Motobiker

ooh.. if he's handy. I have a little list. its so little it has only one name on it. fairly short.

That only applies to those built after 1981 in this country.. I would assume if other countries have similar rules then they would also have similar 'get out' clauses. perhaps this bike, very originally came from the UK. a fact lost in the mists of time. or when it was built, things like this didn't matter.

I'm not so sure that really matters any more and as the years go by.. will be even less relevant.

Funnily enough, Scotland is one place I've never been. No reason why.. its just never happened. Only thing that puts me off (slightly) are the midges, though there are handy websites that can alert you when they're abundant or a threat. and this year it seems every biker is on their way there and I'm not into herding. I like to have the place to myself. Maybe once we return to some kind of normality I'll make the effort. Same goes for Spain - never been aside from when I was 6yrs old. When this years trip was cancelled, I did mention Scotland.. but there wasn't much enthusiasm as its going to get very crowded with frustrated bikers going there as an alternative to Euroland.

We have a plan.

There are no ferries to Belgium. The hull zeebrugge ferry ended this year and there is a travel ban in place between uk and Netherlands as we are on their red list.

There is no problem getting into France. It’s when you return. Not everyone can afford to add 10 days to their holiday entitlement. I certainly can’t. Nor could most of the guys coming with me this year. It would have been doable if we were allowed to transit, bit of a slog but we could’ve headed directly to the Black Forest. But even a non-stop transit means quarantine.

Its a bit of a farce, you cannot enter France for any reason (aside from the usual exemptions like truckers) Last year the rules were different and allowed me to go down to Italy, I could enter France as long as I didn't 'stop' there.. stop 'overnight'. Had to pass through, which was fine. Rules for Belgium were the same, no stopping. Austria the same. So.. the only places I could stop overnight were Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein. This is the primary reason we have been forced to cancel our yearly trip. As of now the only place you can go is Spain, so long as you use the Santander/Bilbao ferry.

No longer exists. The people of the village got so tired of visitors ridicule and bad jokes and of the sign being stolen they at first replaced it with a plastic one, and then in the end changed the name of the village. to Fugging. This happened at new year. https://tinyurl.com/yzvxr4e4

Its the % that matters rather more than the raw numbers. what worries more is our infection rate, which is number 2 in the world. 310,000 over the past 7 days. This means something quite frightening that the media seem to be ignoring. With so much virus circulating in the general population. The virus is going to come into contact with more and more vaccinated people and will eventually do what viruses do. Adapt.

Would you notice one, even if you passed one going the other way? doubtful.

I'm not sure you're right in this case. The last time BMW tried a cruiser was back in the late 90s. They sold more than 40,000 of the thing in its various iterations, over the course of 7 years. Quite good for BMW in the years leading up to "adventure madness" Especially if you contrast those numbers with the R1150GS/GSA which started the whole thing. Over 6 years they sold 76,000 of those.. I think its more than likely that towards the end of the 1150s run, with the new 1200 waiting in the wings they cancelled production of this (in reality) niche model simply because they needed all the capacity they could muster.. they couldnt make GS's fast enough to meet the demand. The R1200C didnt really take off in the USA, the primary market because the engine an 1170cc unit was deemed too small by the press. Nowadays, good examples of these bikes are actually collectors items. I dont remember anyone at the time complaining about the foot rest position. It was all about engine size or lack of it. Looks like they have now answered that one complaint.

I have the same problem. So, i drilled holes in the sides and a slot on top for my (rather dazzling) mohican.

Depends on the circumstances.. for the tedious parts of a tour, long stretches of motorway to get down to Folkestone or across Northern France. I get 65+mpg or close to 300 miles from the tank. For rather more vigorous fun. probably around 45. But thats only a guess as its not something I obsess about. On my previous bike an R1100GS it was 45 regardless. I don't bother allowing the display to show mpg. just range as that is all I'm interested in.

I came across this, a very popular biker hotel/Meeting place, 18 miles north of the Nurburgring.. but just look at whats happened to it. My photos were taken with my old iPhone SE, now traded in.

@boboneleg The trips I organise are on-tarmac only, the guys I invite are usually inexperienced riders (to begin with) who have never toured before. (usually) So, its generally very relaxed and has to be relatively stress free. Though there have been a few memorable occasions when we 'off roaded' by accident.. I got a shedload of earache. from them all aside from one chap on a TRX850 who thought it was a hoot.

What I find fascinating about this kind of attitude is that the very first mobile phone I ever saw, late 80s was powered by two lead acid batteries and was the size of a pull-along suitcase. Wholly impractical, but paved the way for a brief foray into alkaline and then once phones became truly pocket sized, Lithium. As with everything, new tech is going to be expensive due to set-up costs plus a relatively small market. But as with all tech that will change. As the switchover continues prices will fall. And eventually lead acid will be relegated to older machines for a time, until the tech can deal with them too. Ive been very lucky, the lithium battery in my own bike has been completely reliable and in the almost 3 years of ownership I have seen 3rd party replacements appear 1/4 the price of the OEM... which has forced the price of the OEM down to a degree. A 1000cc bike with a battery little bigger than a packet of 20 cigarettes - 4" wide, that when standing unused will lose 1% of its charge per month. so not much need for a charger/maintainer. Quite amazing. Lithium battery tech for motorbikes and other vehicles is based entirely on the tech used in mobile phones, and we dont give that a seconds thought. I never see phone owners wishing we could go back to the good old days of lead acid.. or even Duracell type alkalines in their phones... its all about longer usage times and shorter charge times. More from less and as cheap as possible. Safe obviously as its often kept in a pocket.

It can be summed up quite easily. The region we were due to visit is now a flood disaster zone on an epic scale its also impossible to go to France without an enforced quarantine when we return. And I cannot knowingly do that. It seems just wrong to carry on being in denial or hope there might be a turnaround. The plan for next year is a 2 week trip to the Austrian Alps and Italian Dolomites, same time. The weekend after August Bank Holiday. So will be trying to shift tunnels bookings etc to that date, if a refund isn't possible. And will begin thrashing out the details later this year once we are in the winter blues and need something to look forward to. And hope for better times.

I kinda agree (ish) My first big bike after passing my test in 1982. A 1975 T160 and it looked exactly like this.

With this merry band of Tory idiots in charge, who knows? But.. you have to be optimistic.

Yes.. everyone else. (I normally take a small group) had to drop out, mostly due to paranoia about possible enforced quarantine on return. In the event that never happened. I was totally honest. I crossed countries that were 'on the list' like Austria. And although I went into the Czech republic, briefly. I didn't stop anywhere public. and after a couple of hours was back in Germany. It was nice, after so many years taking groups to be on my tod. off the leash (so to speak) nice.. but not the same. I used the time to reccy for next year.. when we will be heading down to Austria and into the Dolomites.

Every year except this year. the door has been slammed. Luckily, last year the door was partially ajar although I was forced to be very careful about where I stayed. Germany, Italy and most unlikely of all Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein. a place that will go down in memory. A campsite with its own restaurant, where a starter cost (minimum) €25 and a bottle of Erdinger €7 Less said about that the better. Highlight.. was the most banal thing. Though a first for me. Crossing the Danube by ferry. and then looking back at the Bavarian mountains that border the Czech republic. sad git me.