what have you done to your "bike" today

[macdee]

hard luck marty
chin up

[lumpyv]

that's rotten luck marty especially at the start of such a long trip and being sleep deprived!!

hope things pick up ( not bits of your bike )

Ride safe..

[sirch345]

Have a safe journey Marty, I hope the first leg of it has gone well,

Chris.

A day of highs n lows, only managed 3hrs sleep for the second night running, not good when leaving at 4ish o'clock in the morning, nice smooth but chilly ride down to the channel tunnel, then it goes tits up, whilst in a check in queue the bike in front of me gets tapped from behind by a car driver that didn't like the biker cutting in front of him, only happened at 1mph, but it was enough to knock the bike and rider over, me a 3 other bikers jumped off our bikes to help, next thing I know, I turn around and my bikes fallen over FFS, combination of it being heavily loaded with luggage and a possibility the sidestand wasn't down properly, the first bike had zero damage, because the rider cushioned the blow, my bike on the other hand received loads of damage, snapped LHS mirror mount, snapped clutch lever, damaged LHS front indicator, destroyed LHS fairing, badly scuffed LHS pannier. Sods law for trying to be a good Samaritan. Luckily I learnt my lesson from the Devon trip and I packed some gaffa tape, even tapped the clutch lever back together. I still made the , but feck me riding in central Europe without a LHS mirror is a major pita. I got to my overnight stop at 8.30pm, covering 720 miles. The last 30 miles were painful, but mentally I knew I was almost there, which makes matters worse, sore neck, shoulders and right wrist, and very tired, but also pleased that I set a target and achieved it, even after the incident. Staying with a biker family that run a small BnB, he's from Cornwall and his wife's french, I've been treated like family, they even made me dinner, in exchange I bought them hobnobs and branston pickle lol. Less than 400 miles tomorrow, up and over the Pyrenees, I'm going to take it slow and stop and take some pics, but only of the rhs of my bike hahaha.

So what's the most mileage you've covered in a day on a firestorm?

No way, I'm sorry to read this Marty, I hope the 2nd leg of your journey is much better for you. Impressive mileage for sure, mind how you go,

Chris.

[VTRDark]

These bikes could really do with a main stand. That is really sh1t luck Marty...I expect the panniers had something to do with it. I'm surprised the pannier didn't save the fairing but on the plus side I bet it saved your exhaust. I hate loosing levers and mirrors. That must have been hard going riding like that. Thinking about it you know what could be needed.....

Adjustable sidestand

[agentpineapple]

in fact I think the pannier made it worse, as it made the impact heavier on the front, which meant the indicator, mirror and clutch lever took the full force of the impact.
got home at 9pm last night, have a lovely ride through the pyrenee's. imho the roads on the Spanish side are better, better tarmac and faster. I only had to use my reserve 5ltr jerry can once whilst in france. well worth having it tho.
I even manage to take the obligatory forum picture, so here's a bit of culture for you all.....French bin shot

I still feel a tad tired today. i'm rather proud that I managed 720 miles in a day. seen as i'm a fat fecker that unfit, riding a bike that isn't really a touring bike, with only one wing mirror and a broken clutch lever
would I do it again.
probably not, if I did, I would only do 400 miles a day and stick to the smaller roads, harder work, but more fun.
I will access the damage to the bike later today.
I might be needing a lhs mirror mount....

[agentpineapple]

this evening i removed all the luggage system, pita job, but the bike looks so much better, even with the damage
it just so happens my mirror glass was smashed, but luckily i had a spare lhs mirror, but sadly i still need a mirror mount.
gave it a clean and the chain got lots of lube, i will adjust the chain in the morning. i also placed a Velcro tab between the rear of my seat and the underside of the single seat cowl, the rear tab snapped off many moons ago, and i was pissed off with the gap, the Velcro is a temp measure, but it looks a lot better. just need to fit the little plastic tabs to the underside of the rear fairing.
i readjusted my end cans, it has to be the best fit I've ever managed to get them, nice and solid, no movement, in the past one or the other would have a loose fitting, no matter what i did.
i'll check my tyre pressures in the morning. the bikes also popping and bang really badly. I've still got to check the vac lines. sounds like something is not air tight.

[fabiostar]

went out to sort through bits and ended up fitting the ditchfield forks i got from the other bike onto the blue yoke and a we bonus as i was putting stuff away into the loft i noticed a set of armstrong wave discs on the spare wheels so on they went aswell...that leaves me with good standard and EBC prolites as spares..

[bigtwinthing]

had problems with the MZ, keeps cutting out after 10 mins, Carb fault i think, leave it ten minutes and it starts again for ten mins, It did have petrol coming out the carb overflow, Ive checked the float height etc and now runs for a few mins and cuts out. Plug, coil and leads all good!!!

[fabiostar]

done nothing but rode it today along with the other Rob.

[StormyRob]

done nothing but rode it today along with the other Rob.

Fantastic day. That bike of yours sounds like an evil chainsaw

[podman]

done nothing but rode it today along with the other Rob.

Fantastic day. That bike of yours sounds like an evil chainsaw

Cracking shot gents...Game of Thrones road bychance?

[agentpineapple]

a quick 60 mile ride this evening, too hot to ride during the day.
had a nervous moment when I came blatting round a corner to see a police van and two police cars. not surprising as the second attack in spain was only 40 miles away, I wouldn't like to guess the speed I was doing...
tbh they couldn't be arsed
didn't stop me checking my mirrors for the next mile or so....
here's a few pictures in the fading sunlight

[Wicky]

[VTRDark]

What's all the vertical lines in the rock face

[KermitLeFrog]

What's all the vertical lines in the rock face

Drill holes?