Eunos Chump

  My much-loved VFR became nothing more than a garage decoration earlier this year, the day before it was due to make it's final commute to Guildford.   How it looked on arrival, in 2012: Wales: Reims, France: Hunstanton, UK: Isle of Man: I miss having an all-rounder bike (the remaining ones are only good at quite specific things), but life's too short to buy another... maybe.

  After 2 years of trying, we finally moved to Lincolnshire a couple of weeks back.  There's no traffic, no shops, no pub - just fields, sheep, horses, peacocks and a graveyard - we love it!  It needs some attention but nothing we haven't done before, but is likely to impact my vehicle-related shenanigans in the short-term.

  Scotland!  For a brief period, it wasn't raining. next, Yorkshire... Before the TV series, I came to Goathland on a school trip where I wasted most of my spending money in this post office, buying crap plastic animals, battery-operated fans and lots of mintcake.   Final stop was Norfolk, though I took no photos so here's a cracking picture of a Chubb fire engine at Elvington aviation museum instead - fond memories of the Corgi airport crash truck I had as a nipper. Covered 1552 miles over 6 nights, Pan European is a hefty lump that's awkward at low speed/parking, but was great for this trip.

  CLK is for the chop... as is this house, we're starting a new chapter. CLK has been replaced with this E220CDI which I won in a raffle last week - it's bloody great, especially for 2x £20 raffle tickets.  Had to collect it from the North Pennines though, on many trains.

 

  First ride of the year today, using this old thing - after a Xmas break of TV, eating, Microsoft Flight sim, more eating, even more TV, going out on this was like being hit with a firehose of sensation.  Clutch switch seems to have failed as I can't start it without being in neutral now (had an embarrassing stall at traffic lights and held up a couple of cars I'd blasted past just 30 seconds earlier). Bought myself a fancy GPU, I needed it for Flight Sim VR!  Hopefully I can get 4-5 years out of this, at which point it'll probably be worth 50p.

 I've come to Tokyo to move some IT kit around, and take photos.

 

 ...and it took me to these sheep. Have had a couple of nights in Snowdonia ( not in the company of sheep), 750-ish miles covered in total.  Was TOO HOT though, so I spent £10 on a visit to an old copper mine where it was wonderfully chilly.  Shame about all the steps - motorbike boots and wet, iron staircases are not a happy combination.

 Finally I'm old enough to have one of these: Honda ST1300 Pan European, bought it the other day from Chester and rode home through Wales, was bloody super.  It's huge and a totally different riding experience.  It belonged to a very nice chap who's been an aircraft technician so it's been immaculately maintained, in fact it's too nice to use in bad weather so I guess the old VFR will not be getting replaced after all. In other news, the tattier CLK was sold but I've done bugger-all with the other one... too busy playing with bikes in the sun.

  I liked my CLK so much I've bought another... it's 6 months older, 4000 more miles, but has every available option fitted and the black leather interior is near perfect. Am now in the process of swapping the best parts onto this one.

  Kwak was collected on Friday - the PCP ended and I wasn't interested in keeping it.  Covered 10500 miles in total, half what was contracted; no points or near misses though, can't complain. Interceptor forks have been upgraded using YSS kit, it's now firmer and considerably better damped - doesn't bottom-out either.  Still very much loving the Enfield, in fact I also like the Meteor, Classic and Scram - these are all bikes doing pretty much the same function though so pointless buying another.  Have requested a test ride of a Honda Monkey though :)

GTV - scrapped last year, it needed considerable work and I didn't have the time, motivation, nor any need for it (I work from home now and did just 1200 miles on 4 wheels last year).  Got £400, I think, so a rare profit.  Don't worry, this photo flatters it - it was a heap. Had a little holiday on my ownsome in the Brecon Beacons.  Was going to take the Enfield but it rained, VFR filled in well though.  Hit 90000 miles on it today, bought it just shy of 10 years ago with 30000.  I quite fancy a VFR1200 now for distance work, but a lack of space means this would need to go and we've got too much history now. H2 SX doing what it's best at - sitting at the back of the garage being unappreciated.  I don't like it but thankfully the PCP ends soon.  Superduke also had last year off (I can't keep on top of running 4 bikes), it'll be back in 2021.  Due major maintenance first. Interceptor is still my favourite bike, 4000 miles covered now. Considering up...

  First group ride out for the 'Ceptor, has now reached 600 miles so I'm able to take it to 6000 rpm (~90mph), so was able to keep up with this lot... mostly. Was using pretty much everything it had though, excellent fun and so engaging.

 It's exactly 10 years since I bought my first bike, a YBR125.  Here are some stats: Number of accidents: 3 Number of bones broken: 1 (though I did break the same bone in 2 places, so let's call that 1.5) Number of penalty points: 3 Number of bikes bought: 10 That's a total score of 17.5, excellent,  Anyway, here's another photo of my current favourite bike.

  That's my old house in the background, my yellow Capri 2.0S used to sit where that Micra is, 30 years ago.

After much procrastination, I bought this today: Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, it's the least powerful bike I've owned since my YBR125 but it's just charming.  In fact it's quite like a 125, light and easy going but with pretty decent performance (it's torquey and fast enough to satisfy my inner twat). Been thinking about one since they first appeared, but needed a test ride to ensure it didn't feel cheap and nasty - I'd read about weak brakes, poor suspension and tacky switchgear but it's all good.  Even came with this welcome pack - didn't get a mug when I bought the Kwak!

  Look, an almost mythical RTX3070!  I needed it to drive my Quest 2 VR headset. I only go places virtually now - it's been weeks since I've been more than half a mile from my house.

 It was on a knife-edge there for a while when the ABS light came on, but 2020 finally delivers some good news.

  Will this pass an MOT today?