D
Deleted member 20
Guest
Yes, I use my padded Mavic bike shorts under my leathers for longer days in the saddle. Works great. But they cost closer to £50 than £5.
Mavic Sprint Short 2015 - black - Bike24
Mavic Sprint Short 2015 - black - Bike24
Yaminator
New member
The ideas are coming thick and fast... Love it, ive got cycling shorts..?
I just came across som UK guys on Youtube who have done several tours.
I was watching their 2015 Norwegian tour, 19 episodes (19 days) of roughly 30 minutes each, well worth the watch.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wildbad+norwegian+tour+2015
Looking at their Facebook page they have done several long trips and should probably know exactly what you need to brig and how to prepare.
https://www.facebook.com/wildbadtouring/info/?tab=page_info
Guess they could really help you out with any questions you may have about touring on a motorcycle.
Edit: They are going to the US this year, and people can sign up to join.
I was watching their 2015 Norwegian tour, 19 episodes (19 days) of roughly 30 minutes each, well worth the watch.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wildbad+norwegian+tour+2015
Looking at their Facebook page they have done several long trips and should probably know exactly what you need to brig and how to prepare.
https://www.facebook.com/wildbadtouring/info/?tab=page_info
Guess they could really help you out with any questions you may have about touring on a motorcycle.
Edit: They are going to the US this year, and people can sign up to join.
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Hey Yaminator - I did a 4 day 700 mile trip around France and Belgium on my MT07 in November. It was bladdy awesome, despite being freezing cold and wet!!
Here are my tips:-
1. Decide what kind of trip it is. If you plan on doing a a bit of sightseeing, consider leaving the 1pc leather suit at home unless you know it's comfortable enough to walk around in. Also think about whether you intend to be riding at night to/from dinner etc and whether you'll want to be in full leathers or whether a pair of kevlar jeans might come in handy. Pack a leightweight rain suit too!
2. Accommodation - you can often reserve rooms on booking.com with free cancellation up until the day of arrival. Consider doing this to give you the flexibility to cancel should you decide to ride that bit further or have a longer stop elsewhere.
3. Tools - pack a reasonable toolkit in case of emergencies, including puncture plugs and mini air canisters. My battery went flat in Brugge and it was a nightmare trying to find somewhere to bump-start it. I'll be packing leads for my next trip! That said, there are some things a tool kit just can't fix, such as the blown head gasket my mates KTM suffered back in Dover, but that's another story!! I guess what I'm saying is, pack some essentials, but don't go overboard!
4. Look at getting specialist travel insurance. Most standard policies wont cover you for riding a bike above 125cc so if the worst were to happen and you needed to be, say, air lifted, it wouldn't be covered and you could be looking at a hefty bill. I got cover from Navigator Travel Insurance for £13. Also make sure you have an European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which you can get for free. Also think about getting a European breakdown policy.
5. As bobh said above, make sure you have all relevant paperwork with you. You will need to read the rules for each country but it's likely to include your V5 (I took a copy of mine), insurance, licence and the little card I got with my SC Project exhaust which confirms it conforms to EU standards. This might be especially important for Germany who I hear can be quite strict. For France, I took spare bulbs and a breathalyser. I bought reflective stickers for my helmet but didn't put them on (figured I could apologise and put them on if stopped!). France are also very strict about speed cam warning alerts on Sat Navs and can impose hefty fines. We didn't get stopped at all and had absolutely no bother what so ever.
6. Again, as bobh says, give your bike a good going over before you leave. Check your tyres have enough tread, check their pressure, clean and lube your chain, check chain slack and adjust if necessary, check oil, coolant and brake fluid levels and it wouldn't hurt to give all the nuts and fixings a once over to make sure everything is on nice and tight.
Other than the flat battery, the MT handled the trip amazingly well. My bum was perfectly fine on the stock seat without a gel pad but I average around 1000 miles a month so my derriere might just be adjusted by now!
I put a little vid together of our trip if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszQQLyZVvk
Have fun and let us know how you get on!!
Here are my tips:-
1. Decide what kind of trip it is. If you plan on doing a a bit of sightseeing, consider leaving the 1pc leather suit at home unless you know it's comfortable enough to walk around in. Also think about whether you intend to be riding at night to/from dinner etc and whether you'll want to be in full leathers or whether a pair of kevlar jeans might come in handy. Pack a leightweight rain suit too!
2. Accommodation - you can often reserve rooms on booking.com with free cancellation up until the day of arrival. Consider doing this to give you the flexibility to cancel should you decide to ride that bit further or have a longer stop elsewhere.
3. Tools - pack a reasonable toolkit in case of emergencies, including puncture plugs and mini air canisters. My battery went flat in Brugge and it was a nightmare trying to find somewhere to bump-start it. I'll be packing leads for my next trip! That said, there are some things a tool kit just can't fix, such as the blown head gasket my mates KTM suffered back in Dover, but that's another story!! I guess what I'm saying is, pack some essentials, but don't go overboard!
4. Look at getting specialist travel insurance. Most standard policies wont cover you for riding a bike above 125cc so if the worst were to happen and you needed to be, say, air lifted, it wouldn't be covered and you could be looking at a hefty bill. I got cover from Navigator Travel Insurance for £13. Also make sure you have an European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which you can get for free. Also think about getting a European breakdown policy.
5. As bobh said above, make sure you have all relevant paperwork with you. You will need to read the rules for each country but it's likely to include your V5 (I took a copy of mine), insurance, licence and the little card I got with my SC Project exhaust which confirms it conforms to EU standards. This might be especially important for Germany who I hear can be quite strict. For France, I took spare bulbs and a breathalyser. I bought reflective stickers for my helmet but didn't put them on (figured I could apologise and put them on if stopped!). France are also very strict about speed cam warning alerts on Sat Navs and can impose hefty fines. We didn't get stopped at all and had absolutely no bother what so ever.
6. Again, as bobh says, give your bike a good going over before you leave. Check your tyres have enough tread, check their pressure, clean and lube your chain, check chain slack and adjust if necessary, check oil, coolant and brake fluid levels and it wouldn't hurt to give all the nuts and fixings a once over to make sure everything is on nice and tight.
Other than the flat battery, the MT handled the trip amazingly well. My bum was perfectly fine on the stock seat without a gel pad but I average around 1000 miles a month so my derriere might just be adjusted by now!
I put a little vid together of our trip if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszQQLyZVvk
Have fun and let us know how you get on!!
After seeing the wildbad Norwegian tour, there were several issues.
3 bikes had failed fork seals.
One had a failed rear wheel bearing
One got a slack chain
One had a rear swing arm bolt failure.
One got clutch issues towards the end.
One had a worn out brake pad.
And one had battery issues.
Breakdown insurances are different, some got great help, others were crap.
I highly recommend seeing their tour videos, lots of "human moments" ups and down, breakdowns and solutions.
I spent a whole Sunday watching them.
3 bikes had failed fork seals.
One had a failed rear wheel bearing
One got a slack chain
One had a rear swing arm bolt failure.
One got clutch issues towards the end.
One had a worn out brake pad.
And one had battery issues.
Breakdown insurances are different, some got great help, others were crap.
I highly recommend seeing their tour videos, lots of "human moments" ups and down, breakdowns and solutions.
I spent a whole Sunday watching them.
Mine is reversible. I left the standard seat foam & cover untouched, fixed new lot on top, all I have to do is unpick staples & its back to standard. Had I used less padding it would look professional, but I knew before I started that 3 inches of padding was excessive - the KTM is a tool, the Yams toys! The pillion seat looks professionally done, I didn't add any padding to that just put matching vinyl over it.
Yaminator
New member
Thanks for that lausie,
people have said about taking Hi viz & breathalizer's too.. ? is that necessary??
Ps.. was that you i met up high beech around december time and there was 3 of you setting up your bluetooth units ???
bobh
Member
The hi-vis regulation in France is new. Get one in Lidl or a French hypermarket for a couple of Euros. Don't get ripped off at the ferry port.
The breathaliser thing has been around for about 3-4 years, and although still in force, is currently dormant, i.e. strictly speaking it's still illegal not to have one, but you won't be prosecuted (if only we had laws like that in UK!) They have a two-year use-by date, which means mine are probably out of date, but I won't be renewing them any time soon! Having said that, I did use one once, after a good night's partying (in the UK), to check I was still fit to ride the following morning, so they have their uses.
The breathaliser thing has been around for about 3-4 years, and although still in force, is currently dormant, i.e. strictly speaking it's still illegal not to have one, but you won't be prosecuted (if only we had laws like that in UK!) They have a two-year use-by date, which means mine are probably out of date, but I won't be renewing them any time soon! Having said that, I did use one once, after a good night's partying (in the UK), to check I was still fit to ride the following morning, so they have their uses.
The hi viz requirement for bikers came into force last month. No requirement to wear it but you have to carry one and can be fined if you dont.
Breathalyzers have been a requirenent for a while, I picked a box of 2 up from Tesco and shoved them in my bag. Tested them out on our last morning in Belgium after a night on the chimmay!
And yep, that was me. Were you the guy asking about the sc project exhaust?
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
Yaminator
New member
Nice one bobh thats nice to know..The hi-vis regulation in France is new. Get one in Lidl or a French hypermarket for a couple of Euros. Don't get ripped off at the ferry port.
The breathaliser thing has been around for about 3-4 years, and although still in force, is currently dormant, i.e. strictly speaking it's still illegal not to have one, but you won't be prosecuted (if only we had laws like that in UK!) They have a two-year use-by date, which means mine are probably out of date, but I won't be renewing them any time soon! Having said that, I did use one once, after a good night's partying (in the UK), to check I was still fit to ride the following morning, so they have their uses.
Yaminator
New member
Yep it was me asking about your exhaust.