2010; the bikes and times

A couple of weeks ago I was in Windsor at the home of a guy in his 60s
who has two very clean RGV250s and two Aprilia RS250s. He used to work
at Maclaren and had the best equipped home workshop I have ever seen.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Bleeding edge engineering, those push-chairs.

 

Mclaren, Maclaren... either way they both make things with too many
wheels.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Rode ~330 days, most of them in my own county.
A superb 10 week trip (May-July), 11,000+ miles, 11 countries
(including Liechtenstein, San Marino, Andorra, & Gibraltar, plus
Llivia.)
Bought '08 R1200GS
Sold '98 KLR650
Stayed relatively healthy all year - no significant crashes, only a
handful of embarrassing moments, no major mechanical issues.
All in all, an excellent riding year.

New years resolutions - restore the ST1100, do a lap of California, do
6 week ride of UK, Ireland, & Brittany, replace ST1300 with summat.

MegaDittos.

 

My goal this year is to do Spain, Andorra, Llivia, Portugal and
Gibraltar[1]. If I can afford it I'd like to pop over the water to
Morocco as well, just so I can say I went to Africa by bike.

[1] Waves to WUN.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

<snip>

Did very little riding on anything except the bloody GN250.

Had to replace the tank on the Ducati, at great expense.

Street Triple's reg/rec went phut and was fixed under warranty.

Failed to finish restoration of the TS250.

Started a bike spares company.

 

We're almostly certainly heading that way, but congruence of timing,
route and riding style may prove elusive!

 

Sold 1 bike, the race bike, as it hadn't been taken off
the trailer since a trackday in Sept 2009. The spares went
either with the bike or were picked over by MJBayley (he of
the Silent Order of this Parish [1]) before it was taken
away.

Did the French run on the 748 and it hasn't moved since it
came back... still has the Ventura luggage rack on it. Got
a bargain for a lightly used Termi race 'zorst for the
'Tard [2] and fitted that. Found some software to reset the
TPS and it ran much better. Got a flat on the 'Tard so had
to replace the rear.

Still haven't done anything with the CBR except bought a
pair of billet levers. In black.

Sold quite a few parts.

2011: will be doing the Ducati weekend at Silverstone and
the French run. Both (remaining) Ducatis need a service
including belts. Hopefully sell more parts.

[1] Reads but doesn't post. *waves*
[2] Just over £800 from France, compared to £1500 new.

 

I simply won't have enough leave.

Push it back to 2012 and I'm in.

 

Sold: Bantam Sport, Blue 400/4, Chinese scoot.
Bought: Black 400/4, YP250 Majesty, CBR600F.

Current stable: GS500, YP250, Black 400/4, CBR400F.

Too many bikes, almost bugger all miles except for shopping trips on the
scoots.
Must get out more.

 

A few cracking rallies on the trike. Never seem to do enough miles on the
trike these days but got out in the snow on it over Salisbury Plain on
Boxing day. Much, *much* madness and sliding.

Plenty miles offroad on the little KMX200. Many offs. really. Lots. Plus
one *spectaclular* blowup too. I'm looking at the remains of the piston on
the window sill as I type this.

Finally retired the old FJ1100. Too much cash to keep on the road. Bought
the new FJ1200ABS for so little cash even I was embarrassed. Just sorting
out the V&H 'silencer' to fit the Remus collector.

Far too many commuting miles. 35mpg is not enough for a bike,

Possible overseas trip in 2011. We'll see.


Never finished SO's K100 trike for the 2nd year running. Also never even
started the spare Guzzi-does-cafe-racer project. Lusted after yet another
KX500, and my mate's Laverda RGS1000. Nothing new there.

All in all not a bad year.

JB

 

My year wasn't too bad:

Elefant
BOSM
TOG trip
TT
Chimay
Yamaha Experience
EOSM
Cadwell
Weston beach races

Some of that list might be in the wrong order but I can't be arsed
checking dates.

I sold the Wessex chair, the K100 outfit and the Sidewinder so
sidecars have now been done to death and I doubt if that idea will be
revisited.

No bikes purchased but I did fix the 10R after the previous years
highside.

I've got Norway to kick it all off then probably the BOSM, NTOG Tour,
Chimay, EOSM then probably a couple of off road days, the TT (if I can
get a decent crossing) maybe Cadwell and maybe a go at a beginners
level enduro.

If I get my really stupid head on I might talk myself (and others)
into doing a beach race but first I need to buy a suitable bike and
try something easier.

I'm really looking forward to this year on bikes because it's got the
potential to be a bit challenging. A lot depends on me throwing money
at an enduro bike then not caring if I wreck it but I need to spend
some serious cash to avoid buying something that blows up once a month
and I need to persuade myself it's only money.

AOL.

 

Not as much as I wish, as usual. The usual Sunday runs, bit of
commuting, Silverstone trackday & a circumnaviation of France. That
last one gave the full range of biking emotions from 'I want to do this
all day every day for the rest of my life' to 'for the love of god will
someone *please* give me a nice warm car'.

One purchased, three others moved in, one moved out again. None
completely sold, but various bits of the GPZ Turbo that moved in have
been Nige'd out on ebay.

Tricky, it's gonna be a very, very tough year at work. The Salisbury
Plain thing this weekend if I can get RatTig MOT'd ok, & the Pyrenees
trip, but not a lot else I suspect.

 

Next weekend you plonker.

 

Probably the worst year biking, new job means no commuting & the weather was
pretty ropey & i have been mega busy, which doesnt help.

Sold one, bought non

Given the record of gearbox failures on the S1000RR i am gonna loook
elswhere, god knows where though.

And you



--


Nige,

'Candygram for Mongo'

R1

 

What you up to over here next weekend then?

JB

 

You haven't heard about the camshaft failures as well? Google for
S1000RR camshaft and see what the first results are. It appears BMW
bought a load of VF750F ones and glued them together to make them fit
an IL4

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

It's the annual 'bakery' charity ride, starting from Burbages bakery in
Andover. Bacon butties at 8.30-9.30, then split into groups according
to bike size/ability & hoon around the Plain, meet up again for lunch
(there's talk of a hog-roast), then more hooning on the way back to
Andover. 15 quid entry fee, with proceeds going to Mencap.

Everyone's welcome, as long as they're on a bike that's at least
vaguely capable of a day's off-roading. Burnt's taking his XT & I'll be
on the Tiger (subject to getting it MOT'd).

 

Hilarious! Don't worry though, I haven't really sold any of it - all
the bits I removed to fit the Harley engine are safely stored away.

 

You keep all of them nice range wardens busy for us eh? May see you up there
at some point.

JB