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Just popping down the shop love. Honest!

4K views 33 replies 9 participants last post by  Traveller 
#1 ·


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#9 ·
Just before I left Kamp Vrhpolje I saw a couple of brochures for the caves. I even passed the road sign to them on the way to Hungary. Sods law. If I had seen your post earlier I would have had a looksie. :-( Now camped up on Lake Balaton for a couple of days. The cold beer is going down well ;-)

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#13 ·
The Alp hasn't missed a beat, touch wood. I have had severe "numb bum" despite having a seat pad. Also my right wrist aches by the end of the day. Riding 350-400 miles a day might be contributing to that, and old age :) Mind drinking beer at 92 pence a pint easies the pain somewhat, lol

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#15 ·
Left Lake Baloton this morning, will definitely go back sometime, and now settled in at Bikercamp, Budapest. Will be staying here for the next 3 nights. Looking forward to goi going to the Sziget music festival for a couple of days:)


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#23 ·
Sziget was madness, as usual :) Great place but the bands are just the catalyst for being there. You hear them in the background as you drink, eat and generally enjoy yourself. Very hot this year.
Bikercamp is brilliant. Gotta go back sometime to see them.

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#20 ·
Good its all going OK apart from the seat! seats are a personel thing Iv'e messed about with mine for nearly ten years but now Tony Archer has got it right for me.
So if you get the seat altered can we have some pic's please ----- if you go the botox way that's a definate no pic's please :D:D

Good luck with the rest of the trip
 
#27 ·
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#29 ·
Traveller, that looks like just what I need, thanks. Years ago When I lived in Australia I did a 4800 miles round trip on a Harley. In those days they had a screw adjuster on the throttle to lock it in position. Crude but effective and also interesting when you came to a sudden sharp bend in the road :)

Nick.
 
#32 ·
My Goldwing has proper posh cruise control. It causes the same problem as you describe on the Harley. I use one of those twist grip attachments on the Wing as well as my Africa Twin. You just ease the weight off the palm that is pressing on the lever and your speed is adjusted. I never use the built in cruise on the wing.

I lent the AT attachment (7/8" as opposed to the Wings 1" grips) to a mate who was of on a tour on his CBR600. He was complaining about cramps and aching. When he got back I asked him what he thought and he told me he used it when riding on his own but not infront of his mates!
 
#30 ·
Well Ive been back a couple of days now and have caught up with my beauty sleep. Heres a bit of a run down of the trip with one or two figures thrown in.

All up I managed to cover 3063 miles, door to door. Ive worked out the petrol consumption and either Ive got my sums wrong or the Alp is better than I was expecting. (Would welcome any comments) The figure that I have come up with means that I averaged between 56 and 57 miles per gallon. Considering that I weigh about 78 kgs (12 stones plus in old money), plus about 38 kgs with top box, panniers and back pack that aint bad. Remember about 60%--70% of my riding was on motorways, autoroutes or what have you, doing around 80 mph according to the TomTom, 85 mph on the speedo.
I was only about 30 miles from home when the first problems struck. The TomTom kept telling me it was about to run out of charge. Earlier in the year Id rigged up a connection direct from the battery to use a usb socket to charge the satnav, phone etc. It turns out the connector was faulty but luckily I had a spare. After Id fixed that I took a looksie around the bike and discovered one of the bungie cords had melted from the exhaust gases, even though it was 3-4 inches away from the outlet.Lesson learned! With this happening and massive traffic on the M25 I missed my time slot for the ferry by about 10 minutes. Bugger. No real problem, just got on the next departure.
My first night was in a F1 motel about 200 miles into France, nr Reims. By then it was getting too warm for my riding gear so changed into jeans for most of the rest of the trip. One of the main aims of the trip was to take the Alp to its home as sign written on the bodywork. 44'19'24.53"N--6'48'22.33"E. 2802m. The Col de la Bonnette. One of the highest road passes over the alps. The only problem there was that the TomTom took me what it considers the quickest route, ie, the first mile or two on the ascent was on a loose gravel track with hairpin bends. Scared the shit outer me with all the weight that I was carrying plus Im not used to offroading at all. Anyway I finally got there, along with the world and his friend.
Next was Italy and what a pain that turned out to be. Id only been in the country 20 minutes and got stung by a wasp on the head. Couldnt find a campsite and it was 38-40 degrees. Found a small track to go down to wild camp and found myself half way up to the axles in loose gravel and sand. Luckily a little Italian chappy appeared out of nowhere and helped me turn the bike around and get outa there. Eventually I checked into a seedy looking hotel that was advertising rooms for 39.50 euros. When I had booked in the dodgy looking bloke on the desk told me I had to pay 49.50 euros for the night. When I pointed out that his hoarding says it is 10 euros less he told me thats the rate for the men who only stay for 4 hours :-/ Arrgh. The worst part was when I got out of bed in the morning I was covered in bites. Bed bugs? Ive never showered and scrubbed so hard in my bloody life. I just couldnt wait to get out of Italy. Ive been a few times in our campervan and loved the place but not this time. The Saturday was the start of their holidays and the roads were jammed packed, even had to wait 20 minutes just to top up with juice and the heat-----. Italian drivers must be the worst in the world, why they bother to put indicators on their cars Ill never know. They never use the bloody things. If you pass a fellow bike rider he takes it as a personal insult and comes flashing past you later on. If they see you coming in their mirrors they speed up so you cant get past.
Ill leave off now and maybe finish this tomorrow. Dont want to bore you all in one session. Community Mode of transport Transport Tree Vehicle
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#31 ·
I have a pain in me ass from sat at home bored out of my head I would gladly swap ailments with you . I never tried a gel seat or any kind of other pad the only thing I ever had other than a standard bike seat was a sheep skin with thick fleece tied down with white string it was sublime by ass taught it had died and gone to ass heaven :D safe trip home . great thread waiting for a few more snaps when your home and recovered from it all . :thumbup:
 
#33 ·
I used to own a Kawasaki 650 Tengai and I can honestly say it was the most uncomfortable bike I've ever ridden. Once again it was the bum department that was the main pain, even after 40-50 miles. I strapped a sheepskin onto it but it made little difference. The Transalp seat seems to be a similar shape. Not really sure what the answer is besides getting either a new seat or new arse.

Nick.
 
#34 ·
My vote is for an air hawk. When I first got it and used it I thought it wasn't making much difference so left it off after disembarking from a ferry. Soon realised how good it was and used it ever since when on long trips.
 
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