Pedro

At 16000km these are running out of thread, but amazingly very smooth and a delight to do corners as long as you remind yourself they’re not a sporty tire. I decided to see how far the would go because I’ve never had a worn tire that handles as nicely as this (no rain, though). I think there is no better tire for a big trip on a big trail bike. In a couple of days they’ll be replaced with some Continentals. The next pair of Mitas is already in the garage, but only to be fitted a few days before the next Morocco trip, which so far is very uncertain regarding dates.

Rode north today, with the 3 hours motoway trip extended another hour or so for smaller roads long way alternatives

I checked their website, there is a 500cc version previous to this one with a one cylinder engine. On that 500cc there is a scrambler version which is the base version with 150mm non adjustable suspension travel, but then there is a 200mm suspension travel with adjustable suspension. Maybe there’s some of that coming to the 700.

Back then a vtwins’ rear engine overheated easily. This also spins the right way to exit transmission via a drive shaft, which they wanted for being more resilient to war. Also they were quite fast. On today’s boxers you could obviously get more specific power on other configurations, however heat is still an issue on warmer climates when you travel not going very fast on higher output engines, ask anyone with a KTM or a Ducati, the character of the engine suits travelling and ease of use, and people still like the shaft. I personally like how it both pulls from 2500rpms and also sounds like an airplane at 8 or 9000rpms. I am aware it’s a Nazi airplane, though, it’s a guilty pleasure.

Is it really a Yamaha engine though, or a copy?

Do you access your garage through the house? A secured from inside garage door would be ideal if that’s so.

Looks nice in black. I have been pondering the same.

You would think so but no. It was gone long before I got the 1150.

I ‘ve said before, the holocaust, climate change, plenty of stuff not your fault. Sadly my hair is also one of those things, but if I catch who did it I ‘ll be pretty upset

I think where they are probably their buying power at that age makes them not really worried about bikes. Nowadays most people on a new GS are renting it, at 2 or 3 years they just pay a grand or two and switch over to another bike, this makes that they don’t really care about the bike. Also they’re clueless, you see plenty of people in that video being equally clueless on lighter bikes with offroad tires. The equipment doesn’t save you if you’re going from a high grip surface onto slippery wet ground while cornering and adjust nothing.

It’s your doing, Pete, being so charismatic all the time and now making fun of him openly. Shouldn’t play with people’s feelings like that!

A friend of mine has one. Feels heavy and a little lazy around interesting roads, and not really frugal on motorways at normal speeds. An oldschool touring bike I think, he misses his Strom 650 except when taking his wife for Sunday morning coffee.

Just watched the first few, the guy wheeling the big gs showing off and was my favourite one. There’s a theme though, which is dropping stopped bikes and disrespecting speed on dirtroads, I think a few have little experience or respect for what they’re doing.

It’s available here and you still see a few about, new and old. Just checked, it’s not on their website anymore so I was wrong.

Ducati went in and got their mentality from Audi, which are masters in creating dominating machines. Biggest number of bikes on track means they get 3 or 4 times more data to study than everyone else. It’ll be the Audi R8 of the moto GP, no Audi R8 ever stopped at LeMans, while still dominating on pace.

I meant dudes going because it’s full of women, not because they like what women like.

If it starts to become known that it’s a woman thing it’ll soon be full of new Abba male fans

Tyson Fury could only be a better fighter’s name if it was Tyson Ali Fury.

To be honest, it's normal to have this much heat in this region in July / August. It's going to cool a little in the upcoming days, but tomorrow morning first thing I'm escaping to the Coast and hang with Sofia for a few days.

Everything can break.

A friend called me because his wife's car broke down, she managed to exit the motorway but 300km away from home (near me) and asked if I was at my place. Car was dead, phone was dying, she's panicking, heat wave, etc, so I got on the GS in a hurry and flew there with a power bank and an extra helmet. Didn't take the E30 because worse than heat stroke is being stuck in 44º behind trucks and no AC. The plan was to get her to some shade with a bottle of water and fix the recovery calmly. If it took very long I had an extra helmet to get her on the GS and take her to a restaurant very close by to sort out the trailer in comfort. When I got there her phone was dead, and turns out she had a 3 year old child with her. Water and shade was enough, and 30 minutes later they had a taxi and a tow truck, even though the boy wanted to go on the bike instead The car? A 2 year old Toyota that started to fail on the motorway like it was running out of fuel except it wasn't, and then wouldn't even turn on electric power to charge the phone, completely dead.

Next time one of you thinks you're tough for riding with wet feet and cold in the rain, this is proper tough:

Oh, another suggestion, although a little left field and not continental Portugal but since you're flying anyway: Porto Santo island. Pure beach resorts with huge beach. June is lovely in the Algarve, though.

Went out in the old bmw car today, to have a coffee and a chat with a friend by the cool riverside. I went on the car as it's too hot to bother taking the bike, I´m just a casual as there were plenty of people suffering on bikes. Someone forgot the heating turned on outside and it's gone over 40ºC, so I spent the rest of the day enjoying a very quiet countryside from inside the house. It was not windy earlier and I've never been anywhere so quiet during the daytime, not even in Morocco.

What time of year? If you're looking for a beach resort I would advise the cliché thing and go to the Algarve, guaranteed great weather and a nice time at the beach. I am a fan of Faro as it's not too touristy, but no beach resort and getting to the beach is a chore. The Atlantic coast has very pretty locations maybe with more authenticity, but weather is a bit unpredictable with lots of time in advance. Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago (both immediately west of Faro) are top notch and lovely, but expensive, with little consideration for budget those would be my picks. Give it a look. Ilha Deserta and Ilha do Farol don't have resorts but are worth a visit for deserted beaches. The one building at Ilha Deserta is a restaurant, and it is amazing.