Cheers!
I take it the mower run was for charity?! Good on him!
I'm stopping in the Midlands for a few nights on the way there and back so if anyone can suggest things to do/places to go in Newcastle/Gateshead/Preston that would be handy...
|
'Newcastle/Gateshead/Preston'
Dear Mr. Southerner. These places are in the North East they are not in the Midlands. Suggesting they are may be injurious to your health.
Regards.
A person originally from the Midlands.
|
|
When did Preston switch to the East? ......or is a different one?
|
|
|
These places are in the North East they are not in the Midlands.
Yes they are they're beyond Watford.
|
Dont do it
I hear the safety barrier is broken at watford and people are falling off the edge of the world....
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Newcastle is party city - not for the faint hearted; your southern softy sensibilities may be tested!
For a bit of motoring trivia Gateshead was where Michael Caine threw Brumby off the multi-storey car park in Get Carter. But otherwise grim.
Preston is rubbish.
|
Did they ever rescue the sunbeam alpine from the bottom of the river?
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
|
I'll hold your jacket while you find out.
|
|
|
|
"Preston is rubbish"
A bit harsh! More motoring trivia: Preston was the evil robot dog who drove a sheep trailer in one of the Wallace and Gromit adventures.
_______
IanS
|
Should be a great trip. Enjoy and ride safe!!
DP
|
|
|
|
For a bit of motoring trivia Gateshead was where Michael Caine threw Brumby off the multi-storey car park in Get Carter. But otherwise grim.
www.getcartertour.co.uk/
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Well there's half an hour of my life I'll never see again but what a glorious way to waste it!
Outstanding stuff.
|
Incidentally - it says they cut the floor out of the Alpine to make it sink faster - double the waste!
Oi Carter, your car needs a wash!
|
|
|
|
Oi!!!! I come form Gateshead originally.
Home of the Metro Centre,The Baltic Centre,Angel of the North.........
Ken.
|
|
|
For a bit of motoring trivia Gateshead was where Michael Caine threw Brumby off the multi-storey car park in Get Carter.
But otherwise grim.
www.getcartertour.co.uk/
Oi!!!! I come form Gateshead originally.
Home of the Metro Centre,The Baltic Centre,Angel of the North.........
Ken.
|
|
|
|
|
Watford has nothing to do with it!
You mean Watford Gap, a service station on the M1 between Northampton and Rugby.
But you are correct in that you do fall into a black bottomless pit where no-one can hear you scream. - I should know as I live and work in it.
|
Watford has nothing to do with it!
Well, I don't know.
Personally, I get extremely nervous if I have to cross the Thames and go North of the river.
Here Be Dragons
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the company of five friends I'm riding the Hornet up to John O'Groats and Dunnet Head in a few weeks time; can't wait! We'll be two Honda Hornet 600s, a Honda Blackbird, a Honda SP-2, a Kawasaki Z7, and a Triumph Daytona 675 (If run-in, else his old 600). >>
The SP-2 is not a bike for that kind of trip, I nearly bought an SP-1 a few years ago (I wanted a WSB rep and got a ZX7R instead) uncomfortable as hell, the ZX7R was little better, though both great fun on the right roads - or tracks. Reckon I would take the lawn mower rather than an SP-2.
Sounds like a great trip as does mss1tw's, have a good one both!
|
|
Enjoy - used the bike for 230 mile round trip today. 11 hour day - worky bits in the middle. Still as fresh a daisy now despite no air-con etc. Wouldn't have felt the same had the trip been done by car.
|
|
|
>>The SP-2 is not a bike for that kind of trip
Well, it's a bit too much of a track day tool for me too with it's full on riding position, but last year, in the company of another biking friend with a ZX7R, matey took his SP-2 across France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and probably somewhere or other I've forgotten. From switchbacks across the Alps to some long stretches of motorway, probably something like 3,000 miles in all I guess, and no osteopath required! Will be interesting to see how each of us gets on with the Scottish trip, though we can always swap bikes if required.
Thanks for the wishes; as it gets closer it seems to take forever to arrive. With the twins due in October, I doubt I'll get a biking holiday for a good few years to come, too!
|
Tomorrow's the day; off we (nine bikes) go late afternoon from various locations in Surrey, Bucks, and Warks for the aforementioned Scottish trip, overnighting at various locations and meeting up for brekkie on Friday morning near Tebay. Back home on Monday night.
What happened to the sunshine, though?
Looks like it's gonna be a bit on the wet side and the biggest test yet of our waterproof gear.
|
nine bikes
I can't do my sums, it seems, after some changes to the participants.
Seven bikes
Seven riders
One pillion.
|
|
|
Enjoy yourself. I've just passed my DAS so I'm looking forward to some fun bike trips in the not too distant future. A whole new world has opened up.
Before then, a friend and I are driving to the north, south, east and westmost points of mainland Britain, one per day for four days next week. Pretty much everyone I've mentioned this to thinks we're mad. I think we're going to have a great time.
|
Been and gone! Ended up going on my own for reasons I won't go into here.
2800 miles in total, and the bike didn't miss a bit. Don't regret going for a second.
|
|
|
Thanks!
A whole new world has opened up.
Exactly how I felt on passing mine just over eight years ago, and how I still feel today! Welcome to the "club".
|
|
|
Enjoy yourself.
Thanks for the wishes, this and others; what a holiday it turned out to be.
Rain? Yup!
Lots of it, but who cares? Not me!
A great time had by seven people all out for that great time, with not a single whinge or moan even when some of the group got wet.
Weather varied from short spells of being bone dry and sunny, through overcast and damp, to hammering down like a power shower on overdrive and then some. The latter was truly unreal, with the rain drops actually hurting and the road turning to a river several inches deep within the space of half an hour.
I was consequently grateful for decent waterproof kit (for the record Frank Thomas Aqua boots, Sidi waterproof oversuit, and Dainese Goretex lined gloves, all eight and a half years old) as not a single drop of water got inside over four days and 1200 miles of riding.
My usually spotlessly clean Hornet, polished downpipes and all, now however looks as if it's done several grasstrack meets in the middle of winter, but the labour I'm about to endure was worth it; what a trip, and it served to underline why biking is so rewarding.
Filtering up the M6 through Birmingham roadworks (M6 Toll used on the way back) and past Liverpool (outbound and return) showed how much time can be saved on a bike. Coming back (solo, so no need to keep an eye on the following pack) was an easy six hours and 352 miles cruise from Callendar to Stratford-Upon-Avon with three stops along the way. 58MPH actual average speed or 69MPH excluding the stops.
Being forced to ride long distances in the rain, especially in the company of some with much more wet experience than I (my Hornet was purchased as a Big Boy's Sunny Days Toy) was a great way of bringing on this skill set and learning how to feel the bike - the fact that it bucks or moves does not by itself mean impending disaster - as opposed to just super tuning the obvious planning ahead and observation mindsets that apply equally as well to dry weather riding. Extreme deluge aside referred to above, by day two the whole group was riding swiftly, securely, confidently, and sensibly whatever the heavens threw at us. Highly rewarding, and I now actually find enjoyment in enjoy riding in the rain or on damp surfaces. As an aside, with proper application of smooth technique it was also a real eye opener in to how soft compound sports bike tyres (I knock out a Michelin Pilot Sport 180/55x17 rear in 4000 miles with some friends halving that distance) with very few sipes to carry the water away can grip, and grip, and grip so well in standing water. Not a reason to be blase, over confident, or to totally lose natural inhibition, but still impressive.
Thankfully the sun came out when we got to Glen Coe and the experience was fantastic; little traffic, wonderful scenery, and sequences of corner made in heaven. Bettering this though was the Trossachs Trail near Callendar; mile after mile of left, right, left, left, right over crest, short straight, right, left, etc. Quite the most technically challenging and physically tiring road that I've ridden, added to which were odd patches of gravel (usually near lay-by exits, so these elicited an automatic slow-down) and sheep poo to avoid. 'twas an early night to bed afterwards.
Fuel consumption ranged from 58MPG (a record for the bike, achieved after gentle filtering for mile after mile M40-M42-M6 followed by an eighty MPH cruise to Kendal) down to 33.4 MPG but the Hornet 600's small fuel tank meant in the 1200 miles I filled up eleven times (86 to 140 miles per tank without ever quite reaching reserve)
Thanks to a battery charger and ground loop filter recently purchased, this was also the first long trip where I've used my iPAQ 2210 / TomTom 5 satnav kit in conjunction with Autocom intercom already fitted; fantastic! With the Autocom's noise cancelling software and automatic volume control, "Jane's" spoken instructions were crystal clear at any speed and regardless of the din from wind and driving rain on the helmet. The same was true too of the cellphone interface, and on taking a call from a friend who didn't realise I was on holiday (the 'phone auto-answers of course) he couldn't believe that I was cruising on the motorway on a motorbike at the time. He said the only slight giveaway was the conversation sounding like when you listen to commentary from an aircraft pilot, being slightly clipped as the Vox switching works its stuff.
Unlike previous posters, if you're hovering about biking and haven't quite "got round to it", do it! Forget all the car adverts promising utopia; I like driving too - why else would I have registered to use this website all that time ago? - but in reality biking gets so much closer.
|
Use to work in Preston - great city and people. Guide here:
www.visitpreston.com/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
