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My memorable motorcycling moment came in April 2002. On that day I rode a trail bike again , minus half of my left leg. I had no idea when I set off that morning wether I'd still be able to ride on rough surfaces, wether I'd be able to balance, change gear and lots of other things that were going through my head. When I got back from that ride you couldn't wipe the grin from my face for days ?

After switching bikes, my brother and i head south down Highway 93, which crosses over into Idaho by means of a mountain pass at the border. Several switchbacks take you up to the peak. Before we reached them, we were passed by a "cruiser". As soon as he passes us, my brother (in the lead) turns around on his seat, points ahead and gives me a serpentine hand motion. I correctly interpreted that to mean "we are going to catch Mr. Cruiser by the first switchback, and leaving him behind". Sure enough, Nick drags a knee around Mr. Cruiser in the middle of the curve and we leave him waaaay behind <G>. Hence, the name of this trip became "National Parks, Ice Cream and F*cking with Harley's Tour". The name was further earned every time we encountered a herd of the bikes. (it may sound like we are bike snobs, but we arent. sort of. We just find it amusing to watch the various herds on the road. Truth be told, in all our travels, the most of any single brand of bike we encounter are the Milwaukee Iron. We also found that the ones you encounter out on the road are great people and always willing to help. But, that can be said about any long distance rider, no matter the brand). But, i digress. Nick and I made it into Jackson Hole, after a great stop at Earthquake Lake, near Yellowstone. In Jackson Hole, that moment had finally arrived. I would meet the mighty Frijole (as you know, my brother's gay internet lover). Jim arrives after us, and introductions are made. Finally, Nick goes "you going to ask him?". I said "what?". "you know, what have you been calling him". So, without hesitation, i ask this newly met person "Are you my brother's gay internet lover?". Now, if you were to ask anyone that question, you can probably guess the types of responses - laughter to a sound beating. The response you get will tell you a lot about a person, and may give you insight into whether you could spend any length of time on the road with said person. Jim laughed. We were good to go. Anywhere, anytime. So, of course, we headed off to see the Tetons and Yellowstone. After that, it was back to Nick's to regroup and to create another tradition (we seem to want traditions about everything.). Back in MT, at Nick's, we start talking about where we would like to head next, as we still had a couple of days before Frijole had to head back to the South (well, Tennessee). Glacier Park was a great choice as Frijole wanted to head into Canada and back east before returning to the US and going home. There was some building, or some rock he needed to photograph (his photos are amazing). The tradition i mentioned above? Well, the night before heading out again, we watched a comedy special by Rodney Carrington (look him up, the Texas one) in which Rodney does a bit about men and women's, uh, appendages. His premise is that men are really good at focusing on an object, to the exclusion of everything else. I guess the hunter instinct. Well, Rodney's describing man's infatuation with the funbags and his bit goes "Shhhhh, there's some t*tties!!". Maybe it was the margaritas, or maybe it was just being tired from the previous ride, but the "shhhhh" imprinted in our minds. To this day, whenever a lovely sight is nearby, you will hear one of us three call out "shhhhhhhhh!". (you had to be there) Jim also put together trip videos, the first one is below.

I'll start, one legged bombing................................. ?

How dare you assume only two genders, you are so 2007.

There are friends, good friends, dear friends, and people who change your life. This is a story about the latter and the efforts a dear friend expended to honor that great friend in his life. First, a little back story. Riding motorcycles is one thing, traveling by motorcycle is another, more fulfilling activity. Everyone here probably agrees, and there probably wouldnt be this forum, if that wasnt a true fact. I have ridden motorcycles since i was 14, growing up in Alaska, and learning how to hotwire my friends street 70 Honda. (you just unplugged some wires going into the headlight and plugged them into each other). Back then, riding motorcycles was a first taste of freedom, taking you further and faster than your bicycle. If you were lucky, your friend(s) had a bike you could ride two up on, or borrow. I had those friends. Fast forward a couple of years and i was able to get my own first motorycle, a 1972 Honda CL125 twin. I didnt buy it, as my parents wouldnt let me. So, my sisters boyfriend at that time ended up just giving it to me. It did need some work and some parts, which a summer job took care of. Being a street bike, knobbies were added. It was Alaska, afterall. You could get your license for a bike at 14, and there were no restrictions on where you could ride offroad. for the most part, that is. That bike was abandoned when i moved to California in 1974, and my brother probably beat it to death (i should ask him sometime what happened to it). When i was finally able to afford one, my next motorcycle was a Honda CM400T, a triumph looking wannabe. But, being a Honda, it was reliable and fun and i was able to get back up to speed as a motorcycle rider. Bikes remained in my environment for the next two decades, more as simple transportation than anything else. There were no rallies that i knew about, no Road of Bones to lust after. I'm sure they were there, just not on my radar. Then, along comes 2006 and LWR. Having a BMW SAV, i was automatically entered into the BMW Car Club, which has a great monthly magazine. One of the articles that still sticks in my mind was about these two guys riding bikes around the world. Something called GS's. Wasnt sure what those were, but i did know the brand, having owned a K1200RS. Within a few weeks of reading that article, i get a call from my brother talking about this series he watched about those same two guys i had read about. Ewan, or Charlie, or something. He said i had to watch it, so i jumped on Amazon and ordered the DVD (remember those?) box set. Well, it happened to show up on a Friday, so i went home after work and stuck the first disc in the player after dinner. At 4am the next morning, having finished every episode, i started searching frantically for more episodes! I mean, there had to be a season 2, right? Well, there wasnt (not for awhile, at least), so i started wandering aimlessly about the house. About that time, i get a call from my brother, asking if i had watched the series yet. I said yeah, straight thru. He then asked that question that's started a million journeys "when do we leave?". I had never vacationed on a motorcycle. I had ridden one from Anchorage to Los Angeles, a Honda 750 Interceptor. The one with a board for a seat. So, I knew that sight seeing could be done, and fun roads discovered. The two of us planned a trip to Yellowstone, our first on bikes, and our first together. Little did we know the addiction that was to follow .....

It's not a matter of liking bikes or not, it's pure marketing. Can they tax a small economy car with 100 quid a year of tax and get away with it politically? No. Can they heavily tax a bike that is owned by a minority of voters with no political weight who are also bike enthusiasts and are willing to suffer for their hobby / lifestyle? Yes.

Poundland @Specs ?

Rather excellent. Thanks.

Just wait until I start posting Frijole's pics! (for a preview - frijole.smugmug.com)

Nor have they to you. Your testes have shrunk to the point that you benched your two wheels for some dinghy you lay about in the pond in ?

They don't like bikes. Just blanket charges according to cubic capacity rather than emissions like cars. My car BMW 520d £30. Bike BMW R1200GS £91. s

I hope that Tesco are paying you commission @Sir Fallsalot ?

Great story, superb photos ?

Do you use them outside Dave ? I've had two of them for years now and they work fine, but mine are only used in the garage.

History will show that it was the Pandemic that created this place!

My T will say, I drank all through the pandemic.

Had 2 Oxford covers, shite.

Wow. Some excellent pics there.?

Absolutely superb Rick! ?

Two weeks on bikes, traveling around the western states had hooked us, permanently. We couldnt wait for 2007 and our next vacation. Sometime after our Yellowstone trip, my brother started communicating with a fellow in Tennessee, who was either buying a jacket from him, or selling my brother one. I never remember. What i will always remember is the story of their face to face meeting. The TN fellow, Frijole (aka Jim Bean) had a trip planned to ride out to Washington State to see friends, take pics and just travel. Frijole road a 1200 GS, the newer model of Ewan and Charlie's bikes. So, that gave him instant traveler cred. As Frijole's route would take him past my brother's place near Missoula, MT, he was invited to stop in for a visit. Neither Nick (my brother), nor Frijole thought much about two strangers meeting up in the middle of a trip, but their wives had different opinions. Nick's wife was concerned that a mass murderer had been invited to stay with them, while Frijole's wife was petrified that the strangers in MT would cut his throat as he slept! Neither happened. Frijole showed up at my brother's, shared stories and swapped bikes and a lasting friendship was instantly created! At the time, the impact of this meeting could never have been predicted, but an annual tradition was created. One that only can be interrupted by famine, pestilence, pandemics, or larger plans. It was after this short meeting, Nick and Frijole started discussing a 3 man trip in 2007. If you know Frijole, you know that winters in TN drive him nuts as his riding days are impacted and being the excellent photog that he is, spare time is spent drooling over previous trip shots. The plan was hatched that he, my brother and i would get together the following summer and rider the west. Of course, being the big brother and an asshole, the winter comms between me and my brother always included questions about his internet lover he met on a motorcycle forum. Finally, July 2007 arrived and my brother thought it would be a great idea if he were to fly down, and the two of us ride bikes back to his place. Nick rode my Road King (a bike I had purchased from him several years before, neglected a little, and needing of some TLC) and i rode my new to me K1200S. We had a great time riding north, with stops in Sequoia Park, Yosemite Park, Lassen and Crater Lake. In MT, he switched the Road King to his K1200S, and off we went to meet Frijole in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Agreed, it's pretty universal nowadays, the specific point of each tax has lost it's meaning and it's all been merged into a huge bowl of sucking money from the tax payer. They'll just say vehicle tax is to pay for the roads and shit like that while fuel tax is to pay for environmental policy changes, while in reality they'll just make reasons to try and increase each part of the government's earning bowl any way they can make believable. I have a 3 liter diesel car from 2001, paying over 600€ tax, and around 120 for the bike. Yet Portugal is by far the country with less minimum wage between all mentioned here. We have most motorways as toll paying roads as well.

I've got to wait till the weekend to find out if the province is going to be uprated to Phase 1. If it does happen, then Monday is the first day I can ride. Which will make it that I did 65 days in the hole!

Yes and all the tax dodgers will be paying as well

My bikes are still sorned, i'm waiting for June 1st............

I have never used any helmet speakers before last year, but as I was missing too many calls from clients while riding when they expected me to be working, I thought it would be a good thing to have. Otherwise, I would stop somewhere and have calls to make and that would ruin my stop. So now, I find it much more relaxing to have the phone on the handlebars, I see who is calling and if it is worth it to pick up or not, and hav gotten used to a little music on longer journeys. I like it. I always ride alone, and am always stopping in places where I am alone as well, most of the time I want to be alone but when I don't a little music while riding is a good thing.

I prefer to fuck up, and then say i forgot my damn phone.....

Just put the tax on fuel and be done with it. The more miles you do, the more you pay. Maybe that's too easy.

I think I had my AT about 5 years before I realised there is an inspection hole under the rear mudguard to check the expansion tank level. I used to take the side panel off.

Too much that's how much. I recon tax should be transferable from vehicle to vehicle i have to tax 5 and do a few thousand miles a year yet you can have something that's almost tax exempt that can do 50000 mile a year don't make sense Its about time it went on fuel so you can pay as you drive