Earthshrinkers

An article that Platy recently mentioned:

http://www.sweller.dynalias.org/docs/earthshrinkers_mcm_ Apr76.pdf
[0.5 MB]

European tour with a Guzzi S3, BMW R90S and Kawasaki Z900 from Motor
Cycle Mechanics April 1976.

When going abroad was scary.

 

Yes, that is the article which was being discussed in the thread.
Thanks for providing it.

Given the thinking almost 30 years ago was that "a big bike should be
able to manage 700 miles of motorway in a full day with little
trouble", I now have no excuse for taking any more than a full day to
travel to Berlin, where I have to attend a meeting at the end of June
next year.

 

I drove from Vlissingen (Flushing) to Berlin in a day. In a Morris Minor.

 

First Continental trip I did on two wheels would have been 1980, on a
CB250RS. The next year we took my old XS650 to the Bol.

It was a different thing in those days. We hardly even went on
motorways because of the cost, and the main roads were more fun anyway.
Still are, actually.

And you never see those "rainurages" any more - the longitudinal
grooving in motorway surfaces that used to make some bikes, like my old
CB750, weave even worse than they did normally.

Back then, t was definitely an adventure, and you packed a load of
tools, not just in case, but because you knew you'd need them. These
days, you just count the wheels and light the afterburners. But I still
love riding in France.

Best ride in recent memory is unquestionably the 1999 run down to the
last ever Paul Ricard Bol, with Champ, Batey, Niall, Mick Whittingham,
Alien Kev, Bruce Porter and others. Taking the route through the
mountains, with my GT750 wobbling like fark. That was the infamous time
my Ducati failed to travel more than 53 feet and I had to grab the GT
instead...

In fact, here's a posting of Windy's to the group, while we were over
there:

http://tinyurl.com/8sjb3

Or this thread:

http://tinyurl.com/8be8s

 

<snip>

Mine was on my Z1-R following the coast of Normandy, Brittany and the
Loire <sigh>

--
Steve Parry
K100RS SE & F650
and a 520i SE Touring for comfort


(not forgetting the SK90PY)

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

 

Steve Parry said...

Mine was a two-up trip in 1988 to St Tropez, for a long weekend on a
VF400F with full camping kit strapped on.

Bloody good fun it was too.

 

A great trip, I suspect it would have been better if I'd had a
sportsbike for some of the twisty sections, although the ZRX rocked on
that day we went through the really twisty poorly surfaced foresty bit..

<considers planning an 06 trip somewhere>