Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Looking awesome

Managed to do the one junction of the motorway in both directions earlier. First time ever driving in motorway traffic and there were narrow lanes from roadworks too. Good to gauge just how sketchy a super tall dirt bike feels at >70mph in relatively windy feeling weather.

Very unstable compared to a windy day on a Bandit. Need to practice some more before I commit to a long day on the M’s.

In other news,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKZpMPgZZc

Avoid long days on the motorway. It’ll be miserable. Back roads, 60mph, slower but top fun.

Agree totally on hyper inflated knobblies. Hopeless. I run about 14 psi. Just treat wet roads like sandy hardpack - slippy. Good fun sliding the back around though....you can do lurid slides on knobblies on the road. Even in the dry!

You might find as well at speed your front mudguard affects the steering, I've had trailies where you can see it flexing from side to side sort of spilling the air off.

@Jung for sure. At 14psi they started to behave themselves, I was recommended 12f/14r so I’ll try that next time I set the bike for dirt.

@Dibble yep I think that’s exactly what’s happening. At 65mph it’s manageable, but 70-75mph I can feel significant bar movement. No way like tankslapping, but definitely the high mudguard flapping about makes the front light and awkward. I found myself trying for an aero tuck, which wasn’t exactly ideal for managing speed and traffic awareness.

Gotta go to from Swindon to Woolwich tomorrow for a few days. Google says 2 1/2 hour motorway or 4 1/2 hours avoiding motorway. Gotta weigh it up, but A-roads have been infinitely more enjoyable so far in life.

The bike is so fun on road tyres though. There’s an odd fuel starvation that only happens at one particular speed/rev, which must be related to the Acerbis dual petcock. Lots of reports of similar issues online.

@pdlouche - B Roads for sure, the motorways are going to be zero fun. Just make a proper morning of it.

B4000 to Newbury then A4 to Slough

That’s what I would have thought about too, but the various route planners suggest heading right down via Basingstoke to Guildford to come back up via A3

Once the movie’s out prices will peak, not that they have seen any dip or trough for a long while.

Not really ‘new’ though is it? This has been a thing for more than a decade. At least far before the asap crew ever existed.
Detroit used to be horses and two bangers.

B4000 was alright, some rough surface and a few odd turns. A4 was the same as ever. Fuck London traffic though. Did a wrong turn and went way further in that I planned. Definitely avoiding that next time.

If you don't get in or out early/late enough, it stresses you out enough to make the rest of journey pretty shit.

Yea it’s been all year since I was last actually in London, so it was a trial by fire in many ways.

Hopefully I didn’t any speeding tickets......!

Next on the agenda is get rid of the GN125 and make space in the shed, and make some panniers. Side bags would have been so much more convenient than the dry bag lashed on top.

No noticeable handling issues with the bags on top, but zero space to fidget. In 50mph zones it was nice for leaning back on though.

Took the A2/M25/M3/M4 home. Motorways are such a strange experience.

Motorbike will get to 90mph at a push - definitely not a a stable feeling though. Sits at 70 in 6th with loads of room to squirt up to 80 for passing big vehicles quickly. Absolutely knackered when I got home though.

Also, heated grip wraps, plus merino liners inside winter gloves are a win. Relatively toasty hands for the ride.

Someone took a sneaky photo of me while I was setting the gps.

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is it me or are those tyres the wrong way round ? the grooves look like they funnel the water into the centre of the tyre as opposed to pushing it out, is there a direction indicator on them ? i am probably wrong but it just looks incorrect

anyway
we are the mods we are the mods,. could smell these guys long before i overtook them

I've had the Avon's on my R80 for 15 years. They do like they're the wrong way round when fitted properly but there's an arrow to reassure you every time you think about it!

Yep exactly as @Airhead says. They look the wrong way around but they are directional.

I’m glad the mechanics fitted them though - definitely competition offroad wheels with two rear rimlocks and a front rimlock too. Should have got the knobblies on this set.

In other news, advertised the GN, and the shitshow begins.

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Even better. Facepalm.

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Bike plans have been delayed due to covid/work situation. Will have to wait till next year now. Been getting a bit obsessed with the Trans European Trail posted upthread. I may join you @pdlouche in the drz crew.

Well whatever you do, don’t drop it in a thigh-deep river like I did yesterday.

Immediate remedial (carb drain, air filter off, bike front in the air and turn rear wheel in gear to check for hydro-lock, followed by shitloads of choke idling, and then a very long very cold very miserable ride home), and next-day (carb off, full clean, airbox clean, new oil on air filter, full oil drain) is more work than I would have wanted for a jolly in the woods.

To be fair, the front wheel just got totally stuck in glue, and as I put my feet down to rescue the situation, my boot disappeared and I realised I was more than thigh deep, and the bike was already going over.

Last week I sat on the local mechanic’s DRZ400, it felt taller and rock-hard compared to my DR350. Immediately apparent it’s more MX-style than dual sport.

With the bike-swim aside, green lanes and hellish rutted uphills and downhills are insane fun. Would recommend.

Mild off road is fun, just keep an eye on where you are, really easy to twist and ankle which might make it hard to get back to civilisation on your own.
Managed to smash off a pannier on a fun green lane, flipped up a small log at just the wrong angle. Made the many hundred mile journey the next day much more intense.
Metal boxes super useful for regular touring, but offroad, soft luggage all the way if for nothing else no risk of ripping a leg off

Ha top work fella. I've never managed to do that, though water crossings are in short supply near me. Going straight over the bars in deep sand is probably the closest...

By the by, the DRZ400 is nothing like an MX Bike. Trust me. It's as dual sport as it gets!

Have a go on any CR/RM/YZ250 (or 450 equivalent) for confirmation. They are a completely different world of violent.... :)

@BrickMan yea for sure. The rear rack itself was useful to lean and lift the bike, but I only had a rolltop drybag on top. Sod ever having hard cases.

@Jung well, the lanes were pretty gnarly til then, and the shallow water crossings had been easy. My bad for sure. The front stuck like it was in quicksand or something, so you can imagine!

I have it all on gopro, but it’s so depressing to watch I haven’t had the heart to upload it yet.

Well, the DRZ is definitely gonna be harsher than the DR350. All the same still bloody heavy to lift out of a river.

This is the only photo Pete sent me, of the first/easy river crossing.

Kept the feet on the pegs on the way back in the other direction, would have made a much better photo.

Gotta sort an adv helmet too. The road helmet is heavy and hot.

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In typical British bike affair, the Tiger has either spat out or consumed pretty much all of the oil in about two months.

Let the saga begin.