Eunos Chump

Despite saying I wouldn't buy any bikes this year, I had a look at this earlier today: Virago 535.  Decent condition, but it only ran on 1 cylinder and needed a fair bit of recommissioning.  Might be an easy fix but I don't need the aggro.

4 mins of tootling through Welsh valleys, definitely not speeding or 'owt.  Then Richard makes it awkward with his man-crush confession, and Rob gets confused. And I definitely didn't ride through a car wash, OK?

 Where we went Where we stayed .  £30 a room, including breakfast, at Easter?  BARGAIN  Where we parked the bikes - what other use could a beer garden have in the climate of North Wales? Steam train view from my room Lots and lots of this - smooth, sweeping bends, spectacular views, and light traffic My camera ran out of juice before the best road of all, the A483 between Newtown and Crossgates.  It's without doubt the best road I've ever ridden.   A stop in Bala for tea and cake.  Much food and petrol was consumed, especially by Rob's FZ1 which can't manage much more than 130 miles on a tank. The ride there was a bit miserable, with plenty of intermittent rain.  It was especially devious Welsh rain, that found it's way past my waterproof jacket, and into my top box, making my change of clothes damp too.  The next day was sunny and warm though, and made the whole thing worthwhile.  It was al...

It's the Gentlemens Trip to Snowdonia this weekend, which is a test run before the Euro trip.  The VFR is having a service (at 51,957 miles), new rear brake pads, and it's scabby lower regions repainted, in preparation. I took it all apart earlier in the week, got ill, and now have much to do in the 24 hours or so before I have to leave...

It must be Summer, 'cos it's Bike Night at Poole quay!  All the stuff I like was there - sun, chips, ice cream, middle-aged women wearing inappropriately short skirts, the bloke who drops his bike in front of hundreds of people, and loads of shiny motorcycles. Honest workhorse, or filthy worn-out tat?  I could do this to my CBR using a Chinese panel kit.  I'd have to paint the wheels though, and I can't be arsed.  When I'm riding it I can't see it, and other people will only be checking out my fantastic buttocks anyway.  I made prolonged eye-contact with this K1200S.  Unfortunately there was more unacceptable corrosion evident - front brakes and filler cap this time.  I'm not sure we could have a relationship. Maybe this instead?

Too much wind and rain for bikes today, so Monkeyboy and I took a trip to the Haynes museum in Dorset.  Motorbikes!  But they're speedway... not interested.  Every museum must have a rotary-powered motorbike - there is no other use for them, after all  Remember these?  Jaguar had to take people to court to make them buy them. 2-stroke Orbital engine in this Fiesta test vehicle.  This engine was destined for the original Ford Ka (hence the low bonnet line), but couldn't be made clean enough.  Proper Citroen  Bricklin, the only Canadian car, apparently.  Horrible tupperware-style interior. The museum in the process of being renovated, but it's not much different inside.  It's good for a couple of hours or so, and reasonable value (you can go back as much as you like within the following 12 months). I'd forgotten what a bloody awful road the A303 is, even on a gloomy day like this it was queued up fo...

...not for me, unfortunately, but I took Rob to pick up his shiny brand-new Yamaha FZ1 today: This is for our Gentlemen's Trip to France , which we've finally got organised.  We're going to the Vosges mountains for 3 days, then making up the rest - probably a couple of days wandering Normandy.  It's been surprisingly cheap so far, ferry is about £55 and the hotel is £30ish a night (obviously budget, but looks fine). The dealer also had this BMW K1300S, a model I've been eyeing up as a VFR replacement: Yeah, it looks better in the metal... :)  There's some alarming corrosion on the front discs and calipers though, and paint flaking off the engine.  It's clearly seen some winter weather, but it's only 3 years old - that's not very impressive, is it?  See that orange Harley to the left of the picture?  I liked that too.  Yeah, I have no sense of style.  It's a good job I've got no money either.