Hi all
Well here we go, T minus 5 days until we head of on our 'Get your leg over one last time tour of Europe' .
Now if you live in ol' Blighty like we used to not to much of an issue, load up the panniers and off you go....
After living in Perth, Western Australia for the last 20 years, not so easy.
As a bit of history I went on a camping trip to the South of France in 1987 on a CBR 1000F with a bunch of friends, 13 of us in total one who became my wife.
We have since travelled around Europe by car and each time we have both said we should do this on a bike again...
this year I turned 60 and my wife said if we are going to do this lets make it happen otherwise we will never do it.
After looking for a bike in Australia to ship over to the UK and back for a few months we just couldn't find anything that looked decent, eventually we found one in the UK that looked good, after a call to the seller we bought a blue and white 1989 FL identical to our last one sight unseen which is now at a friends place.
Then the fun began, after 25 years off the bike a good friend here lent me his bike for a few months to get my eye back in, I also did a 'returning rider' refresher training with a local training school just to get comfortable and refresh the old skills.
After digging out our old gear I soon realised that age had not been too kind on the figure and could not fit into my old leathers I had kept, so we have had to buy all new kit including helmets so have had to spend more than the bike cost on new gear.
Today we packed, unpacked, packed, unpacked, packed again..... finally figured out how we are going to get everything from Aus to UK within our baggage limit, hopefully we can get all we need into the panniers and top box for a 4 week trip across Europe.
Plan is a few days in UK, then the tunnel to France, across Germany, back through Switzerland into SE France, then across the South of France, up to the Dordoigne then down to Spain and back to UK by ferry.
Depending on how we go we may leave the bike there for another trip next year or try and bring her back to Aus.
Will try and post some pics as we go.

 

Nice trip Mike,

I look forward to some pictures and a story.

Ride safe,

Cheers, SB

 

Thanks SB,
We arrived in the UK after 36 hours of travelling so felt a bit jaded for a few days, we had a few days with an old friend who has been looking after the bike we bought for the trip, we found out recently that he is suffering from serious and agressive form of ealy onset dementia and has deterioted quite rapidly which has put a bit of a dampener on the trip for us, the only positive is that it has reinforced our decision to get back into biking and do this trip while we still can.

We had a bit of a job getting the bike started as it had been stood for quite a while, it started eventually and sounded pretty good, a short ride to see if everything was ok highlighted a very soft rear suspension which would have caused some issues for us being two up with full panniers and top box, our friends put us in touch with a local bike mechanic who adjusted the preload for us and now she handles pretty good loaded up.
We are also having a bit of an issue with downshifting, we get down to third ok then it gets a bit hard, it feels like the shifter is not quite returning enough to engage for the next downshift, we got caught at junctions a few times, trying to pull away in third loaded up is not fun at all... I have found by feathering the clutch and up and downshifting a few times while stationary I can get her into first, again I think she has been stood for long periods over the last few years so its probably to be expected, she has only done 39k miles so I dont think its anything too serious, hopefully it will clear itself over the next few weeks.
We did about 150 miles yesterday to our second destination Stourport on Severn to catchup with some more friends and it felt great riding a CBR again after all these years, it was like putting back on a comfortable pair of old slippers.
We head off to Europe in a few days, so I will post some pics as we go.
cheers all
Mike

30 years old and still looking good

 

Good stuff Mike,
I'm sure the old girl will treat you right and be smooth as in no time at all. Keep the pictures coming. I live vicariously through other's travels!

I rode one of these contraptions in France in 2015 during the vintage in the Languedoc region. Not quite the same but still a hoot.



Cheers, SB

 

Well here we are catch up time, its been a bit hectic up until now to be able to post so this covers the last week.
We decided to leave Stourport on Severn on Thursday and head for Folkestone instead of the Friday as it would have meant a long long day in the saddle, we got a last minute bargain hotel in Hythe which was £70 for the night instead of £220 and was absolute luxury and it broke up the jouney across to Metz in France nicely and allowed us to bring forward the Eurotunnel crossing so we didn't arrive too late.
The next morning saw us set off for Friedrichschafen on the edge of Lake Konstanz, we made good time but about 80kms out we had torrential rain until we arrived at the hotel like a couple of drowned rats, luckily we had a two night stop here and after a bit of begging were allowed to hang all the gear in the boiler room overnight to dry ourt, unfortunatel the next day was also pretty wet so didnt go too far plus it was Sunday and nearly everything was shut. We also caught up with some friends who were on a cycling holiday and in the same hotelor the first night, to be honest we should have called it quits after one night and moved on.
on Monday we hit the Meersburg ferry across Lake Konstanz and headed into Switzerland, AU$60 lighter for a Vignette to use the motoways were were off again heading for Lucerne for another two night stop, we ended up in Weggis about 15kms out of Lucerne and wow what a beautiful place, lovely comfortable bed looking out to the balcony which overlooked the lake, a truly stunning part of the world if not bloody expensive.
The next day we took a trip up into the mountains across the Sustenpasse, fabulous roads and damn cold at the top of the pass, we stopped at a coffee bar on the way across and got talking to some fellow bikers who turned out to be from Brisbane of all places so ended up chatting for about an hour.
the higher we got the wetter and snowy it got, we found out the pass was closed from snow two day prior, also the lack of barriers freaked the wife a bit who suffers from vertigo so had to take it nice and steady to reduce the screaming in my ears...I must say Switzeland is a stunning country with a wow factor around every curve in the road, we also cruised down to Interlaken which is also beautiful and well worth a visit.
We had a bit of an issue with the chain sounding like abag of bolts so out with the trusty WD40 again which seemed to quiet it down again.
We left Wednesday hading now for Annecy in France, along the way way we stopped at a motorcycle shop in Stans which turned out to be owned by ex world superbike rider Edwin Wiebel who very kindly lubed the chain for us for free, a really nice guy.
So here we are in Annecy for 3 nights, again a truly beautiful place, the old town is stunning, we are staying in Talloires little way out and again scored a stunning lake view from the balcony, we did a lap of the lake today and then hit the hill villages for a spin out of town, it gave us a chance to give the old girl the sort of roads she was built for, no more chicken strips......
only downside is we both have picked up colds so feeling a bit rough, mine being man flu is much worse...
Alsoback to my youth I am growing a beard to much consternation fom my wife, last time I had a beard was 40 years ago, funnily its a very different colour this time...

Friedrichschafen area when it finally stopped raining...


View of Lake Lucerne from the hotel


Julie in Annecy

Another stunning view from our appartment
I tried to upload some Gopro footage from the Sustenpasse but it wont upload mp4..
Thats all for now folks, more to come, keep riding.

 

Hi guys
We are now in Sarlet la Caneda in the Dordoigne, we h ave had 6 nights here and head for Spain tomorrow although the forecast is rain from now on for our trip.
We left Annecy in very warm weather and headed South to the Gorges du Verdon, somewhere we have always wanted to return too after 30+ years and it didnt disappoint , cracking roads and very little traffic on the way down we had a blast, we deliberately avoided any motorways this day which meant 9 hours in the saddle but well worth it, the CBR performed flawlessly and we both enjoyed the journey, we even did a 1 hour detour to get in sime more of the Gorges, it was that good...
We ended up in a small B&B called Longo Mai in Salernes, quirky place but absolutely fantastic, very peacefull, I reckon the best nights sleep of the whole trip so far, worth seeking out if you are ever that way.
from Salernes we skirted the South Of France to Sete which we have visited before, Hotel de Paris was how can I say average, wouldn't be rushing back there anytime soon, plus I had to park the Honda in the public parking under the canal, wasn't happy about that but she was still there in the morning which was a bonus.
OK, back to Sarlat, this place is amazing, we booked an Airbnb and ended up with the restored ground floor of a manor house, owners Steve and Jo were amazing and we have really enjoyed our stay here.
We have both still got hacking coughs but have been out and about exploring the area, Rocomadour, and Beynac Castle were both beautiful and well worth a visit as is the town of Sarlat, great atmosphere and always something going on, plus the baguettes are to die for.
So back to the trip so far 2600 miles down and we are loving the Honda it is such a capable tourer, we bought Givi luggage as the bike already had the wing rack and that has been brilliant, such great quality.
The only thing that has let us down on the trip is the satnav, word of advice, don't waste your money buy a cheap chinese satnav, buy something decent and save the stress, I bought this thing after some people gave it favourable reviews, I also got maps for Western Europe, along the way someone forgot to tell the map people France is in Western Europe, I have have maps for everywhere bar the place I am doing most of my travelling, so been having to use Google maps on my phone for local trips otherwise the phone overheats and cuts out, and back to old school road number directions for longer journeys.
We are both still coughing our hearts out with the bug we picked up two weeks ago but have to accept its part of the journey.
Anyway Spain tomorrow
Keep riding


Sarlat

 

Well done Juie and Mike,
Salart is a beautiful part of France. My partner was just telling me it is the centre of Foie Gras production. Sorry to hear of your colds and happy that the bike is performing well for you both.

So are you going through Andorra to get to Spain? There's a fairly good motorcycle museum there (and cheaper fuel!)

Cheers, Craig.

 

Just a sort one as we the ferry leaves port
here we are on the ferry after 5000 fun kms, we have been wet, hot, cold and wet again but have had a blast.
fallen in love wigh the old Honda, she never complained or missed a beat the whole trip just great Honda engineering, she even stirred some praise from some of the other 300+ bikers while waitinb to board.
will add some more later as the signal fading


Santander ferry


Santander-Plymouth

 

Very interesting thread Mike, nice of you to share with us.

From the pictures the bike looks to be in amazingly good condition. Has the gear change issue cleared up now?

 

Excellent pictures Mike, thanks.

Looking forward to a few more.

And I'm glad you had a good time on the CBR1000f, they truly are great bikes.

Cheers.SB