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Steve_M

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Everything posted by Steve_M

  1. I recall the issue of contaminated fuel. Though I was not affected my sister in law’s car needed significant work doing - paid for by the fuel supplier. It was a localised - to the south of England - issue manifested in supermarkets. Tesco being one of them and the reason why we avoided supermarket fuel for some years. Even now I rarely use supermarket fuel. Fuel contamination 2008
  2. Damn, riding in the wet. Damn those were the days.
  3. Absolutely. Last year we intended to ride the French alps, Switzerland, Dolomites and Tirol. The passes closed early, while we were there in September, so we headed south to include the Verdon gorge etc (we did the intended tour this year, incidentally). It’s the reason why we only book the ferry in advance and then make everything up as we go along - a bit Agile project management rather than waterfail…. Anyway, here’s a couple of quotes …
  4. Well worth a look. Some great scenery and some pretty fair roads. Photos from our 2017 trip. The first is from Mirador del Fitu, the second is a little south east of Vega de pas.
  5. It’s 800 miles of mostly tedium from Calais to Santander. For us that adds at least a night, possibly two, in a hotel in each direction (say £100 per night - £200) and, conservatively, £200 in fuel. Plus tolls - last year set us back £50 for one direction down to the Alps. Discounting the bike’s running costs that’s already at least £500. Add the loathsome channel tunnel at £100 for a return and having to negotiate the bloody awful M25 I’m happy to cough up another couple of hundred for the relative convenience of the Santander ferry.
  6. I’ve already looked. I did a comparison between the ferry to Santander vs ferry to St Malo and ride down. The ferry edges it on cost and you don’t have the awful trudge down through France. I must admit I hadn’t considered the Ireland Route which might work for us given that we’re only 2 1/2 hours from Cairnryan. Edit. The Rosslare to Bilbao ferry and return for early / mid September is coming in at €830. I haven’t looked at the prices crossing from Cairnryan to Ireland but I suspect that aggregates to take the cost to be around the same as the Portsmouth to Santander crossing.
  7. Hello from a GS rider.
  8. Depends on which part of the garden. The bit at the top close to the house is merely sodden, the area down by the stream is marshy and then some as is the field.
  9. The mowers don’t do the mileage the BMW does so I can afford to treat them to the posh stuff.
  10. E10 in the bike, E5 in the mowers. Mostly
  11. It appears that a decision has been made. The tour will be initially heading west from Santander, then eastwards across the north of Spain, joining dots. We’ll avoid the Potes triangle and the N260 as much as possible as we’ve done those twice now.. The return to Santander will be via the Route Des Cols de Pyrenees, taking time out to visit a uni friend of my good lady who lives not too far from Pau. Ferry to be booked in the next few weeks once we have house sitters* arranged. * offspring use our place as a cheap holiday location.
  12. I feel your pain. I’ve taken part numerous times - into double figures - and it was reasonably accessible from Norwich as I could usually ride home afterwards. Now living in Cumbria I have at least two overnight stays. I’m considering camping at Cadwell for next July to reduce costs.
  13. I did say in isolation. I’m of the view that anything that improves skill levels is positive. i2i and Hopp Rider Training (Hopp are the same personell who do the Firebikes) are primarily around improving road riding in a safe (relatively) environment. Each focus on skills improvement without you needing to be concerned about gravel / oil spills / other vehicles / street furniture etc. Trials riding (as against trail riding which I’ve done) is on my bucket list but I may be getting too old for that malarky.
  14. It sounds to me like a call to the insurers is in order to clarify the situation instead of asking people who don’t have knowledge of the particular insurance contract.
  15. That’s probably true in isolation but anything that facilitates skills improvement shouldn’t be discounted out of hand. For example, after passing IAM, my riding has subsequently benefitted from a whole variety of other training and activities among which has been Motogymkhana, i2i, trail riding, and HRT (Hopp Rider Training - same instructors as Firebikes) at Cadwell Park. I would recommend all of these in addition to advanced training which doesn’t need to be IAM/RoSPA (could be Rapid Training or Zen school of motorcycling…) Edit: HRT - a super and relatively safe day of learning.
  16. 50% of my parents are dead but I’m sure 100% would be. In the mean while, reading the documentation at renewal means there are no surprises. It’s long been insurance practice to have separate no claims for each vehicle / policy. It’s not a con, it’s not even slightly shady business practice… it’s a contract that we, as policyholders, sign up to. Some with their eyes open, some with a jaundiced perspective.
  17. Which is why, on every renewal or new policy, I read the documentation which, I suspect you didn’t.
  18. Yesterday I took the bike in for service and MoT and got this little item as a loaner to get me home. My first ride since our tour due to the bike being overdue it’s service and MoT, I’d forgotten how much I enjoy being on a bike.
  19. I have a small area at home for practicing judo drills (Uchi Komi) using equipment designed for that purpose. I also have a few bits of kit to give me a decent exercise routine. I’ve used it a fair bit but I’m usually too knackered in the evening from working on the house and lack the discipline to get up early to use them.
  20. As a former IAM observer, I would advise not to “push it” or ride at a speed which is causing you to need to react to situations. You need spare capacity in your head to take in and practice those elements you’ve discussed and agreed with at feedback stops. Edit: Keith Code sums up the situation in his book “Twist of the Wrist” (well worth a read even if it is track biased) - see photo.
  21. As one of those lucky sods who hold a constant weight (75 - 76 kg or just under 12st for those who work in imperial) regardless of diet or exercise regime, I will relay my good lady’s approach when she lost around 11kg (2st) over a 3 month period following a keto diet. She occasionally felt tired and hungry over the first couple of weeks but then was fine. The only time there was any physical impact was when we took on a steep walk in the Lake District which exhausted her. The keto approach is worth considering as a one-off project only, though. I understand it’s used for newly diagnosed and overweight diabetics to get their weight off quickly.
  22. The observer should look over your bike, not to see if it’s clean or shiny new, but to check obvious safety considerations such as tyre wear and chain adjustment. They may ask about POWDERS checks (I did, others didn’t). As for your kit… they may comment if you turn up in totally inappropriate stuff but they will be more interested in how safe your riding is. I would suggest to ride your normal ride, do not alter it. Even the filtering (obviously, wait for the observer if you lose them as a result of traffic - following and watching has its own challenges).
  23. Some groups offer a trial ride with an observer / tutor (IAM / RoSPA, respectively). Give it a go. No harm in looking…
  24. I had Givi panniers on my VFR750 and I swear they made the bike wider than my car due to being mounted a distance out from the bike. Luckily I never needed to filter with them on. The Vario panniers on the GS are a bit wider than the handlebars when expanded -they slim down by about three inches either side when not expanded - but not much of an issue when riding. The right hand pannier, though! How much space is wasted due to the cutout?
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