Rules on moving bikes through the EU in a van.

 In 2023 we didn't have a road trip on the bikes. Partly due to the situation that Brexit has caused. 

Since leaving the EU some of the European Agencies see moving motorbikes in the back of a van as moving goods, this requires a Carnet, which is a load of unnecessary paperwork and of course this extra paperwork has a cost... quotes I have seen are around £350 per bike.

It seems there is not a definitive rule about this and it can depend on luck once you get to the other side of the channel.  Being caught without the Carnet could have your bike taken away and scrapped if you don't pay the fine which will be more than the Carnet.   I have recently read about some cyclists who were hit with a £7k bill for transporting around £60k of bicycles in a van. For us at the moment its most off putting.

For now we are playing it safe and sticking to the UK. With the luggage we can carry on the sports bikes, realistically its only big enough for a few days away if you want some sort of normality and not live in your leathers. Travelling to Spain and Portugal which is where we would like to be, means journeys of 8 nights away and we just cant carry that amount of clothes in 1 oxford saddle bag.  
To do that it would be better to use a bike dedicated to that kind of a journey such as a tourer/adventure bike with 3 fixed luggage containers and a more comfortable riding position. 

When we go into Europe we like to base ourselves at a hotel, have 3 or 4 days for exploring that area, and find a road for our ultimate road list. Having the van there means comfort for the long journey there and back, security, more space to carry a suitcase and basic tools, and we have our own breakdown recovery vehicle if its needed. 

 Plus factoring in the fatigue on this style of bike, the cost of a set of tyres, the extra mileage and break down cover for 20 year old bikes, makes the riding the bikes from home to Spain and back more of a test of endurance than a trip to look forward to.  

Another option is to fly to a destination and hire bikes to use when you are there. It would probably work out similar to hiring a van, paying to get the van over on the ferry and paying the tolls to get to where you are going. 

With that in mind 2024's road trip is still in the planning stage.

Triumph Heated Grips Issue

 My new Triumph arrived in the middle of a heat wave, as you can imagine there is no need for heated grips in July and August, other than pressing the button and seeing the little light come on on the dash I hadn't tried to see how hot they got. 

 It went for a service at 1000 miles in August and a new patch was added to the computer.

On my bike this patch has affected the heated grips. The dealer was made aware of the problem in September when I discovered it, they had the bike and couldn't fix the problem, they told me the grips were faulty so ordered a new set. 2 weeks later they fitted them and the new ones didn't work either. 

The symptom is, you press the button on the handle grip to switch them on, the light illuminates on the dash to say its working but the bike fails to send the power to the grips to make them go warm. 

The dealer says Triumph are aware of the problem and are working on a fix for this which should be available by end of October. At the end of October the fix was not included in their latest update so now its looking like the end of November 2022 and for me another month of cold hands.

At the moment these grips are a £200 option which is an OEM part. I did contact Triumph about this problem myself to see if they had an estimated time for this to be corrected, but unfortunately Triumph did not respond.  The dealer has been very helpful though so cant fault them.

I have posted this as I cant find any reference to it on the internet, and the dealer says other customers are also experiencing the same problem.

UPDATE!  

As its now early December 2022 I have contacted Triumph again about this issue and this is what I have been told:-

The Factory are aware of the concern and have been actively working on a software update to the instruments in order to reinstate the functionality of the heated grips.  The cause of the issue was more complex than we first realised which has resulted in the fix taking longer than we would have liked. 
 I am pleased to inform you that we have an expected release date of the 12th December when we aim to release the revised software to our dealer network for them to update their customers' bike that require it. This will of course be carried out free of charge under warranty.

Fingers crossed I will be riding with warm hands in the next few weeks..

Test Ride Triumph Street Triple RS

 While my Triumph Trident was away having its 1st service, I was given a loan bike to use, the Triumph Speed Triple RS.

 I was told to be careful as the power was much different to the Trident.....

The Speed Triple has a very similar ride position to the Trident which I liked, instantly you could feel the difference in the initial grunt from the 121bhp 765cc engine when pulling away. Its not a massive difference to be fare but it is noticeable compared to the 81bhp 660cc engine in the Trident.  On a ride you can leave it in the gears longer when accelerating and has a higher rev range which means you might get to 60mph in 2nd rather than 3rd on the Trident, and the sound it makes is very nice indeed. This bike had the quickshift fitted which felt smooth and gives that great sound as it changes gear. 

 The bike costs a lot more than the Trident starting from about £11,000 compared to the £7,400 for the Trident. This means you get some better equipment as standard, such as adjustable front forks and a bit of space under the back seat... I am sure there's other things too...you'll have to look for them.

Handling wise I thought it felt very similar to the Trident, both bikes score good points here, braking felt good going in and holding a line when cornering, the suspension definitely felt firmer than the Trident, if I liked that better though I am not sure?

The speedo has a lot of info on it, not over cluttered but lots on the screen at once, I didn't like it as much as the speedo on the trident though.

Now my personal view is it felt an awesome tool to ride, but its looks are of the type only a mother could love.  I struggled to find a good angle to get a photo of it, as you can see. The headlights are definitely the love or hate item of this bike, and as you might have guessed they don't look good to me.  The test bike I used was in black with green stickers here ant there, currently on the Triumph website you get the choice of just 1 colour which is black.  I do like the number plate position and the wheels though.  Infact if you could put the Speedo and head light from the Trident and smarten the plastic below the seat I might have gone for one of these next time, but never say never.

If you are interested in this type of bike, book a test ride, you wont be disappointed I am sure.

  

My Triumph Trident 660

   

As much as I like my Fireblade there comes a time where you want something easier to live with so with that in mind I have been looking at other styles of bike. After a while I've narrowed it down to the Honda CB650r or the Triumph Trident 660.  I love the look of this style of bike, always have since I first had a ride on a Suzuki bandit 600 back in the late 1990s and my very first bike was a Yamaha RD50 with a single round headlight.

  I took a test ride on the Triumph and loved it. I've always wanted to own a Triumph, so paid my deposit ordering a brand new one in white and added a few bits via the configurator, selecting the heated grips, the lower fairing, the quick shift and a couple of other bits that are cosmetic.  Also added a short screen above the headlight, swapped the mirrors for bar end ones and changed the brake levers for adjustable black ones.

 We have completed over 1500 miles together which means its fully run in, and now its time to share some of my thoughts and findings.  I do like sports style bikes, its all I have ever owned for the last 25 years so can only compare it to those when ridden on the roads.

Coming from a 1000cc bike with 145bhp to a bike with 660cc and 81bhp was a bit risky as I didn't know if it would be powerful enough to be interesting. So lets deal with that first.  The Trident is definitely no slouch, from 0 - 60mph is plenty fast enough, the figures say its about 4 seconds, following Col he is a fraction quicker up to road speeds and beyond but its not massively different if you want to keep your licence. It runs out of revs through the gears quicker than I am used to when getting up to 60 but the quickshift helps out in that area. The Trident comes with traction control and 2 modes, 1 for rain and one for.... when its not raining...

The handling however, I do prefer over the Fireblade's, the Trident feels so easy to ride, you can change your line around a corner, lean it in more and the power delivery works with the handling, Triumph really have got the mix of power and handling balanced perfectly. 

 The bikes built to a price, so no adjustable front forks which is a shame, but the ones fitted do work fine, and the brakes have plenty of stopping power, even ABS is included.  The rear shock is adjustable in case you are heavier or have a passenger. 

Mine has quick shift, it does make the bike for me, you only need the clutch when you pull away or stop, it will change up the box under power and down when you are off the power, just by pressing your foot up or down. It just keeps the power to the wheel when accelerating, no drop of power between the gears. 

Mine is showing an average MPG of 66.9 I cant quite get it to 67, but this is riding the same as I would ride the Fireblade, not taking it easy. When I fill up Col tends to put about 4 pounds more than me for each tank full for the same journey, so owning this bike is saving me a little money in fuel. 

The TFT is very easy to read and use, it has a number of "trays" Triumphs word for screens and you can set these up how you want them. It always shows which gear is selected which I find quite useful. When you get it you can enter your name, theres a big section on how to do it in the manual, but after the update it cant do it, the dealer couldnt explain it either, but that is not really a concern at all.

The seat is softer than the race bikes I have owned and the handle bars higher, this makes long rides so much more comfortable. I don't suffer with any of the complaints that I have done over the last 10 years, such as knee and leg ache, neck ache, wrist ache and hand ache, infact when Col has had enough I could do the same ride again.  Its rekindled my love for biking it really has.  

The lights are all Led and give a nice bright light, there is also self cancelling indicators, how I have longed for such a thing. There is 1 missing button, the flash button, you have to press the main beam button twice to flash, but that's nothing major.

Not everything is perfect, the throttle is fly by wire and has a small amount of lag when you first pull away, it makes me think of an automatic scooter I once road. There is no storage space under the seat, it would have been nice to get enough room for a disk lock, I have managed to get a smaller disk lock which will just fit on top of the battery. And the bit where the number plate lives is a love it or loath it part. It seems a lot of brands are building new bikes with a similar feature, I do quite like it but I can see it might look better with the number plate fitted under the seat, however, for now its staying as is. One thing that has improved it is to paint the back of the number plate black as it doesn't stand out so much.

It had heated grips as one of the options I ticked. They didn't work for 6 months, even though the light came on to say they were working. However, It was Triumphs fault, to do with a problematic update. Its fixed now.  The grips get luke warm at best. Compared to the Oxford ones on the Fireblade, they are about like 50% so the faster you go the more useless they become.  If I had of known I would have had Oxford ones and not worried about having the light on the dash. 

The sound from the 3 cylinder engine is nice, and the exhaust is not loud at all when you are riding it.  I do think about changing that but having seen the alternatives so far, they dont sound that great. If they could make it sound more like the street triple rs it would be more my thing.

 Overall if you are after this style and size of bike, I would recommend you take one for a test ride. I enjoy mine and it makes me smile when I see it. Its more fun and comfortable than the bikes I have been used too and costs less to maintain too.

Road Trip 2022 Peak District and Snowdonia

  Col and I don't live that far from the Peak district to our North. It's the kind of distance you could do easily in 1 day, but the journey to get there is kind of boring. Its either through the built up areas or along the Motorway and its a few hours before you get there. 

 The Peak district does however have the Cat and Fiddle road or as its correctly know the A537.  We have often heard of this road mentioned in pubs and magazines so decided it should be on our places to visit list.

 This was the first ride for my new bike, the Triumph Trident 660, I had only picked it up 2 days before. (there will be a review on that soon) 

 Day 1, Our first night was booked at Buxton in the Premier Inn. On the way we tried to avoid the motorways as I was running the bike in and we just didn't want to go via them, so picked a route around Wolverhampton and Stafford, through Uttoxeter, Ashbourne and on to Matlock Bath for some dinner. We found a chip shop with parking in front and sat in the street eating our chips. Col spotted 5 other chip shops from where we sat, they must eat a lot of chips up there!  

After dinner we headed north west towards Lady Bower, the reservoir is there so we stopped to take a rest and watch the world go by for a while.  There is a road called Snake Road (A57) to the north of the reservoir I had spotted this when looking for places to stay, its twisty so I thought perfect for us. It didn't disappoint and was the best road of the day. Eventually we found our destination which was perfect, the bikes were hidden and were undercover which was good as it rained through the night. While having a pint in the bar we commented about the amount of our route that had 50mph limits, nearly all of them North of Wolverhampton, which was handy as 50mph was about as fast as I could go before the rev counter flashed in annoyance for over revving during the 1st 250 miles of the bikes existence. 

 Day 2, we planned to go to North Wales to spend 2 nights in the Premier Inn at Llandudno Junction. We loaded the bikes up with our luggage and head of to the A537 and the Cat and Fiddle for a coffee. It was only about 10 minutes from the hotel, the road was fun but has a 50mph limit on it and average speed check cameras. 

  We picked our way West on lots of roads with 50mph speed limits, via Macclesfield then Crewe, eventually finding our way to the Ponderosa café on the horseshoe pass near Llangollen. From there its West along the A5 and the A470. This was another fun road, which again, over a pint we decided was the best road of the day.

 The hotel was fine for what we wanted it for, comfy room and the bikes hidden from the road. As the weather had been very good when we got to Wales we decided to get some chips in town, then take a ride to the top of the Great Orm and then follow the coastal road down around the back of the hill which was very picturesque.

Day 3,  The route we took started by going back up the A470 until it meets the A5, then along the A5 to Capel Curig, staying on the A5 until it meets the A4244 following the signs for Llanberis, where we stopped for dinner,  then continue along until it meets the A4086 and eventually meeting the A5 again.  Then its back to the hotel. We fell lucky not getting caught in any rain, but missing it by minutes by the look of the wet roads.

 

Day 4, The long ride home.  We came home via Bala, where there is another of our favourite places to get a coffee. By now Col was beginning to feel the problems that touring on a Supersports bike delivers. Stiffness in his legs and hands and an uncomfortable seat. Although Bala is only 90 minutes from home he needed a few stops to stretch his legs. I on the other hand was very comfortable on the Trident. 

All in all we had a great time, we commented that we need not travel hundreds of miles to find some great rides, when just 2 hours away is the Snowdonia National Park with its beautiful scenery and look forward to heading this way again.

Summary
Date:- July 2022
Weather:- 4 Days 22-24 degrees
Hotel:- Premier Inn Buxton - Premier Inn Llandudno junction
Miles:-600 approx, all on bikes
Fuel Cost:- 1.89 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in the Peak District and the Snowdonia National Park

 

2022 and it's "Everyday Street Bikes?"

Triumph Trident

 When you get in your 50's you're not as nimble as you once were, and riding motorbikes seems to get more uncomfortable when you have been on them for a few hours.

My reactions arn't what they used to be, and after recently damaging my arm thanks to the Fireblade my biking has been less enthusiastic. Myself and Col often discus the hand gripping the bars problem that many Sports bike riders get, its caused from your hands having to support your upper body weight the position also makes your shoulders and neck ache, then there's the legs, because of the tight angle your legs are in, after a while it seems hard work moving your feet off the pegs when you have to stop, and again from a previous injury my hip hurts after a few hours.

With that in mind I decided its time to try a different style. 

I wanted something that is different, not a superbike wanna-be, but something that arcs back to the Suzuki Bandit I once lusted after in the late 90s.  I read a few reviews and found myself in the Triumph dealer in Plymouth. They had the new Triumph Trident on display a rarity at the time as it was sold out everywhere.

I sat on it and instantly took a liking to its comfy seat and upright seating position. 

 When at the 2021 Bike show in Birmingham I put my name down for a test ride and it took until April 2022 for that to happen.

However I managed to get a ride on one. Thanks to the guys at Streetbike Halesowen for letting me have the ride. I rode the Fireblade to the shop so this test ride was back to back with the bike I am used to. 

I was shown the controls and off I went.

 The first thing I noticed was how thin it felt around the tank where your knees go compared to the fireblade. The mirrors are in a different place to what I am used too they seemed very close but the views behind are unobstructed and i quickly got used to them. 

  It picked up quickly from a twist of the throttle and for the first 10 minutes the ride was limited to just 30 mph as I headed up to Romsley. The clutch feels light and steering quick with a reasonable turning circle, better than a sports bike anyway.   While going along this stretch of road it gave me chance to think about how I felt on it - hmm! Comfortable. Arms felt in a natural position and legs with not a to sharp an angle, but feet were definately lower than that of the Fireblade and the hand controls all in the right place,   ohh and the seat, yes its almost sofa like compared to the fireblade.

 Out of Romsley the speed limit changes and you can get up to 60mph, the Trident was in 6th and pulled upto the speed limit with no problem and quite briskly, maybe dare I say as good as if not better than my fireblade if it was in 6th.

 The seat was soft and I felt myself slide back to the hump about half way along. A couple of twisty corners which it handled well around bring you to the end of the road and the first real use of the brakes.  The front dipped and the brakes gripped nicely.  The front suspension definitely travelled more than on a sports bike.  

 I pulled out onto the next road, nothing around so I tried a quick acceleration test - Quick!  OK its not Fireblade quick but I would say upto 70 you would not see a bunch of dots in the distance as your mates disappear on their sports bikes on the roads.

 After half an hour of riding I pulled into a layby to check it over and get a proper look at what I was riding.  It looks nice, if you like that type of thing. Bit of a strange rear number plate holder -  but you can get an after market kit to move it up higher if you dont like it.  I do like the short tail end and how the exhaust comes out infront of the rear wheel. It sounds different to what I am used to but it has 3 cylinders, its not unpleasant sounding.

  It has loads of features, such as ABS, Traction Control, Slipper Clutch, 3 cylinders, Nissin calipers, Showa 41mm upside down separate function forks (SFF)  unfortunately you cant adjust them.

 There is a fuel guage, it tells you your average mpg which told me 55mpg, it has 2 riding modes, 1 for rain and one for..... when its not raining. 

The engine is 80BHP but Triumph have made it so the power is delivered at the lower end of the rev range giving it pleanty of power from the get go which  dies off towards higher revs.  The front tyre width was 120 and rear 180 similar to the fireblades. Its bound to have other goodies I havent mentioned.

I rode it back to the shop not an ache or pain after an hour on it.  I stepped off with a smile under my crash helmet and gave it another quick look over. 

Some of the things I took away from this experience were it was nice to see over the car infront, and over hedges so the view is better, you can cruise comfortably, its fast up to the speed limit, has loads of infomation on the tft speedometer, it felt so easy to ride and looks great.

  You do feel the wind more than on my fireblade as theres no protection and the suspension seemed to travel more than what i was used to.  

  Theres some nice after market parts and on the triumph website you can build it how you want it which is always fun to see what it would look like with the added extras they sell.

The last ride Col and I went on we both commented about new speed limits cropping up on some favourite roads of ours, maybe a more easy going style of bike would make the ride more fun again?

What I do know is I like the Trident, I like it so much I am very tempted to buy one - watch this space! 

BUT I want to keep the Fireblade a bit longer yet. 

ABBA Superbike stand  

 A few years ago Matt was selling one of his ABBA superbike stand's, I had seen these in use in different videos online and to save a space in my garage I thought I would buy it. 

What a great bit of kit they are, much easier to use than the old paddock stand I had and can be attached when the bikes on its side stand. The bike feels steady and safe when in use.
 The stand comes with 2 main leg pieces, a threaded T bar and thumb screw, you also need to buy the adapters that fit your bike.

   First the L shaped leg is put under the bike ( the left side on the picture), then the second leg is attached to the L shape and tighten the thimb screw.
 Next attach to the hole in the frame where the swing arm pivot bolt runs through and lock in place( on the right in the picture). 
   Once its properly attached pull the handle up and the bike lifts up!

These go for about £75 in the UK.  It makes working on the bike easier and does not fowl either of the wheels.

When we use the van to take the bikes abroad we take the ABBA stand along for a ride, just incase we need it as its not heavy and doesnt take up much space.

EDSBK 5/5

2020 Cancelled.... Or is it?

 Covid -19 has put a stop to almost everything we like to do, not just for us at Everyday Superbikes but for the World.

 Any trips abroad or nights away we had planned for 2020 are not going to happen, we are hoping for 2021 to be able to travel abroad and put another tick in the countries ridden in list, but as for this year we are just having days out instead. Here are some of them so far.

Clun

 Towards the Middle of May the restrictions were lifted, though still on furlough Col and I decided to have a ride out to Clun Castle, it was closed as we had expected but the carpark was open, even thought he toilets were locked up which made things a little despirate.  Myself and Col are at the age where toilet stops are needed more frequently especially in my case. We stopped on the carpark and found a nice seated area where we could be 2 metres apart incase anyone reported us, as this was something that was going on, opened our lunch boxes and had some cheese and pickled sandwiches, (the homemade sandwich of choice for us bikers).

 We used the A489 out of Craven Arms, it never fails to impress, It was good to be back on the bikes.

 The weather was good as infact the whole of May was.

  One good thing about the world in lock down was fresher air, there were no planes and only a few vehicles on the road, if this had an effect on the weather I dont know, but as we were on furlough the nice weather was welcome, and let people like me get some nice outdoor jobs done and bike wise it was looking good form the cleaning it had had over the last 4 weeks.

Malvern

 A few days later Col suggested a trip down to Malvern. Its only around 60 minutes from where we live. Its not usually a destination we would go to as to get there its not along the most exciting roads compared with our usual ones, but we hadnt ridden there for years.

 Cafe's still weren't open so we decided to make use of the bum bag we use when away on our european adventures again and carry our flasks.

 The B4232 (Jubilee Drive) seemed to be the impressive road of this ride, having a few good twists and turns as it followed the contours of the hill. 

 As social distancing was still at 2 metres we found a carpark with 2 benches close to each other so we could have a chat. Col said he would be back to work in 2 weeks, but I was going back to working from home the following day.

We headed back through Bromyard and Tenbury, the roads were quieter than usual but the traffic was definately busier than the few days earlier as restrictions were slowly being lifted.

When I got home I discovered a leaking fork seal, so booked that in for a repair for later in the week as the local bike shop had managed to stay open through it all.

Evesham and Stourport

 I had been called back off furlough but had 3 days holiday to use up so took them the week after going back to work, Col was still on Furlough but was due to go back the start of the following week.

 I suggested we could try a route we hadn't done before, this took us to Evesham's Hampton Ferry, I place I spent alot of time at when I was a kid, and where I met my first girlfriend.

 We parked up by the river, sat the 2 metres apart and watched a family of Swans on the water and the world go by for a while before headed to Broadway, Bidford on Avon and then to Stourport Common.

  There were a couple of good roads worth a mention, the A44 up fish hill by Broadway, and then the A422, neither would make it onto our best road section, but the curves on the A44 going up were quite fun.

Up on top of Broadway by the tower the carparks were full, people were flocking to places of interest where some social distancing was being practiced but not by everyone, Bidford the carparks were closed to all vehicles which is why we headed back to Stourport where you were just warned to social distance. So we ate cheese and pickle sandwiches..well Col did as I had forgot to take mine out of the fridge so ended up with a bag of crisps and a cake.

Bike felt good now with fork seal fixed.

 Mitchell's Fold Stone Circle

 In June Wales was still in lockdown, so we couldnt go there as we would usually tend to try and do as its not that far to the border from where we are. We decided to use the A488 a favourite road of ours that goes up through Hope Valley which is near Shrewsbury. Once you have gone over the top of the hill at Hope you see a sign for a stone circle, this is in England however you need to cross the border for a few hundred metres. Then follow the path back into England to the carpark. This was a beautiful spot with great views in all directions. Again everywhere to get a drink from was closed so we sat there for a good half an hour, with flask in hand and breathing that lovely fresh air.

 From here we headed back towards Ludlow and home.  For me this was my favourite ride fpr as long time. 

 Long Mynd, Bur Way

   We set out with plans of watching the gliders taking off from the glider station up on the top of the Long Mynd. The run of good weather had took a turn for the worst over night and the winds had picked up to what the phone app said was a light breeze, no mention of any rain. We  made the trip and as we got closer to Church Stretton we found that the hills had heavy clouds around them which let go of its payload just as we arrived.

 We rode up the Bur Way and found a parking spot, it was blooming cold and wet, the winds were definately not light, you could feel it slowing the bike as it hit us head on. 

 We didn't stay long as the wind bought the drizzle and it was starting to soak through our leathers, just down the road is the Lazy Trout cafe, which according to Facebook was open. It was like being hundreds of miles away, the sun was out with the light winds the phone app had promised, yet was only 10 minutes away from that wet and windy hilltop. We parked up, social disatnced and enjoyed our first cafe mug of coffee for months, things were getting better!

  Kynnersley Arms

  This wasnt really a destination as such. We had rode past this place in the past and as I share the name thought it only fitting that I had a photo of my bike parked outside.

 It wasn't open yet, pubs were still in lockdown but I would like to come again when it is open. Apparently my ancestors lived in the Hall at Leighton and the pub was named after them.

Bala and Barmouth

  July we had discussed that it was looking like trips to the coast were not going to happen and were saddened that we wouldn't get to see the sea this year. 

 The news announced that Wales was back open for business, thank goodness, so we headed off to Bala using the B4391 a favourite road of ours, stopped at the lake for a coffee, then followed the road for another 45 minutes on an nothing special road down to Barmouth and to see the sea.

 At Barmouth we found the shops on the sea front were open so stopped for an iced cream and watched the sea for a while, the skys were threatening rain so headed back over Dinas on the A470 and then to Welshpool on the A458 two great roads apart from for the roadworks.

My bike needed a new rear tyre and on the last MOT the guy told me the chain would need replacing soon, As I had a week off I got both jobs done the day before we went for this ride. I was impressed how much quieter the new gold coloured chain appears to be yet it was a DID the same as the previous one, no one mention stiff links!  It had been an expensive week. 

  We have done rides to other areas but nothing new that I havent wrote about before.

We have a few more plans to visit new roads in the UK this year, depending on the covid situation ofcourse.

Oh Crap!!!

 Well Col and I have made it out on 1 ride this year which was the day before the country went into lockdown as Covid-19 was here.  We had been advised by the Government to stay indoors but thought as the Sun was out and was the perfect day for a ride, plus I wanted to test the bike after changing the brake pads and adding some K&N filters and giving it a service.

 Not sure if the self isolationg rules applied to being out on a motobike or not we checked with a couple of motoring websites who said it was still acceptable as you would be more than 2 Mtrs apart and not to head to anywhere that could be crowded.

 All the cafe's and shops had been told to close so decided by phone we would meet up in the street and head of towards Cleobury Mortimer and take our own drinks with us.We headed off on a reasonably quite road but after a while came across many people out and about in cars obviously not following the governments guidelines.  Four lads in a Mini, 3 caravaners off to escape the madness of the empty shelved supermarkets and people out for the day to enjoy a day by the river.

 The carpark as usual was empty so we stopped and drank a coffee from my Army supplies flask (Web-Tex  5*  EDSBK recommended)

  Now Col is my best friend and we see quite alot of each other but we were practicing social distancing sat over 2 mtrs apart and got talking about bike related things such as road trips and how this is all affecting what we do with the Motorbikes.

 The main thing we thought of that is a worthy point about riding under the current restrictions is if you were to have an incident RTA related, the ambulance would come and collect you if you survived only to take you to the hospital which has the Covid virus then putting you at extra risk, also the staff could be better used treating the poor people with the virus than having to deal with a motorcyclist who went for a sneaky ride out which went wrong.

  Next we got talking about road trips for this year.  We had planned a trip to Ireland as we have not been there and they have so many road race circuits we can look at..and Guiness.
 We dont know if that is completely off the table, we have a back up plan of a ride to Devon in the south of England. But its all on hold due to Covid.
 The whole ride was more cautious than usual partly as its the 1st ride of the year, but with the disease the world is changing even if its only temporary, but now on the Governments advice we are Staying home.

 The Biking race calender is postponed/cancelled including the TT so theres no new stuff to watch.
The Ride for life event is postponed/cancelled and as the year goes by I dare say more events will be cancelled aswell.

 So what can you do to get your biking fix..?   Well it depends some suppliers of bits are open, some aren't, if they are open you could get new trick bits and fit those, like heated handle grips, a great investment.
For me its do the little jobs such as remove things and clean and polish the bits you dont get to see very often... well until my cleaning supplies run out.
 Its times like this I load up the videos from the go pro camera and reminiss.  Good Luck Everyone.


Stay safe especially if your out on a motorbike wherever you are in the world.
 

2019 Road Trip

2019 Pyrenees, Spain and Andorra.

This trip was actually arranged as our 2018 road trip but as Col had had his Incident only 5 weeks before our trip date it had to be cancelled. It was so close to the departure date we couldn't get the ferry or channel tunnel refunded so were given credit notes, this left us with only 1 option, to do the exact same trip.

 We decided some years ago that superbikes are not great for touring on, they cause knee, wrist and neck ache after a couple of hours so you have to keep stopping, making long trips even longer.

  So with that in mind we went to Europcar a few months earlier to book a van. As they couldn't promise what sort of van we would get when booking we ended up with a van that had previously spent time with a builder by the look of the dust under the seat, not exactly what we expected to use for a holiday, especially to Spain with temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s and worst of all it had no aircon...!
We took it anyway and it did drive very nicely, didn't let us down at all, and Naz from the branch was most helpful.

 

We planned to travel by van to Portsmouth, cross on the Ferry to Bilbao which involved 2 nights onboard, it was like a mini cruise and if you fancy going to that area it is a well recommended relaxing journey, and not having any driving to do the following day gave us chance to get in a few beers.

 The alarm sounded Tuesday morning at 5:30am telling us to get up and be ready for a 6:45 departure. We disembarked and soon were on route to the Castellanu hotel in Escalo, this was around 6 hours away.  The Spanish and French  motorways got us to the mountains in a few hours but then the journey got slow. So many little villages but beautiful scenery. Eventually we stopped for a rest in a pull in halfway up the steepest climb to the 2072 mtr road height of Bonaigua. Another half an hour saw the Hotel Castellanu, which looked nice but builders were busy making a new swimming pool from 8am till 7pm and there was no AIRCON!

 The hotel is owned by a biker and he gave us 2 routes to try, earlier research had also led me to the same routes but having a local tell us to use those same roads was most reassuring.

 We unpacked our luggage leaving the bikes on the van and were now getting hungry so went to the restaurant for dinner, it was closed. Col meanwhile scouted the internet to find somewhere suitable for a meal,  so back in the van and we headed off back towards the mountain to Espot and found a brilliant little place called "The Burgerplatz" and quote " Mother of mine they have the best burgers ever I have tasted" whoever wrote that review was 100% right we went back the next 2 nights... and the road leading up to it was another stunner!

2019's Everyday Supervan.... well it would have been if it had aircon.

 Ride 1.

The following day we started the reason for all this travel, to ride some awesome Spanish roads in the Pyrenees. The route took us North on the C-28 back over the mountain we had climbed in the van the day before and towards a town called Vielha.

 A left onto the N-230 took us up another mountain and through a long cooling tunnel which was most welcoming as the bike engines were now running at about 109C and the fans on at a constant. The road crosses out of Catalonia and into Aragon, the bends were sweeping and fast compared to the C-28. We stopped to take a photo and re hydrate then continued along to El Pont de Suert.
 A left turn onto the N-260 headed towards Sort takes you along one of the areas best biking roads and through a village called Perves, the roads here were fast long corners mixed with tight twists with the odd 50kmh speed limit thrown in along it.

After getting to Sort where a chemists digital sign was showing a huge temperature of 38C we took the C-13 back towards the hotel, this road was near perfect, the bends seemed to stay on a constant radius as it followed the river back through the valley.

  The ride was great, just hot. The roads were twisty and the sections where they climbed up and down the hills just seemed to last for ages. From Sort back to the hotel the C-13 was similar to our Welsh favourite the A483 but on steroids!

 The river runs along side the road often swapping for one side to the other, a perfect place to hoilday if you are into canoeing or cycles/motorcycles.

Ride 2.

Thursday we somewhat lazily put on our leathers, gloves and helmets as it was already too hot. We planned on going to Andorra again a route recommended by the hotel owner.
 This time we headed South towards Sort and rejoined the N-260 going East.
What a road!...what a road! You could easily just spend the day riding back and forward along this 45km section. Imagine every great corner you have enjoyed, stringing them together and riding them, this road is that one.  I think over the 2 days riding this part of the N-260 had to be my road of the trip, but they were all good.
 We arrived in Andorra, it was too bloody hot. The heat from our engines funnelled up through the fairing in the slow moving traffic, the traffic was heavy and the area not a biking paradise, however it boasts some great bargains as its a tax haven. We didnt stay long enough to check out the shops, we wanted more of the N-260 and the cooler mountain air so headed back the way we had came.

 After a fair bit of  throwing the bike to the left and right and on and off the throttle and brake we were ready for a break, Col was in front and spotted the only layby with some shade, well just 1 tree  but who cared we needed to re-hydrate.
 As we pulled up behind 2 other motorbikes we noticed the yellow UK number plates and heard the welcoming English voices of Gregg and Simon so chatted about most things bike and area for about half an hour as we all cooled in the shade of that 1 little oak tree. Simon suggested it would be a good place to open a roadside burger van, we agreed even if just for the great view.

The view from the oak tree, the road snakes up the mountain opposite

The only shady place

We headed back to the hotel and passed the chemist with the temperature displayed as 44C, and there we were in full leathers, gloves and a helmet!
 As it was our last chance to ride the bikes, we filled up with fuel which turned out to be a mistake, then  had a ride up the  twisty hill to Espot and another drink of refreshing fruit drink, back down to the hotel I thought "I like it here". We parked up and got back into our shorts before reloading the bikes in the van, they were covered in builders dust which was now over me, i went to the edge of the river to wash it off and slipped in.  My trainers dried very quickly, good job as they were all I had. Later we got back in the van to go to Burgerplatz again but the van smelt very strong of petrol we decided it must be the heat was causing it and went on our way.
 The following morning the smell was just as bad but as there was no sign of any leaks what could we do other than open all the windows and crack on with the journey North.

 The next stage of our trip was heading home, but we wanted a place to stop off and break up the 16 hour journey. So we went to Le Mans.
  I have always wanted to go there as I enjoy watching the 24 heurs du Mans also known as Circuit de la Sarthe and all things to do with LMP and prototype racing.

 9 Hours later we made it to the Le Mans Museum as we wanted to look at the race cars. Again I enjoyed this, but the heat caused me some problems, lack of drinks had given me heat exhaustion, so re hydrated slowly in their canteen which didn't have aircon!

 We had booked in to stop at the Brit Hotel and as we walked through the door we were greeted by cool air...AT LAST!!

 After a quick unpack and shower the bar was calling so went and sat in what I call heaven, surrounded by pictures of cars, in furniture made of old oil barrels surrounded by like minded people, with a refreshing beer or 2.

The last Day, we left the cool hotel and sat in an already warm van then did 2 laps of the bits of the Le Mans circuit we could drive on, I have always wanted to drive along the  Mulsanne Straight and along the public road area of this track, and now I partially have even if its not in the vehicle of choice.... a Ford GT40 .. no I mean a Ford Transit van.
 The place does have the feeling of a racetrack having the gravel traps and painted areas at the side of the public road.  Wish we had had a full day here to explore the circuit a bit more.

 The journey home from here was a rush we had a 4 hour 10 minute journey to get to Calais and make our booking time, the sat nav said it was going to take 4hrs and 11 minutes we needed good traffic flow, we arrived at Calais with 10 minutes to spare unfortunately so had 200 other vehicles and they were all trying to get into 3 entry gates which made us late.
  France has some great Motorways, Britain could learn a thing or 2 from them, after getting a few miles from the Channel tunnel the 15 miles of cones on the UK's M20 started and as usual there was no sign of anything going on. 

 A great time and glad I got to spend it with Col, but the sticky heat when travelling in a vehicle without aircon in the hottest continental summer for years and being woken by builders every morning before 8am again in a hotel without aircon dampened our spirits,
but you cant fault those roads!

Summary
Date:- July 2019
Weather:- 6 HOT Days 26-42 degrees
Hotel:- Hotel Castellanu Spain - Brit Hotel Le Mans
Miles:-2600 approx, 1000 on a boat, 1250 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.38 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in Spain, Andorra and the Pyrenes and visit Le mans

2019 Cols New Ride

 Meet the newest bike in Everyday Superbikes.

 Col has made an almost full recovery from the incident where he lost the Black Fireblade in June 2018. Only a problem with his shoulder remains which doesn't seem to affect him too much and is better to be left as it is according to medical experts. The accident has left him with a metal plate in his arm, and on a recent trip to Stuttgart to the Porsche and Mercedes Museums it didn't set the alarms off the airport security.... slightly disappointing.



  We obviously haven't done much bike related things since June, apart from visit the bike shop and the Motorcycle Live event in November of 2018. This was the point Col decided the time was right to look for another bike.
  He had spotted a race rep 2006 Fireblade which looked nice, but the insurance was not that interested in insuring a race rep, so a few weeks later he looked at a standard one and bought it (pictured above).

 Its a 2006 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade with a yoshimura exhaust, which sounds great.
Currently it has odd tyres on it so that is going to be sorted out soon as that's a motorbiking no no. He has ordered a few bits and has a few plans to personalise it to his taste.

 We took it the bikes out for the 1st ride together between Christmas 2018 and New Year, It was good to be back, even if it was a bit of a cool day. He has had some Oxford heated grips added like mine so he now can enjoy warm hands too, he says this is much more civilised than holding the exhaust pipe when your stopped in a layby.

  I look forward to the New Year and hope to make some more good memories and visit some new places in our continuing search for our favourite road.

June 17th

On June 17th Col and I headed to Dom's food stop near to Leominster.

We pulled onto the A44 at Bromyard and Col was  about 1 car length infront of me, we were doing 30mph in a queue of traffic also doing the same speed. I passed a bollard in the middle of the road and then things went strange, a bike appeared along side me, I didnt see this bike as I pulled out but he may have came from the petrol station, it passed me on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic and pulled infront between me and Col, I thought the rider had pulled a dickhead manoeuvre so was shaking my head. The rider was on a sporty cruiser style bike and had a chrome helmet which was hard to look at and 13 on the back of his leathers.

 We got to the end of the village and the road opened up to national speed limit. So I thought I will go passed him. He accelerated faster than my Fireblade could, however the rider was useless at cornering, The rider seemed to be purposely slowing me down for the next few minutes and I was half expecting another bike to appear and a theft to take place so in the 2nd following corner I saw the road was clear and passed him, I checked the mirror and the bike was gone as he had turned off.
 At Dom's I told Col about this and he confirmed he saw the bike and the headlight was very bright so couldnt see what was going on behind.

I use a Go Pro camera when I ride but for all the time this bike was infront of me the camera didnt record.... Wierd!

 Coming back from Dom's we used the A456, a road we know well and use most weekends, Col passed a car going up the hill towards Clows Top and I followed not too far behind them both.

 I came to the corner with a junction towards Rock and there was a car with the front smashed in, a bit further along was Col's bike on its side, steam pouring from it and the front forks snapped back so the  wheel was above the tank. He had gone head on into a car coming the other way.

Further along the road was Col lay in the road, at first not moving and I feared the worst.
I parked my bike and dazed walked towards him taking in the scene, not feeling anything, just saying "Oh Fuck" over and over.  I saw Col's leg move as I took my helmet off and with the ear plugs out could hear the other vehicle drivers already on mobile phones asking for Police, Ambulance and Fire Services. I shouted, "Col can you hear me?"  trying to remember basic 1st aid, to which he said "yes", he then started to try and get up, so I held him down and told him to stay still as the Ambulance was coming.
 From the village came a Nurse and from the stopped traffic came a Dr who thankfully took over the holding him still part while I kept Col talking and found his phone to call home.
 The Police were 1st to arrive who closed the road and a few minutes later the Ambulance arrived, I was relieved as soon as they were on scene.
 A second ambulance arrived and I overheard them say to the Police officer they were on their way to a motorbike fatality a mile away in the direction we had came from.

Col had been very lucky to get away with a broken arm, shoulder, and foot in this incident,  no one else was injured. He cant remember how he came to be on the wrong side of the road or any of the accident, just waking up lay on the road with me and other people around him. The corner is quite sharp and uneven so both vehicles speed was lower than the speed limit for the road. The black fireblade was too badly damaged to be repaired so is now with a breaker.

 From my point of view, I didn't witness the accident as I was about 100metres behind, but seeing your best friend in this position is a horrible shock, the following day is when it hit me more, I felt a wreck.

 Col is now back at work and able to drive, but his injuries are slowing him down when walking.

 I have rode my bike once since the accident, its not the same without your wingman when his always been there for the last 20 years. Col and I still have unfinished business with motorbikes, we both still enjoy them and Col talks about getting another, but we will have to see.
I have delayed putting this post up as it could be the last... I dont know if Everyday Superbikes will continue, but if and when it does I will post it here....

Thank you to the Emergency services for everything you did.

Ride4Life

 On 22nd April 2018, Col and I took part in the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s Bike4Life Ride Out and Festival. This was a route from Bayston Hill in Shrewsbury along the M54 motorway to Cosford near Wolverhampton.

Visit their web page here

 We had pre booked our tickets online for just £10, the weather forecast was possible rain but mostly dry, and they got it spot on.
  The bikes were gleaming as usual as we pulled onto the over flow car park near Bayston Hill shopping centre. The figure quoted by the organisers were over 5000 bike were in attendance and raised over £87,000.

Steve Parish and Carl Fogerty were to lead the convoy of bikes from Shrewsbury to Cosford which was due at 12:00. The organisers sent them on their way and slowly let all 5000 bikes leave the car park.

 Col and I were some of the first of the last 3rd of the bikes to be let off the car park which was some 20 minutes after Steve Parish and Carl Fogerty had left, infact they had probably got to Cosford when we were just leaving Shrewsbury.

  Having never took part in an event like this it was quite overwhelming to see the support it gathered. Every junction or bridge there were stood onlookers waving as we passed underneath them. It was a really nice thing to be a part of.
 The ride took a little over half an hour, the motorway was full of bikes all doing the 70mph speed limit, but 5000 bikes on 2 lanes of motorway then into 1 single lane caused a bottle neck around Cosford.
 We parked up in the field by Cosford airport and went for a walk around the stalls and stopped to watch some stunt show and listen to Steve Parish and Carl Fogerty story's of racing and promoting their books.

 It was a really good day out which raised a lot of money for a good cause, if you have never been to an event like this its well worth attending an event close to you.

Col and I on the M54  Col at front Me a bit further back (Circled)

 A good cause that at the time we didn't realise how close we came to needing....

2017 Clermont Ferrand & Millau

  Col and I couldn't decide where to go for our 2017 trip, we talked about Ireland, Scotland and 

Le-man all because we wanted a cheaper trip than the last 2 years. Eventually on a cold December night in the pub and after watching a re-run of a Top Gear episode, we came up with the Millau Viaduct and Tarn Gorge in the South of France.

 The plan was to do it over 5 days, 3 days of riding once we had got there and again this involved the van and a 13 hour drive.

The  Viaduct has been on our visit list in the past, but we have not been quite close enough to it before.  In January I looked for a hotel with secure parking, that was bike friendly and not too far from civilisation so we could enjoy the area when not on the bikes and the obvious choice was Clermont Ferrand.

 When I looked on Google maps it was about a 2 hour ride down to Millau and the viaduct, so thought that a far enough distance for a day out. The rest of the area closer to the hotel on the map had some bendy looking roads, so thought it seemed a good destination.

 July came and we collected the van. Eurocar again supplied us with a van with only 1000 miles on the clock, unfortunately for the 2nd time, it didnt have air-con which is what we asked for, or cruise control and worst it was also a transit custom, which I know far to well as being the most broken into van on the market and it can be done in about 40 seconds, so we were rather disappointed as we loaded the bikes. 

 We set out at 4:15am made our booking on Euro-tunnel and headed off deep in to France. The journey was event free only traffic we encountered was through Paris which lost us about 45 minutes.

We pulled onto our hotel carpark at 18:15 French time. We used  The Comfort Hotel next to the hospital and a petrol station, its not far off the main roads out of town, has a tram stop outside, some English speaking staff, was clean but tired looking and the car park was secured and kept the van hidden from the road so just what we wanted. 3 stars ***. The tour de France also used the same hotel the 1st night we were there.

 Day 1

  We were asleep for 10 hours so when we woke up it was after 9am, it was raining when we opened the curtains and we watched the sky as we ate our cornflakes. There was alot of blue heading our way so looked at the map and spotted a race circuit not to far away, I said lets go see whats there. It was closed and we could see nothing, apart from old volcano stacks, lots of them, I said lets wing it, we will just head up and eventually find something to look at, Col agreed as there was not much option. I lead for most of this ride, taking the N roads which looked like they were headed up hill, eventually we came across a shop, which looked good to get a drink from, but it only sold cheese.

 I took out my smart phone, looked at the maps and noticed we were close to a road called the D996.
 "This looks twisty, its gotta be good, its named after the Ducatti 996" I said, and was only 6 miles away, so we set off in that direction.
 To get there we followed the D983 which  takes you to the top edge of a volcano, we stopped for a rest and to admire the view.  The cauldron was along down to the left and full of trees.

Eventually we reached the left turn onto the D996 which in reality seemed better than it looked on the map, the corners just kept coming and the ribbon of tarmac was race track smooth, the road kept climbing taking you to heights where your higher than the low lying clouds covering our visors with a layer of drizzle, eventually we came out the top of the clouds and found the 1401 mtrs summit of col de la croix Morand and stopped for a magnum at the little gift shop.

The clouds lifted as we sat there and we could see a lake bathed in sunshine along way below us, so Col said shall we go there.
 I looked at the map and the D996 went passed the lake so we set off down the hill to Lac Chambon. We found a Lakeside hotel called Belle Vue and stopped for a drink watching the world go by for over an hour. The clouds on the mountains started to look threatening so we continued our journey back towards the hotel.
A few more miles along the road was the Chateau de Murol, an impressive looking hill fort, the clouds were gaining on us so we moved on, but the clouds had straight lines to follow, we had the twisty road and inevitably they caught us, we took to hiding under the trees until it stopped raining and headed back to the Hotel. 

D996   9 out of 10.

Day 2

 The weather app said that day2 was going to be the best weather of the 3 day, this was going to be the day to go on our longest trip of our few days away. We got up early opened the curtains to a grey clouded day, but at least it was dry.
 We set off in the local rush hour traffic which was like a Sunday morning in the UK, headed down the A75 towards  Millau, as this was the purpose of this trip, to ride over the Tallest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct. The previous night we watched how it was built on Youtube which put us even more in the mood for seeing it.
  The Journey there was around 2 hours, it threatened to rain numerous times, even dropping cool over the taller mountains that the route took us. The dark grey threatening sky seemed to be endless and I was fearing the worst for the photo opportunities.
  We were only about 5 or 6 miles from the bridge when it first came into sight. The grey clouds came to an end and blue patches seen here and there, and bigger patches of blue over the bridge and the gorge below. I saw the turn for the visitor centre and we went to have a closer look.
  We left the bikes on the carpark, the walked up the hill to the viewing platform which is just a bit higher than the 245m high road deck of the bridge.  The Viaduct is built over the river Tarn, and was built to re leave the traffic problems through Millau.
The Millau Viaduct is 2460m long, has 7 pillars, The tallest pillar is 343m tall which makes it taller than the Shard in England and the  Eifle Tower making it the 4th tallest structure in France, the shortest pillar is 77m, which is still a long way up!

We took the photo's and headed back to the bikes to ride over it. There was a Toll to pay, this was a little confusing as it didnt show what vehicle you were paying to take over the bridge, we went to a lane that showed a picture of a car and a bike, posted your credit card in the slot and the barrier lifted so we pulled away, not until you get home do you actually see what you paid, we both paid 8 Euro the price for a car....

We crossed the bridge and gave each other a thumbs up, as if saying "thats one more thing off our bucket list!" We took the next turn off and followed the road so we could next ride under the bridge for a few photos, refuel and dinner in an air conditioned MacDonalds in Millau as it was warming up quickly.

 After Dinner we followed the road up through the gorge to a road that had appeared on an episode of Top Gear where the 3 presenters had some fun on a zig zag of a road running up the mountain. This was the village of Les Vignes and the road the D995.  The Gorge was lovely the river runs to the right of the road which had a number of tunnels and hairpins, its very touristy and there were a lot of camp sites, so the road speed was limited.
  We took the left turn onto the D995, by now it was hot the forecast had said 29 degrees but in leathers it felt hotter. We climbed the road out of the gorge, the heat effecting Col more than usual so I stopped and waited for him in the lay by near the top, where the Top Gear presenters had filmed part of the show. The journey back from there was another 2 hours, but the cooling breeze helped make it more bareable.

Day 3

 We had no plans for day 3 just to ride around and explore similar to day 1. We set off in a different direction, after spotting on the map the D216 another twisty bit of tarmac to the south west. This road was nice and the weather was good at this point.

 At the time I didn't  realise where it was headed only to end up back in the same place as we did on day 1, which wasn't all bad as we got to ride the D996 again, but this time it was wet. Infact so wet we had to get the waterproofs out which is a mood changer and the ride is more for the hell of it than enjoyment. We called it a day in the early afternoon after another stop by Lac Chambon and went back to the hotel and planned to spend the evening in the city, which was most impressive.

 All in all I enjoyed the trip and would definately head to that area again, the weather could have been more generous to us, but we have some new roads to add to our Ultimate Roads section.

Summary
Date:- July 2017
Weather:- 5 mixed Days 22-26 degrees
Hotel:- The Comfort Hotel - Claremont Ferrand - gated parking
Miles:-1860, 1370 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.22 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride over the Millau bridge