2006 - a motorcycling year.

So, another one's gone, then.

16,202 miles, all up.

8,891 on the Wing;
2,553 on the 'bird;
625 on the CBX; and
4,133 on NZMR's 1200GS.

Longest day: 584 miles, coming back from Scotland, the awkward way.

Five best day's riding:

1: Down Ninety-Mile beach. No question. 50 miles of empty sand. On
someone else's bike.
2: The run from Kaikoura to Greytown over Arthur's Pass. Glorious
scenery, sunshine, amd next to no traffic.
3: Oban to Forres, via Kylesku and Thurso. See above.
4: The run to Chimay. Six cylinder fun all the way.
5: The Saturday trundle to and from Sedan.

and the 5 worst?

1: Penrith to Oban, via Stranraer. In a hurricane. Wet doesn't even
begin to describe it.
2: 18 miles of newly-laid gravel down to Curio Bay. We got there, I
suppose.
3: The run back from Chimay, with neither passport nor alternator.[1]
4: Taking the CBX into work on MOT day. 1978 brakes and London don't
mix.
5: The run back from the in-laws - non stop rain the length of France.

All three bikes now in need of buckets of TLC, but it's too cold, so
they'll have to wait.

Inevitability of 2006?

BMW speedo failure.

Bikes, you gotta love 'em.

Resolutions?

Finish RBR again.
Ride a Harley - just so I know.
Ride a Triumph - same reason.
Get to 100,000 on the Wing.

[1] Made worse by the inability to stay with Platy's Wing. Perhaps I
shouldn't have run into him in Arras.

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..87845../..23037.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

About 15000 here...

The majority on my 1150GSA, subsequently sold.
About 2500-3000 on the VFR
600 on a Harley Electra Glide
200 on the 900 SSD
200 on the Chopper
50 on XL250 #2
0 on XL250 #1
0 on CB450
0 on the Morini Corsaro

About 400, going to see my cousin in Baden-Baden.

Can't even stretch to five - the best one was trundling around the
Engadin on the GS the one day in early August you didn't have to dress
up as the Michelin man.

Trip to Chepy for TOG's silver wedding anniversary a couple of days
before the GSA was sold.

Blatting around Kent in May on the Ducati.

Again, I doubt I'll make five but here we go:

1. Riding back from Baden-Baden via Brussels in August, 12C and
horizontal rain. And it's getting colder all the time...
2. Riding from my mum's place to Chur to get the BMW looked at after
the rear brake switched itself off. Set out at 8C, it's getting colder
and the pass is closed due to snow...
3. The ride back from Chepy in the usual "I should've known better than
to drink with TOG, YTC and the other gits" state.

Same here - I've got a garage of MOT failures, the VFR wants new front
brake disks but at least has an MOT. Tomorrow, I shall beat a path into
the garage and start, before the motivation wears off again.

BMW rear brake failure going down the steep road from my mum's place
here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=tschlin&sll=53.098145,-2.44369
6&sspn=7.537167,14.106445&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=46.864886,10.414352&spn=0.0335
09,0.083256&om=1

- Sort out the fucking garage roof
- Clear some space in the garage by selling some bikes
- Finally fix up my resto projects
- Sort out the Ducati as even Ann agrees it's a keeper
- Buy a bike on another continent, go to a major party and write about
breaking down on the way there.

 

About 20,000 here

900 on the ZXR750
4,300 on the K1100
12,100 on the K100
2,900 on the K75

Hmm...

About 10,000 in my BMW 520 and almost 1,000 in the BMW 735.

Heavens only knows how many flights.


I think my Carbon Footprint must be size 12.

Yup, I'm going to turf mine... seriously.

 

About 15,000 here.

1) Day off work mid week, hot sun, absolutely no wind. Quietest ride
up to Rye. No traffic and perfect weather.
2) Cold morning 10 mile ride to work until I came across a bloke on
another B6 and we both took the LONG LONG way to work.
3) Journey back from EoSM where Sean and I stopped off at the Secret
Nuclear Bunker for a distraction.
4) Riding to and from work (fully upright) in a blizzard.
5) Military Road run with Mr. Courier, prawn and Sean.

Apart from shit weather (which, IMHO, doesn't count in Ongland) I can
only think of two of note:

1) 1st January '06 - FBotY (and my only bin, tyvm)
2) TOG Tour - arriving in France but never touching French soil

Learn how to do more basic shit to a bike (brake pads, oil change,
etc)
Add another bike to the collection

 

Mine's not that far off - only 6 or 7 flights but the cars like their
juice. Call it a size 11.

That's actually a brilliant idea, only problem is that the main
(asbestos) roof on mine is leaking so I'd have to get that sorted out
first.

 

Get some really, really thick black plastic sheeting and put this down
first.

I built a second garage alongside my 30 year old garage and put a 'new'
asbestos roof across the top of both. The old garage had a thick
covering of leaf mould and what-not and had plants growing in it... it
didn't condensate at all.

The new roof isn't leaking but condensates like a bastard. I tried to
insulate but it was a fucking awful job so gave up on it, turfing it
will cost me a couple of hundred quid and even though I don't expect it
to stay green for long I do expect it to insulate enough to keep the
condensation down.

 

tossed off:

Sedum is (ISTR) a good hardy plant for doing roofs with.
Only problem with turf is it's bloody hard to haul the lawnmower up on
the roof.

--
Dan L

1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

<Snip>

Best rides...

1. Hammering to Sedan through the rain on the Trophy.
2. Persuading a disintegrating Z650 to get to Chimay, after the exhaust
broke in half before I even got to Dover. Arriving at the hotel en
route and hearing about Champ's incendiary journey. Christ, I laughed.
3. Just pottering to work one day on the CD250. Fine summer morning, no
hurry, just a nice ride.
4. Any trip on the Ducati. Still, even after more than nine years of
ownership.
5. Picking up Jamie's CD125 Benly, wondering whether, for £205, it was
going to be a disaster, and thrashing it 85 miles home from Ramsgate,
to reveal that I had, indeed, managed to acquire a fully T&T and really
good little 125 for a couple of hundred quid.

Worst...
1. Persuading a disintegrating Z650 to get to Chimay...

That's about it really. No idea of total annual mileage.

 

Get a hover mower and upgrade the engine.

 

A timeshare goat might sort that out.

As long as it does not start eating the bikes for dessert.

 

I don't bother recording mileage on any bikes but it's probably about
3k on the 10R and maybe 500 total split between Adies Bandit and 9R
and my FZR. Pretty fucking sad really, I need to do better this year.

5 best days:

At least a couple would have been on the island because the weather
was so good and I love thrashing bikes over the mountain.

Taking the 10R down to Stattos and knowing I'd have to go like a
bastard to get any food. I went cross country and managed three times
the posted limit several times.

Riding in the wet in France and knowing that we were going almost as
fast in the wet as we would in the dry.

I can't think of any more that I'd list but I've had plenty of days
out when I've been glad I've got a bike and that's what matters.

5 worst days:

I can only think of one day on a bike when I didn't enjoy riding it
and that was the infamous Bandit over the mountain ride. It was fun
because of where we were but it was fucking awful because the bike was
either sliding or weaving almost all the way from Ramsey to Douglas.
We weren't overtaken though so I shouldn't be too critical.

Resolutions?

175bhp at the back wheel.

Not to miss all of the practice sessions and all bar the Senior TT by
spannering even if the rider is a decent bloke and he did win a couple
of replicas.

 

Absolutely no idea. Not many, as I've not had a running bike since June.

1. The Saturday run from/to Sedan, esp. the bit at the end that had us
all bouncing around like kids mainlining tartrazine.
2. The run to Sedan
3. The run back from Sedan

Not sure I got out much more than that.

1-5. That day in June.

Finally sorting out the brakes on the 7R.

Get a running bike
Try not to crash.

It shouldn't be too hard, should it?

 

Heh. Nice one.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..87918../..23274.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

heh

I take the long way everywhere.

 

You wanna try rush hour Elephant & Castle with 60s (Triumph) brakes!

 

Err, some.

In no particular order:

Wing to Chimay.
All those rides in to work on the VFR.
VFR to Cornwall. Okay, it was mostly motorway, but it was a mood thing,
okay?
Desperately trying to keep Champ, Mike, Verdi et al in sight along the
wildest parts of the A46.
Hanging on like grim death while Statto went sideways up the wrong side of
the Sadly Broke expressway.

Buying another outfit.

Foreign on outfit
Project Binliner
Other stuff

You didn't, it was Cambrai. And where's my IBN#?

 

Only one that sticks out - the Saturday run on Sedan TOG tour. Quite
simply the best day's biking I've ever had, especially the last
section back to the hotel.

Again, only the one - 8th July. Exit stage right one ZX-9R, a trip to
Chimay, a track day and sundry other days out.

Have as much fun on 2 wheels as possible.

 

Project is on schedule. Could even be looking at an MoT test of the
Nordie within a few weeks to permit the cobwebs to be well blown out
with a view to a familiarisation with thumper riding technique
opportunity. The cooling system pressurisation problem is a pain for
extended thrashing but the bicycle pump technique will allow reasonably
long dashes.

I am wondering if I can justify going to both the TT and the Manx this
year.

Memories of 2006:.

Cadwell. Hope I can manage a visit again this year.

Charade : an awesome mini-mountain course thrash which I hope the VCF
will organise again this year.

The Manx. The VMCC parade in 2005 was fun, but I had a couple of very
satisfying rides over the mountain in 2006, including almost keeping up
with my NHCA class championship winning mate on his KTM 950SM.

Resolutions:

Make sure the Nordie is ready for hill climbs and give it a few rides
anyway.
Do any UKRM track day outings I can.
Explore further territory on the WR250 and hopefully find a 'guide' to
show me some trails I can manage. Might even consider trailering it
down to Wavy Davy's.
Contact French Bikes Imports in March to see if the demo Street
Scrambler has been 'power commandered' yet and up for sale.

 

1. Getting a 3rd and 4th at Brands. Yes it was in the rain
but it all felt so easy for some reason. I was back in 11th
at one point and then carved through the pack to finish 4th,
having made a terrible start. The second race was a perfect
start and I sat in 2nd for half the race, but couldn't keep
with the front two as they battled later on. Also a 1m dead
lap in the wet - not bad for 63bhp.

2. 6th at Assen. Awesome track and and awesome race.

3. 6th at Oulton park, having never been there before! We
turned up on the day and did 6 qualifying laps to learn
the track, then another two before the session got stopped.
I went out in the SV race and came 2nd, then held off
the journo from Fast Bikes to claim 6th place in both
races with Jay in 7th both time. Best UK track.

4. Riding the 748 back from TecMoto after it had been
serviced. Brilliant to be back on it again after what must
have been over a year without using it and it was lovely.
Still a cracking bike with a surprising turn of pace.

5. Castle Combe, where I broke bones the previous season
but buried the demons this time out. I really wasn't looking
forward to it, but it came good in the end.

1. Cadwell in the penultimate race of the season and getting
mugged on just about the final corner for some well needed
points. Still, I upset him throughout the race, and he came
and had a pop afterwards and I laughed in his face.

2. Castle Combe. See above. I really didn't want to be there
and there were riders ejecting themselves all over the place
(or trying to) right in front of me. I think I had my eyes
shut for a lot of it.

3. Brands start. The only time I get front row on the grid (3rd!)
and I balls the start, which is my speciality. I could have
had two trophies but ended up 4th. Made up for with the
ride through the pack.

4. Donington. Lots of money and miles for 8 laps in the
pissing rain. Again. Slippery as hell. Again. I didn't bother with
the SV class race - only one guy entered and even he fell off.

5. Riding the spare bike on a Brands trackday. It was popping
and banging all over the place, and had a big hole a 6,000rpm.
To cap it all the first on-board video didn't come out and then
the marshals confiscated the bum bag second time out.

I really should get out on the road more, but can't see it
happening this year. I really wanted to do the French run
but it will have to wait.

 

I've had worse, for sure.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`