MooN

Well I need to get some ride time in this weekend cos it looks like the balloon is abot to go up here again, they're talking Lockdown on the Telly now... I told you they'd wait untill the Parisien holiday was over and then shut us down again... wankers

It's no fun if I'm the only one playing...

You remind me of the marine architect who drew the plans for an RNLI boarding boat we built when I was training, He'd decreed that the "stations" ( temporary forms around which the hull planking is done before fitting the frames and floors) were to be at 85.71428 cm apart. The master shipwright's first comment was " shall we tell him that we wrok to 1/8th of an inch tolerance...?" the difference between theory and practice,

without test riding one, the only criticism is that Fugly front end,,, two other things spring to my mind though, why chain drive and not shaft? Is all the high tech engine widgitry not going to limit potential usage to places ahere high tech widgetry freindly service centres are available? I imagine that ( despite the rhetoric) the actual target market is the US rider who would like a GS but would also like US made and will mostly ride on road, but enjoys the possibility of trails ( and lets face it this is a majority of "adventure bike" riders) and won't ever actually need a bush machanic to fix it with hammer and a screwdriver. Is 5000miles a normal service interval? seems a bit short to me, with most vehicles service intervals increasing with technlogy. My bike is 10000km so 6200miles, my car is 20,000km and wifeys car is 30,000km ( to be fair, that's a diesel, but my point is that I thought the tendance was an increase in service intervals). It'll be interesting to watch and see how it fares, I have rarely seen a bike get so many people excited, either for or against.

Yesterday I took it all apart again. The bolt that I had available and used was a slot headed machine screw. The original bolt was a Hex head so There was on hex head bolt and one slot headed machine screw in there and though out of sight, it Irked me, so I got a couple of 8x70 A2 stainless bolts and a couple of 8x50 of the same, a couple of stainless washers and as I had some spare time wednesday afternoon I removed the offending bolt and tried the 8x50, which was too short, and the 8x 70 was too long. I cut down the 8x70 to make and 8x60 and fitted that, with it's washer. I then realised that my 8 mmbol has a 13mm hex head and the original one has a 12mm hex head. This being the sort of thing that drives me round the twist when I come across it at work, I cut down the 2nd 8x70 and fitted that as well so there are two identical stainless bolts now. @skyrider I work on boats, force of habit means all bolts were greased before being refitted ?

Far from it Bob, "La Betise Humaine" is alive and well and living in Paris. The rest of the country HATES them

number of cases is rising again here. They have put 20 Departements on the surveillance list. it's a fucking no brainer, the departments where it's significantly increased this week are ALL coastal areas and it just so happens that the Parisiens are on holiday.... no one is admitting that link cos that'd cause trouble.

Tym, if the admin were to remove everyting "innapropriate" from here, we'd all be looking at a blank page...

think that's old... my wife's boss refers to her as "Fangio" ! ?

At the moment we are still allowed to travel freely ( within the country) but hotels, restaurants, bars and all meeting venues are closed. Shoping malls of more than 20,000 sq metres are closed exept for food shops. There is a general curfew between 6pm and 6 am. Some parts of southern France are looking at a weekend curfew I believe, but not where I am. We are expecting a rework of the rules next week, once the Paris region is back from half term holiday ( God forbid that the parisiens should have to forgo their february skiing trip!)

I'm beach body ready. In much the same way as a beached whale !

I'm sure they do Pete but not having Yen's contacts or experience in the "underworld" of public sewerage, I don't have any other way to suggest entry to the delights of the Parisien poo park.

you can do guided tours of the parisien sewer network... https://www.pariszigzag.fr/balades-excursions/balade-paris/visite-des-egouts-de-paris

BMW's riding round France can be hears saying ti each other " My grandfazer vos here, durink ze vor. Ja, but he had no veels, only traks on both zides und a big gun in ze front... "

Only that it was one of the 5 designated beaches, right in the centre between Juno and Omaha... around Arromanches. The problem with visiting the beaches today is that they bear no resemblance to what they did 10 or 15 years ago, let alone 77 years ago, coastal erosion has completer remodelled the landscape, though I believe you can still see the remains of the Mulberry harbours, one of which would have been on Gold Beach, the Other on Omaha. As a kid I studied the naval engagements surrounding D-Day ( obsessed by boats even then. so I could probably tell you what ships bombarded and then supported Gold beach, but I'm sure that's all on the web somewhere.

That's one of the more strongly worded one Bob! " assanitad by the enemy" ! I have also come across them in some very remote places. One of the first I found round here you would need to know it was there to find it and it's a big one, apparantly where the Local Kommandatur liked to take his suspects and line them up to be shot, a secluded spot with a bloody history.

cockpit pics taken today, all special like.

what'd they do that for?

" In that light..." ?

@XTreme I hope you noticed that I did the screen shot of my route with the adventuremotorcycles tab in the background at the top... ?

Nope, only in very general terms, not my specialist subject I'm afraid. I did a lot of research into the Somme offensives of the 1st war prior to going there a couple of years ago, and a lot more into the resistance, specifically in Burgundy as I can easily access local records and have been able to speak to people who were actually there and involved... no longer alas, as those alive today would have been old enough to even run messages for the resistance in 1940 would be well into their 90's today and those old enough to bear arms have all gone. The last person I spoke to who actually remembered the occupation from when she was a young girl was the wife's grandmother, who died " years ago at the age of 98. I still want to visit the Normandy sites butthey're too far from me for me to actually get involved with.

Yes, wherever there was extensive and organised resistance action, so more towards the end of the war, post D-Day like this one for july '44. the earlier dates are rarer though the resistance was officially organised from July 1940 following De Gaule's " Call to continue the combat" broadcast by the BBC from London on the 18th June 1940. Date still commemorated by the French every year. "L'appel du 18 juin". i could bore the socks off you with this, it's my pet subject... Had Churchill's " we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets..." actually come to pass, we would probably see similar in the uk today. Many think that that speech by Churchill was at least partly aimed at encouraging the french resistance and persuading them to actually do this and that we should do the same.

Well I had planned to get up early (ish) and ride my default or "go to" round trip, the one I like, and ride when I can't be arsed to plan anything properly. As it happened I didn't manage to drag my sorry carcass out of my pit untill nearly 11, so by the time I'd got my eyes lined up with their holes it was lunch time and my "go to" ride was no longer doable comfortably in the time remaining before curfew as its pretty much a 5 Hour ride... So, I concocted this one 250 odd km, and using the village of Chevroches ( literally "goat rocks" ) as the southern point and sticking to the more minor roads. Lovely spring day, nearly 20 degrees and a high thin layer of cloud just to stop the sun being too bright. No leaves on the trees yet so not really spring, just felt like it. one of the numerous memorials to resistance fighters on the roadside in this part of France. I think I've posted this one before but it would have been a looong time ago so you won't remember ?. notice that the distinction is made between " Tués" ( killed) and " Fussillés" ( shot). Tué, means killed during a fight or in action. Fusillés means lined up and shot. the woodlands: I'm quote proud of this one, not good at panoramic shots usually, but the light was good and I think i pulled it off... This is Chevroches, a small medieval village just south of Clamecy, I wanted to stop and have a look here because I might be running some boats from here later this season if the Local mayor can pull his finger out. more woodland on the way home "Good evening Lemmings" Yeah, the curfew won't stop the french going on holiday ( Paris-ite school hols this week) but it means they are ALL on the road between 6am and 6 pm. Auxerre is where the 6 lane autoroute becomes 4 lanes which is always fun when its busy.