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Lateralus

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Everything posted by Lateralus

  1. Day 2. My favourite bit was right from when I set off: the bit where I rode my motorbike for 200 miles through the Pyrenees. It's been fooking awesome. Would have been a lot quicker if I didn't keep stopping to take photos, but really, what choice did I have? I'll do more of a write-up later, but right now I need a beer.
  2. [mention]TC1474[/mention] just to check, are your comments relating only to a flip front helmet which is being worn in the open position? I really like my flip up, but only because it means I don't have to take my helmet off when talking to people while stopped. I've never ridden with it up, and don't really intend to, so for the purposes of riding it's in effect a full face. However, by it's very nature I know it won't be as solid as a single piece lid, so I guess it's that difference I'm asking about.
  3. I would have thought the same, if I'd thought about it at all beforehand, but just took it all very steadily. Doing the same in today's full sunshine! Literally constant twisties so far today!
  4. I mostly listen to planet rock at home, and there's a lot of southern blues around at the moment. I like quite a bit of it, but occasionally it goes a little too country or hillbilly for my tastes.
  5. Europe and Gloryhammer. There is nothing to make a journey feel more epic than listening to amazing songs about fighting armies of undead unicorns. Seriously, it's brilliant.
  6. I think in the UK it's only certain flip-ups you can ride with then open - ones where it's locked in place. They have to be dual homologated. [mention]mccarthy1983[/mention] Shark and Roof both so helmets where the chin bar goes all the way back - gives you the option of both in the same helmet then. I think I've even seen one where the visor and chin bar are both removable, but can't for the life of me remember what it was, so it's possibly something I've just made up.
  7. 1 day in, and so far so good. Made friends with 2 bikers before boarding the ferry, and had had 2 pints with them before even leaving port. They'd just got married, and for their honeymoon are doing a 3 week 3,000 mile tour of Europe. Portsmouth Riding into a boat is cool. My £32 upgrade to a shared cabin netted me a room to myself for the night, since there was no-one to share with, and the food on board was impressively nice. Genuinely the best roast leg of lamb I think I've ever had - lovely and pink all the way through, and served as a slice an inch thick. The Bay of Biscay was mill-pond flat the whole way over, and saw loads of whales and dolphins (whales and dolphins, yeah). Ooooooh, arty Finally left the port in Santander at around 7pm, and arrived at my accommodation in Viscarret-Guerendiain at about 11.30. Really friendly couple hosting, and they even put my bike in their double garage. Perfect. The 285km slog here on the motorways was fine, helped significantly by the scenery being amazing, and the roads often being much twistier than our higher speed roads at home. Don't get me wrong, there's no chance of getting a knee down, but at 120kph+ it's much nicer than the long straights we usually have. That all changed in the last 25km of the journey when I finally made it on to the single carriageway N135. These few km of road are probably the most fun tarmac I've ever ridden, and I was taking it easy at the end of a long ride, in the dark. There were no views left to distract you at this time of night, but I can instantly see the appeal of those fancy cornering lights KTM now do. Such twisty. Very wow. If that section of road is at all representative of what tomorrow has in store, I'm in for a treat.
  8. Lateralus

    Oil leak?

    Well there was nothing obviously leaking, so the mechanic's best guess was the oil getting round or through the neutral switch bolt, which did need some tightening and was suspiciously dirty/wet. Apparently triumph use cheap crap ones. He cleaned it all up, and said to pop it back after my trip for him to check again, but no concerns for my trip. Accordingly, I'm now halfway to Portsmouth, and very excited to be properly on my way!
  9. The departure approaches. The bike is mostly sorted, but the packing not yet started. Feeling pretty tired, and conscious that I want to sleep well tomorrow, I just looked online into cabin upgrades for the ferry. £95, plus a £25 admin fee. I gave them a call, and for the princely sum of £32 (and no admin fee!) I now have a bed in a 4-berth male shared cabin instead! Bargain, and totally worth it. Have a fairly organised list, so packing should be easy, so it's just the trip to the dealer in the morning concerning me now. Imagine most tours don't start with a trip to a mechanic's ramp to investigate an oil leak.
  10. After further tinkering last night, the Scottoiler appears to be functioning as intended. Will keep fettling flow rates, but currently very pleased.
  11. Lateralus

    Oil leak?

    Update on new oil leak: the dealer has no mechanics in on a Monday. However, from where I cleaned it up yesterday, there's currently very little evidence of a leak, and the levels are ok, so I think it's very slow. They're going to look at it first thing tomorrow, meaning starting my trip by heading half an hour in the wrong direction, but I'll have up to 2 hours before I need to get on the road again. An excellent way to start off. I'll also be taking a bottle of oil with me and checking levels regularly, so combined with them checking it over, that should be sufficient. By which I mean it has to be sufficient. Worst case scenario, I have breakdown cover and travel insurance, but I will be exceptionally unhappy if I need to use either of them.
  12. Thank you all for what was a fantastic 24 hours. Was great to meet you all, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thank you in particular to [mention]Stu[/mention] for organising it all, [mention]rennie[/mention] and [mention]Susieque[/mention] for the evening entertainment and [mention]Tango[/mention] for helping on the ride. [mention]Throttled[/mention] - I found myself humming Flower of Scotland most of the way home! Had a great time, and looking forward to the next time already.
  13. Not packed at all yet! Tent, sleeping bag, toothbrush, beer - shouldn't take long. Oh, plus the Scottoiler and USB charging port I'm hoping to fit after the ride tomorrow!
  14. It's only showing a couple of hours of light rain, so why not wait until tomorrow to decide? Basically dry
  15. Why were you heading off on Sat morning? Got my next grading coming up in a couple of weeks, so I have six hours of karate to do.
  16. Cheers - I have a pocket tyre plugger kit arriving in the post, and will be taking the small pump I use for my bicycle. Eye wash looks like it's the only thing left to but still!
  17. Well I've started the process of laying out all the stuff I think I need to take. I'm 100% certain that I'll be packing more stuff than I need, exacerbated slightly by having a week's “normal” holiday in the middle of the touring, but I'm sure it's a rite of passage to over-pack on one's first big tour! Hopefully home from the rally reasonably early on Sunday to finish packing properly.
  18. Belated happy birthday! Coming out to join us in Derbyshire on Sat?
  19. It's looking less likely that I'll be able to make it this year thanks to family and work commitments certainly not the Friday, but working on getting a pass for Saturday so I can come and get smashed with the rest of you! negotiations still ongoing. I managed a Saturday pass on my wife's birthday weekend, so it must be possible!
  20. Worth knowing, thanks. Don't have any fitted at the moment, but am planning to get some! Haven't got round to putting the nightbreaker bulbs in yet, but taking them as my spares.
  21. The thing which really annoys me on FB is the percentage of posts which are just someone tagging their other half in a comment on some stupid video of a dog licking its own arse or something equally banal. Automatic “unfollow” for those now. Forums and FB serve different purposes, so it's not either/or for me, but I prefer forums.
  22. Well I think I've now ordered the final few bits I need for my travels, including some spare indicator bulbs after finding myself in need of one on Friday! However, do I need to adjust my headlights for riding in Spain and France? The manual tells you how to adjust them up, down, left and right, but gives no guidance on what settings/positions to use either here or abroad. Looks like I'll not have time to fit the Scottoiler this week now, so that'll be a job for a campsite in Derbyshire next weekend! The trip is looming ever-larger now. Really quite excited.
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