Well it was free when I went though it at 9.00 last night - which is my lame link to bore you all with my TRIP TO FRANCE.
Yes everybody, I've been on a TRIP TO FRANCE. Set off last Tuesday evening having changed back to stock cans as a) I didn't fancy that BOOM for 2000 miles and b) I didn't trust the Blue Flames not to fall to bits. Three cans, three identical failures - I WILL be having words with them! I put a two litre container of unleaded in my throwover - didn't need it but nice to know it was there. The only Joy Pump (see link elsewhere) was in my leathers Cupa.
First day saw recurrence of my foot/ankle problem, so had to do the whole trip in trainers. This showed up two things: thank you Mr Honda for a fabulously torquey V-twin to keep gear changing to a minimum and boo hiss, Mr Honda, for a totally agricultural gearbox.
Anyway, disposed of boring northern France in a day. Maybe I'm getting complacent, cos boring means bullet straight roads and a 110 mph cruise. Funnily enough I don't find French speed limits difficult to adhere to - but that's maybe cos they're in kph and my speedo's in mph
Further south things get much more interesting. South of Clermont Ferrand, from the Auvergne across the Forez through Le Puy and on to Montelimar is a route I can recommend to anyone. Smooth, twisty, swoopy, empty. Great Fun. After that I was on home territory, through the wicked but slightly intimidating Gorges de Ste. May and on to the gite at Chauvac -
http://www.abercon.co.uk/vtr1000/gallery/1209.jpg
The Storm loves smooth curves but gets a bit unruly on poxy surfaces. It also seems to work well at about 80% capacity but push it much harder and it feels a bit loose. Anyway spent the next few days on great local roads, discovering lean angles I didn't know existed!
One bummer was dealing with the Gendarmerie. I am now 90 euros lighter after being waved down for sraight lining an S bend and crossing the white line - no traffic and a clear view. Our cops at home have a nice line in sarcasm but these boys were arrogant beyond belief. Must be the gun as chipolata substitute or something.
They kept demanding my 'papers' and being thoroughly obnoxious. Avoid like the plague.
To add insult to injury, I later came back from lunch to be told by a passer-by that the Storm had been knocked over by a woman in the 4x4 I had parked behind. A gendarme had seen the whole thing and picked the bike up. I asked him if he had taken her details and he said no and started demanding MY papers. Whispering "va tu faire encoulee" under my breath I buggered off before I ended up in the slammer.
The journey back to Blighty was a mix of twisties and straight road blats and included getting caught in an almighty thunderstorm. I had intended to stop an extra night but couldn't be arsed so drove straight through Tuesday - over 600 miles.
So what have I learned? That the Storm is an absolutely awesome machine. It is comfortable enough to tour (I'm 6'2"), eating the miles. Yet when you want back road fun its a whole bundle of laughs. Yes it drank loads but finding filling stations wasn't too much of an issue and would be less so with the 19 litre tank. I have a Carte Bleue, which means I can use automatic stations - they don't take Visa. I did eventually get a numb right hand and no Pete that wasn't cos I was on my own for a week
More and more I can't imagine what I could change to. The Mille looks nice but I'm not sure it would be comfortable for 6 hours at a stretch. I had looked at bigger tourers like ZZRs or Blackbirds but they're a bit lardy and how often do you need that touring potential? Doing it on a 600? Forget it!
So looks like the Storm is here to stay. In fact I may just take it over on another TRIP TO FRANCE in a few weeks. Think I'll get a gel-seat before then - ooh me elbow grapes!
The whole trip (well apart from the 90 euro expenditure, the woman driving the 4x4 and the thunderstorm) sounded fantastic, 
