Gerontious

BMW F series from a few years ago. F800/850. with those bikes the entire weight is below the seat, including the fuel. so easy to ride and unusually for BMW were fully sorted from the first. Though the best years were from 2010 onward. Most also had belt drive so were almost maintenance free from that perspective. simple, balanced Twin engines. well made.

I use Robin Hood energy. Moved from Eon, no regrets.

Im going camping for a fortnight in a few weeks and my cooking gear is practically non-existent. i take a stove (dual fuel) a bottle of colemans fluid. NEVER use standard unleaded except in a dire emergency. A kettle. a cafetiere and a mug. I will also be taking a couple of plastic plates, a dish. a bowl and some cutlery. but pots and pans? you're having a laugh. No. None. I have never bothered with cooking on a motorcycle touring/camping holiday.. i have enough of that at home. do it on holiday? no thanks, sod that for a lark. gotta love all this discussion about freezing points.. did the OP say he was going camping in January, or did i miss that gloriously masochistic little nugget? or is this what some of you southerners think Yorkshire is like during the holiday season.

That has nothing at all to do with this question. this site is for the irish republic. and its own laws and regulations regarding its citizens. It does indirectly as you have to go through the Republic of Ireland to get to Northern Ireland from the ferry No. you cannot do that. if you want to get to northern ireland then you have to travel direct to belfast. you cannot go via Dublin or Dún Laoghaire and attempt to ride north, as you will have left the UK and your Insurance is invalid.

That has nothing at all to do with this question. this site is for the irish republic. and its own laws and regulations regarding its citizens.

The ferry companies dont care. why should they? your entitlement has no effect on them. There are only two types of Ferry, those that remain within the Uk and those that do not. Once you leave the UK your entitlement is invalid, so is your insurance. L plates are not a 'thing' in the EU unless you are having lessons. In the Irish Republic L plates are not a thing either, the letter L is worn on the body. (not on the bike) So, although the ferry company might be happy to carry your bike to the EU, you cannot leave the terminal and they might recognise this and tell you to turn around on boarding. if your bike doesn't have L plates then how will they even know? They do not ask to see your license. or insurance documents. I only suggested removing the L plates once on private land in case you encounter some jobsworth knowitall who delights in interfering. Check the insurance policy carefully. if all it says is UK. then thats fine. if it says mainland UK, then thats a problem. as it is if it excludes NI. (obviously)

They have nothing to say on the subject. The biggest question is will insurance cover you in NI. Check the policy. If it does and to remove any complications I would remove the L plates once I entered the ferry terminal and was thus on private land and then put them back on the other side.

Get the best of everything you can afford. spending more nearly always means improved comfort and thats important. Buy cheap buy twice.. and suddenly its not cheap any more. Buy once.. cry once. To my mind asking about camping gear and immediately shifting to cooking, is getting it backwards. Start with first principles. Tent and Sleeping. work out how much space you can afford between the two bikes and look at how you will manage to carry everything. pack sizes. spread between two bikes makes it simpler. But you have to be very disciplined. Once you are past that very first step then its time to move on to the smaller things and again, how they will fit into the space you have and still leave space for other 'necessities'.

No. all that would stop me is a disaster here at home. or with the bike. my health. something that makes the idea of going away, regardless of where, untenable. or impossible.

21 days to go and I'm a nervous wreck. actually thats a lie. Im fine.. just continuing to watch and wait. It looks very much like (as of today) that i will be able to switch back to my very original plan and head down to Austria. Germany has just announced mandatory testing for a list of high risk countries, but have decided that the UK is not included on that list. Testing is free however and my strategy will be that if I see a test site i will roll up and take advantage, its free!! So.. 3 weeks today and I should be on my way down to Ashford for a final night in a proper bed for a while. then crossing on the saturday. wandering across to champagne using mostly normal roads.. avoiding the motorway unless or until time becomes short. An overnight stay at Eperney and then head for the south end of the Black Forest for a pause before heading across to Bavaria and the German Alpine road and on to Zell am See. Hopefully there by the Wednesday and will have either the Thursday or Friday on the Grossglockner. And thats really as far ahead as Im ready to look right now. There are a lot of options for the slow return to Calais. and thats going to depend on the weather. I already have my rota for September and Im not due to return to work until 9pm 16th September. Still fully prepared to switch back to the French Alps if the situation changes.

now you're a proper adventure biker with your Heed bags and everything.

Im heading down to Austria in 3 weeks. it started as Austria and then that became apparently too problematic. so switched to the south of France and now Im back on course to head to Austria. its been swings and roundabouts all right. but.. if you want to go to europe there is absolutely nothing stopping you. just Spain and Luxembourg as places you are 'staying' are off the list. if you google "Eifel Germany" and like the look of it, imagine mid wales but on a much bigger scale, i can point you at a very nice and affordable hotel that you can stay at no problem at all.. and there will be a chorus of approval from everyone who has been there with me. you can bet on it.

I would remove the DVSA identifier and convert the pillion back to stock, though that depends on what the inside of the box looks like. It might be fine to keep and use. other than that, why not.. i bet it has an absolutely perfect service history and is ready to ride with nothing needing fixing.

See the problem with that's is not being on Facebook and not having a Facebook account. why is that a problem?

Rain... nothing. Just feel sorry for all the poor sods who were going to ride the Stelvio today, last night almost 9 inches of SNOW. but at least they managed to clear the road fairly early.

Electric Harleys. Battery powered Harleys. I just had to type that to see what it looked like. If it caused me even the slightest spark, the smallest hint of enthusiasm. Didn’t It’s on days like this that I really appreciate not owning a TV, despite the monthly letters from TV licensing and their only gently veiled threats of court action. Opening those letters is rather more exciting than the idea of this program. Can you tell how underwhelmed I am? In fact, the most exciting thing I can think of is the reaction to this at BMW. What happened in the boardroom when news of this program broke. Cue the Data from Star Trek insane laughter meme.

I would rephrase that somewhat to.. Your tent must be a good one, to get everything in that bag.

its been largely unproblematic here in notts. but then I think people are by and large looking at what just happened in leicester.

It doesn't matter. use any big name brand. castrol, slkolene, Shell, Motul, and more. I bought Castrol this time but it could just as easily have been anything else. I would suggest that you avoid supermarket own brands.. and brands that you have never heard of. the most important thing is that the oil you use meets the standard in the owners manual of your bike. if you dont know what that is then ask.

One of the best.. but only if they see you and your bike as 'low risk' - if they do not then they will offer an extremely uncompetitive quote, which you will then rush to the internet to mock on your social platform of choice.

One of my most prized possessions is my Italian stove top expresso maker. and I only use Lavazza. which i buy in 12 packs from Amazon. Use it to make plain espresso, 50/50 Americano. and very rarely a latte. I went through a stage of buying more expensive coffees. but gravitated back to Lavazza as its the best for my taste without spending silly money. A 12 pack will last me about 6 months. Illy is nice, but you're paying for the packaging. (how its packaged) and im afraid my tastes aren't refined enough to tell the difference between vacuum packed and nitrogen packed. In either case the way its packaged is only useful for storage and transport. the benefits vanish as soon as the pack is opened. best i can do is store an opened pack in a sealed container. and keep that in the fridge. And use it up. (hard work) .

get off or not... all depends. pay at the pump are not ubiquitous, certainly not near me. In fact, come to think about it there isn't one near me. The nearest is an unmanned Asda and its not in a direction I would usually pass by. FWIW one thing Ive seen happen right in front of me is a chap filling up, and striking a pose while he did it. And then he paid. Then he must have changed his mind and decided he wanted something from the shop. put the bike on its side stand and while he was away I could see petrol start to piss out of a drain pipe. he came back, didnt notice and rode away leaving a trail. he must have really brimmed it for that to happen.

Working. And trying to contain my excitement.

Kurviger