Steve_M

Do you mean spending 3 days in Pembrokeshire? That’s a very small geographical area. You could probably walk around most of it in three days.

I can get mine onto the centre stand easily - I’m 74kg - when it’s devoid of luggage. On tour, fully loaded, it’s a bit of a struggle so I then to just leave it on the side stand until the luggage is off the bike. This device would be most welcome.

My first “big” bike was a 10yr old Honda CX500 Eurosport. Generally dismissed by the race rep rider, it was an excellent introduction to motorcycling and served me well for a couple of years - it was my daily ride and I covered around 20,000 miles on it, including undertaking additional training and passing my IAM test on it. I’ve owned a couple of well maintained older bikes (hacks?) including an ST1100, a Kawasaki ZXR750 (bought off eBay, sight unseen, at the end of a night at the Norwich beer festival) and my current Suzuki SV650S. All three have been great fun. EG. Here’s a photo of my idea of fun on an ST1100 for those who doubt you can have fun on a old Pan.

Not so long ago I found very little difference between TPF&T and fully comp. You do need to ask the question about how much faith you have in the possibility of binning the bike. Considering alternatives to those mentioned. Honda Deauville (often referred to as “Dullsville”. Definitely a “worthy” bike even if not exciting. Will keep up with traffic, cruise at motorway speeds, has decent luggage. I hear they’re comfortable. Honda ST1100. An absolute peach of a bike if you can find a good one. Comfortable, handles well, reliable and easy to ride, and good luggage capacity. The tricky bit is that they’re getting a bit like rocking horse sh*t… tricky to find. Addendum. Honda ST1300… as above but a bit more expensive.

Best laid plans! The wood treatment we’d applied wasn’t dry. Bugger.

Good morning. Today my good lady and I will be erecting a greenhouse. Wish us luck.

We never book hotels in advance. Our usual approach is to stop late afternoon and work out approximately where we’ll be in an hour or so, then use booking.com to find a suitable hotel. We’ve used this system for every European tour (except Scotland) and it’s worked well for us. In over 70 bookings we’ve only had two disappointments: two hotels with no-one to greet us; each time we’ve found an alternative easily.

We had three days in Switzerland in 2018 as part of longer tour taking in the Vosges and some of the Route Des Grand Alps. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time, and would have gone back last year had it not been for the inclement weather, and will be heading back that way this year. I didn’t find it at all stressful.

I saw that on Facebook. The guy seemed happy with the final outcome but I think I’d still be annoyed.

But what were you doing with those birds?

It’s for putting on my rhubarb (cue jokes about preferring custard) and using in the veggie garden.

That’s a load of (goat) sh*t…

Continuing renovations on the house, gardening, collecting goat sh*t …

It’s typical of the building’s issues arising from a 1960’s bodgit and scarper builder. The owner at that time bought it as a neglected house, as we have, and had it gutted and refitted. Foolishly, he and the builder had a fixed price / fixed time contract with penalty clauses. Shortcuts / bodges galore as the build progressed and missed its timescale - the owner had to be housed in a hotel at the builder’s expense while work finished. This is a consequence.

Good afternoon. I think I’ve discovered why part of the ceiling was sagging/cracked.

I have no tales of derring-do to speak of. However, I will recount events from a day trail riding - something I’ve tried and enjoyed with a company called Trail Ride Wales. We were riding a trail up near Barmouth. I ran out of talent and was launched down the side of the mountain while the bike trundled on down the trail, probably around 20-30mph. Instinctively, I tucked my arms in and my chin to my chest, landing nicely on my back. A quick check revealed a couple of small bruises. Later that day another chap, in front of me, also ran out of talent, at a little over walking pace. He stuck his hand out to break his fall and broke his collar bone and had to be taken to hospital. I do wonder if my experience of being thrown around at judo when I was younger was the difference. PS. Yes, the CX500 was underrated, mostly by those who didn’t ride them.

A friend dropped a Honda VTR on a Roundabout due to a diesel spillage. She had a £1500 excess. Ended up buying the bike as it worked out financially better. A bit unfortunate as it really wasn’t the right bike for her.

My SV650 took several attempts this afternoon. Then I remembered it’s a carb model and needed me to operate the choke. Still took three goes to run smoothly. I then had the scariest ride I’ve ever had at 10mph. Down the drive which is a bit bumpy but that didn’t explain why the damn bike was all over the place. I went back up to the house and checked the tyre pressures. Bugger. The front didn’t register, and the only pump have runs off the car’s power take off - and the car is currently in Glasgow.

Delegating the task was a schoolboy error, I admit. Luckily she’s far more disciplined than I am and is not so good at delegation*, so tends to do more than her fair share. *translation. Doesn’t trust me to do such a good job

I leave the to do lists to my good lady. She has several to do lists, eg. One for the house renovation, one for the garden, etc. I just ask what’s priority.

Good afternoon. It’s been a productive day around the house and garden today. I may treat myself to a short. ride out this afternoon.

Welcome. Bandit 600? Good choice, a fine bike. I have fond memories of mine - it was my only transport so I did 27,000 miles in two years on it and had my first date with my good lady by taking her out as pillion.

It’s only relevant if you think that the fun of motorcycling is in a straight line. This is true for some but that’s a good way to lose your licence. On the road, staying (broadly) in line with the legal speed limits, on interesting roads, there will be very little difference in time between a well ridden 650cc motorbike and a 1000cc motorbike. As a footnote, I have seen a number of riders whose riding is far worse on a powerful machine than on a middleweight.

Looks promising. Seems to have all the right accessories: Scottoiler, heated grips, luggage, the screen’s vario spoiler (I found that a real boon when touring on my Tiger) . Looks like a Garmin satnav, too. Worth a look. Do you know anyone local to you who could give a second opinion?