InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

.... And a fair weather biker!!!

All paid up and waiting for the receipt to arrive and the list of the excursions that we can go on from the ship.  Some of them look like it might be difficult to do as a self-traveller as getting off the boat, there and back up a glacier and back to the boat looks quite complex. So those "once in a lifetime" trips will need to be done as part of a bus tour. Ironic, as when we are away on the bike I hate the pretend buddy-buddy of the car tourist and the influx of coach parties of the boats in the harbour.

Unfortunately the images were too big to post directly from the Movember email so I had to "save as" and re-post.

Happy Birthday Hilly-Billy

Finally spring arrived, but not until about 1040 CET today.  Before then it had poured with rain and then eased to drizzle and wet roads. But a few miles south of Calais, the sun begun to peak through and the roads had dried.   The plan was to fit in the Blockhaus in Eperlecques, then lunch in St Omer, the La Coupole.    Since I last went a few years back there has been a little development and we can now get inside the bunker to see it and where the rockets were assembled and  then moved to the firing area.   Anyway, I can tell the story better by letting wiki and the net save me plagiarising them.....   http://www.leblockhaus.com/modulosite2/welcome-gb.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Blockhaus  

Over the years with the Garmin Quest I strove to find a wireless solution to hearing the satnav instructions. Finally using a Cardo Bluetooth transmitter designed for older mobile phones. With the TomTom the solution is built in and so recently I have dug out the original Scala unit. Charged and ready to go. Cardo Scala on my Nitro  

Right Eye Left Eye Taken last year and lost in Vision Express' web server.......

Windmill @ Woodchurch Kent, originally uploaded by InvictaMoto. My entry for the photo competition on the "Flies in your Teeth" blog. You can see my 1150GS and a friends's 1100GS in the bottom left sort of direction.

I have been looking at car hire in Florida. This is after I tried to ignore the lure of $101 a day with Eaglerider to have a Harley.    I'd like to have a decent big American car this time. Last time we were on Long Island the hire car was a 2.2L Camry. And whilst it wasn't too bad it wasn't right!  Luckily Claire's cousin lent us his 03 model Crown Victoria sedan.  It was very nice and amazingly economical for a 4.7L V8.   So.  What can the Florida car hire companies provide us with?  Mostly mid range cars that seem merely to be US versions of European cars from Ford and GM.  Then on the Thrifty Rentals page I saw the Ford Crown Victoria full-size.  Gotta have it.   Or maybe the Mercury Grand Marquis.

The code name for the mission to finally extract the GT from the garage and back on the road. It won't be cheap and although most of the jobs will be achievable by a part way qualified home mechanic, some will need an expert hand.  And that's where my old friend John Storrie comes into the project. John is renowned as Mr Kettle in England. A SOC life member, like me, and also he was a founder member of the Kettle Club. In fact it was at a SOC camping weekend in Oxfordshire that it was born. One that caused some problems back in the day!   19 years ago  For a variety of reasons the project won't happen until the summer as my commitments at weekends don't leave much time. The plan is to get a van with a tail-lift and take the bike and bits across to Oxfordshire. Early start and back the same day. Doable. Now I need to speak to John and discuss what needs to be done to start the project running. I also need to get all the parts I ha...

 Screenshot There seems to be loads of apps available that can record journeys you have ridden. Whether iPhone or Android the app stores have loads. What I find most useful is this app. Mpgcalc. I upgraded to the plus version for a small amount and it keeps track of your miles per gallon. Nothing too flash but if, like me, you like to know, then it calcs in seconds. The app version I use is the UK version tailored for the larger imperial gallon rather than the smaller US gallon. The stats page is quite good and shows enough information on how you are riding. I know on days where the right hand has been more active that MPG will be lower.

Two months until we set off and it's time to pay the balance.  Luckily you can do it online and with a debit card to avoid paying any charges.  It's always annoying when companies charge for using a card, considering that without the card, they might not get any business at all?

Eventually the weather has improved and after some work in the house, cleaning and moving furniture, I got out for a short ride. Less than an hour on the road but after a few weeks in the garage in freezing conditions and snow on the ground, after a wash and brush up, the GS started first touch on the button. It was even warm enough to go out and wash the bike wearing only a t-shirt.  Modelling the MAG 40th Anniversary t-shirt Next week we have the trip across the France. Only six of us this time but a more manageable group. So I was glad it started and I filled the tank for the first time since September!!   Washed and after a ride out

"What difference a day makes, twenty four little hours" goes the song, or something along those lines! I have been like a child in a sweet shop. Spring is assuredly on its way any time in the next few months and every year I become disturbed by the Dark Side. Last year it by the BMW K1200S that was being sold off at a slight discount (BMW!!) as the new 1300S was in the showrooms. This year it is less simple but all the options have Triumph on the tank! Sense prevailed and the Rocket Touring was sent for the early bath. Next up the Sprint GT, favoured by my brother. Then the Explorer. But why? Okay, my GS is 14 years old in May and already over 10 in my ownership. First registered in 1999 in Bavaria, before being wrenched from the loving hands of some blonde pig-tailed Fräulein. Isolda or some such statuesque figure, now she uses her arm to carry 12 big steins of beer to waiting and thirsty Munchener customers. We can but dream. It has over 810...

The Big Six-O has to come around at some stage and it has arrived on our front step, crying and mewling like a new born kitten, or 2014 as it is also called. So what to do to celebrate?  Unless we win the National Lottery or the Euro Lottery in the next year or so, it looks as though my annual leave expenditure will rise to ever higher levels. This year we are cruising to Norway and the Fjords.  Not a biking holiday, but I guess something has to give a little as age and impending senility beckons.  At least they feed you 24/7. So where to go? At a travel show earlier in the year we looked at some exotic and some less exotic places. The proviso was that we could use the timeshare exchange system and cover our accommodation that way.  Touring sounds good, but Claire wants a mixture of looking at things and quiet time.  So after my brother's experience on Route 66 on a Harley that was scratched off the list. With Claire off the bike for a while, we'd have to ...

The Big Six-O has to come around at some stage and it has arrived on our front step, crying and mewling like a new born kitten, or 2014 as it is also called. So what to do to celebrate?  Unless we win the National Lottery or the Euro Lottery in the next year or so, it looks as though my annual leave expenditure will rise to ever higher levels. This year we are cruising to Norway and the Fjords.  Not a biking holiday, but I guess something has to give a little as age and impending senility beckons.  At least they feed you 24/7. So where to go? At a travel show earlier in the year we looked at some exotic and some less exotic places. The proviso for the trip is/was that we could use the timeshare exchange system and cover our accommodation that way.  Touring sounds good, but Claire wants a mixture of looking at things and quiet time.  So after my brother's experience on Route 66 on a Harley, that was scratched off the list. With Claire off the b...

When someone sent me this website link, I had a quick look and then I thought I'd see what they had.....   OMG!   Search GT750 and there are loads...... of bits and farkles.....   http://www.discountbikespares.co.uk/

I saw this advertised on a blog I follow and it looked like the gateway to motorycle blog paradise. So I signed up to get access it and maybe get on eof my entries featured.  One day I guess? http://www.motorcycleblogs.net/

It's about a month since I got hold of this card and it has been pretty good. The "save" time seems no different to the Kingston and other SD cards. I am using it in a Canon 300D that usually takes compact flash cards, so I have a CF to SD adapter as well.   It is very easy to setup and works pretty well. What is a surprise is that when the camera is on and the laptop with the Eye-Fi software installed that there is a delay before the pictures start to arrive.   In the first blog I posted a pic of the photos arriving. As well as a delay in the first one arriving, they arrive in batches.    I took a small batch at the Ashford Classic Motorcycle Show, and once home, it took four or maybe five bursts to get the dozen or so photos down, and better part of 25 minutes.   The system's "Endless Memory" is turned on but as yet, with a card that holds over 900 photos, I've not got to the point when it starts to overwrite the oldest ones.   All...

This email was sent to the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership. Dear Sir,   As a motorcyclist in Kent I would like to congratulate you on the initiative to put "Think Bike" posters up at the camera sites that you manage. It supports the similar messages that are conveyed on the motorway signs on the M20.   However, I have a question that I have been meaning to ask for a while.  Are the camera sites simply to catch speeding motorists or are some of them sited at traffic light junctions?  In recent years there seems to be an increase in the number of  red light jumpers and there never seems to be anyone about to apprehend them.   On my current journey home I go through the same set of lights in Hythe where Scanlon's Bridge Road (by the Light Railway Station) meets Dymchurch Road. I can almost guarantee that on three out of five weekday evenings, once the lights to those leaving Hythe towards Dymchurch have gone red that there will be...

This email was sent to FEMA to see if they can help with the problem we may face on trips to France.  I sent to Philip Vogl  as he was on the website as being the campaigns leader at FEMA, but his email rejects as he no longer works there. So I re-sent it to their main info@ email address. Dear Philip,   In view of the reports in the UK press that since the rejection by the new French Government for the 150cm2 hi-viz patch for motorcyclists and the failure of the alcotest law, that the French police are now cracking down on riders without the reflective helmet stickers,  I asked the EU's "Your Europe Advice" whether a member state that signed up to ECE 22-05 can impose extra restrictions on citizens of other EU states that also signed up to ECE 22-05.   Their answer, below, isn't too clear, and I feel that maybe FEMA through its contacts within the EU in Brussels can look at getting a definitive answer, and take this up as a campaign....

I have volunteered to help the organisers with the Kent Section of the Thankful Villages Run this year. It means that we need to decide on a meeting place and a break on the way. As the run is being sponsored by MAG and Triumph, when I was in the Triumph dealership in Ashford, Laguna Motorcycles, I had a chat with them and they will have the kettle on... Once I have more information, then we can arrange a meet.  On the Runs own Facebook page (see link below) I have posted a suggestion that we meet at Rye and then ride via the A259 (some lovely tarmac) and then via Ashford to the A20/M20 and then to Dover and onto Knowlton. In advance I might have a ride to Knowlton and see they lay of the land.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowlton,_Kent https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/347477682026155/

Yesterday it was the Ashford Classic Motorcycle Show in er, well, Ashford in Kent.  The event is held at the livestock market.  Thankfully there is no livestock hanging about and they do a superb job of removing the excremental evidence. The show has the auto jumble outside and the bike displays from clubs in inside in the "warm".   Even with the UK in the grips of the arctic winds coming in from the east, many riders had taken the opportunity to ride into the event.  In fact. some of the bikes in the bike park were more interesting than some inside! Sadly, with my wife Claire, a currently non-riding pillion aboard we had to take the car and inch our way to the rear car-park.  Once in, a fiver well spent, we met up with my brother, Neill, and his partner Catherine, and took a turn around the show. I was very taken with the Sixteener club with their display of FS1-E sports mopeds (with pedals) and something I have never seen outside of the scoot...

Took a visit to Laguna Triumph in Ashford to have a look at bikes. They have Rockets in the shop but looking at them shows how enormous they are. The Touring's panniers are very small inside though. Very impractical for me. I had a look at the Explorer and liked that but to get it up to the spec of my current old GS would mean spending the thick end of £14000! The Tiger Sport that I have looked at a few times on the web wasn't in stock. Shame as I like the look, more like my old TDM than the off-road look of the GS. But what about the Sprint? Well, I do like it, but it wasn't seen in a good light by Claire. Admittedly it is the cheaper option but that doesn't mean it's inferior. I like the Sprint. So it is cheaper, but it is well received and maybe what I need is a test ride of both.  Still, plenty of time to think about it!!! Maybe the Diavel is back in the frame!!!!