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What was your best memoury ref bikes.


Pun
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Hi  Bugbear,

Ive just come in from the garden, went out at 8am to do 5mins thing and got carried away,

The weather here is a bit cool but the sun is trying,

Anyway biking, you know you said about mid wales and Bala, well the cottage I still have is 7 miles from Bala heading towards dolgellau, its a small area called Llanuwchllyn, so the chances are you've rode past the cottage without knowing one day we'd be talking about wales from our now homes in france.

Did you ever go to the horse-shoe pass in mid-wales?

The views are really nice at the top and you can have a meal in the cafe (spring and summer only ,closed during winter) Ive had many a good chat with bikers from all area's out side the cafe,

ref the changes in the roads around powy's "machynlleth, Dolgellau etc, We got a new chief constable and his daughter died whilst riding a motor bike,

one of  her panniers came off and she ended up badly hurt and died. ever since this accident the northwales roads have had so many check points for biker's every weekend during the summer   its  just not true,  it  ended up with a mass demo at the main police station in (Ive forgotten the name of the area) anyway the chief constable attended and said it was to stop the mad riders and to ensure all had the correct road tax /Insurance /m.o.t. etc, but it was pointed out that many car drivers drove over the speed limits and they could just as well have no insurance etc, but it did no good and even the local pubs and b/b's. hotel etc later complained that trade was well down inspite of a good summer,

Bikers didnt bother coming to the area and with me living in the cottage at the time it really was a head ache if I went out on the bike, I was pulled over twice inside 3 hours and kept in a layby for 30 mins while my (B.M.W.) was checked by the ministory of transport, I pointed out the same team had done a check on my way to chester on the opposit side of the road, I was told I was lucky having 2  free checks in one day.

The only other thing I think might be of interest to you bug, it depends how long ago you rode the bala road, but it had the longest time a set of temporary      traffic lights had ever been it use on a welsh road, (I think it was 13 years but could be wrong) Bala to dolgellau road, well  the road was made wider and is finished, but the road from dolgellau to machynlleth was closed for a month last winter  after major road works to better the road"  due to land slide."all over the new bit.

So as you can see nothing much has changed in mid wales, Im going back sometime this summer to Bala and so I'll let you know the score on the roads.

talk to you later,

Pun.

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Its Bugbear who thinks ref slippers and pipe for B.M.W,s not me,

Ive the R.T.100  25 years old now had it from new and it still tours well, one of the best bike buys I ever did, many happy times on it and very little payouts along the way.

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[quote user="Pun"]

Its Bugbear who thinks ref slippers and pipe for B.M.W,s not me,

[/quote]

I thought I'd answered that before but to repeat myself, it was a view widely expressed by non BMW riders for a long time, but only ever in a light-hearted way. The modern range of BM's have really changed those perspectives I think.

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But it is true about BMW riders. While I was in the Uk I had a number of new BMWs and even went to one of the BMW owners club meetings. It was full of old men and their wives, sitting around in little groups. We found that BMW club membeers in the UK thought that Jude and I were hooligans because we have a R1100S each, the S has a sporty riding position and was designed to be faster than the other BMWs.

If you look at the owners club website there is hardly a mention of the R1100S, so we have a site of our own, www.boxertrix.com and it is much better than the BMW club site. We tend to look after our bikes and service then ourselves, whereas the club members go to the dealer and get given hot coffee and a large bill. I am of course generalising, as there are good members in the BMW club, but they don't attend the meetings very often.

To put matters into perspective, everyone thinks that a Ducati rider is a hooligan who just wants to ride fast all the time, but the R1100S has more power than many Ducatis.

What is important is that we are all bikers and so are part of a big family. I bought my first new BMW when I was 18 and didn't smoke a pipe then. I have also owned many Japanese bikes and loved many of them, Jude still thinks that her Honda Blackbird was one of the best bikes that she has ever owned. Anyone with a bike with two wheels, apart from a Harley is my freind.

[IMG]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/bikesindordogne/francetrip041.jpg[/IMG]

Judes Blackbird

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[quote user="Bugbear"]

I know Bala lake fairly well Pun, but my favourite road in Wales is the one from Dolgellau to Machynlleth. It was a cracker. Just had to watch out for those sheep, you know. It's probably a motorway now, or covered in safety cameras.

[/quote]

Now you're talking. Here's me with my bike only last summer half way up the pass from Machynlleth to Dolgellau. Not a camera in sight!

And here's me and husband's bikes a bit later that morning in Bala.

My very favourite bit of road in the UK.

Oh and here's lots of my FJR mates who I forced to go to Bala one very cold April day. That's my bike front right.

Remember Wendy? ... Brrr

 

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Great shots Liz, weather like that seems so long ago. I did Caen last year with a dozen other Triumph riders, for the D-Day landing celebrations. We spent 4 days there and met a whole crowd of FJR riders on one day. From memory, they were from Yorkshire.

 

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I'm a bit of a BMW fan like Bob T although I did try to avoid them for many years due to the rather staid image and I agree with Bob that the BMW Club (UK) hasn't done much to change that with some members complaining about BMW introducing sportier models into their range  I was brought up on British bikes but moved over to Italian (Moto-Guzzi) as soon as finances allowed. I've always had a selection of other makes for various purposes but for many years now my main bike has always been a BMW and apart from some fantastic times at the IOM TT on the Guzzis, most of the memorable places and trips have been on a BMW
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Hi Charles,I dont know where you are from in the UK but I, like bugbear and some of the others on here are from the Dorset area.Have had several Bm,s over my biking career and some years back had to have surgery that made the old Goldwing just a bit too heavy.

I had a relationship with CW,s in Dorchester and had from them an R1100S which I loved except it looked like a banana!! bright yellow, not my choice of colour but the only one in stock.I noticed then that there were many younger customers floating around and taking test rides.Always had fantastic service from them, well I would they were Ride magazines dealer of the year.My back made me change to an 03 1150GS which I also loved  until I could manage the weight of a wing again.

I think that with all the funky colours and models BM are now producing they have lost the staid image for good.

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Possibly riding from Glencoe to Portsmouth in just over 8 hours last year. When I started out it was peeing down and very windy then I had a bit of sport with a Porsche Cayenne going through the borders or rather the other way about..surprisingly quick those things!

Maybe riding point for four fazers going to Le-mans last year to turn round on the final run in and notice about fifty odd other bikes had joined us line astern, that made me smile.

Or the sound of a kh250 getting its neck wrung on the Bearsden Bypass

 

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Early 1960s with no experience, test riding an old 98cc Excelsior, no licence off road  in  local Graveyard; confused over controls and hit nearest Headstone. Not best memory, only one.  Took to four wheels shortly after!.

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About twenty odd years ago eight of us, on four bikes came over from Bournemouth to visit Le Mans. On our way back we decided to detour slightly and visit Chartres. We stayed in the town overnight, very pleasant, and in the morning we walked to the cathedral for a look round.

Now, we are not 'religious' but my wife decided that it would be a good idea to buy and light a candle for a safe journey home. She bought said candle, lit it and placed it carefully amongst the dozens already there. Then, just as we were about to leave the candle slowly fell over, taking with it every other candle in the rack, to a lot of gasps from the ever increasing audience that had heard the commotion and rushed to see the 'miracle'.. Half an hour of hot candle wax and red faces later, order was restored and we were on our way.

Back on the bikes and riding extremely carefully back to the ferry at Le Havre.......................[:)]

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