My French Run report (longish)

Discussion in 'UK Motorcycles' started by CT, May 4, 2010.

  1. CT

    CT Guest

    I left home at 6.45am on the Friday, in order to meet up with Ant,
    Kiran, Andy & Adie[1] at Dover to try to get on the 9.15 ferry. Fail.
    But we got on the 10.00 anyway, which was good.

    Once off the ferry we left Andy & Adie to pootle at Tenere speeds,
    whilst the four of us knocked the first 100 miles off on the A26, with
    a fuel stop, when Andy & Adie went past. We got off the A26 at Laon,
    and then did the D967 and D386 through Fismes, Epernay and for to
    Montmort Lucy at about 5pm. Beers were drunk, food was good, and had a
    (relatively) early night, turning in at about midnight.

    On Saturday morning at about 11am, Ant, Kiran, Andy, Adie, Statto and I
    headed off for a pootle through Dormans, towards Chateau Thierry, and
    then picked up the other bit of the D967 towards Fismes. We tried to
    have lunch here but the bar we stopped in wasn't doing any food, so we
    moved on, via the abandoned Circuit de Reims, and into Dormans. Here
    we found a lovely cake cum chocolate shop, which also dod very nice
    grub, and a lovely Artisan Beer. Well, it was nice iof you didn't pour
    the *whole* content, sediment and all, into the glass whereupon to took
    on the clarity and consistency of mud. All in all, a great ride out on
    some very nice roads although some were *very* lumpy in places.

    Saturday night, we had a few beers outside our hotel, when it started
    spitting with rain and everyone started moving indoors, so Kiran and I
    decided we go on a pub crawl. This consisted of walking 50 metres to
    the other hotel in the village. It made a nice change, and group of
    what looked like a French version of Morris Dancers came in, although
    no dancing took place. Ant joined us here too, so I think we were the
    only three all weekend to drink in The Other Bar!

    Our foray across the road, meant we were late-ish for dinner, so we
    were sat on the "extra" table like three afterthoughts, but again the
    food was pretty good, with a decent-ish bottle of red to help wash it
    down. We headed off to the bar for the usual beer & talking bollocks,
    up until about 1am.

    Saturday morning, and again the three of us (me, Ant, Kiran) headed off
    cross-country, pretty much reversing our route down. After a while it
    started raining. Hard. So we stopped to don waterproofs and carried
    on, wherupon the rain promptly stopped. Hey ho.
    I will admit to my concentration not being good at this point, which
    led to a couple of Oops! moments, but I didn't crash, so it must have
    been safe.

    At one point, we came across a road closure due to an accident, so we
    turned round and let Ant lead us down some dodgy lanes[2] which took us
    right back to crossroads where the accident had happened. Still, it
    got us past and off we went.

    The rest of journey was uneventful, the "highlight" being overtaking
    the same blue Audi about 5 times, as we kept stopping for fuel. It
    only started raining about 15 miles outside of Calais, which wasn't too
    bad, and we rocked up to the port at about 3pm, and boarded for the
    4.10 departure shortly afterwards.

    The ride home from Dover was wet, cold and windy until I got a bit past
    Maidstone whereupon it dried out a bit. I pootled home at 80-ish,
    following our chat with the men from Kent Constabulary, and I was home
    before 7pm.

    The Hayabusa went really well, with the only grumble being that the
    speedo overreads by over 10% at three figure speeds. I'm hoping that
    this is due to non-standard gearing, so I'll investigate that. Apart
    from that minorr thing, I love it. It is truly a Gentleman's Touring
    Motorcycle.


    [1] And LN, but I didn't know that at the time.
    [2] If he'd been on the Hypermotard, I'd have been *really* worried.
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #1
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  2. Using Dodgers time travel skills were you?
     
    doetnietcomputeren, May 4, 2010
    #2
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  3. CT

    Hog Guest

    You lost me right there. It sounds like the induction to 1 Para rather than
    a jolly holiday
     
    Hog, May 4, 2010
    #3
  4. CT

    CT Guest

    Lady Nina. Sorry, that part only got addeed in the footnote.
    heh, "Sunday".
    Yep. It's been mentioned already I think, but he obviously felt he
    couldn't let us go past at about 80, admittedly in atrocious
    conditions, with black visors, without a little chat. Apparently, Kent
    are doing some PWT awareness thing. That was his excuse, anyway.
    After the Sprint ST, it's a bit like having my 9R back, only with more
    of everything. I think I've got lots to learn still to get the most
    out of it, if I ever do, but it'll be fun trying!
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #4
  5. CT

    CT Guest

    I sort of KWYM, but the ferry on which we were booked was 10.45, and
    I'm a couple of hours from Dover, or a bit less if I'm not schlepping
    round the M25 at its worst rush-hour moments. I reckon it was worth
    leaving early to miss the worst of it to shorten the journey and try to
    get an earlier ferry.
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #5
  6. CT

    ogden Guest

    Sounds like my assessment of your Sprint ownership was on the button
    then.
     
    ogden, May 4, 2010
    #6
  7. CT

    CT Guest

    Oh, absolutely spot on. It was during a conversation at the GBBF IIRC,
    when you said that I probably just owned the wrong motorcycle, and you
    were right.

    The Sprint ST is a really capable motorcycle and it was great when I
    had to commute between Harrow and Maidenhead. But certainly once I'd
    moved and didn't have that commute, I needed something to inspire me to
    ride a bit more. For some reason the Sprint always had something
    missing for me, and I think the fact that it's not an inline-four had
    quite a lot to do with it.
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #7
  8. CT

    Hog Guest

    K1100's are like that. Superbly capable tourer but you never take one out
    "just for a run"
     
    Hog, May 4, 2010
    #8
  9. Indeed not. As functional as it gets. Down to the supermarket for a
    week's worth of groceries or down to the south of France, to get there
    ASAP, but never "just for fun".
     
    The Older Gentleman, May 4, 2010
    #9
  10. CT

    Ace Guest

    The first-gen, 955i, Sprint ST was certainly not like that. Sure, it
    didn't quite have the all-out performance of the gixxer that replaced
    it, but it was still very much capable of justifying the S in the ST.
     
    Ace, May 4, 2010
    #10
  11. CT

    CT Guest

    Oh, I'm not saying that 1050 can't justify the 'S', or the 'T' for that
    matter, but that's it - it's very "capable" but it just didn't "do it"
    for me anymore.
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #11
  12. CT

    CT Guest

    Wass one o' them, then?
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #12
  13. CT

    DozynSleepy Guest

    Heh, you don't watch much porno do you ?
     
    DozynSleepy, May 4, 2010
    #13
  14. CT

    CT Guest

    Well, I look at the pictures, but the terms generally elude me.
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #14
  15. CT

    Lady Nina Guest

    Only we didn't notice and waited for a while. Then a while longer.
    This bit was fun, thanks for letting me be the ginge to your FBC.
     
    Lady Nina, May 4, 2010
    #15
  16. CT

    CT Guest

    It was fun. I did have a couple of "ogden" moments[1], and you only
    really dropped off when caught in traffic or when we started doing
    Eeeek! speeds, but by then we were close to Montmort Lucy.

    [1] "There's a small capacity bike in my mirrors and it's not going
    away"[2]
    [2] My excuse is that I was just getting used to the new bike.
     
    CT, May 4, 2010
    #16
  17. CT

    ogden Guest

    Ahem. That's a Cane moment. The equivalent ogden moment is "there's a
    large capacity bike in front of me and it's not getting away".

    The key, of course, is the gaylord on the large capacity bike.
     
    ogden, May 4, 2010
    #17
  18. CT

    Lady Nina Guest

    There was no way I was going for the dodgy overtake with all those
    dips and sudden bends.
    I know. I was throttle wide open, speedo off the clocks, the bike
    trying to take off over every rise and still watching you all recede
    into the distance. Not bad for an old 400.
    Pah.
     
    Lady Nina, May 4, 2010
    #18
  19. CT

    petrolcan Guest

    That's a Sweller moment.
     
    petrolcan, May 4, 2010
    #19
  20. CT

    Ace Guest

    No, that's me. Or, more accurately, "I'm hitting the armco one way or
    another, which way do I choose?

    Followed shortly by the wrong way.
     
    Ace, May 4, 2010
    #20
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