Christmas euro trip

[PIGINAWIG]

Morning peeps.

After a pretty tough year, emotionally, financially and health wise, I'm seriously contemplating fking off to warmer climes on the bike for a week or two on my own over the festive period.

Have toured on my lonesome plenty of times before, so no issues there. Where would you suggest? I'm thinking that France, Germany and Spain may well be too cold.....

Any suggestions welcome. And I may well well buy a new bike to cheer me up this week, so it'll be a good christening for it!

I will obviously blog and display silly pics on here.....

Cheers.

Edited by PIGINAWIG on Monday 16th November 08:59

[crossy67]

You'd need to be heading a lot further south than France for weather I'd like to ride in. We live about an hour inland from Bordeaux and whilst you can get some nice warm days here at Christmas it's not guaranteed. Generally it's cold and damp here, very bleak. Southern Spain might be a better idea.

[PIGINAWIG]

Thanks crossy. I do have access to a nice villa in Marbella on the coast, so that maybe an option. Looked at December and January average temps - between 10 and 15 degrees, not too shabby.....

[fleegle]

Southern Spain and Portugal should be warm enough. The trip down there might freeze your tits off though

[crossy67]

Marbella you say Need some company?

If you want to make the trip I'd go west coast of France then either cross to St Sebastian then head for Portugal. What ever you do stay away from East France, it will be really cold away from the influence of the sea. Or you could cross by Toulouse then down to Barcelona and the Med.

We go there from time to time and the weather's noticeably better on the Spanish side of the border for some reason despite there being just 20 mils across the hills.

If you do decide to make the trip let me know, might be able to offer you a room for the night depending on visitors then (were an hour inland of Bordeaux.

[PIGINAWIG]

Any company welcome! And the villa is free and actually on the beach..... Niiiiiiice!!

Perhaps I'd be better off on the ferry from Dover to Santander - fleegle has a point, the 3 day ride down to southern Spain would be possibly freezing.....

So, regards bike shopping, these are the suspects, in no particular order.....

New versys 1000
New tenere 1200
New Vstrom 1000

Hmmmm........

[black-k1]

Last year Mrs K1 and I bought a place on the Algarve. I’ve not done Christmas there but I was there the second week of January and can report that while overnight temperatures can get down to just below freezing, day time temperatures were in the high teens and it was pretty bright and sunny. As a destination, it might be worth considering. Some nice roads and using the ferry to Santander/Bilbao, then the ride down through Portugal should be excellent.

[Tribal Chestnut]

I tried the new big Versys but found it felt too wobbly at speed and it didn't have adequate ground clearance. Wobble might be sortable by fiddling with the suspension and/or fitting a new screen, not sure about the pegs and you then might be scraping the centre stand or exhaust.

[PIGINAWIG]

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far guys.

Ferry to Santander and down through Portugal looking favourite. I had the old version versys 1000 new in 2014 and it bored me a bit too soon. I also had the 2008 old DL1000 Vstrom which I quite liked, so that's in pole position at the moment - they do a limited edition desert variant which I'm almost sold on.....

Reviews aren't that good though!

Or shall I just go all in and opt for a new GS with every available extra?!

F'kin choices!!

[Tribal Chestnut]

Two bikes I tried and liked were the 1190 Adventure and S1000XR.

Went for a budget bike in the end, hoping they'll iron out my minor gripes with the XR so I can buy one in the future.

Edit: really liked the Triumph 800XC and R, but ground clearance let them down. Would imagine that they'd be very comfy across Europe with the heated seats and whatnot.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 16th November 12:30

[ccr32]

Why stop at southern Spain? You could get get boat across from Gibraltar to Morocco and do a bit of Africa too! Would be a pretty cool feat for a Christmas break on a new bike

[ccr32]

Tribal Chestnut said:

Two bikes I tried and liked were the 1190 Adventure and S1000XR.

Went for a budget bike in the end, hoping they'll iron out my minor gripes with the XR so I can buy one in the future.

Edit: really liked the Triumph 800XC and R, but ground clearance let them down. Would imagine that they'd be very comfy across Europe with the heated seats and whatnot.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 16th November 12:30

What were your gripes with the XR out of interest?

[cat with a hat]

ccr32 said:

Tribal Chestnut said:

Two bikes I tried and liked were the 1190 Adventure and S1000XR.

Went for a budget bike in the end, hoping they'll iron out my minor gripes with the XR so I can buy one in the future.

Edit: really liked the Triumph 800XC and R, but ground clearance let them down. Would imagine that they'd be very comfy across Europe with the heated seats and whatnot.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 16th November 12:30

What were your gripes with the XR out of interest?

my guess would be the wobble as higher speeds?

[ilovequo]

Some good deals on the new V Strom 1000

[Tribal Chestnut]

cat with a hat said:

ccr32 said:

Tribal Chestnut said:

Two bikes I tried and liked were the 1190 Adventure and S1000XR.

Went for a budget bike in the end, hoping they'll iron out my minor gripes with the XR so I can buy one in the future.

Edit: really liked the Triumph 800XC and R, but ground clearance let them down. Would imagine that they'd be very comfy across Europe with the heated seats and whatnot.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 16th November 12:30

What were your gripes with the XR out of interest?

my guess would be the wobble as higher speeds?

I didn't pick up on a wobble, but I kept to sensible test ride speeds. I didn't like the 6000rpm vibe through the saddle, could easily be solved with a slightly higher 6th gear to make long motorway stints a little less of a chore. Splitting hairs really, but for a bike that I'd be spending the best part of £20k on it would really annoy me.

[PIGINAWIG]

Hmmmm Africa...... Not a bad idea but maybe a tad too far. I'll look in to it

Bike ordered - DL1000 desert edition. One box ticked......

[fleegle]

PIGINAWIG said:

Hmmmm Africa...... Not a bad idea but maybe a tad too far. I'll look in to it

Algeciras to Tangier is a 30 min ferry. Maybe 2 hours from Marbella??

[crossy67]

I have a K7 DL1000 we rode across France, down Italy and across Greece last year. Can't think of another bike I'd rather have done it on. GS#s are nice but very heavy should you be unfortunate enough to drop one as a mate did on a recent trip to the Pyrenees, not his fault, the engine died when he was doing a low speed maneuver. Took three of us to get to upright again.

[Moulder]

PIGINAWIG said:

Hmmmm Africa...... Not a bad idea but maybe a tad too far. I'll look in to it

Bike ordered - DL1000 desert edition. One box ticked......

Top bike shopping, 10:08am not sure what to get... Four hours later, bike ordered.

[PIGINAWIG]

E

Moulder said:

Top bike shopping, 10:08am not sure what to get... Four hours later, bike ordered.

Ah yes..... Guilty as charged m'lord! I've always been impulsive - no test ride here folks.... Gulp!
Collect the bike on Friday or Saturday - will post a few pics up and let you know what I think on the 200 mile jaunt home, although most of it will be on the motorway.

Update: ok, I have booked the following.......flight to Malaga on Dec 15th and return on Xmas eve. Hiring a Yamaha XT660 for 50 euros a day for the duration and totally undecided on destination!
I will definitely be basing myself a t Marbella villa tho....

I'll let the weather dictate the journey....

Now, why the fk did I just change bikes.........