Chimay - just back

A hoot of a weekend. Blazing heat, lots of beer and other alcoholic
beverages drunk.....

Synopsis:

The Z650's exhaust broke in half (on the right-hand side) on the way to
Dover. Maidstone services saw running rep[airs dopne with exhaust gum
(which I'd brought with me) and asbestos tape (donated by a kindly
heating engineer, who had come over to see why we are all grovelling
under a 30 year-old Kawasaki which, when running, sounded like a
machine-gun being fired into a very big drum.

Number Three header pipe had detached completely from the collector box.
Broken weld.

The patch fell off immediately. Fukkit. Just carried on. and above
80mph, the windblast meant I couldn't hear the cacophony from under the
tank.

Reached hotel, intercepted Champ's message saying his [annier had caught
fire. My, how we laughed. Especially me. Mistake number one.

Got pissed.

Woke up to Zymurgy's snoring. Paul was never going to be compos mentis
in time for a 10am start, so we left him to it. Told him to pick up the
room bill and we'd just go halves. Mistake number two.

Tried slightly more permanent repair to exhaust. It lasted 20miles. As
the only thing holding the exhaust together was the footrest bolt, I was
a bit concerned. Header pipe number four was also coming out in
sympathy.

Got to Chimay (note: an over-rorty Z650 will still pull an easy ton),
drank beer, watched bikes, talked bollocks. Lots of twats in cars this
year. Next to us was a Toyota Rav4. He turned up, pitched tent, then
went back to car and changed into Joe Bar Team T-shirt to prove he was a
biker. And then played French rap music until 3am. Not a nice person. I
left a six-inch nail wedged against the back tyre of the Rav4 for when
he reversed out.

Sunday: Champ put on his shades and tied his T-shirt over his head,
looking like an Islamic terrorist. We were watching the racing from a
marshalling point, and all marshalls were wearing orange overalls. I
tried to persuade them to let me set up a pic of one of them kneeling
while Champ stood behind, brandishing a penknife, but they wouldn't play
ball. Shame.

Bought half a kilo of rolling baccy for tame mechanic in local bike
shop, packed up, set off for Boulogne. Arrived at port, went to head of
queue at loading area, and wondered who was smoking so heavily as there
was drifting tobacco smoke everywhere.

Went to terminal shop, bought wine and beer, came back to bike to stash
it, and saw smoke still wisping from left-hand pannier. Oh ****.

One smouldering shirt (dirty). one melted bungee net, one smouldering
pannier, two 50g packs of Drum incinerated.

Oh, and one pair of Mole grips, at the bottom of aforesaid pannier, now
nicely blued.

Ever tried loading 12 litres of beer and five litres of wine onto a bike
whose luggage capacity has been halved, and which now has no spare
bungees?

Home now. Fed, washed and watered. Blinding weekend. The Z650 now needs
a complete replacement exhaust. new rear shocks and head races would
also be nice. I'm on holiday from next week, so it can wait until late
summer. Roll on next year's Chimay.

 

Glad you got home safely but **** me it made me laugh. Think I'll go
next year if there's a space.

GPZ

 

A smouldering weekend by the sounds of it.

Excellent.

 

I found them just as good as the main operators as I used them for the TOG
tour this year... however boulogne is a pain in the ass to get out of
compared with Calais but the £35 return fare more than made up for that

 

Room bill paid in full !

Oi ! your 11 pression round of beer came ot over 30 euros, and my round
of 6 whisky's came to 40. I blame Platy, me.

Let me know if you want any cash. It's no biggie.

[chav4]

Point of order. ITYF that was 5am ! "French tourettes" Ginny called
the ringleader who insisted on whooping loudly over every song.

Nice !

Oops !

I did thing you were proceeding gingerly down lane 3 on the M25 !

Superb weekend, as always ...

Cheers all. I blame the company

Paul.

 

Nah, nah, no worries. I was at first horrified, and then amused[1] at
how much Scotch you managed to drink, but then I scoffed all your grub
on Saturday night so I call that honours even!

Next year we'll put it all on Platy's room bill ;-)

Well, I had to somehow strap all the luggage that was in the other
pannier, plus a 24-pack of 500ml cans of beer, onto the back seat, and
the CofG was a bit high....

[1] Explained your hangover on Saturday, that did.

 

So, what are you going to cross-post to reeky afore ye go?

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

how can there not be a space?

 

I have no doubt, sounds like a hoot, particularly the TOG exhaust and
the lack of helmet. I do recall your previous denials of being a
"project manager". Why didn't TOG just cut it and let it run on the
downpipes though?!

We headed out to Galway which is enjoying several weeks of glorious
weather. The city is jumping, wall to wall, but managed to find a decent
B&B. The B roads are atrocious and I wouldn't have enjoyed anything
other than the RS above 40mph, even the beemer was bottoming out. Found
some nice main roads and coming back North from Sligo towards Donegal
then East around Lower Lough Erne was stunning with lots of nice sets of
bends. In 4 days of riding in West Ireland we didn't see a single Garda,
camera or speed trap.

Around South of Galway towards Ballyvaughan I came on an amazing
landscape of limestone pavement which spans the hilltops right down into
the sea, where it erodes in wonderful patterns. There was a perfect
secluded beach here about 30 mins walk from the road with not a soul
around. The shallows were warm enough for swimming au natural but the
jellyfish were out in force \

Heading further down past Lisdoonvarna we visited the Cliffs of Moher.
213 meters and breathtaking. The water at the base was so still and
clear I could hang over and see to the bottom. There isn't much rock
debris and it only spans out a few yards, this had me dreaming of base
jumps into the ocean.

Moving South from the cliffs Ennistymon and Ennis both seem like well to
do tourist centres which are well turned out. They would be a good base
away from the bustle of Galway. I'd be happy to DVF a trip but the art
is catching the weather. Sadly most people can't head off on an a day or
two of notice.

 

(Snip tale of disintegration)

Out of fascinated interest - have you ever travelled anywhere without
arriving with less motorcycle than you started with?

 

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 21:24:08 +0100,

Turned up for lunch at nearly the appointed time, top stuff, esp. the
Flamiche Maroilles - a cheesy tart thing.

Followed the Paltybus to Chimay, and had fun.

On the way home, the voltmeter was reading lower and lower, and
dropped by a volt every time I braked, or indicated.

Followed Platy to the start of the A26 at Cambrai, despite attempting
to kill the Wing in the middle of town[1]. Then he shot off up the
autoroute.

I caught him again by the toll booths, but he just buggered off again
- after holding 105-110 for fifteen miles or so I gave up, before my
arms did.

Got a right telling off at Immigration, for not haing reported my
passport missing,[2] - but apparently, I seemed British, and they were
quite busy, so they let me through.

CBX needed bumping at every start now, but I got off the train, and
filled up easily enough.

Tanking it up the M20 I drew a second glance from a 'busa rider who
shot past, but now every time I indicated to overtake, the engine
misfired. The voltmeter was reading 9v at this stage.

The last bit, from Kidbrooke junction on the A2 to home was completed
without stopping, and as I applied the brakes, turning onto the drive,
the engine died.

New battery time, methinks. Again.

[1] I didn't mean it, I realy didn't; and he didn't fall off, or
anything. I hope it's cheap to fix.
[2] The restaurant was closed on Mondays, so we couldn't ask if I'd
dropped it in there.

Top fun - even the bogs were usable on Sunday night.

We *did* eat in that restaurant again, though.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..80389../..21885.../..31432.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR'06 Points: 85 Miles: 413

 

Ummmm.... yes, here and there, but I've had a habit of losing things
off bikes. I've lost two tents, at least, and several odd items that
should have been fastened on better.

The point about Chimay is actually trying to get there on an old
snotter. I was sure the Z650's engine would be fine (as it was), but
had my doubts about the exhaust. There was no time to replace it, and I
figured that the odd blowing pipe wouldn't damage it irrevocably.

It's fun, in a perverse way, trundling along at maybe 70mph on an old
bike. OK, so the Z was frequently hammered at much higher speeds, but
unless something completely terminal happened, I was sure I'd get it
there and back because old aircooled SOBs are roadside-fixable.

 

Champ wrote:

Well, at least you didn't break down.

 

and in other news, the value of said SOB is climbing
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....90005842937&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

 

I woudn't call the Trophy dull. I love that big-hearted engine:
77ft/lbs of torque at 5,000rpm gives it a unique character. The 900
Divvie, agreed, was like drinking distilled water - super efficient,
clinical and tasteless.

The Duke, for the record, is now coming up to nine years and 28,000
miles old, and barring the spark plug, it's never let me down. It's
eaten a couple of neutral light switches, a set of rear wheel bearings,
two chain and sprocket sets, and a set of head races. Oh, and the seat
lock bounced out on the M25 and a cunningly sited zip-tie is connected
to the unlocking mechanism. Pull it, and the seat detaches.

It's needed its valves shimming twice. The swinging arm pivot has
needed shimming once. As that job coincided with the rear wheel bearing
replacement, I had fitted a shiny non-rusty swinging arm I picked up
for £25 on Ebay.

A slightly distorted front wheel (large pothole!) has been straightened
by a specialist.

And that's it.

Incredibly, it's still on the original battery, brake pads, and all
bulbs. I'm sure there are plenty of Jap bikes (and innumerable BMWs)
that have needed more attention and components in that sort of time.

 

I can't complain with that, I suppose.

<fx: sounds of Ducati falling apart in TOG's garage>

 

SD wrote:

Wot? Playing military music again, were you?

 

What sort? I've still got some YT12B-BS batteries which are:
150mm x 69.0mm x 130.0mm

Could bring one in for you and have a swift half at
lunch one day if you fancy it?

 

Quite. "I didn't know it was missing till I packed up this morning,
and I've ridden straight here."

No, "methinks" again. Dunno how old - I do know it's not the right
size, though. I can tell by the big gap in the battery box.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..80389../..21885.../..31432.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR'06 Points: 85 Miles: 413

 

Great little restaurant, innit?

Its the law, they have to let National Treasures through, unhindered.

I still remember the look on your gob, last year......

Not the craphole on the square, where we ended up last year?
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack

B12S POTENTIAL LICENCE SHREDDER - AT GRIN FACTOR 10!

FRJACKUKRM AT GMAIL DOT COM