Leaderboard

I;ll add subtitles: Waaaa.......Waaaaaaaaaaaa...........WaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHH......

It was a national holiday today so I thought I'd get an hour out on the Beemer! I've already tested it on Motorways, A and B roads, farm tracks and light offroad paths. All good so far.....so I thought I'd give it a test on the canal paths! These have multiple variations of surfaces varying from billiard table smooth to trenches.......and just about everything in between. Along with bizarre cambers and falling debris strewn across your path. And there's the added bonus that if you get it wrong you'll end up dropping 6 feet into the canal. This particularly one is relatively easy......the final one up into the reservoir itself is a bit rough! It's virtually all concrete but it's completely broken up into various zig zag patterns and trenches which can trap your tyres and take you off course! That's for another day.....I just wanted a gentle jaunt this afternoon! After all, I am a Pensioner FFS!

This is a picture of the one I hired in a foreign land to show Pete what they look like in the rain and the dark. Rain is like a sort of moisture falling from the sky Pete, it's not nice! The headlights aren't all that!! I nearly ran over a few joggers who liked to run in the dark before it got super hot. Bloody idiots..... Uga Uga.

Today was the first proper run on the Beemer other than when I brought it back from the dealer! So how did it do? Well I've covered a few of it's aspects before........so no point going over those again. All I can say is that this G650GS is probably the best fit for me, and the roads I ride on, than any machine I've had since I've been in Spain. It really is that good! The only minor negatives (and they are minor) is that the sidestand is too short......so the bike leans over quite a bit when parked. The other thing is when the fan comes on it blows out hot air over my right leg. Very minor stuff as you can see. It was great on the motorway trip coming back from collecting it, and it was even better on these rural, bumpy country roads. Just so easy to ride. It ticks all the boxes for me.......but in terms of reliability it has to prove itself! Only time will tell if I can get the same level of trust in the Beemer that I would have in a Jap bike! So watch this space!

I've just ordered a pair of Bridegstone AX41 Adventurecross for the Tenere , I hope they're as good as yours as they're not cheap ?

I reckon you should be taking that track on the left at 0.54

Glad you mentioned tyres guys....I hadn't touched on that. OK......when I saw the bike pics in the shop originally I thought....."WTF are those road tyres?". Well I zoomed in and all I could make out was Bridgestone. So I checked the pattern with the tyres on Google and it revealed they were Battlax A41. I thought I'd probably rack up some miles with them then get Tourances on. Cos the A41's didn't really look like the type of tyre that would ideally suit what I do. Then I read a few reviews like THIS! And they were all saying the same thing......they're excellent.....even on trails. Despite what they look like. Well I've used them in various different environments and they're amazing. Coming back on the motorway and the way they took faster bends really stood out. Totally planted. Since then I've used them on a number of different surfaces in places where I've used Tourance, Anakee, and Scorpion Trail. All of those have lost traction at different points, and I remember the exact places it happened. The Anakees were even stepping out on Tarmac! But these A41's haven't put a foot wrong so far......for me they're light years ahead of the other three. I think they're a premium price tyre........but I've got no qualms in putting A41's on again when the time comes to replace them. No good for the type of stuff Fred and Bob do.......but for @Pedro these are the ones to go for!

Are you thinking of putting a more trail type tyre on when those wear out Pete

Exactly, and a BIG monitor. ?

Brilliant Bob ?

A vid of Tymie on a Tomos.

Apparently there's 3 different compounds in these Fred......reports say that it's stood up fine on rougher surfaces.

It's a farm Bob! I can't just go riding into somebody's farm! Some of these Dagos have fucking bulls running round on their land!

Cool stuff, Pete, look forward for a visit. Are those Bridgestones? What are they like on those mixed surfaces?

That makes it wider he wants it to be longer and there's something wrong with his side stand as well lol

So having put the winter wheels/tyres on the Donkey the other day it was time to get them dirty. First thing I noticed was how much more 'lively' the bike felt after riding all summer on Mitas E-07's but it it was fine after riding about an hour of tarmac. First stop was by the gatehouse of the Spye Park estate.......... a and onto Heddington Steps which doesn't have any steps anymore, it's been totally sanitised , you could drive your car up there nowadays ? and then rode a couple of trails around Devizes...... and then up onto Salisbury Plain via the Redhorn Hill vedette. When the army are playing war there would be a red flag flying here and a barrier across the trail but no live firing today so on we go........... There are plenty of warnings about not straying from the byway, if you're stupid enough to do so you really are playing russian roulette.... and down to the tank graveyard which is good place to stop and get the flask out for a coffee.........

I’m sorry, delicate flower, didn’t mean to make you feel unappreciated! I liked your bench too!

Oi i had a bench in my lock down ride report and none of you feckers other than Bob commented on it

Trouble is they cost more than a kidney.

Went out on some familiar back roads into Murcia province to put the Beemer through it's paces.......get a better feel for it type of thing. As I've said it's totally different to the Strom in all respects as it feels like a big dirtbike or supermoto.......rather than a road bike that looks like it can handle a limited degree of offoad. The upshot is I'm still very impressed with it......even took it in places I wouldn't have taken the Strom......and it handled it easily. Couple of Beemer Boys loaded with dustbins were holding me up......so I had to pass them! Not sure if they're aware that despite paying around €20K for the full Ewan and Charley experience, they were holding up and got passed by an A2 licence motorcycle ridden by an Old Age Pensioner! Anyway, I ended up near the abandoned village of Moralejo de Arriba so I took a few shots in there. After I left there, I wanted to top up with petrol.......but found that the filling station was abandoned as well. Looks like they left quite a bit of stuff in there too. So it's a treble dose of dark motorcycling......Abandoned Beemer Boys, Abandoned Village, and Abandoned Petrol Station! This has to be End of Days! And remember, you don't get this shit on Buttrider! Tell 'em @Tym

I don't want want to knock the youngsters but I understood that going to university was to improve your edumacation, not party every night and then spread covid everywhere ?

Super fun ride report @boboneleg! Love the photos, just can't get enough of the old buildings! Thanks for sharing! ?

Music indeed....I have become a big fan of the single, I love mine. ?

I just love that thing....sounds too fun! ? ?

Open headers NO2 with extra FI nozzlesWho hoooo! hold my beer!

Bob's piccies of Old Sarum has made me want to revisit Maiden Castle. I saw a picture of it in a Ladybird book when I was a little kid and promised myself that when I had my own transport I would visit it. My first ever bike camping trip, I stayed somewhere in Dorset and early (very bloody early) next morning I packed up my tent and headed off to Maiden Castle. I parked my bike on the side stand in a sort of chalky/gravelly car park and as I walked away from it it did a wobble and over it went, my first official dropped bike. After picking it up I wandered in and out of the ramparts, had the place to myself, it is enormous!! I need to go back, maybe in spring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Castle,_Dorset

No tuition fees here... YAY!... and my No1 ( of whom I am immensly proud, but for gods sake dont tell her that and I know she ain't on here) was hard working and clever enough to earn a "bourse", closest translation is a grant I suppose which means that we actually pay very very little other than her lodging which is very little compared to uk costs. Dijon is the centre of burgundian gastronomy and the food im the university restaurant thing is quite good and only costs her 1€ per meal... I do sometimes realise just how lucky I am to be living where I do.

Agreed, it’s great to see someone bringing back benches on ride reports!

you'd have fallen out with the ex-pats here Pete they're mostly piss heads and wasters or complete tossers with too much money. you'd probably end up like me having nothing to do with them, at leat you could deny even being the same nationality, I have to lie...

We're lucky here so far in that respect Alan. I fear some of the bigger towns will close down again, No 1 daughter is afraid that Dijon Uni is about to send them all home and install "distance learning" by computor. I'm afraid that having gone from Lockdown to zorking flat out so that others can have their holidays we'll be locked down again as soon as I am furlough'd in november... Thay wont lock down till then cos it's half term next week for 2 weeks so at least i'll get that. Now I just have to refuse the knee operation till early november so that I can get some riding in before hand.

Excellent Bob, and great to have a bench in a RR. ?

Bavaria. This castle was off to the left if I remember correctly. Had stopped to get some snaps of it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle

Nice one Chris......I love the shots of the small towns and villages there. They're so different to here. Cos back in 2005 I wanted to go to France.......but I got outvoted 3-1 in favour of Spain.

the only TOMOS I ever used was an outboard motor for a dingy, more use as an anchor than a motor...

There's some tidy shelving in there for the garage I'd be back with the car and some tools

That can actually can’t

Now it was time to head for home so it was back up onto the Plain to ride tracks to Westbury and then tarmac back to Bristol. It started to get really breezy and you could see big showers in the distance but I managed to avoid them and made it back home dry

Superb @boboneleg.........you couldn't do justice to stuff like this just by putting it on FaceButt. It needs a forum to really display it correctly.

In the outer bailey is the site of the original Salisbury Cathedral........... but from Old Sarum (Old Salisbury) you can see the spire of the present Salisbury Cathedral in the distance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_Cathedral

So I carried on going south and then took a detour to the east and came across this............ Now on the Plain there are puddles that you can loose a bike in so I got off and tried to gauge the depth but in the end it was fine, there was only one hole in it and I rode through it safely. Then I managed to scoot around this one to visit another tank, I think you've seen this tank before but it looks sadder every time I see it ? So once I got to the Rollestone Camp I carried onto the first castle of the day via tarmac. Old Sarum is quite important in English history but I wont bore you with the details , you can find it all here........ https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-sarum/history/ Because of Covid-19 you can only visit now by pre-booking and then you have to turn up within your chosen hourly slot. Well I dragged myself around the site in my bike gear for 45 minutes but I'll go back another day with my wife in the car and wearing more suitable gear. I'll let the photos do the talking.............

I love how you can wonder around on such old paths, thats to cool for school.

Get a sidestand extension under the sidestand foot, Pete, job done.

Well it was an adventure getting this beast back to Spain from the UK. Hemel Hempstead to Plymouth is well over 200 miles in biblical rain and there was so much water ingress that it limped the last 15 miles on one cylinder. Dried out on the 24 hours ferry crossing in some of the roughest sea conditions I’ve ever experienced but luckily I don’t get seasick. Docked in Bilbao 3 hours late so had a 325klm ‘sprint’ to the overnight hotel in Soria followed by a 622klm ‘dash’ the next day to get home. Just over 800 miles in all and man, that bike flies! Only took me 2 days to recover. ???

This is my favourite time of the year for riding, but .......................... lockdown. ?

Yes mate, that’s the plan. I’ve got standard cans for it and it’s an ex-German bike so lights et cetera are fine. It runs really well. Unfortunately, I need to do a thread repair on the sump drain hole has the sump plug won’t tighten enough to stop a small drip of oil and I don’t fancy that hitting the rear tyre with 125bhp going through it. ?