Tango

Cheers Pete. We've got quite a variety of terrain around here. The beach and Mediterranean on one side and the Pyrénées and massive centrale to our West and North. Then there's the Alps a few hours the other way! It's a nice place to live.

The sun was shining and the cold wind from the last few days had gone, so I decided that a little bimble was in order. I topped the tank at our local supermarket and headed up to Coursan. Then across to the Narbonne northern bypass and peeled off north towards Ginestas. The traffic was pretty light, so it was easy going. A guy on a T100 Bonneville caught up with me just before Saint- Marcel - sur- Aude. We tried having a conversation at a set of lights, but engine noise and language barrier put paid to that! He turned off shortly after anyway. I carried on North and eventually crossed the Argeliers - Trebes road. This is where the ride starts getting a bit more interesting, as the road was then heading into the Corbieres hills. After a bit, I turned off this road to head towards the medieval town of Minerve. This road follows the hillside on one side of the valley of the river Cesse, so it twists and turns around rocky outcrops. French drivers have the mindset that nothing should be coming the other way on blind bends, so extra care is needed to not meet one of them on your side of the road when coming around these bends. I stopped just before the town to get some photos. The town is perched on a rocky point where two rivers meet and have carved two valleys/canyons through the rocky landscape. I rode through the town and headed up to the carpark that overlooks it. There's not much of a view of the town from there, so I decided to carry on up the single track road into the hills for a bit. There didn't seem to be too much more up in that direction, but there were some nice views towards the Pyrénées. It was a bit hazy, so the snow on the peaks was barely visible. I headed back down to the town and set sail for home. I stopped once more to take some pictures of a village, sitting between a low cliff and the river, which has no water in it at the moment. I took a slightly different route back. Going through Argeliers and Capestang, before peeling off towards the south again, through Montels and Nissan- les-Enserune and back to home. Not a huge ride, probably around 100-110km, but nice to get out on the bike for a while.

Dunno, we'll have to check for overspray on the tyres!

It's really shocking, what he's found so far!

I first came across his channel a few years back, when I was researching the Street Scrambler. Triumph loaned him a Gold Line edition to review. He dropped it, trying to do some off-roading on it, and he nearly got stuck in a hollow, that he'd got into, but couldn't get out again! I'm not sure that Triumph have loaned him another bike since that episode!

I did a few days there a good few years back on my Speed Triple. Stayed with friends in Telford for a night and then did a bit of Snowdonia. First day was lovely, the second day not so much! I camped 1 night at a pub in the Snowdonia Park, got soaked the following day, so I gave up on the camping and stayed a couple of nights in a guesthouse in Barmouth to let my kit dry out. I then went down and stayed in a pub in Tenby and then headed back from there. Fortunately, apart from day 2, it was mainly dry. It was a good trip.

I sometimes watch his Tuesday at Dobbs', which can be quite entertaining at times. I like some of the comments that people make. His bike of the week always makes me laugh. He looks at the price, that's it! And his dream bike is a Hardly!

Yes, it's pretty interesting. I'm glad that his bike is now in the hands of someone who seems to know what he's doing! I just found it astonishing that the guys that worked on his bike before were such cowboys! I've not watched his transalp videos yet. Has that got you thinking?

I've not really been following his travels much, just the odd video, but ignoring a problem like that and then trying to make it sound like the bike is at fault is a bit twattish for sure! I think that his missus does a lot of the videoing tbh.

Watch this reel https://www.facebook.com/share/r/UNAjjnz3DyDM6tJG/

9

She's not the only one.......allegedly!

I don't know if any of you guys watch Freddie's videos and Vlogs on YouTube? Anyway, he has a 2009 (I think) Triumph Bonneville T100 SE that he's abused a fair bit. Going to Morocco and then back to the UK, amongst other things. When he got it back to the UK it was in a bit of a sorry state, so he got someone to take a look at it. They stripped the top end of the engine, but then the work stalled for a good while because they couldn't get a cylinder base gasket, none in stock with Triumph anywhere in Europe! Anyway, eventually some of Freddie's followers managed to send some to him. Funnily, in the video comments a number of guys were saying to make one from gasket material, as it was only the base gasket! Anyway, the reassembly went ahead and Freddie got the bike back, but it wasn't running at all well and it then developed electrical issues. Freddie then took it to a independent Triumph specialist, who had a look and diagnosed low compression and something on the electrics. His advice was to replace the engine! Freddie posted all this and was seriously questioning whether it was worth keeping the bike or just get rid! A couple of other youtubers contacted him, volunteering to have a look at the bike for him. Eventually Freddie arranged with one of them, that he'd take the bike away and see if he could sort it out over the coming months. Anyway, I've been following this other guy's channel to see what he finds. So far, with regards to the electrical issues, he's replaced the starter relay and found that the charging circuit wasn't really working well, so he's replaced and upgraded the Reg/Rec. He has found a small airleak in one of the inlet stubs too. But the latest video, from Sunday 4 Jan, is truly shocking. The guys that did the original work on the bike had reassembled it with the valve timing way off! He also found that they'd put the cam caps back on in a completely random order! There was also a problem with one of the spark plug holes, which they said that they had helicoiled. The guy working on the bike now looked at the plug and it's flopping around in all directions just before it's seated! He's now considering if it needs the cylinder head replaced! What I find shocking is that some so-called professionals have done such shoddy work and really don't seem to be overly bothered about it. Like him, or hate him, Freddie has a lot of followers on YouTube etc, so these other guys could have really shot themselves in the foot! Where is the pride in their work with some of these guys now! This is the first video from the guy who has taken on the job of fixing the Bonneville (for those that are interested)

1 member, 2 anonymous, 32 guests? You're being watched!

That's a bit of a regular problem on those, Bob? Can you put any thread lock on them, or is that not a good idea?

Had a irate son contact me last night. Seems like someone has knicked his identity and bank account details and is trying to arrange insurance for their car. The first that my son knew about it was a letter from VW Insurance that arrived yesterday. My son contacted his bank and the national fraud line. The reply he got from the fraud line was that identity theft isn't a police reportable crime unless a company or individual has been defrauded of some money! Basically, the police and government don't want to know about that sort of crime, as it's probably something like hard work to find the perpetrators and it doesn't look good on their crime stats!

It's a shame to see a great actor fallen on hard times!