Mud, sweat, rain and guilt - Northamptonshire Lanes.

[Mudwiz]

Well, alpslapper and myself ventured forth into the wilds of Northamptonshire today. It rained. Lots.

The bike looked clean, even polished, at first.

(Had 2 photos here, but I can only have 20 in the post, and these 2 were the least interesting, so they had to go!)

We missed the services meet up, and met in a layby. Aren't mobile phones wonderful!



Team just damp!

Soon it got wetter, and a little muddy!











Some bits of mud were trickier than others. Least it gave us chance for a lie down!





Then the TA did the old Africa Twin trick and stood in a puddle for a bit. We dragged it out sideways to a shallower rut!





Lots more grass, sweat, mud and rain! No guilt yet.









Standing helps!





Zooooooooooooooooom............



Now we get near the guilt. Thinks had been going fab, wet, muddy hard work, but fab. Now, I know this little ford, about 40m long, with a rough gravel base, follows the stream down, but is only about 30-40 cm deep.





Anyone guessed yet?



Yep, AlpS dropped it in the water. We emptied as best I know, drained airbox, emptied carb, plug out, pumped it over etc. Bit of a tow later, oil still looked like oil, fiddled a bit and it started. Wonderful, we thought. Then check the sight glass, and stop the engine. Check by opening the filler cap. Yep, no hope, that bike is not riding anywhere right now.

Time wise, I'm now well late home, have already had the "could you get....." text. Thats where the guilt comes in. It is really hard to leave a guy stranded by the side of the road. OK, only possibe 'cos I know the AA are on their way, and then recovery will happen, but even so I felt a real cad driving off.

So, AlpS, I hope you get/got home OK, and there is no long term damage to the inside of you engine.

That said though, It was a fab day out, ace lanes and good company. What more do we need?

[alpslapper]

Mudwiz no need for the slightest bit of guilt - I had a totally brillant fun packed day thanks to you and the lovely lanes of Northampton

Got home safe and sound but not before crashing the bike on the road as the AA man tried to tow me out of the rain to a pub a mile away lol. He wrapped the towrope over the bushguard and it was a tight fit - I did point out Id have a problem if I had to jettison the rope in a hurry. Suggested attaching to the footrest as we had done earlier with some success but he wouldnt have it. First few hundred yards no probs then he brakes going round a bend and despite cover the back brake to try and ease the tension up on the rope when he took off again BANG - the bars where ripped to the right and down I goes, bike and me being dragged down the road behind the AA van

Finally Van with bike trailer turns up and off we head home - then as we turn off the A406 numpty behind us didnt apparently notice the big yellow van and bike behind it lit up like a christmas tree and crashed into the trailer

Home shortly afterwards and I decide to get the contaminated oil out of the bike before doing anthing else - get me good quality spanners out and then discover the bolt head is made of cheese and the thing rounds off

Thats going to be fun sorting out now lol.

What an adventerous end to an adventerous day lol - hope you didnt get too much grief when you got home and many many thanks for trying to get the bike sorted.

I had an absolutly fantastic day - thanks again.

To those that dont know - its a marvel to behold Mudwiz chucking that transalp around the place like its a paper plane !!! Inspiring to watch and at the same time baffles you brain as to how he seems to defy all the laws of nature

Cheers again - utterly utterly top day out

[Pete Rock]

Great stuff, I don´t think I´ld be brave enough to try some of that stuff on my Transalp though. That much water kind of freaks me out when on the big bike

[DaveS]

So let me get this right the AA man tied your bike to the truck?
The only way I'd ever be towed is if I had hold of the rope and could let it go if something went wrong.
I'm really surprised he did this from a health and safety point of view. What would have happened if you had been trapped under the bike and dragged along!
Anyway glad you're ok!

[Sharribee]

The are are some great piccies there, although I have to be honest I agree with Dave, not sure I would be so happy to be towed either.

It looked like a very very wet day, and looked like some challenging riding.

[alpslapper]

So let me get this right the AA man tied your bike to the truck?
The only way I'd ever be towed is if I had hold of the rope and could let it go if something went wrong.
I'm really surprised he did this from a health and safety point of view. What would have happened if you had been trapped under the bike and dragged along!
Anyway glad you're ok!

Yep thats exactly what he did lol - and thats exactly what happened -......got dragged under the bike on the road for a couple of yards
before the rope disentangled itself from the bushguard

Thankfully was totally unscathed - the bushguard got a bit ground down and the footrest bent a bit but good job I had the guards on as they saved a lot more damage !! So I pushed it the rest of the way to the pub in question to await the next AA bloke who finally towed me home - with the bike on a trailer and me in the cab this time lol lol.

Sharriebee - is that you Mabel Sheesh I don't log on for a couple of weeks and now I dont know who anyone is anymore lol

* update on the ttr reclamation project : air filter cleaned, oil filter cleaned, drain bolt totally shagged but I managed to get it off by hammering a smaller sprocket onto the rounded head to angle it a bit, the a huge pair of mole grips fastened as tight as humanly possible, hit gently with a hammer, all the while spraying wth wd40 and voila - I managed to get it off so drained the milky coffee that used to be oil out of my poor little engine lol.
Tomorrow I'll get oil and run a few oil changes, then get a new drain bolt and oil filter and fingers crossed it'll be ready to be thrown in an unsuspecting stream somewhere in the country in a few weekends time

[Sharribee]

Y

Sharriebee - is that you Mabel Sheesh I don't log on for a couple of weeks and now I dont know who anyone is anymore lol

*

shhh I don't think anyone else has noticed

[steveR]

So let me get this right the AA man tied your bike to the truck?
The only way I'd ever be towed is if I had hold of the rope and could let it go if something went wrong.
I'm really surprised he did this from a health and safety point of view. What would have happened if you had been trapped under the bike and dragged along!
Anyway glad you're ok!

Too right!

I have towed (and been towed) on and by a bike on several occasions, the worst was a 6 mile haul out of a Welsh bog, then some forest roads and then a 10 mile run back to Llanidloes. Happily I was towing, albeit with a KMX125!!!

We always put the rope around the bars as central as possible with one loop and the taut rope locking itself and then hold the rope with the hand to stop it rotating loose. This allows a quick unfasten from the two bikes.