Ive written my bike off...
Discussion
at 10 mph..
On the 7th May, I fitted my new tyre after feveroiusly polishing the wheel to make it look nice for my trip to spain..
pull out of drive, hook it left, feed off the clutch - highside, at just 10mph.
alternator took the brunt, which melted the wiring loom, blew the elctrics, and the battery. uneconmical for me to repair based on it being 4 yrs old and 20,000 miles on it..
totally lost my confidence in riding.
So, I had 1 week to get sorted for my trip to spain.
I bought another triumph Daytona !! massive deals on them as they are finishing production - £5899 - unregistered 06 model.
picked it up on the friday, ran it in over the weekend, went to spain on the wednesday.
rode through france to Auch day 1. no motorways
rode from auch to masella day 2, under andorra, ski resorts all the way, much fun.
day 3 day out round the pyranees.
day 4 masella to pamplona, pub crawl, great roads.
day 5 up to santander for the ferry home.
Ferry home had been hit by freak wave, smashing windows, ferry cancelled.
day 5 (pm) ride to bordaeux, find a B&B.
day 6 ride to Caen from Bordaeux up the motorway, UK for 11pm, 1am home in torrential rain.
New bike? now has 3000 miles on the clock after only 2 weeks.
result? got confidence back finally after really feeling scared at high siding so slowly. took nice pictures.
On the 7th May, I fitted my new tyre after feveroiusly polishing the wheel to make it look nice for my trip to spain..
pull out of drive, hook it left, feed off the clutch - highside, at just 10mph.
alternator took the brunt, which melted the wiring loom, blew the elctrics, and the battery. uneconmical for me to repair based on it being 4 yrs old and 20,000 miles on it..
totally lost my confidence in riding.
So, I had 1 week to get sorted for my trip to spain.
I bought another triumph Daytona !! massive deals on them as they are finishing production - £5899 - unregistered 06 model.
picked it up on the friday, ran it in over the weekend, went to spain on the wednesday.
rode through france to Auch day 1. no motorways
rode from auch to masella day 2, under andorra, ski resorts all the way, much fun.
day 3 day out round the pyranees.
day 4 masella to pamplona, pub crawl, great roads.
day 5 up to santander for the ferry home.
Ferry home had been hit by freak wave, smashing windows, ferry cancelled.
day 5 (pm) ride to bordaeux, find a B&B.
day 6 ride to Caen from Bordaeux up the motorway, UK for 11pm, 1am home in torrential rain.
New bike? now has 3000 miles on the clock after only 2 weeks.
result? got confidence back finally after really feeling scared at high siding so slowly. took nice pictures.
Edited by s2ooz on Friday 2nd June 11:17
s2ooz said:
Guided tour or picking you own way, ive got a host of top roads I can tell you to head for if you going into the pyranees?
Thanks, but one of my mates has organised it. He's got all the routes planned and put onto our GPS's. We're getting the ferry back from Bilboa....I hate boats.
Chilli - this was the boat from santander, we didnt get - not to put you off 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/de
will get some route ideas sorted now, will take a while to type in...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/de
will get some route ideas sorted now, will take a while to type in...
Carrera2 said:
S2ooz
Whats that funny little thing sticking up off of the seat cowl? Camera Mount?
Yep rfconcepts.co.uk - bullet cam, with maplin sucker mount. took some fun footage of mates chasing me, then whipped it onto my velcro prepared helmet for some forward facing stuff.
- then the camera cut out periodically. bad wiring I think, will take it apart at the weekend.
veetwin said:
S2ooz,
We are heading to the Pyrenees in July travelling down through France to the Millau bridge then down to Narbonne, and on to Andorra and then back through France via Dordogne area. Any tips on good Andorran roads?
PS. Do we need headlight deflectors and GB stickers??
no stickers or anything - lights must be on though.
dont waste time in france, just get through it, long milage, fuel two bikes at once to avoid time wasting etc. save up the time for the pyrenees - its worth it - and its also hard to cover large mileage once you are there.
the road surfaces vary, so you need to go through punishment to get from stage to stage. depends what you like, but try it all, you will feel like a man afterwards!!
Saying that I was on a sports bike, so it didnt like the rougher stuff, but my mates were fine??!!
some stuff in the next post is first gear, clutch slipping, narrow craziness, but fun. other bits are smooth sweeping 40-70mph stuff. the roads are very quiet but dont assume the corners are clean. I found dry skiers snowploughing, fallen rocks, and the occassion dropped motorbike ! ride for fun but leave room for error, for the best fun, turn round and repeat the best sections, gives a chance for photos too!
rule 1, avoid andorra itself, extremely busy town, good roads, but bottle necked tail backs all day. shopping maybe, but not for riding.
road 1 - the N152 from Ripoll (climbing) to puigcerda, 25 miles, just resurfaced, pure black heaven.
road 2 - the BV-4031 from pobla de lillet to castella den'Hug, mountainous, large drops, but good.
road 3 - head out to la seu d'Urgell onto the N260 (pic 3) to sort. Look out for the turn just after a petrol station, 30 miles without a straight, great views toward sort.
road 4 - take any route from here to either Vielha or el pont de suert, all good. rejoin the N260 again at sarroqueta to campo.
fast sweepers to start, then you take a cut past an old house by a bridge (watch for the sign) and it switches to switch back madness!
road 5 - I suggest the northern route now via broto to biescas (N260) its twisty, so slow going.
road 6 - head now onto the E-7 to Jaca, a few long straights, but then gets fun again as you join the N240 to the Yesa lake.
enjoy the lake ride, then after a bit (should see wind turbines and deserted yellow petrol station), turn right onto na178, toward navascues.
right again onto Na-2140, top black heaven again. pick up the A-137 again for a narrow squirt back to the lake.
that should keep you busy!!
Hotels
1. Javier, www.hotelxabier.com/Eng_intro.html left at the end of the yesa lake, nice castle, exellent food.
www.javier2006.com
2. cenicero a bit far out, past logrono, built by a rioja wine owner, exellent food and a 9 page wine menu, www.hotelciudaddecenicero.com -locked underground carpark.
3. south andorra, la seu d'Urgell well located to shop in andorra http://paradores-spain.com/spain/pseu - parador. clean, classy, good parking again. bit pricey, but worth it for the location.
road 1 - the N152 from Ripoll (climbing) to puigcerda, 25 miles, just resurfaced, pure black heaven.
road 2 - the BV-4031 from pobla de lillet to castella den'Hug, mountainous, large drops, but good.
road 3 - head out to la seu d'Urgell onto the N260 (pic 3) to sort. Look out for the turn just after a petrol station, 30 miles without a straight, great views toward sort.
road 4 - take any route from here to either Vielha or el pont de suert, all good. rejoin the N260 again at sarroqueta to campo.
fast sweepers to start, then you take a cut past an old house by a bridge (watch for the sign) and it switches to switch back madness!
road 5 - I suggest the northern route now via broto to biescas (N260) its twisty, so slow going.
road 6 - head now onto the E-7 to Jaca, a few long straights, but then gets fun again as you join the N240 to the Yesa lake.
enjoy the lake ride, then after a bit (should see wind turbines and deserted yellow petrol station), turn right onto na178, toward navascues.
right again onto Na-2140, top black heaven again. pick up the A-137 again for a narrow squirt back to the lake.
that should keep you busy!!
Hotels
1. Javier, www.hotelxabier.com/Eng_intro.html left at the end of the yesa lake, nice castle, exellent food.
www.javier2006.com
2. cenicero a bit far out, past logrono, built by a rioja wine owner, exellent food and a 9 page wine menu, www.hotelciudaddecenicero.com -locked underground carpark.
3. south andorra, la seu d'Urgell well located to shop in andorra http://paradores-spain.com/spain/pseu - parador. clean, classy, good parking again. bit pricey, but worth it for the location.
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff