Leaderboard

Went for a great ride yesterday on Charlotte, my Honda. Took one of my favourite routes around a bunch of lakes with lots of twisty corners. It was on of those days where every corner feels just right and you feel one with the bike. That might be a bit to philosophical for some.....but that's the way I roll..... This trip was for a few reasons, one, to take a nice ride and enjoy a break at the lake in the sun, but also to scope out boat launch sites. There might be a watercraft in my future, besides with all these lakes in my backyard it would be a shame not to enjoy them. Grasshopper's don't swim so well, but they do float.

My collies dint like the warm sunshine even during the winter.

3 days of hardcore rugged individualism coming your way ….

Last weekend we decided to take the Himalayans for a ride to a local lake we enjoy. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a nice ride through the forest with a short stop at the lake and then home. That was the plan, Plan A we will call it! The riding was really dusty. After the heat wave we had the back roads were extra dry and loose, a bit tricky to ride on, but still fun. We made it to the lake and it was a splendid day. The bikes were running great. Not too hot yet, still early in the day and no one was around. The lake looked so nice and it was really warm. After a nice break we decided to head home. Got all ready, turned the key, dash lights on.....hit the go button and POOFF!! DEAD, nothing....NO GO So the jackets and helmets came off and we proceeded to try and find the problem. We did all the usual stuff, checked all we could check and still found nothing. Bagheera was dead. The day was getting on and we needed to get home for our dog, so Plan B started. Let's try to tow the bike home. Well that didn't last long, the other Himalayan just didn't have enough power for the loose gravel hills we had to go up. I had never towed a bike with another bike, so it was a good learning experience at least. .....so onto Plan C One person goes home and brings back the 4Runner and we try and stuff Bagheera into the back somehow. Sure, no problem, only 450lbs to lift up and stuff in..... So my partner went home and I waited with Bagheera, removing as many extra parts as I could, to help with the stuffing into the 4Runner. After some time, my knight in a dusty 4Runner appeared to save the day. It was then that I had a feeling that my Gazoo (the 4Runner) would never be the same after that day. But he did look good in rescue mode. Ok, now to make this work. Sure it will fit! We removed the gas from Bagheera and got into a spot where we didn't have to lift too far. We got out our awesome MAXTRAX MKII Recovery Boards, which I have been wanting to use and proceeded to lift and push.... It was hard because we needed the handle bars to lift the bike, but he wouldn't fit in with them on........we also needed to lift him up and over the rear area, how the hell will this work?.......I was getting hot and grumpy by this point. Then the motorcycle spirits came to our aid. After a few people passing, who were nice and all, but would not be useful in these circumstances, we had just the right guy come by. He was an old long hair, with a big old pickup and two dogs. After shaking his head at our idea and smiling to himself, he was happy to help. Eventually the three of us managed to stuff Bagheera into the 4Runner. Damaging who knows what, but at that point I didn't care. Of course we could not close the rear hatch and with the dusty roads, we all looked like we had been caught in a sandstorm when we got home. Everyone was hot, dusty and tired now. The 4Runner was a total mess, layers of dust, dents in things, the rear bumper for one. The floor over the back seats had some holes in them as well. Which is all good, I have been wanting to rip the back seats out for awhile now. Then build in some storage for camping and 4x4 travels. Who needs back seats....lol Bagheera had a few scratches from the drive and his shifter was totally bent in, but I should have replaced it the first time it bent after a fall..... At this time Bagheera's electrical gremlins have yet to be found. I have a few ideas, but nothing conclusive. All part of the adventure with Bagheera, the cursed Himalayan......

Squid with linguini, just now

Electrical issues on a clone of a Brit bike? Hold on, one second....lololololololololol...ok now im better. Ride Japanese bikes or walk home is the gold standard of advise ya know.

Yes, we had a few days of record breaking heat, it was really nasty. Now the forest fires have started around the province. It was hardest to watch our old dog suffer through the heat, but we made it and now the temps are more seasonal, but still on the high side.

As I had put my tyres on yesterday, today was a test ride to make sure my wheel weren't going to fall off, nor the tyres deflate. I was going to take a ride to Canterbury, never been there, my licence has, some nonsense about not being allowed to cross double white lines, but I haven't. The weather report (lying fuckers) suggested that it was going to rain in Kent, so instead I decided to take a look at a bit of Suffolk coast. The pictures below, in no particular order are, Bawdsey Beach, then the old WW2 defences at Bawdsey Hall, plus the Napoleonic era defences at the same place. I thought there was only a single Martello tower, but walking back to my bike I saw what appeared to be two more across the fields. Finally Orford Castle. As I was approaching Bawdsey, the first thing I saw was what appeared to be yachts sailing across a field.

All the normal things have been checked. I do have experience with this sort of thing, unfortunately. After looking over every wire I discovered a problem at the bottom of the ignition switch, a known trouble area for this bike. I have fixed it now, and that seems to have fix one problem, but there is another.......

. Recovery insurance........lol Sorry, no. That is not really an option for us. We do have a thing here, where you can get a membership and be towed to the nearest garage or have them bring you gas, etc.... Works if you are on a main road. Not so helpful where we were, we don't even have a cell signal back there.

oh I know......our two Hondas at home just laugh at the Himalayans......

so your into water sports eh I cant believe @XTreme missed this opportunity to be vulgar but somebody has to lower the tone

What you say Bruce?

Had my coffee sat on the garden swing.....sunny but a cool breeze blowing!

@Grasshopper's Ride suggested a nautical adventure coming up in the future, let the lessons begin!

I've been out in 15c temperatures that have felt bitterly cold and 5c that has felt mild it all depends on that wind. looking forward to the single digit stuff i like those temperatures when trail riding

Wow thats sucks and very disappointing. Have you tried saying “Come on Baggy get with the beat” ?

I got some karma thrown at me today after trying to wind you up about us having better weather here i decided to go out on the bike for a few solitary hours this afternoon and at my furthest point from home the heavens opened and i got drenched because i was dressed for the "good weather " and while out i stopped to talk (keeping a good distance) to someone i came up behind tip toeing along the trail on a triumph tiger 800 and his name turned out to be Fred Jones which we both had a chuckle about

. ummmm, wow!!.......great advice so far

I mentioned earlier in this thread about the yard foreman, a young bloke called Tony. As stated, he was all good looks and muscles and he liked the ladies. Our yard was squeezed between the river and a load of flats and maisonettes in Barking called The Gascoigne Estate. Named after the Gascoignes who had been the big cheeses and land owners for hundreds of years. A few old fogies on here will know one of the family as he used to host University Challenge. I was mooching about the yard one day and happened to look out of the gate. I was used to seeing odd people wandering about, plus we were in a road with various types of yard all down the same side as the river which meant we had some strange people working in them. On this day I looked and saw a man wearing a white Judo suit. He was on the little green shown on the right below with the big tree. He was doing all the harry karry stuff, kicks, chops, all directed at the tree shown. Basically he was being a bit of a knob. I could also see Tony, flying about in a fork lift. I called out to him and he roared up and came to a skidding halt. 'Wassup Yen?' he was the one who christened me with that name, it developed out of shouting Ian in a noisy yard. 'There's a bloke outside, says you have been messing with his woman, he is waiting for you!' Tony looked out the gates and there is this twat punching imaginary baddies and kicking invisible things above his head, he's really going for it now. To give Tony his due, he jumped out of the fork lift and was on his way out to the bloke before I managed to stop him. Tony got me back later that day, he had me sitting on the top rails of a covered articulated lorry to help pull the sheet over. He told me to sit still on the rail whilst they moved the lorry up a few yards so they could line up the next load from the road side. What I didn't know and he did was that there was a large tree branch behind me. As the lorry backed up I was pushed off the rail and down into the skips of swarf. I lay just inside the skip covered in small pieces of metal and cutting oil. A blonde head appeared over the edge and a finger was wagged in my direction as he told me not to ever try and get one over on him again.

Lots of car parks so he can get the bike out for a photo.

4C here this morning - had to put on my old man slippers.

Peak District , off out for a few hours before footy

Looks like one of the boats on Skeggy boating lake!.

I don't know why but this image keeps coming into my head ...........

A screaming black smoke belching over pressured 12v71 jet boat!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Can't say yet, but stay tuned for my watercraft adventures, due to start this fall. .

I am 98% sure of what the issue is..... But, with that said, I think I will wait to see what happens tomorrow before I do my happy dance and say for sure... Gremlins can appear overnight around here.....lol

Thats because 13⁰c isn't cold its a comfortable temperature. When its well in to single digits then its abit fresh

One thing to check is that it hasn't smoked the starter motor if its still not turning over, either that or you have another short somewhere in the loom. Good luck Michelle

I've never needed to use it......but it's peace of mind knowing it's there!

That's about the only thing i really worry about when out on my own its not what it should be as in falling and getting injured its what happens if i break down i have recovery but some of the places the bike would have to be air lifted out i don't think that's included in my cover

There was a similar pair down our way when i was in my early teens, me and a mate used to be stalking in the woods shooting at anything that did or didn't move and would often bump into this guy practicing martial arts of some form on a tree, Dai Kung we called him he had twin brother that done the same, when they were together they were called the kungs

Ooh a nerve

Can we keep insults directed solely at the member.......it's not the done thing to involve family members!

You’d know all about car parks ..,no doubt the ones with toilets and lots of lorries .

Letting the side down there Yen......sometimes you gotta take one for the team! What you say @Clive?

Pillish. Apparently most of them have been washed away here. They used 6 inch Royal Navy guns taken from scrapped WW1 ships, in case ze Germans came across the North Sea.

Finally - a yacht that I can afford....

That would be a tragic loss of the Sid James of forum world

Tell that to this guy.

I'm trying to clean up my act a bit Fred!

The weathers gone wonky here, either rain heat or clouds...FFS!

30c at 9am and now 34c at 10am! Today I am mainly being Nowhere Man!

It is a dreaded............ electrical issue ....Bagheera is a boy . .....just for the record

Looks like it might be a tent/garage day......surprise, surprise, Bagheera, my Himalayan, is not working....... So let's see..... a broken Himalayan, a tent, some sunshine, shiny tools.....what's missing????? BEER!!! Good thing I have a second bike to do a beer run on.....