A good biking week
October 18th, 2008
Been on the early shift this week. To you the reader it means nothing but to me it means leaving home a smidge before 5am each day and riding to the station to catch the train into London. The roads at this time of day are obviously empty so even though its early and cold each ride out is still a blast on the Buell. Leaving 5 minutes earlier allows me to take a slightly more interesting route to the station and you can make the most of the empty roads. It’s dark so you can’t brake too late into a bend coz you’re light will point at the ground instead of through the bend…
This week I have been using my Rex Marsee tank bag with excellent results. The weather has been good so I’ve not had the need to carry a load of waterproofs around in my ruck sack. Instead I’ve been able to ride light with the tank bag only. As I have said in previous posts, my flask holding a warm coffee just slips in to the tank bag thus saving the requirement to carry a half empty ruck sack on my back. Once at the station I just unzip the bag off of its mount and walk off. It’s small enough to carry around without getting arm ache yet is big enough to hold the flask, phone, ear buds, snood, wallet and so on. The 10 litre size is spot on for the commuter that doesnt carry a laptop or notes around. I reckon its big enough for a weekend away too coz us men only really need a change of undies, clean T shirt, tooth brush and spray if we’re spending the weekend riding and staying in a bike friendly bed and breakfast. Traveling light is so much easier I can tell you.
Back to the bike… It’s been behaving so much better after Blackbear replaced the faulty throttle body last week. No more stiff throttle (oo er missus). It’s totally covered in crap so needs a good wash down but in a way it looks kind of cool and rugged when dirty. Maybe I’ll leave it another week before a wash down for once…
This morning I popped down to my local bike dealership Haywards of Cambridge. I know the guys there well coz they sold me my previous ride, a Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport. I’m not after another sport but I am on the look out for another bike which I hope to buy in March 2009. I’m torn as to what I want at the moment and ideally I don’t want to sell the Buell. Instead I would like a 2nd bike to go along side the Buell. They had the Moto Guzzi V7 Classic which was a real looker and a Gilera Fuoco. The V7 would be nice but I feel its just a normal bike whereas the the Fuoco is different. I could use that to commute on to the station each day and then use the Buell at the weekends only. The Fuoco is a 500cc three wheel scooter. It’s meant to ride really well and provide stability when the surface gets a bit slippery. Some bloke on the London Bikers Forum took one on a 3000 mile trip around Europe fully loaded up with his gear. I know its a scooter but its a good one for sure. Pics of both bikes below…. What do I get???
Moto Guzzi V7 Classic
Gilera Fuoco
2 Responses to “A good biking week”
Captain Slow October 26th, 2008 at 8:34 am #
Fuoco? That’s going to be difficult to say without smiling, isn’t it. Just back from Tenerife, and I wsh I had had some kind of two-wheeler, as the mountain roads up to volcanic Mt Teide were fantastic. Loads of twists and turns, and very smooth for the first half of the trip up from the village of Chio.
Talking of super scooters, they made up the majority of two wheeled traffic out there, with just a few superbikes and mid-size nakeds. Twist and go seems to be the way to go, and with built in storage to leave your helmet.
Have you asked Haywards to loan you a Bullet 500 with sidecar? That would be pretty stable thru’ the winter, or even Bullet 500 solo? Might be fun to slow down and youonly need a large mallet and GS screwdriver for a complete toolkit!
Fatbiker October 26th, 2008 at 8:00 pm #
Sounds like you had nice holiday… Not ventured to that part of the world yet. Something to do in years to come.
Re the Enfield, I like the idea of the Woodsman but I am a tad concerned about reliability and finish. I’ve been an enfield fan for years now so am watching how their new injected engine works out to see if its the way to go.