On the Road Again!

"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 morning was sunny and so I got the bike out for the last ride of the year. One dry day amongst a succession of wet days and I needed to get the GS out of the garage. It was cold and I set off across the marsh, avoiding the cyclists that don't consider the marsh roads to be other than cycle paths. I looped down to Greatstone and Lydd and back up through New Romney. Stopping briefly at Dymchurch and then home. Bracing but good to be out again.

81000 miles Came a little quicker than I had really thought about it. I pulled into the kerb in Dalston and took the snap. I also set up the Bluetooth link on my phone to the Scala headset so that I could speak to work. On the way home the sun was a problem. Virtually all the way home along the A2 and M20 the low sun glared out the mirrors. As expected our car driving compatriots seem unaware that low sun equals low rear visibility. I stopped on the A20 and took another pic. GS in the Sunset

On the way in to work, I stopped briefly to take an iPhone pic of the event.

For a while I have been playing with an app in the iPhone called mpgcalc. There are two versions, free and the full one that stores more entries and also gives a wider choice of stats. mpgcalc data The export data file is a txt file but comma separated and it goes into excel pretty easily and here is the resulting graph.   It shows 19 entries.  The 1st is actually the sum of the fuel put in and the miles ridden from a whole load of entries I would have lost as data isn't transferable if you pay the 69p and upgrade to the pay app.  Shows a pretty consistent pattern with a wide difference between the highest and the lowest mpg.  This is for the UK gallon. When I fill up tonight the graph is liable to take a dip as I was quite "spirited" on the way home after I was blocked on my favourite curve by a muppet in a BMW 5-series.  Outside the Emirates Stadium The ride in this morning was pretty easy. The same holdup as yesterday, so there must ...

At last. After months and months of no light, a change of relay and a selection of fuses and the Nippy Norman mini-spots are finally working again. The blown fuse was 7.5amp.  I emailed Nippy Norman to ask what fuse ought to be in the holder and they replied that it depends on the current being pulled through.  I thought as they put the kit together they may have been able to say!! In the end I reckon the lights are maybe 55w each, so two will be drawing 110w @ 12v so maybe 9.166666amps? I've bunged a 10amp fuse in. So far so good.  It's a miracle.

Thanks to Creative-Eye photography for the pic of me in the High Street in Royal Wootton Bassett. https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Creative-Eye/134817859936900 or creative-eye@live,co.uk

Certainly feels good to be back on two wheels. Mot went off okay and the new Odyssey battery went in.

... but not for long. The battery is so flat that before I connected the car via the jump leads the neutral light was barely alight. With the car running, there wasn't enough kick to get it to start but once Claire had her foot on the accelerator it started second of third go on the starter. I don't like to let it bang over too long with each press on the button. I left it to run for ten minutes of so and then gave up. Hopefully, this will mean it will start easier on Saturday morning so I can get it to Alford Brothers for the MoT and more importantly, have the new battery installed.

On the way back from work I saw the odometer was getting close to 74000 miles. I worked out that the it would flip up in the middle of the motorway stretch between Maidstone and Ashford.  As if by coincidence, as I approached the turn off for Leeds Castle the motorway came to a grinding halt.  Usually something that happens only on a summer Friday as everyone flees to the coast for the weekend or is going to the ports to escape to France on holiday. I took the slip road and as I approached and headed down the A20 instead. Luckily, the road was pretty clear so I guess the hold up was rather fresh. The 74000 clicked up and I made a quick dask to the left to where the Pilgrim's Way works its way along the edge of the hillside.  I saw a programme once where TV personality Nick Knowles (before the DIY programmes) did rides in the country on motorcycles with a selection of celebs. I am sure he did the Pilgrim's Way.  I assume it is a different bit, as this section...

Got home a little earlier than usual and decided to have a ride on the bike to see if it would start (!) after the weekend's messing about, and also nip to Alford Brothers, Suzuki dealers in Folkestone, and book my MoT. I also gave the iPhone version of Everytrail a run out to see how accurate it was.  It's not bad but it looks in some places that I rode through some people's houses!!!

It has taken longer than usual to get out on the bike this year.  After a long lay up in the garage the battery was flat. I had already charged up the spare battery out of the Kettle but it did have the oomph to provide a charge big enough to fire the bike. It started very easily this time, but after 20 minutes running on the drive I turned it off and it wouldn't start. I whipped off the starter motor cover and hooked it up to the Punto again.  Cal from the Kent Centre dropped by to pick up some cards I had made for the Centre. I togged up and followed him for a while then headed up through West Hythe, then Lympne. Then a little nip down the M20 to give it a few more revs. Then off by the tunnel, over the downs via Peene and off to Stowting and a look at the Tiger Inn, from the cars outside it looked packed, then out via Brabourne to Ashford and another squirt down the motorway and home. Forty five miles to see if I can get a charge in the battery! Good to be out on the ...

Need to get the GS started this weekend. Will miss the Robinson's event for the release of the new 2011 GSXR750 on Saturday and hoping to get to the open day on Sunday though. Once again after a lay-off the battery is too weak to start the engine. At least the clock still works!

Took the charged spare battery out and cobbled it up and the bike clicked and clicked on the starter and that was it. Need to get the battery out I think or try to jump the bugger from the car. Hope it doesn't have to be taken elsewhere!!

After a false start and a phone call to Carol Nash the GS started the trip across to Steptoe's to have the bearing sorted. The first guy thought he was collecting a car for a local dealers and said that CN's cover was only local and wouldn't even extend to the nearest BMW dealer that is Cooper's in Tunbridge Wells. A long call later and CN sorted a specialist bike mover and by 1020 it was strapped down and gone. Fingers crossed it's only the bearing. Hoping to hear from Steptoe sometime Sunday.

I was a bit late up as I sat up far too late to watch the general election results start to come in.  Time to forget all that and tog up and then off to the M20 services to fill up with petrol, meet Claire for lunch and then head on up the highway. I've decided to take the Plan B route of M25/M40 as the traffic reports on BBC R2 are horrendous for the Essex section through the roadworks. Onwards and upwards!

Canadian Memorial - Vimy Ridge , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . I was a bit slow writing up this trip but I have it on my Everytrail and Flickr pages. UPDATE - Since this was written, like many good ideas and free internet sites Everytrail has gone tits up. All the work that people put in lost.  At least the site owners probably got a pay off to  f*ck off.

Ready for the next days trip to Arras with the other members of the Kent Centre Suzuki Owners Club.

Looking for the Nailbourne - Bridge , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . The full story of the trip can be found here and the photos are here and here .

I finally got round to replacing one of the missing bungs and then noticed this one had gone AWOL ass well.... GS bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . GS bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . Then this is the original one that went misisng some time ago. GS bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . GS bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto .