InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Maybe as I get older my drinking habits have changed. Gone are the days of knocking back a load of beers. I ordered some Radler beers online and they arrived yesterday.  Superb. Looks like I have become a southern shandy drinker.... This one from Rothaus brewery in the Black Forest in Germany. 

I was in the garage earlier and remembered that somewhere right at the back was this set of luggage. I must have bought these back in 1998 to go on the GSXR750 that I went on to that year's Czech Invader. I have very few photos of that trip as they were on print film and they have mostly all gone missing over the years.  Except this one. On the Bingen to Rudesheim ferry on the way back from that Czech Rally. They saw further action on the TDM and until around 2003 on the 1200 Bandit. So I got the ladder out and climbed up to get them from off the rafter at the back of the garage. They were covered in cobwebs and considering they have been there for about 19 years, they are in exceptionally good condition. A brush off with a stiff brush got most of the crap off them. They still have the waterproof covers inside one of them but they are a bit "cloudy" where they are clear plastic, but the elastic is still good.   The only problems are that the elastic straps tha...

Two weeks to go before we set off.  With Covid the owners are requiring extra time to clean up after the previous visitors and so we can't be in until 5pm. On the way up we will be calling in at Claire's sister's house in Suffolk. With it being a Friday it's the worst day for getting through the Dartford Crossing. Leaving after rush hour gives us time to get through and maybe have some stops on the way up. Constable country for lunch? Flatford Mill?    https://www.visitsuffolk.com/explore-constable-country-in-suffolk

Called Carole Nash this morning to insure Vera ready for collection on the 5th August.  Not a problem answering all the questions about mileage to be covered etc, whether I might carry a pillion.  Then the premium. More than the Rocket? What? Yes, it cost more to insure a 2018 V-Strom 1000 than a 2015 700lb 2300cc Rocket III. Oh well.  Not much to be done until renewal. Then back to the "meerkat shuffle" or the fat opera singer site....

I have moved all the posts from here about the trip to Czech to:  https://czechinvader2022.blogspot.com/ From now, all upgrades will go through that blog.  It would be easier if blogger had a way of copying posts from within the "posts" editor screen. Instead, all I did was create in the new blog and copy/paste the html to ensure the photo links came across too.

In 2020 due to Covid-19, the RTTW was cancelled and all the entry fees were retained by the organisers and donated to the armed forces causes on Armed Forces Day in June 2021. They do this every year. So in April bookings started for this year's event. This year it will be on October 2nd 2021. Neill and I will try to go again. When bookings opened, because there were still restrictions on gatherings in place, entries were limited to 4000.   I was lucky and actually booked way after midnight, a few hours after it opened. We were lucky and were included in the 4000. Once again I have booked us into the cheap and hopefully cheerful Ramada Hotel at the M1 services near Milton Keynes.  It is £29 for the room. I don't expect much! It does have a restaurant and bar, and on top of that there will be food outlets in the main services buildings! It's with booking.com on the usual free cancellation and no prepayment policy. We are part of the ride-in that leaves the next services up...

Time flies. It's 29 years today that Audrey Amson (my partner at the time) and I set off for the Czech Republic, where I would teach in a grammar and secondary school for a year. It was a Sunday. I had had the trailer hitch fitted a couple of weeks before and had only tested it with the Freewheel Shuttle connected a few times and not fully loaded! That was a mistake. It was all packed during the week and finally on Saturday.  The first test ride with a few items loaded and it weaved all over the road behind me. I had been told that the heavier stuff needed to be at the front towards the hitch and lighter stuff behind it.   So it was re-packed. heavy stuff like text books packed in bags were laid across the nose, clothes and other stuff I would need (or not!) towards the rear. One test ride and it was as if it wasn't there.... I didn't take any photos before we set off. Back then the internet didn't exist and there were certainly no blogs or digital cameras.... The choic...

Cases are going up locally and we are supposed to be "free". Looks like the Government made a complete boo-boo with that decision. The curve looked as though it was levelling a bit but has taken off again!

More great service from Mad4Bikes . The flange arrived today when it was expected mid next week. It's the BF50 that the Givi website lists as the alternative to the BF18. Better hope it is as Vera is still two weeks away ...

... if we get the chance to travel anywhere. The figures aren't looking promising.

The two bits I need to buy for Vera are the Givi Tanklock flange that goes around the petrol filler and then later something to mount the TomTom to. The first was sorted after a visit to Givi's website and that lead me to the BF18.  A quick Google and my old suppliers Mad4Bikes had it in stock.   It should arrive well before Vera arrives! The tank bag I had to buy for the Rocket was the XS319 Tanklock. It's a small bag but the one I had before and had to sell on eBay was too large. Even this one has a bit of contact with the bars on full lock. Hopefully a better fit on Vera.

I had a run up the frog and toad to Sellindge to have a look at the very first British Bike Night at the social club. For some reason it moved from Charing after quite a few years. Suzi ran perfectly and I was tempted to exceed the 3500 rpm running in limit just a little to 4000 rpm and she seemed to be happy with that. The British bikes were parked on the gravel and us foreigners had to make do with the grass.  No different to Charing except it is mostly level. There was a huge turnout of both types. This brought the day's mileage to 55 or so! Photos from the event are in this album.

Today's ride-out was to Robinson's Foundry in Canterbury to have a test ride on a possible purchase of a new "main" bike. Although the Kettle is a marvellous bike it is not really suitable to every day riding and even long distance trips. Today with the choke engaged Suzi started first stab of the button. I got Claire to take a photo and even a video as I rode away. Photo & Video by Claire Devall The video is quite short but is a good likeness! It's nice to have something of you riding the bike!  I am amazed that with the choke engaged that there is little smoke. Suzi ran well all the way to Canterbury and back. A total of about 43 miles today. Another step towards the 500 mile running-in goal.

The test ride was this morning. I was out for about an hour and half and managed to find a route (that even though at times I had no idea where I was!) that took in A and B roads, country lanes and the A2 Dual Carriageway.   I stopped at Gibson's and was going to have a coffee and give the bike a good looking over away from the Robinson's. In the end the queue for coffee was too long and so I gave the bike the once over without a drink. The muffler has a couple of small scrapes but nothing too damaging.  Tyres are good. At three years and 8700 miles getting a showroom condition bike isn't really going to happen. At first the seat seems to angle a little forward but after the Rocket's armchair and the Kettle's plank then maybe it is just different.   What was a surprise was the clutch.  Both the Kettle and Rocket needed a strong hand, this one is light as a feather. The gear change very light and accurate. I have given her the name Vera . I am no...

Done. After trawling the internet for cottage booking sites I finally found a place that meets our criteria.  I actually wanted a place near to our childhood holiday resort of Dawlish Warren. I couldn't find anywhere in that area that suited us but we decided to stick to Devon anyway. In the end we have booked and paid the deposit for a nice looking place in Brixham in Devon. It has two bedrooms and really importantly when you have a dog, an enclosed garden. The bonus is that it has off road parking for one car. We only have one! So many places are street parking or even council car-parks. Total the cost for a week is £660 and I paid a third deposit today  It's still ten months away so we have plenty of time to refine things about what to do when we are there and of course, getting there.  I think we might have to do the same as friends who live in the same area as us and leave about 5am! Gulp.

As my dear old  Mum might have said, "The money burning holes in your pocket"! It's not actually true but as I have said and maybe even blogged before, Red Pepé had to go. The bike had done a few yards over 10300 miles by the time it went to the new owners on Monday.  That's in six and a half years since registered and six years and one month owned by me. it had 700 miles when I got it as it was Laguna Triumph's demonstrator.  If you take "Suzi Triplo" out of the running, this is the second longest I have owned any bike. Only the 1150GS at  just over 10 years and four months is longer.  In that time I did over 80000 miles. I had a look around local dealers.  I discounted private as I am a dunderhead mechanically and didn't want an expensive pup. I know all the things to look out for but it's the hidden bodges that come to light as you stand at the side of the road with a bike that's f*cked. Although "downsizing" I didn't want to...

A ring on the door and the DPD guy has left a huge box on the step. Nicely packaged as well. Unpack and get the first picture. It does seem massive. It will look good on a 45 year old bike ..

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has issued an initial response to the  Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan. The plan sets out how the  UK Government proposes to tackle carbon emissions from the transport  sector of the economy on its path to delivering a Net Zero UK by 2050. MAG remains opposed to compulsion as a solution to reducing carbon  emissions.  We have always acknowledged the need to reduce the harmful  impacts of transport and this is why we have long promoted modal shift  to motorcycles as a significant lever for achieving that aim. We are pleased to see the recognition of the positive and significant  role played by motorcycles acknowledged in the plan, but are concerned  that a technological roadmap for motorcycles has yet to be fully  developed.  We call for the Plan’s recognition of motorcycling’s role to  be applied immediately by way of a more proactive and inclusive approach  to motorcycling in ...

No sooner had I got the insurance rebate from selling Red Pepé than I had spent it again on a new top box for Suzi. The current Givi E45 was bought back in the mists of the early 1990's and was part of a two top box and two pannier set that Audrey and I bought between us and they were used on the pair of XJ900's we ran at the time. When she went to Spain to live and work on her 1989 XJ she took one of the E45 boxes and both the smaller sized panniers. The panniers may have been 30 or 35 litre.  Or rather she flew and I rode the bike down there in the February half term. I got the Motorail from Paris to Narbonne and rode down. Spain? It's always warm and sunny. Right?  No. The section between  Le Perthus  and south of Barcelona had snow on the sides of the autoroute and it was freezing! I was barely thawed out when I got to Benidorm and I stayed the night there. I kept one of the boxes for my 1991 XJ900F.  It was used on Suzi (long before she had a name!) as...

With garage-mate Red Pepe off to pastures new this morning it leaves Suzi back in the same position as it was 29 years ago. I had been forced to sell the Cavalcade and was left only with Suzi, although back then there was no name for bikes!  And here we are again. So what does the future hold. I have got this far with Suzi and intended her to be a the weekend bike to go to breakfast meets and to bike days/nights plus maybe, as I have proposed, the occasional special event around the country and maybe across to nearby Europe. Here they both are together for the last time before Pepe was sold. Technically, after all the engine work, new wheels etc Suzuki should be in better mechanical condition that she was back in 1992 when I set off for the Czech Republic! So much of the bike has been rebuilt with modern made parts, not stuff made 45 or more years ago. I guess we'll have to see?

At 1020 this morning I became the ex-owner of the Rocket III Roadster known a Red Pepé.  He has gone to new owners who will appreciate him and maybe ride him a lot more than I was able to. I wish him and them well.  Au revoir mon ami!

With the early morning temperature touching 25°C I pulled Suzi out of the sweaty garage. Sweatier even more by the time I had my helmet and gloves on. Suzi fired first stab of the button, choke engaged. Burbled over nicely. Living in a small town with a couple of miles of seafront means traffic. Traffic and lots of it. I chugged along into Hythe and onto London Road. The traffic into town that way was tailed back way out of the town limits. Summer and sun ... Once free of the traffic, Suzi ran easily up to my 3500 rev ceiling whilst running the engine in. This equates to around 60mph. Perfect for A roads but a little slow on the M20.  She humned along quite nicely to that ceiling. A little boggy on a bigger hill.  At H's I parked up. It's always a good feeling when people go and look at your bike. 😁 I had set the Yamaha My Ride app to run and "finished" the ride. I ordered a bacon sandwich and a tea and was tucking in when Meldrew Cal arrived. He is bikeless ...

With the chance of a downsizing move that could be sometime this summer, I decided to move my mascot, Mr Baloo, from Pepé to Suzi Triplo. A simple snip of the cable tie and he was free. And here he is on Suzi.

... to new owners. Downsizing has been on my mind for a while.  Earlier in the year I tentatively put out feelers to places that would buy bikes. Only one responded and we wasted nearly three hours whilst a bloke went over it. Their offer was about £7k and then they decided not to buy it. So I had another go. Fingers crossed for  Monday and an £8k sale. I have removed the TomTom mount and of course, Mr Baloo.

After her spa break with Vince at Cheriton Motorcycles I brought Suzi home at around 5pm today. The work done has cost me another £110 on top of all bills that I have covered since August 2020 when we trailered her up to Phil in the Midlands. Vince has cleaned the rust out of the tank, ultrasonic cleaned the tap and the carbs. fitted an inline filter and replaced the original super fuel in the tank after filtering the crap out of it. Carbs rebalanced... When I went to get her, Suzi was ticking over outside the workshop. A regular beat at 1400 revs. She rode like a dream all the way home. I am dubious about E10 fuel and so I filled the tank with E5 Super Uunleaded.  The oil companies taking the piss with this grade selling it at 7p a litre more than 95 E10 Unleaded. Odometer reading 75752.5. Even with tall the fuel draining and running onthe bench Fuelly still worked the mpg out to 32! She is back. End mileage: Once back I moved Mr Baloo onto Suzi.  He has been ...

It's a toss up between Suffolk and Devon. Personally I am in favour of Devon.  When we went in 2019 it was a long day in the car both days to get to North Devon where we had a cottage.  Next year I will have retired and we will have unlimited time to drive down there.  The Juke is automatic and that will make it easier to drive if the traffic builds up. It has stop/start technology as well as auto hand-braking. I had a look at dog friendly cottages today. Being able to go when we like and not stuck with school holidays means that the rental costs are much lower at the majority of places. With a dog that likes to control his environment and becomes a little protective of the space, I always look for somewhere with a secure garden, and hopefully he'll be able to settle down. He does like to think that most of the area around our house is his territory and will bark at people he considers invading it.  So apartments are definitely out! I have found a couple in Brixham i...

I've not been looking at this all that much recently as it is done and dusted.   All I have to do is look for places to go when we are there. Various dog friendly web pages and apps will be used. It seems that wherever we look to go, the cottage is about 30 miles away!  name i and that's what Google maps "directions" says....

Now that Awaycation Tulips has bitten the dust as it were, I can turn my attentions to planning another staycation.   Before then we have the Staycation 2021 - Norfolk to get through next month.  The possible fly in the ointment is that despite the UK Government saying that from July 19th we are "free" from all the restraints that have been imposed since March 2020, the number of Covid cases continues to rise day on day. We are just under a month away from the Norfolk trip and yet if this gets any worse we could be in lockdown?

Awaycation Tulips 6 marks the end of the planning and the decision to discontinue with this plan. Yep, you read that right.  Trip cancelled. It's is still a long way off but this decision has been a hard one to make.  As well as the ongoing and somewhat complicated relationship the UK has with the former "partners" in the EU since Brexit, and the apparent impossibility that Covid will ever be defeated we had a long hard look at plans. Another reason is that our dog, Reggie, has begun to suffer with what can only be called "separation anxiety". With both of us being at home since March 2020, Claire retired and me working from home online, he is used to us being around.   He follows us everywhere. Anyone that doesn't have animals in the home probably won't understand this can happen, but it is very real. So,  I will have to start looking elsewhere but in UK.  I will be retired next year and so we can go whenever we want. Outside school holidays is fantasti...

Quite a few years ago when we used to regularly used to make the crossing from Essex to Kent either in the tunnel or on the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, we used to have to queue up and pay at the toll-booth.  So I invested in the Dart Charge scheme that meant you paid up front and registered the vehicles that you would be using, and it subtracted it from your account. Paying upfront also meant they gave a discount. Last year they emailed and said that the account was being closed as we hadn't used it for over a year.  I have been through the tunnel northbound and over the bridge southbound several times but since around 2009 it has been free to motorcycles so that didn't count. They paid me back £1.59. How they got that figure I have no idea, but the discounted fee for a car is £1.60.... When we got the Juke, the ex-demonstrator from KAP in Folkestone, knowing we are going to Norfolk in August, I tried to register the new car. The system said it was already registered.  We tol...

Another date for the diary - the Ace Café in London has their Suzuki Sunday on August 1st.  I thought I might have a smoke up there. Maybe see if any "Old Socs" turn up?

I saw that there is another classic bike event not that far from home next week.  Wednesday 21st July at Rye Rugby Club. Hopefully Suzi will be back by then!

I had a marketing email from Emovis today and it reminded me that I was going to contact them about a new mount for the tag. The original one is still stuck in the Insignia, probably. Logging onto my account I was told the battery on my one was almost expired. Apparently they aren't replaceable. So I completed the form to return it and recover my €20 deposit and the same time order a new one. Incurring a €20 deposit....  I hope the new one comes with a clip otherwise I'll have to login again! I had a padded envelope for it already to re-use and had to buy a large letter stamp online and print the label. Much easier than going to the Post Office. This  Emovis tag is only usable in France. The chances of getting there any day soon is remote.  Emovis Tags are also available for Spain and Portugal from the same website.  I very much doubt I'll be riding or driving there any time soon, if ever, given Covid.

Today the Dover Transport Museum posted details of the Summer 2021 raffle. The prize? A 1967 BSA Bantam 175. I brought  back an old memory of when we started to ride motorcycles to school in 1972/3. Some of the lads that beat the licence age change in December 1972 when the minimum age to ride was upped to 17 from 16 rode mostly old British bikes. I missed out as my birthday was a week after it came into effect! So it was a year later w hen I was in the 6th form that I could ride legally . All the biker lads had old British 250's but one bloke, Roy, lived near me, and had a BSA Bantam 125.  It was ex-post office. It was still painted red,  mixed with rust. It had a 1965 C-reg. I think. I would occasionally go on my Mum's 1971 Honda C50 complete with tartan patterned Tower panniers. The trip from school to home was about 6 miles. By bus it was anything around an hour to an hour and a quarter but only 20 minutes, with traffic, on the C50. I would come out of school after le...

One of the day trips we took from Sorrento in May 2009 was to the Greek temple site at Paestum . This site pre-dates the Roman Empire by quite a long time. What is amazing it that the structures of the three temples are in such amazing condition and are in a very small area. Looking at the road map we decided to go the loner way around and avoid the Amalfi Coast Drive (ACD)! The reasons for this are that we had already done it one way as far as Ravello, and the fact that although the view of the sea on the right of you as you head east is spectacular, the road is jammed packed at every town with coaches and the occasional truck! So we chose a route that would go up through Sorrento, Pompeii and across the top of the peninsular via Salerno. This is actually the way that Google maps sends travellers now. The first stop was to take in the spectacular view of Vietri sul Mare on the opposite end of the ACD to Sorrento. It was sunny and we stopped briefly on the overlook off the road. Vietri...

I was looking at a genuine Suzuki part horn on eBay. Claiming to be NOS, but it looked as though there was some corrosion around the bolt heads. So maybe 45 years old? In the end it was a massive price and so I had a look on the sites of my "go to" parts dealers and Dean at SuzyTwo had this pattern part listed for a tenner plus postage. The chrome seems quite deep and it is very shiny. So I bought one. I'll fit it when the bike comes back from it's current spa treatment.

This is something that wasn't being given much attention over the years. Okay, I am the oldest person in the team at work, but as we haven't met face to face since March 12th 2020, the feelings of being in a team are far from fresh! I was making a timer for the days leading until the school holidays kick off (it's over there ---->). Whilst I was at it I typed in the date of my 66th birthday. It's the date I can retire, if I so wish.   I guess I was a little stunned to see the timer calculate that I have only 163 days and change (at the time of writing) to go! In fact it will be slightly less, as my term-time only contract means I actually stop working on Friday 17th December. I am still waiting to hear from the Government's Pensions Agency about the arrangements for my state pension and I can apply for a bus pass for free travel in September! I had the fanciful idea of working on a bit. If we can't travel because of Covid, and the weather is crap anyway in th...

It's traditional to start a countdown at 10.  So that's what I am doing.  Ten more working days and "School's Out for Summer"...... Term-Time Only contract gives me a nice long and mostly unpaid summer vacation!

Our room @ Casale Antonietta, Sorrento Back then I was a budding blogger of my travels and tended to write very little.  Verbosity was learned over the years. I saw an article about agritourism in Italy and how the market has blossomed in the Noughties and was now well established for those that wanted to be away from the city centre or beach location hotels. We stayed at Casale Antonietta in May 2009.  The place was a converted farm that was accessed by a very narrow lane, where even in a Fiat Punto we had to pull in the door mirrors to get past.  I had ordered a Fiat Panda from the rental company at Naples Airport but they did me a favour with a "free" upgrade to a bigger car. Fiat Punto T-Jet 1.4  My Tripadvisor review from 2009 Peaceful with excellent service I booked this place as I didn't want a town centre hotel with all the associated noise and parking difficulties. We weren't disappointed. It is easy to find and the bus stop is a short walk and is signposted...

Sadly after taking the lead in two minutes England lost to Italy on penalties.  After the full 120 minutes including extra time it was penalties that decided the trophy's destination.   A couple of dreadful misses from both sides were then exceeded by both goalkeepers making excellent saves. Both of them did their utmost and it was the misses that saw the trophy go to Italy. Players on both sides gave their all and England's young players stepped up to the mark during the game. Sadly the racist scum that benight/infest social media were out again.   Pouring their disgusting vitriol against the players that missed or had their penalties saved by Italy's giant keeper. It's time that Facebook and Twitter banned these arseholes for life. Congratulations Italy.

I think for most men it is seven years and it's about replacing the woman in your life.  I think I have the six-year itch and it is looking at other bikes and thinking that maybe it is time to move on from the Rocket. Then I ride it and all those thoughts simply disappear. I have filled in the form online at Laguna Triumph to get an idea what it is worth.  I was honest about condition and the reason for one of the problems. Them. Since they fitted the new front tyre back in March 2019 I have been riding with a bolt missing from the right fork leg. It can be seen in the photo in this blog. When the mechanic at Laguna Triumph fitted the new front tyre they sheered the head off the bolt.  Instead of fixing it they suggested I might like to pay for it to be done and if they couldn't do it they priced up a new fork leg lower. I said as the bike had a full service history with them and I didn't expect to pay for that sort of thing. As I have only just completed 10000 miles I h...

 

Today's little excursion wasn't as far as last week's, but only to Dungeness. Plenty of parking but with extra trains running that far there were many people walking to the pub and to the other fish places along the private site's road.  We easily parked in the parking lot near the station. Spaces are clearly marked, or at least they were, with wooden guides.  Unfortunately, shingle doesn't take long to cover the battens up. We parked anyway as best we could given the other cars. Reggie likes a walk on the shingle. He likes the smells and of course, the rabbit holes all over the estate.  Out first stop was for a coffee in the "End of the Line Café". There was a train in the station and another special came in. I found a table in the garden and Claire went in the building.  It's a shame but dogs aren't allowed inside. If the weather is not too good then it is a place to avoid with no real outside cover. Whilst we were there the second train, this on...