Gas up - Let's Go!

What a complete effing moron. 14yr old son, with no protection below his chin. "I speeded up because it started to rain" - That is one of the stupidest things I ever heard, "would have become a missile", what? What about the 14yr old on the back? if he was lucky he'd be dead. How far out of touch was the judge? Honestly, I wonder sometimes.

Good luck to you, you really are gonna need it. Just the solo riding for so long can be a challange in itself, I know. How are you planning to get through Congo and DRC ? There are many who have failed and resorted to air transport to get across the volotile region. What are you riding, a Z or a R ?? Your site shows a Z - I run mine over 8000 miles in 19 days last year, sticking to the European continent, but still it was a leap of faith for a new bike, found one or two problems with it but nothing unsumountable You really should check out www.XT660.com , you'll find a whole raft of usefull information that will actually help you form bike prepairation to actually traversing the dark continent. there are members who have done the Europe to Captown trip on an XT, others who have a mountain of experience in long distance travel, and of course all the shortfalls of the XT (X, R or Z) are documented along with the solutions. It rivals HU in its knowledge base, and is purley an XT site. Raising cash i& motorcycling sn't easy, if you've not found it already you are going to find out how obnoxious some people can be, others will amaze you with thier kindness and generosity. I would say that you need to make it clear on your site if you are funding this yourself, or if the travel costs are coming out of the raised funds. What most people don't realise is that is is legal and accepted (by the charities) for people to use the funds raised for expenses - but someone will use it as a reason, not only to refuse to help, but to activly chastise you. The most coined phrase "I'm not paying for your holiday" I know how difficult this type of thing can be, it's not the jolly that everyone thinks it is, and most people wouldn't make it past the first African border crossing, let alone there and back. I presume you've read 'Red Tape and White Knuckles' by Lois Pryce ? Mondo Enduro, and of course Jupiters Travels, whilst Simon and Vince's books are a bit dated Lois Pryce was only a couple of years ago so is still pretty valuble. Again, good luck to you. Appologies if youve sucked all these eggs before ......

That ^ is going to get a reaction................ You're not going to run very fast in them boots.

Hello, and Welcome. Lovely country you have there, rode through it last year on my way from Romania to Greece.

Dunno, I've only ever found it from the auction listings. Normally a search on Hein Gericke.

I'll bring some Beer too.............

Not at all on the subject of Hoggs, but there are higher torque jap bikes out ther too. Like you I'm not a fan of high reving screamers, preffer my 660 single any day. The 1000 V-Twin in the Honda XL1000 has a huge stockpile of torque too.

Fella, Don't get hung up on named gear - it's not always better (in my experience it has never been) and you'll pay a premium for the name. You gotta decide what you are trying to do, stay warm & dry or protect yourself in a crash ? You can do both, but it costs. The other thing to consider, are you buying for the duration of the current bike, or something that will last? Shows are the best places to pick stuff up at, but give the gear a very good going over, mostly it's end of line, now and then a 'slight second' or 'return' will turn up, you need to find any flaws and make sure you are happy. Hein Gericke have just closed all the French stores nad the stock is being distributed throughout the UK shops at very cheap prices. My missus picked up a pair of HG leather jeans with HiProtect armour for £25, previously priced at £180! I was looking yesterday and there are lots of bargains to be had - you just gotta look, and be a bit lucky! HG also have an Ebay shop where returns are auctioned off, have a look there too. Most of the on-line places are having clearence deals - seek and ye shall find! The good thing about buying on-line/mail order is you have some protection if the item is flawed under the distant selling rules. When buying at a show/shop you can loose the abiltiy to return if it sold as 'faulty' or 'second' etc.

Screw work. Get out and ride. This of course is my opinion, and subject to my own circumstances. Retire, me, like a shot!

That's easy,,,,

We used to have that problem. Got a great solution, if it's on the calander - it's considered discussed! I have a secret calander.....

Can we appoint a mod to do the smacking ? I might be tempted to slag someone off........................... But not if I'm getting my asp tanned by Mr Drewpy or OG Are we allowed to wear a mask -

Damm.. I wish I'd though of that earlier. If I suggested it now, I'd probably win a decent amount!

I'm gutted. Took a week off, and everything goes south, and I missed it. Can we have this site made available on WAP please, then I'll not miss it again......

I understand it has a blokes voice though...... ..... and she doesn't listen to it.........

Welcome along, Looking at your avatar, you certainly don't look like a Rob!!!

Velkommen Thomazo, I have a XT660Z with the same motor, although the final drive is abit different. You need to get the miles onto the motor when the weather improves, these things don't start to loosen up until well after the 6000 miles service.

Last time I was that way, the ferry was totaly taken over with bikes, when they all start up together ready for boarding - the ground shakes, the angels cry and it's an awesome sight! There are loads of routes north, the A6 isn't too bad once clear of Preston, it'll get you there pretty much as quickly as the M6. How about up to Burnley then A58 & A65 -> A590 ->A591 (up through Windermere, but this get choked with rubbernecks in cages at times) -> A592 (Kirkstone Pass) to Penrith, then A6 to Carlisle before peeling off for the A75 ?? Takes your pick! A word of warning though, D&G's Finest (Police) will have a very heavy unmarked presence on the A75, from Dumfries all the way to Stranraer. If you want to make a trip of it (but at a good bit more distance), consider taking the B7076 from Gretna, it runs alongside the M74 to Moffat, then the A702 to Abington -> B7078 to Uddington then turn west on the A70 towards Air (this is another awesome road). At Air turn south on the A77 which takes you all the way down to Stranraer. The Police up there pretty much take a zero tollerance to speeding, and will take a good look at your bikes when you stop for a cuppa. They're not a bad bunch, it's just that lots of people die on that road, and when they do it causes chaos due to the ferry traffic.

I've won 3 times this year, It's only £30! Hardly worth the effort........

Eh ?? How do you get £405? The gloves are £124.99, and you don't need anything else, unless you want to buy the controller too. everything wears out, tyres, grips (or at least they do on an adventure/off road bike) engines, even the rider....... I'll conceed they are very expensive but the quality is very good indeed, and when you consider £50 for heated grips and another £70 for a good pair of winter gloves they do compare pretty well. Like I said, I used these in the Arctic last year covering 5-600 miles every day. You just can't do that without some form of 3rd party heat. In nice temperate southern England its OK, but head north and it changes. Nothing whimpy about it, it's just that the wind chill up here defies Physics... Each to thier own, Bravery is not, having the energy to go on, it's going on when you don't have the energy - Dame Ellen Macarthur.

They can be, you can buy a controller unit. These gloves (like the rest of the EXO2 stuff) heat up all over, not like the majority of heater this'n that - it's the cloth fibres that warm up not an element. So what happens is you get heat delivered to the full serface of your hands, even between the fingers. It's not a lot of heat, 50c I think it is, but it's enough to keep your hands warm. I've listened to the arguments about keeping your core warm, but the reality is that the blood has to go down your arm, loose some heat and return, so replanishing some heat half way on it's journey helps to keep the core warm too...

OK, a criminal case is a little more robust than a civil case, where you just have to prove the likelyhood of him doing the damage, as opposed to beyond doubt. Civil cases like this aren't subject to legal aid I don't think, but there are solicitors out there who will do no-win-no-fee. Small claims is the best bet, anything under £5k has to go through small claims anyway. The upside is that it will cost you what it costs to raise the paeprwork, and you'll not get hit with any suprise costs if it doesn't go your way (in small claims each party is responsible for thier own costs), but also you cannot claim back your costs either. To make it work on county court you'd probably have to consider a class action between all those that suffered, maybe you could get the claim above £5K and then you get to recover the costs, but the wrong judgment would see you pick up the guys costs too. On the other hand, has this guy got the assets to compensate you? if not then you really are flogging a dead horse (and maybe consider him as that horse?) as you'll not get a solicitor to go for no-win-no-fee if there's no chance of them getting the costs out of him, even if you win a small claims, he might offer to repay at £5 a week or something, and there's not alot you can do about it. Sometimes "Shit Happens", the law is unfair and there are people who just get away with it. As for not being able to prove it was him, I'll bet a months salary that there was some evidence, shoe print, prints on broken glass, DNA you name it - if they really wanted to nail the guy they would be able to gather enough evidence (not having a go at the Police here, but the system overall). As Goff has said on more than one accasion, go see a solicitor and check out what your options are. If you can't get into one for free the local CAB have access to one and can advise further. On balance I think you really need to prepair yourself for the worst, you'll be hit with the bill and hell walk away scott free. If not, it's a bonus. On another note, the nights are still dark, and it can still be slippy out there so take care no-one falls over, and get accidentaly trampled on, or breaks anything............

Try these then -> http://www.exo2.co.uk/exo2.html#stormshield much better than heated grips, I used them last year through the Arctic - warm as toast! Only problem for me now is they are too dammed warm........

Wow! What a debate, and no falling out either, nice one. If these types of jackets were to become law, then realy they would have to be considered as PPE, and that brings a whole raft of other standards into play, and also remove the VAT - so It's not really going to happen, it is after all unfortunatly about numbers, HMG make alot of money out of bikers, christ my bike RFL is more than my wifes car! but thats another debate. So, until such a time as biker incidents are starting to cost more than the revenue from bikers HMG are not going to do anything, they can keep the debate simmering so it looks like they are listening, but the reality is they don't really care. At the point the accounts don't add up, they will do something. I fear it would be more about forcing our insurers to pay for the treatment (and thus pushing up your premiums = increase in insurance tax) rather than mandating safety devices. I do stand by my previous communication in that one size does not fit all, saftery devices can and do sometimes add to an accident - when pre-tensioned seat belts first came out, there was a raft of broken hips in older people, airbags were bursting eardrums and shoulder injuries replaced chest injuries ( I used to work in the area - not now thank god!). My neighbour ( sorry neighbor to our US cousins) is a retired fireman with over 25years experience, he is very scepticle about seatbelts, they may save you from the impact but it's no good if you can't release it after and the car's on fire! My point is that you can quote statistics about how things can save your life, but no-one gathers the stats on when these devices go wrong, and they do. It's normally attributed to the accident itself. Lies, Dammed Lies and Statistics............ I think the overall feeling is the same though, we can argue the why's and wherefores of these clothing items, but in the end it is about our choice. After all we're all bikers because it gives us freedom, we are free spirits and don't like the shackles of society very much.....