YAY!....E-bay rocks....

These are my new bike boots that I have purchased for the princely sum of £19.......now, as I do realize you get what you pay for I am also aware that whatever they are like they will be infinitely better than the portable puddles that I currently wear and being made from real cow hide I will be able to treat them :) I am excited anyway.......I am in positive frame of mind and thinking with the saving I can get top rack for the Givi box I also got pretty damn cheap.......Aware I may look like a penny pinching mare, every hapeny I'm not spending on stuff I don't really want to carry on the bike, the more is going into the travel pot for doing the deed!....Cornwall for 10 days in Sept is coming round fast and Morocco next year is going to take a super human effort to save for, especially as I haven't got a scooby-doo what a ride on a camel costs to the local shop for a pint of cider...lol

Also want to share this drawing Mark did of me and Bee...I bl**dy love that he did it for me as a suprise....Thanks babe XXX

So far..

Just thought I'd post a few random things in here while, thanks to the recession, there are no new mini-trips or new gear to report on of late...

Transalp is running great, really enjoying the riding position and the smoothness of it all.. at least up to 60mph anyway.  Is fantastic for windy roads and backroad wanders, but don't think I will ever stop checking if 6th gear is there.  Service was all good a couple of months back, nice to get an experts seal of approval.  Since then I got my hands dirty and fitted a K&N air filter, new throttle cables, new bar ends and a replacement side fairing (another lucky eBay success).  MoT is this month, so we'll see how it goes..

Getting our kit for Cornwall a bit more sorted, with the emphesis on comfort and ease really.  We did a lightweight ride out with minimal kita while back and I actually liked the bike loaded with more kit to be honest, so our striving for tiny packed versions of everything has been put aside in favour of products that just get the job done.  The Snugpak Traveller sleeping bags, although compact, weren't as warm as we hoped and I think will be side-lined in favour of our big chunky oversized Vango Breakouts.  On top of the Fat Airic mats, they combine to create a very snug and comfortable rest area, something I think is worth the extra space.  Two 70 litre HELD waterproof stuff sacks keep everything safe from the elements with space to stuff a few extras in the end.

Things we still need..  a cable lock for securing kit on the bikes.  Paula could use some boots.  A rack to mount Paulas Givi Maxia topbox would be very handy, some Touratech racks to mount my panniers would be fantastic, but out of budget I think for the time being.  Apart from which I think we have plenty of kit for survive the wilds of the south west with... now bring on the Cyder and Pasties!!

A few teething problems revisited!

After breaking down and just getting my bike into work I found that the relentless conking out was due to wiring problems, mainly two wires that belonged to mt ignition and ABS had been repaired before and were just touching, every time I turned my bars they disconnected and the bike stopped! Thanks to the Invensys rail pit crew one lunchtime we took Bee to pieces and soldered her bits back together....will do for now but I will have to get this sorted properly before going any great distances.

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.