My dad bought a Hayabusa the other week. Very impressive bit of kit.

I need to get around to booking one of these intensive training weeks.

[Minto]

My dad bought a Hayabusa the other week. Very impressive bit of kit.

I need to get around to booking one of these intensive training weeks.

Do it. Riding a motorbike is an amazing feeling. Far better than a car although you do feel like death is coming at any minute.

Still worth it.

[TheWay]

Unless it rains. Then sadness and a soggy arse are your only rewards.

Mod 1 test booked for next Thursday.

Turn up early to watch the guy before you do it. And practice your U-Turns.

[Minto]

Great 4 hour lesson yesterday. Spent about an hour or more on the cones and practicing figure of eights, emergency stops and high speed avoidance. That's my last session before the mod 1 on Thursday but I'm confident I can nail it.

Watch me fail now

[Minto]

Mod 1 pass

[TheWay]

Well done. Mod 2 booked?

[Minto]

Well done. Mod 2 booked?

Not yet, system doesn't update till tomorrow so I can check then.

Very excited.

[TheWay]

What bike are you doing it on? Purely out of interest.

[Minto]

What bike are you doing it on? Purely out of interest.

Honda CB-600.

[satriales]

So I'm now back from my little adventure. Had a great time, highly recommend it to anyone who's thinking about doing something similar. Don't think, just do it!

A quick summary of the trip.

Day 0
My passport had expired in July so I had to spend the day in London doing their one-day passport renewal. Good service actually.
Then my phone broke just as I am packing everything I had no choice but a quick trip to Tesco to get a cheap alternative. Went with the Motorolla G and it's been good actually, but the Camera isn't as good as my old one.
Installed MapFactor Free Satnav along with all the maps I might need, and also Google translate then download several languages so that they could be used offline.

Day 1

Left my house at 6am. Eurotunnel was running late, so by the time I got to Calais it was 11am. As per the original plan, today was all about sticking to the motorway and covering a lot of miles. I wanted to reach Germany and doing so would mean the rest of the trip was more relaxing.

I stopped off in Luxembourg for Lunch, and then spent about an hour getting lost in their one way systems


It was actually a very enjoyable day despite the motorway miles. Scenery was still nice, and the motorways were often only two lanes and fairly empty.
Reached Germany at about 7pm, and then carried on for another hour until I found a campsite.

Met three other guys from England who arrived at the campsite at the same time. Had a quick chat but I was too knackered to do much other than sleep once my tent was up.

Day 2

The guys I had met the previous night were heading the same direction as me, but then turning off halfway. So I rode with them for the morning, heading south towards Switzerland.
The scenery was really starting to become quite special with greenery all around, and lots of fast and long sweeping corners.



After going my own way I seemed to go off route slightly, and ended up along a road in a valley which followed a stream for about 30 miles through lots of lovely little villages.
Stopped off at one for lunch and went to the nicest bakery I've ever been to



Eventually I reached Switzerland. I then got lost in Lucerne and somehow ended up in a multi-storey car park before figuring out that "Ausfaht" means "Exit".
The north of Switzerland was quite flat with lots of long straight roads, but towards the end of the day the roads and scenery was getting interesting.

I stopped at a campsite on the lake. I did fancy looking around a town, but there wasn't much within walking distance, so instead I dipped my feet in the water and had a nice relaxing evening.

Day 3

I was up at 5am ready to tackle some mountain passes
The roads were empty and this really helped as I could practice hairpins without worrying about holding people up behind me, and boy were there lots of hairpins!



Riding up the mountain passes was quite something. The weather had predicted lightning, but actually it was a really nice day but with lots of clouds. As I climbed the mountain it got colder and I started tor each the clouds. Once I did reach the clouds everything went white and I could not see more than about ten feet in front with constant hairpins to negotiate! I stopped to take some photos and then let a van overtake me. I then was able to follow the vans rear lights until I got through the clouds.



I then stopped for lunch (I couldn't speak any italian so ordered at random and ended up with vegeterian lasagne ) before visiting the dam from Goldeneye. The small black dot you see in this pic is some nutter doing a bungee jump!


I had planned to stop in Switzerland but toward the end of the day it was getting a bit windy and the town looked a bit deserted, so I continued on into Italy.
For about an hour I was riding through flat farms with lightning all around me, and me being the tallest thing in view!



I eventually found a campsite at about 9:30pm and the owner was really nice and gave me a beer

Day 4

After last night riding through long, straight, flat roads in the dark and rain, my initial impressions of Italy were not great. However I woke up to an awesome view:


I headed south toward the coast through some small Italian towns. Italy is scooter city, there are definitely more scooters than cars!
By the time I reached the coast it was now 32C and I had to take my jacket off. All the scooter people were wearing shorts and tshirt with sandals, so I didn't feel too bad but it's the first time in my 3 years of riding that I haven't worn full gear.



I rode along the coast for a while. Tried to get a pizza but the few places I asked only offered Pizza in the evening.
Traffic was terrible and so after a couple of hours of slow progress I took to the Italian motorways. These are insane! They are hundereds of metres above the cities and a crash on a bike will send you over the edge!

I arrived at Monaco and rather than spend the evening in traffic I went along the hills above and headed to Verdon Gorge.

Day 5

I camped on the lake at Verdon Gorge and woke up to a nice view!



I was a day ahead of schedule so decided to relax here for most of the day. The weather was lovely and the water was gorgeous.

Day 6

I had stopped at a cool looking little town for the night, and went exploring.
Had a pizza and a beer, seeing as I couldn't get a pizza in Italy.

Then headed north through small roads but didn't take many photos.

Day 7

Had stopped at another nice looking town, however it was Saturday night and everything in the town was closed at 7pm!
Not even a bar or restaurant was open, and even the supermarket was shut!

Everything was also shut on Sunday, but I did find a Supermarket that was open for a few hours in the morning and was able to get some food and drink.

After this I was a long way from Calais and so took the motorways back north to reach Calais at sunset.
Unfortunately being a Sunday I couldn't find any campsites that were open, so ended up in an F1 budget hotel.
At least it meant I didn't have to unpack and pack my tent and kit again.

Day 8

Up early and got the Eurotunnel home. Wanted to spend my spare coins on sweets in the supermarket before leaving but they didn't open until 10am so I didn't wait around.
Typical rain once I'm back in the UK.

[LewisD]

Chicken strips on that back tyre

I am joking of course, looks like you had a blast - some beautiful scenery.
This thread makes me wish I could get another bike

[Minto]

Passed my mod 2 today so that's me legal to drive any sized bike I want!

[Afrocat]

Almost taken out by a clueless banana split in an Astra today. strawberry floating Sunday drivers.

Dual carriageway roundabout - two lanes enter, two lanes exit straight on. Left lane for left or straight on, right lane for straight on or right. I planned to go straight on and as I approached the roundabout there was a HGV in the left lane so I took the right. As I passed the lorry the Astra was just in front in the left hand lane, but at the last second they decided not to take the exit but to swerve across my lane without indicating.

I was just behind them at this point and was forced to swerve right and do a loop of the roundabout. Use of horn and arm gestures ensued. Had I not been paying attention I'd have probably left the bike in their driver's door and gone for a little slide up the road.

I turned around at the next roundabout and went home, got me way too worked up to enjoy the rest of the ride.

[TheWay]

SMIDSY.

[Afrocat]

Yeah, although I doubt they even looked. Get the feeling it was some last minute directions given by a passenger that the driver blindly followed way too late.

Hit 10k miles on the ER-6f this week, nearly done 5k since I bought it now.