10R - That was quite quick!

In fact, it was easily the fastest bike i have ridden, fucking brilliant
& the brakes are as sensational as the power.

Cheers Neal, i was giggling all the way home..

Nige

 

back on the Island at 2pm enjoyed most of the weekend but defiantly I'm not
camping ever again
Excellent spread of food, most impressed, so thanks to all involved.
nice sunny day here, might go down the beach now

 

A proper inflatable matress would have made it a whole different
experience. Other than needing to use my hoodie as a pillow halfway
thru the night I was cosy with a therm-a-rest(copy) and a 3 season
sleeping bag, and slept thru til 8:45 just fine.

 

I hate you

 

Well, we dont want you to get too big headed

Apart from the clutch, it was really easy to ride & the brakes nearly
made my teeth come out & I thought the K12 had good brakes. Clutch isn't
a problem once you adapt for it.

I had to re-adjust my brain after that.

I'll bet it's nuts on a track

The R1 felt a tad slow on the way home...

PS: If your ever thinking of selling it.......

 

I've got a 2/3 length self-inflating air mat that does the job nicely.
Combined with a reasonably warm sleeping bag, a silk liner and some
thermals I was pretty comfortable all night.

Sleeping without anything between the sleeping bag and the ground sheet,
otoh, is a mug's game.

 

Ill need a mat for when I camp at Silverstone - any recommends?
--
Gavin.

GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

Anything that rolls down to be as small as possible. I just bought
whatever Millets had on the shelf when I walked in.

 

Although we are all going on the bikes, we have a "support vehicle"
that will be carrying kit, so size isnt an issue really.

--
Gavin.

GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

Sure, but you might want to use it again at some point.

 

Good point - how small do the self inflaters pack down to?
--
Gavin.

GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

Pah. You're all a bunch of southern jesses. Try sleeping on a deflated
air bed in a tent that's pitched on compacted snow. That's cold. (wake
up every 30 minutes, roll over rub feeling into side in contact with
snow for ten minutes... sleep for 20 and repeat for about five hours.)

Solution; Dutch army surpless thermarest which I almost took in place of
the nice inflatable mattress...

 

A decent one will go down to the same height as a pint glass and a
slightly larger diameter. It's cost you about 4 times more than a
cheap one but they're well worth the money.

If you really want to splash the cash then go for an exped down filled
airbed. Very warm, very comfortable and worth the money if you ever
expect to camp somewhere a bit chilly.

 

Mine's a cheap one so only rolls up, leaving it pint-glass thick but
about two feet long. Slung across the back of the bike it's no longer
than my tent pack, mirrors or elbows.

 

I've got a couple of the millets airbeds, the ribbed kind and the flock flat
top kind. The latter is way more comfortable, Bee and I used it at Chimay. I
don't think they do much for staying warm in cold weather, better than
nothing of course but I'm sure something with insulation built in would be
lots better.

 

A normal airbed isn't much cop when it's really cold because all it
does is hold cold air next to your body and you're actually better off
using a couple of the old fashioned closed cell foam mattresses but
the problem is they don't pack down very small.

I was most impressed with the Exped airbed I took to Germany this year
but the problem with them is that you can't inflate them by lung power
because moisture gets into the down and fucks it up until you've had a
chance to throw it through a tumble drier. They self inflate to about
50% if you leave them unrolled with the valves open and the carry bag
doubles up as a pump but it's a bit of a **** about compared to
packing a battery powered pump...

 

<waves>

It wasn't that cold in the end.

 

<googles>
Yup that sure looks like the DB. The latest seem to have a built in pump.

 

To be fair, I'm not sure you'd have noticed if it was arctic conditions.

 

The built in pump is the bag. It's got a one way valve and you open
the bag up to fill it with air, fold the top over to seal it, pump
then repeat until the bed is full. It works ok but it's a lot of
fucking about.