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I had one of those moments where I suddenly stood up and decided to go for a walk, no thinking first. I decided to cut through the park behind my estate, cross the river and walk up to have a look at the convent. Another place I ride past a lot never stopped to look properly. The park was busy with people, large areas of grass under a few inches of water, frozen in places so people werre looking for stones or rocks to throw at it to make it shatter. Got to the bridge and could see the water was high but it looked like the deck was out of the water from a distance. I was wrong! Water came up to my ankles, left boot shipped a little water and the bottom of my jeans were a bit soggy. The couple walking towards me with their dog decided to turn round after seeing me cross the bridge. The other side of the bridge is a concrete track that becomes Convent Lane. I wandered down and took a look at the convent itself. never seen a nun so either they aren't any there, or they walk about in mufti so you can't spot them. They have one of those little doors with a grill to talk through. A few yards from the convent is the town bridge over the river. The water was very high compared to usual. In old photographs I've seen this was one of those bridges that had a raided wooden walkway at the sides for when the water was above the road level. Never noticed this mill was next to the bridge or this weird plastered house before. There's a name for it, a local tradition called pargetting, I even used to know a bloke who did it to his council house on a side wall, what he done was really good, if a little out of place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pargeting I decided to walk back through town, my left foot was starting to dry so didn't want to go wading over the park bridge again. I went past the leany house, god that thing is pissed. Nice knockers though. Pics below

Another post gave this idea, since we should have very different experiences regarding this. So, first ever time on a bike was around the parking lot of a hotel in Lisbon, my dad took me there on a dudes' weekend when I was around 8 or 9 to go see the F1 at the Estoril track, this was around 1988 to 1990. A friend of his took me around the parking lot on his Virago XV250 sitting up front, I loved it and still remember it. I hate that guy now, but that is besides the point. As a teenager, and this will maybe be a little weird to a lot of you ancient people, I then rode pillion with my foreign girlfriend at the time on her cousin's DTR125, borrowed on a stay here. She was a little older and rode a motorcycle at home. Around that time, first time to ever ride alone was on a friend's Gilera Typhoon 50, plastic panels rattled and came apart every time it went over a tiny bump on the road , looked a lot rattier than this: Took my motorcycle classes and exam on a TW225 And then bought my first bike a year after starting to work, at around 22 or 23, a Transalp 650

Last Wednesday I went on another organised ride out of around 420km..when I say organised well because of the new restrictions here you can only have a "meeting" with two people so three of us got together for a little bimble in the mountains. the problem I have is I live a fair way from the meeting place if you look at the map the red blob near the coast is where I live. Now not far from the meeting place there are some roadworks, new roads being built new roundabouts and even though I keep my sat nav up to date these particular road improvements hadn't yet made the update page. anyway I was sent up what was once the correct road but now nothing more than a mud track then a gravel track and in the middle of it all new tarmac...go figure! I followed this a for a couple of clicks then realised that because of a fence between the roads the only options was to turn around and back track which is where i got things a little wrong LOL. We eventually ended up in a place called Noria Hidraulica in the mountains which is where the oldest still in use wooden water wheel is located. On the way to the meeting place I was using my SJ cam I have been having trouble with high pitch screaming on the audio track, this time I had no sound at all so please excuse incidental music. I am putting together another vid of the trip where I used my go pro but that's for later.

Not really a ride report but just a bimble around the roads and along the beach.

Well let's see, I think I was conceived on the back of a bike, so I started young. I lived in the country and my dad was in a local "gang", if you like. Where I lived then the bike gangs were an actual thing and it was always a big party every weekend. Bikes, bonfires and boobies everywhere., it was the 70's. ? I rode with my dad first, since before I could walk he would take me out for rides. So bikes were just always there. I didn't get my licence until I was in my 20's and unfortunately my dad passed away before I could share that with him.

If you got the money:

1971 I bought a 1963 Lambretta TV175 for 22 quid.......it looked something like this, but in a bad state with a Union Jack seat cover! It was in an even worse state when I sold it two months later after binning it about 10 times! Then I got a 1968 Vespa SS180 like this...... By the end of the year it was battered to shit as I binned that one about 7 or 8 times as well. January 1972 I got a 1965 D7 Bantam like this...... And guess what? I never binned it! Cos I spent most of the time pushing it. The following month I replaced it with a 1966 Triumph 3TA......ex Welsh Water Board. It was like this, but by no means immaculate! Fell of it about 4 or 5 times as I recall. Even took it round Llandow Race Track as well......and came very very close to binning it there too! August 1972 I got a Suzuki T250J Hustler......and that bike was the game changer for me. At last, a bike that didn't fuck up! Still binned it about 4 or times though! And that's as far as I'm going....cos I can't do 59 more!

Bearing With My Royal Enfield Himalayan - Part 4 - New Parts & Lots of Grease The time has come to change the front steering bearings in Bagheera, my 2019 Royal Enfield Himalayan. Bagheera has 6000km on him and that might seem early for a bearing change, but I believe the conditions I ride in can wear things out on the bike a bit faster. It's a great opportunity to learn more about my bike and as usual things never go according to plan, so this has turned into a multi-part video. In this episode we replace the bearings and races with new parts and grease, while sharing some casual garage chit-chat.

I think my first time on a bike was on the back of my uncles BMW exactly the same as this one. it was after that i started dreaming about bikes My first go on a bike solo was on a friends old trail bike haven't a clue what it was i was probably about 12 year old i had a straight line fixation and almost went down a 20ft grass bank on it but somehow turned away from it at the last second. My second go on a bike was a different friends OSSA 250 trials bike, i think i was around 13. Now that one did go over a 20ft drop. I rode wobbly along what was the old canal at the time and when i started to turn around the bike got the better of me and went up a grass bank which had about a 20ft drop the other side into the the cutting they were digging out for the new dual carriageway to Merthyr, I had managed to drop the bike on the edge as it went over and was holding onto it with all my strength but i couldn't hold it and over it went i can still picture it hitting the floor front wheel first on full lock i climbed down to it but couldn't start it as i didn't know it needed to be in neutral to kick it. In the meantime my mate turned up looking for me, i told him i flipped the bike trying to ride over the rocks, he congratulated me on getting to where i was on a first go as he struggled riding it out lol. i found out later he got rid of the bike shortly after because it had a twisted frame ? At about 14 or 15 my mate had a C90 which is what i really learned to ride on, we went everywhere on it taking it in turns to ride it totally illegal searching the valleys for pussy to impress Next came my first bike it was a DT175mx, well i needn't mention what trouble that got me into It was in real good condition and everything worked on it. Looked like this one Then i made one of the worst mistake of my life i swapped the DT for a Honda CB400N superdream thinking i could swap it for a 125 easier but how wrong i was, all i could get being young and easy to rip off was a CB100N, but i was now road legal and had started my life of two wheeled adventures

I've voted for the Welsh turd polisher, because if you had told me this time last year his bike would be on a road with snow in the back ground I would have laughed so hard a bit of wee would have come out, but there it is!!

Awful weekend......worked 12 hours yesterday, 12 hours today......and got out on the bike for half an hour. And that was hard going with the bloody wind. And look at next week.....decent Mon-Fri and a fucking shitstorm on the weekend!

It does look strange in the video, but it was the right size and did work out. I know my tool sizes, don't worry! ?

My sentiments exactly Ian, I'm sure he's photoshopped in reality Mucho gets my vote.

One of the things the dirty bastards were doing here was picking the shit up putting it in a bag and then hanging it on a tree branch or throwing it in the grit bins id rather it be left on the floor than that. There's someone in the day when i'm in work leaving their dog shit on the pavement outside my house. The fucker will be wearing it if i catch them unless their a big fucker

Was that you feeling homesick?

Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are about the only areas of the USA where you'll find lutefisk. These are the areas that the Scandinavian immigrants moved to years ago so they have Lutefisk. I lived in northern Iowa as a kid and lots of the Iowa-wegian (what we called them) restaurants had it on the menu. That shit is foul ! Can't believe anyone can eat that shit. My parents (children of German immigrants) would eat it, but I never went near it.

Here it's to keep the whole thing out of the clag and plop. I once went through some clay so thick that it formed a perfect 4 or 5 inch thick ring of mud to stick to my front wheel, the forks acting as a cutter to keep it the same width as my tyre. I thought when I left the soft ground and got onto tarmac it would fall off. No chance, I was riding along with my front end 5 inches higher than it should have been. Had to stop and use my hands to drag the stuff off in the end.

If its the End of the World. Im here to make it look good.

My mistake....it was the SS90.

I've never seen a tool for inserting the outer races like that. The norm is a bush sitting in the race but with a lip to sit on the top of the race, if that makes sense. Looks like what you were using was to small for the job?

Good work @Grasshopper's Ride ? fixing things myself always gives me a good feeling of achievement. I've found a copper/hide mallet a much better tool than a rubber mallet for hitting things

So, although the world conspires against the BOTM events, we did manage to get a few cool entries for BOTM. Feast your eyes on this! We´ve got: @alfalfa's BMW R1200GSA, "Flames", on a Californian dirt road in the US @Grasshopper's Ride's Royal Enfield Himalayan, "Bagheera" on a lush British Columbia forest, in Canada @Pedro's BMW R1200GSA on a green meadow in Portugal @Skippy's Royal Enfield Himalayan on a sunny ride in Southern Spain @Tym's moped, "Loosenuts", hanging from a tree in the US @XTreme's BMW G650GS out on a chilly ride in Spain

That's a great report Ian. I think a lot of people get the wrong idea about Essex, they imagine it's all chavs living in their mock Tudor 1950's semi's but you've shown that there's some real history there.

It'll probably never happen again in our lifetime Yen!

they will come up with tier 5 in a bit ?

Did @Catteeclan just imply he has a bigger tool for the job?

Loosenuts for me!

I was out for 20 minutes just to turn the bike over.....that was enough.

I had a 500 like that in Ohio mid '70's. not the same paint.

That'll get us to the top of Google for sure!

better believe it

Wasn't mine....I had my Vespa at the time.

I think you're right. If they think no one will notice they leave it. I understand, who wants to pick up a hot turd, pop it into a bag and carry it about, but that's the price of owning a dog these days. When I was a kid some scummy people used to chuck their dog out at the start of the day and call them in in the evening, like cats. I remember one called Champ when I was about 7 years old, a large German Shepherd, used to lay outside the flats where we lived. If you called him he would come for a walk with you. The git bit me on the shoulder once as I ran past like a looney and frightened him. We also had a German Shepherd called Sheba, it was one of my jobs to take her out a few times a day, I had to walk the opposite direction from Champ in case there was a fight or worse....puppies!

I need more snow for glow pics!

WTF, is that because they only pick it up if they are embarrassed to be seen walking away by lots of people on the street?

My vote goes for Alalfa's bike, I just love the road and the sky, man I need lockdown and winter to go away!

my first bike was a 1976 yamaha fs1e in baja brown with the speed blocks

Think I’ll just stay in and become an alcoholic, it won’t matter what happens as long as I have whiskey or meths.?

That truly is some Pedro food right there!

Tiger 1200 would be perfect ? Flights over should be fairly cheap and I'd use more money than hire in fuel costs there and back let alone whilst there so think that is the way to go, flight hire bike

Doesn't sound too bad like, I'll check out that link see what goes

Welcome to the XTreme .??

You seen the size of Rich.

Sorry @Bruce I forgot my chair for a minute.

i really meant the goth chick's

Allie is a sweetheart, Rich, stop for some flowers or wine or whatever. Apart from her taste in men she is a nice lady. Pete is a loudmouth welshman, he'll try to embarrass you first chance he gets. On and off the bike.

Topic specific forums (i.e. motorcycles) will always attract a majority of like-minded people. Couple that with the fact that most riders are pretty good people, Bruce excepted, and you have a much more enjoyable place to hang out. Unfortunately, that also hampers the amount of different discussion that takes place on FB. Maybe if the forum software was configured to display conversations similar to how FB does it, it might be more inviting. On FB, you only have to load the app and you are hit with every single conversation the algorithms can throw at you. I liken it to my restaurant experiences with the club i ride with - everyone is talking at the same time so the noise level is high. Forums like this are more like polite, mature conversation where you listen before speaking. well, mostly.

Here are some that I have pictures of.

A Richard Gere wig..... ,,,,,,along with a nice Beemer..... ......and you'd start getting some respect from your neighbour!