Wrinklies Chasing the Sun 4, 4th - 6th June 2018

[sudolea]

Now that we're all home (I was lucky and had one ferry sooner than planned, arriving home at 19:30 British time), I want to thank everyone for the good company and the even better rides (special thanks for Rae, our trip-designer). I really enjoyed it : nice company from calm Rae, easily laughing Matt, helpful Richard (who accompanied me twice to the local Screwfix shop), chatting Brian (does he even háve an "off"- button ?) and silently caring Ady. A little shorter-lasting accompany there was with Tom, Bob, Lucean, and Jon. If even possible, my old K even enjoyed it better than I did, despite its battered (!) battery condition. I even think there was one moment when I could hear it complain about what had kept me so long to bring it amongst other specimen of its species, its proper habitat... but it can also have been the last gasp of its battery I'd heard.

At the start of the trip, after the 2 push-starts in Duinkerke, I finally got on the ferry. But my K would need 3 more during that holiday (one of which was me on my own push-starting it passed the DFDS check-in in Dover, I still don't know how I did it). And let's not also forget Brian's jumpstarter's ampèrage burst of 2 days before - I have this event on video, who knows I'll still make a youtube video from it (provided no-one objects of have his registration plate on the video). I don't know if I'll have the battery replaced/have the problem diagnosed, as it might be sold tomorrow, after being for sale for half a year...

I have to say, this trip made me (re)wonder if I will ever have such a good-riding bike as the K1300S again. Seeing a bunch of other K-bikes ride and riding one at the same time is an experience I'll remember for a long time, this felt special to me. Even so much that (after having heard the Costas story) I had asked myself if I shouldn't install another engine in it instead of selling it second hand too cheaply to my feeling (--> how much would having the engine replaced or revised cost, actually ? - added to its current selling price, it might be beneficial anyway, and I'd be on the road for another 115000 kms). See how hard it is to sell it 

For me, the trip totalled 1650 kilometers, 2 kilometers less than a full 1000 miles.

@Ady : sorry for not having waved when we started to roll in Market Harborough (and you didn't take your normal place in the group). Because when you said that you "were out", I had forgotten what that really meant (I must've known one day it means "I'm leaving", but lack of English practice has made me forget it during those 20 past years).

[Matt]

I'm glad you made it back intact Sudo, and hopefully no starting issues on that leg of the trip.

I've got a Dynaplug kit arriving in the next couple of days, am unreasonably excited about it! I've got 3 gas canisters left over from a previous rubbish kit, so in the next week or so will find a nice way of packaging it all into the nacelle.

Which reminds me, whoever I owe gas canisters to shout up and I'll send you over some gas (probably not toxic gas, but I can't/won't promise anything).

EDIT: Oh sudo, I think if you replace yours with a KTM, I will too, and then we can start euroktmclub.bike

[raesewell]

Or even a euroktmfjrclub.bike  it'll look like alphabet soup 

[sudolea]

...
Which reminds me, whoever I owe gas canisters to shout up and I'll send you over some gas ...

Is that done often in the UK, send air from the one part of the country to another ? I guess the Belgian way of giving back that air in another form might be a better solution : enclosed in beer, the next time you meet again 

And I have an update regarding my K : IT'S SOLD, this morning ! I even hadn't had the time to clean it after the wrinklies trip. And as I had had some -real- rain (not only some drops) on my route to Dover, it was properly dirty (had anyone had some real rain on this trip, actually ?). The buyer inspected it in that (dirty) state, was told what's wrong with it (the battery state, the doubts I have on the lasting engine, ..., ...). But he was OK with the price.

So if we meet again one day, I myself won't be on a K any more (unfortunately).

On the other hand,

...
EDIT: Oh sudo, I think if you replace yours with a KTM, I will too, and then we can start euroktmclub.bike

I haven't been convinced KTM's handle a mild off-road road properly ... 

[S BMW]

  Looks like youhad a great trip well pict'ed and a great biorgraph.

[Phmode]

No rain on Thursday but it was bloody cold on the trip back home across the south-western Cotswolds and I was glad when the sun came out to play as I cruised through Gloucester.

I'm both glad and sorry that youv'e sold the K Phillipe. Still, there are plenty around so you might get yourself a newer one.

See ya next time.

[sudolea]

I made a small video from it. For those who are interested, it can be found here.

[S BMW]

Excellent looks like a good trip good driving boys

[richtea]

I made a small video from it. For those who are interested, it can be found here.

V nice! Who's that fat one in front of you?

[raesewell]

We took in some of Englands finest biking roads and enjoyed every mile.

[Phmode]

Well, that's the first time I've seen any of those roads....

I'm always amazed at how slow video footage makes the progress look.

Some thoughts in retrospect...

You could tell it was day 1 on Day 1 as Richard's brake light kept coming on, I never realised it even worked before. It turns out Matt had forgotten how to go round corners. Much better after he gave himself a stern talking to and day 2 saw little of Richard's wee light.

One of the highlights of this year's trip was no one getting lost and none of those embarrassing U-turns. Of course, we all lost the KTM's when they refused to go off road...

Of course, being 'foreign', Phillipe couldn't get the hang of the UK speed camera culture and kept expecting rozzers to be jumping out from behind telegraph poles and flashing their LASERs out of hedgerows a la continent. Much more civilised on our little island, cricket and all that...and of course, he didn't have the reassurance of the bonging in his ears from the sat nav database giving the game away.

I never noticed Phillipe using his clutch as much as he did; no quick shifter?

When Phillipe's bike conked and he had to resort to pushing throuh the road works, Matt and I stopped and I ran after Phillipe in an attempt to help him push his bike but I never caught up with him.....

The bit you don't see in the video is Phillipe turning his camera on and then crouching down to admire himself in his nearside mirror. Turns out he was actually not taking selfies but rather making sure the LED was telling him the camera was on.

The huge difference between the Wrinklies and The Old Gits trips is the Wrinklies don't get hairpins or mountains and the average age is twice as high...

A big similarity is Red 1 'off-siding', staying on the 'wrong' side of the road after an overtake to tell the others it is clear to follow through. Whether anyone ever notices that you are doing it is another matter altogether...

A word on the Sena 20S intercomms that Rae and I were both using. This is the first year that one of us has bothered to work out how to pair them and it wasn't me.

They were a revelation and way, way better than my beloved Autocom system of old. Crystal clear sound which was so good I could even tell when Rae changed the flavour of crisps he was munchimg as went our merry way.

Range was excellent with tail-end Charlie here sometimes being 3/4 mile adrift from Rae but still the comms were good.

They (mainly mine I think) do have a tendency to drop off once in a while and need to re-paired on the fly.

Excellent little compilation Phillipe and I applaud you for the efforts of twking the video and turning it into something useful. Well done.

[sudolea]

V nice! Who's that fat one in front of you?

I wouldn't have said "fat" myself, it's your words. I'd have said "tall". Because it appeared to me that "that one" (    ) was sitting quite upright. Maybe due to raisers ? Or more probably due to "sheer size" ?

...
I never noticed Phillipe using his clutch as much as he did; no quick shifter?
...

Two reasons :
- indeed, I don't have a quickshifter
- second, with my limited-power version, below 8000 rpm, you are being pulled harder and harder by the steering wheel with the rpms increasing, just like with the full-power version. But above 8000 rpm, the limited-power version's steering wheel stops pulling ever harder, whereas the full-power version keeps pulling you harder and harder (until you have to upshift, or until you chicken out and release the throttle, whichever comes first). It's this phenomenon which makes me upshift (and downshift) more frequently than (I think) most of you do. At that same time, I also make better use of the (still massively available) torque of the engine.

...
Excellent little compilation Phillipe and I applaud you for the efforts of twking the video and turning it into something useful. Well done.

Thank you, glad you liked it

[richtea]

I wouldn't have said "fat" myself, it's your words. I'd have said "tall". Because it appeared to me that "that one" (    ) was sitting quite upright. Maybe due to raisers ? Or more probably due to "sheer size" ?

No risers, but a slightly higher seat (maybe 1-2cm) to give a little more knee bend. Let's call it 'Extra Large With Long Arms'. 

[raesewell]

Surely that would be less knee bend 

[Phmode]

 

Ya get away wi nowt in ere