Posh boxes..

My panniers arrived yesterday in all their pre-battered glory.  An ebay triumph that got me some very nice and sturdy Touratech 36 litre boxes for a huge saving off the lofty £400+ new price tag.  Curiously they already been to Cornwall and Morocco, the two places we have plans pencilled in to go to...

A bunch of photos...

From the weekend at swanage at Tom's field campsite, a place we'd both been before but not for some time, nice to see the laid back, green site hadn't changed much, just more to offer like fresh herbs for your BBQ and nice bits like that :)

It's all about the bikes :)


The green man was on form at Brownsea Island...there may not have been many squirels out playing but there were plenty of nuts!!! lol

Stained glass and impressive ammonite from Corfe church.

A few teething problems!

After the ride at the weekend I have started to notice some stuff going on, my brakes feel odd for a start, that added to the fact I think the ABS switch is broken has me wondering if there may be a problem after all and  it's not just me getting used to the bike....Also have noticed my clutch doesn't like being feathered, when pulling away the engine will cut out  o.O  not so good when pulling out into traffic as I was this morning!. It also does it when stationary when you turn the handlebars right.......need to do some investigating over the weekend I think.
Found I have a great in built immobilizer this week too when I had to get a lift in to work on the back of mark (first time two up on the T.alp) because I couldn't start Bee.....turns out she was in gear which renders her completely unwilling to turn over, another lesson learned! lol.

I have some away snaps that I will add later from the weekend run out :)

To the coast!!

A quick blat to the coast and back at the weekend, a bit of practice packing light, setting up and down and a nice little test for the iPhone satnav on my new RAM mount.  Was using NDrive Western Europe and it worked a treat, the mount is really solid and had no vibrations at all.  The screen was easy to see and quick to read at a glance, the only glitch was that when you whizz round a roundabout at 45 degrees the screen flipped over for a while.  

Also spent another night in the new Snugpak traveller sleeping bags, thanks to BCH Camping matching the new reduced internet prices.  They fold down very small and are great to pack, but aren't quite as thermally insulating as our huge old Vango sleeping sacks, which are super sized too which I am missing, the Snugpaks tend to be just a bit too snug for my broad shoulders and can feel a bit like sleeping wrapped in cling film!  (not that I know what that would feel like!!)

It also rained a fair bit of the ride back too, which was interesting, found that my screen and handguards do a 100% better job of keeping me dry compared to the old Firestorm!  Nice.  Definitely made the ride back a lot more enjoyable.

Pick a colour, any colour...

Well the weather and the lack of decent waterproof gear turned our bike tour of Wales into a car tour instead.  A real shame as the route we took was stunning, a get drive that would have made a stunning ride.  Definitely a 2 wheeled re-run of the route pencilled in for the future some time I think..

My bodywork repairs and respraying have reached a junction.  Turns out the paint on the bike  has faded significantly since new and the colour matched paint I bought, although close, is just not right.  So, I've started toying with the idea of giving the whole lot a brand new coat instead.  I got a right side fairing off eBay for £30 in much better condition than mine (minor scratches instead of scars and cracks) and have been playing with a few colours in photoshop...

.. we'll see.  Maybe I'll go with his and hers Yellow bikes!  

I also got my iPhone mount through today from RAM, thanks to work blagging me a freebie in the name of project research!  Result!!  We'll see this weekend if it all works alright with a trip down to the south coast..