Gerontious

Same. which isn't bad at all for a 1000/1100

Never ceases to amaze me how quickly the time goes by on a countdown to one of these jaunts, and here we are the morning of the off. Luggage is packed, mostly. Just a final check needed to be sure I have everything I might need. Away for 16 days!! Today is the run down to the south coast, then an overnight stop close to the tunnel and then cross fairly early in the morning. all we can eat breakfast at 7 and setting off. for the fairly short ride to the tunnel after that. Once across we'll split the first part roughly in half and do 150 miles to lunch and then the rest in the afternoon. staying the Saturday night in the Pfalzwald. which is one of those little gems that most people seem to pass by. Its a bit similar to the Eifel, only a lot lumpier. fewer towns. very few farms, lots of small rivers that drain into the Rhine to the east. and lots and lots of twisty roads. (I really should organise a trip there one day as its so different, nothing even remotely similar in the UK) Very.. err, lumpy. and 1,100 square miles of it Then on the Sunday a lazy start followed by a 260 mile ride down to Austria. where the fun begins. Let all the weekend trippers go back to work and we'll be heading over the Timmelsjoch pass into Italy. quite a few passes on the Monday. Timmelsjoch. Jaufenpass. Penserjoch. And then onto the Great Dolomite Road to Cortina. and more passes. And then on to our base just over the border back into Austria and cheaper petrol. So, this is the start. 3 days of mostly motorway/autobahn and then 13 days of pleasure riding until the final dash to the tunnel on Sunday 26th and home. I might even eat a pizza. I'll add photos as and when....

Me neither.. the bike doesn't tell me, with a telltale light and these latest systems are so sophisticated they might only be active for fractions of a second so on and then off again before you even registered a problem. a problem that could have easily escalated into something horrific. or given you a bad fright.

Hubris is a wonderful thing to behold.

So there you have it.. all this and he hasn't even done his CBT. shocker.

Lovely morning here on the (not very) misty hills of Mapperley. A day to be spent pottering around the house getting the gear together to pack. Weather looks perfect well into next week. So mostly T-shirts and a warm sweater for the cooler mornings on the tops. Hopefully I’ll have enough space to bring my vented summer jacket. So that’s my day. meanwhile on the misty heights of the Grossglockner - it snowed last night. Feel sorry for the poor wretches doing that road today!!

Not north Wales... but a good distance from North Wales police and access to some really great roads without the worry. Obviously North Wales can easily be a day out. And its adults only so no kids to worry about. or be irritated by. https://goo.gl/maps/U5xZQZW1gmq65epy6

Does it? Ive had it engage once on my old BMW and felt it pulse through the brake lever. but that was a very old ABS system from 1993 or earlier. modern systems are far more sophisticated and apparently unnoticeable. You really shouldn't have the ABS engage during the emergency stop for the test, unless the test area is very wet. its an emergency stop. not a panic IM GOING TO DIE braking manoeuvre. or the other scenarios where the ABS might activate, normal braking and you encounter gravel etc. at a junction.

Now there's something that takes me back... I remember when my mother had one installed in her kitchen in I think, about 1973 and at the time was the height of cool.

Bit moist here this morning. damp wet and bloody horrible in fact. so.. looking at webcams... the road to the Timmelsjoch Pass. Along the Otz valley. while I wait for 08:20 to come round so I can upload my Vaccine certificate to the tunnel website.. such excitement eh.

Beautiful morning here on the misty hills of Mapperley!! And that’s me done with work until Friday 1st July!! Weather looking great for the weekend and a forecast 29c in Austria early next week. Off out to get my euros later.

This weekend is my last 'week' at work. then.. despite only taking two weeks off, I'm not back on shift until the 1st of July. happy days. Dontcha just love unintended side effects. and roll on 8am Tuesday morning when I finish. (for 25 days) Just a matter of avoiding being hospitalised by a random punch from an incoherent, bewildered and rather dangerous man. with mixed dementia. But, at least we have biscuits. so its not all bad.

He's off again.. how long till this thread gets locked. How long till he gets thrown off the forum. tick tock.

Buttered with strawberry jam. or preserve if you're posh.

now look... we already have one person who gets uptight about other people choices. do we need two?

Yes.. but don't butter them first or it can get messy.

And so it begins.

They are. But its not something Ive ever worried about. if the bike is going to be out of sight then I remove it, drop it in my helmet and put the gloves on top. or if I have the top case on the bike. lock it in there. The main thing is to ensure its properly 'locked' onto its mount, before you set off.

Not something I care about.. isn't it more likely to be a journalistic spin on a decision?

I don't see what the problem is with this, albeit odd sounding decision. If there is no specific legislation for the protection of important insects then why not just attach it to legislation already in place? Males an attention grabbing headline. but that's about it. Wild bees just like every other important insect species are heading for extinction and they will be followed by every plant species that depends on them and then every animal species that depends on those plants. tick tock.

I have the XT and the real test will come end of next week. Only thing I’ve done that’s a bit different is I’ve created a load of routes and put them onto an SD card. That’s the way I did it on my old 660. I use basecamp as I find it very simple. I use just one feature. One action or command or whatever you want to call it. So easy. And this on a Mac which it was never properly optimised for!! one thing I have noticed. Because the XT is an android device it’s not exactly a seamless experience with a Mac computer. Which is why I’ve chosen to use the SD card. There are workarounds but I can’t be bothered. Just format the card. Put a folder on it called Garmin and basecamp treats it as though it’s the actual device itself. My 660 was the same. It’s a method that works perfectly for me. aside from that fairly minor gripe. It’s a fantastic upgrade from my 2009 660. I have it wired to the accessory plug Honda kindly hid away under the instruments which is only live with the ignition on. It’s easy enough to stop it switching itself off when the ignition is off. A simple button press does it.

I wasn’t allowed to have a motorbike until my 18th birthday and only then if I saved for and bought it myself. So I did. First bike was a 1976 Kawasaki KH250 triple 2 stroke. In 1980. Passed my test 2 years later. Can’t say I felt hard done by not being allowed to have a moped to be honest.

I’ve already answered this question and I’m not about to change my answer just because you phrase it slightly differently from your first post. Are you paying attention? Is replying to your questions just a waste of time? all these hypotheticals. The question should be what bike you are considering after you pass your test, rather than some imaginary figure who may or may not exist in the real world.

This thread is becoming circular. it's been answered multiple times. who knew.

How would they know? You the rider probably won’t notice either unless there’s a telltale on the instruments.