JB & Ikkje ride again ….!!!

[JohnnyBoxer]

So, to finish off ….a 7am start for the ferry which was a bit nippy with a heavy dew etc and through the port to await boarding

No bother for me, as I was waved straight through, however Mark was stopped and had to have his Kriega panniers taken off (all those straps) and XRayed, plus they wanted to frisk him, which was a bit pointless in bike gear with body armour

Bikes on first, naturally and then we had a breakfast of croissant and yoghurt on board

Then it was time for a snooze



Ah, that’s better

Saw some dolphins accompanying us and then into port

Quick disembark from the port and then the Beeline sent us on a tour of Portsmouth (twice) and then the South Downs

Finally back on track we rode for 2-3 hours to Gloucester via the Cotswolds to the Kilcot Inn at Newent for the final night and a ride through the Wye Valley awaits us today

That’s it, folks

Been an enjoyable 7 days with about 16-1700 miles covered by the time we reach home

Our MIDI Adv bikes have done us proud

 

[Doc]

Nice one Johnny.

 

[TIJ650]

Great report and admirable that you don’t mind sharing rooms to keep the cost down.
I’ve yet to find a mate that doesn’t snore and it’s always a race to get to sleep first! lol Wifey tells me I snore like a mf on my back, but less on side.
In any case, I still like my own room when two wheeling it
Loved the location, I’ve always preferred the less sparkly places too.

 

[Blue]

Great write up up of what looked like a great trip.
What does your mate think of his Aprilia 660 Tuareg been watching these for awhile thinking of getting one.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Great report and admirable that you don’t mind sharing rooms to keep the cost down.
I’ve yet to find a mate that doesn’t snore and it’s always a race to get to sleep first! lol Wifey tells me I snore like a mf on my back, but less on side.
In any case, I still like my own room when two wheeling it
Loved the location, I’ve always preferred the less sparkly places too.

We only shared on the first night in the cottage at the abbey and it was just how it was configured

We both took ear plugs and the bedroom was massive anyway

20x20, so plenty of room

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Great write up up of what looked like a great trip.
What does your mate think of his Aprilia 660 Tuareg been watching these for awhile thinking of getting one.

Mark will reply on that one

 

[HGS]

Looked a great trip.....lovely pictures

 

[MartinK]

Looks a fab trip! Thanks for sharing

 

[Berin]

Not really Richard and whilst it might be user error, the XT’s were only used for secondary back up and our main nav was the Beeline Moto II which performed flawlessly. The most frustrating time with the Garmins was the day’s route showing up perfectly on the unit and then when you press go, being reduced to about 7kM’s. As I said though, the frustration with them might well be down to lack of expertise. The Beeline? You get probably 8% of the information on the screen, but enough to keep you going where you planned to, and more importantly, 92% less frustration as it just seems to work. Downsides? The planning is not as easy as MyRoute App.

Why don’t you just plan on My Route and import to the Beeline, if you can’t make the XT work?

 

[ikkje]

A good point Berin and the answer is that whilst you can import routes easily into the Beeline software, for some unknown reason, imported routes won’t recalculate. So if you plan in Beeline, the recalculation is fast and accurate. The reason we went round Portsmouth was simply user error, because we’d pulled onto the pavement on the exit from the port, we weren’t able to shoot off to the right as the Beeline wanted us to. It then re-calculated effectively but I’d forgotten that I’d set it to calculate to the start of the route, so it kept on trying to take us back to the same spot to start the route. My fault entirely.

 

[ikkje]

@Blue - re the Tuareg 660.

JB loves his T7 and Yamaha got lots of things spot on with that bike (and I believe the latest iteration is much improved). I actually owned JB’s bike for about a month and couldn’t get on with it. I had buyers remorse and JB had sellers remorse so he simply bought it back again and has had it ever since. For me it was too top heavy had rubbish suspension and a crap seat. JB has remedied the seat and suspension via the application of large amounts of money (Öhlins and Corbin) The 660 on the other hand has the best stock suspension of any bike I’ve ever had and I’ve a lot. It’s not top heavy, the seat height is not stupidly tall and it’s a good seat. Add to that the fact that it has a better range, better electronics, including cruise and customisable modes and I gather for those taking it off road, which I’ve not, it remembers the settings you’ve been using after it’s been turned off. (plus mine has the optional quick shifter that cost me £170 fitted)

So what’s better about the T7? The engine, though about 10HP down on power, is a slightly nicer unit and if I had to put money on it, the reliability of the Yamaha is going to be better. In addition, the lights front and back on the T7 are a superb design, whereas on the Toe rag, I’ll be fitting some Denali’s pretty bloody quickly.

We set off today from near Gloucester and went up through Marches via Clun and Welshpool. I filled up after 187 miles and including a fair chunk of Dual / Motorways, I’d averaged just of 67 to the gallon. Which in turn meant I had an easy 50 miles left in the tank and those 50 are with a pretty good safety margin.

As JB has already said, these bikes are perfect for small roads and exploring, but for the longer stints on big roads, I’d have far rather have been on my 1290. For this trip though they were a good choice.

 

[Berin]

A good point Berin and the answer is that whilst you can import routes easily into the Beeline software, for some unknown reason, imported routes won’t recalculate. So if you plan in Beeline, the recalculation is fast and accurate. The reason we went round Portsmouth was simply user error, because we’d pulled onto the pavement on the exit from the port, we weren’t able to shoot off to the right as the Beeline wanted us to. It then re-calculated effectively but I’d forgotten that I’d set it to calculate to the start of the route, so it kept on trying to take us back to the same spot to start the route. My fault entirely.

I have a beeline device, too, and there are now 3 modes available to import a file. One of these is called "breadcrumb" which is in effect a track, so it will not give you turn-by-turn, but will replicate the planned route exactly - something I recall that the XT was criticised for not doing!

The 2nd option is route, which imports the route, and gives turn by turn - it's not clear whether this will replicate the planned route exactly, nor if it will recalculate. I will try to test this.

the 3rd option is called Waypoint, which, if the imported route has waypoints, will calculate the route going from waypoint to waypoint, and may or may not replicate the intended route.

Its worth remembering, I think on any device, if you do recalculate to get a around a diversion or some such, it will likely recalculate the whole route to the destination according the routing preferences set in the device, ignoring your planned route (though of course if you have added lots of waypoint/viapoints it will make it more likely it at least approximates the intended route.

 

[ikkje]

I’ve normally used the Turn by Turn option and the Beeline has stuck to the route just fine. I really like the way it recalculates though so I’m trying to do more of the planning in beeline. Definitely not as easy as MyRouteApp

 

[ikkje]

ToeRag as packed for the trip.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

@Blue - re the Tuareg 660.

JB loves his T7 and Yamaha got lots of things spot on with that bike (and I believe the latest iteration is much improved). I actually owned JB’s bike for about a month and couldn’t get on with it. I had buyers remorse and JB had sellers remorse so he simply bought it back again and has had it ever since. For me it was too top heavy had rubbish suspension and a crap seat. JB has remedied the seat and suspension via the application of large amounts of money (Öhlins and Corbin) The 660 on the other hand has the best stock suspension of any bike I’ve ever had and I’ve a lot. It’s not top heavy, the seat height is not stupidly tall and it’s a good seat. Add to that the fact that it has a better range, better electronics, including cruise and customisable modes and I gather for those taking it off road, which I’ve not, it remembers the settings you’ve been using after it’s been turned off. (plus mine has the optional quick shifter that cost me £170 fitted)

So what’s better about the T7? The engine, though about 10HP down on power, is a slightly nicer unit and if I had to put money on it, the reliability of the Yamaha is going to be better. In addition, the lights front and back on the T7 are a superb design, whereas on the Toe rag, I’ll be fitting some Denali’s pretty bloody quickly.

We set off today from near Gloucester and went up through Marches via Clun and Welshpool. I filled up after 187 miles and including a fair chunk of Dual / Motorways, I’d averaged just of 67 to the gallon. Which in turn meant I had an easy 50 miles left in the tank and those 50 are with a pretty good safety margin.

As JB has already said, these bikes are perfect for small roads and exploring, but for the longer stints on big roads, I’d have far rather have been on my 1290. For this trip though they were a good choice.

Luckily I got the Corbin used from eBay - it was mint and the chap only used for a week’s tour

It cost me £350 and new price is approaching £900 with import taxes

It’s a game changer in terms of comfort and the stock seat would have you in tears within 150 miles

The Corbin is all day comfy

Stock Screen - just added a flip spoiler (Mark has changed the Tuareg 660 screen)

Suspension - Öhlins Open Cartridge forks and Ohlins fully adjustable rear shock and it’s a massive improvement to the bike and so it should be for £2500 (still needs a slightly softer rear spring and the installer has ordered me a 80nM one)

Why spend so much ?

I love the bike and it’s so flexible-yes it has its downside, but that can be addressed and I have

As a package it’s great and my early e4 is the purest incarnation-later bikes have become more electronically complex, albeit with slightly better suspension (but most people would even need that customised)

I don’t change bikes very often and I am not a ‘serial changer’ so prefer to improve the ones that I already own, rather than waste money on constant depreciation, swapping & changing

All my bikes have Öhlins suspension, so it was naturally that the T700 had the same treatment

The T700 with SW Motech QD pannier rails and Trax Adv panniers
Baglux harness and map cover
Corbin seat
All worked well

 

[Micky]

Great report and admirable that you don’t mind sharing rooms to keep the cost down.

JB doesn't mind sharing a room because A) it keeps his cost down, and B) he takes it over .... all his luggage and tat all over the place, not a square foot of floor space, not a square inch on the table(s), not a hook or a piece of space in the shower available .... ol' JB has it covered

Don't ask me how I know

 

[gerarddwatts]

At least he doesn't fart all night....

Don't ask me how I know....

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

JB doesn't mind sharing a room because A) it keeps his cost down, and B) he takes it over .... all his luggage and tat all over the place, not a square foot of floor space, not a square inch on the table(s), not a hook or a piece of space in the shower available .... ol' JB has it covered

Don't ask me how I know

…..and you stubbed your toe too

Air was blue

 

[Blue]

@Blue - re the Tuareg 660.

JB loves his T7 and Yamaha got lots of things spot on with that bike (and I believe the latest iteration is much improved). I actually owned JB’s bike for about a month and couldn’t get on with it. I had buyers remorse and JB had sellers remorse so he simply bought it back again and has had it ever since. For me it was too top heavy had rubbish suspension and a crap seat. JB has remedied the seat and suspension via the application of large amounts of money (Öhlins and Corbin) The 660 on the other hand has the best stock suspension of any bike I’ve ever had and I’ve a lot. It’s not top heavy, the seat height is not stupidly tall and it’s a good seat. Add to that the fact that it has a better range, better electronics, including cruise and customisable modes and I gather for those taking it off road, which I’ve not, it remembers the settings you’ve been using after it’s been turned off. (plus mine has the optional quick shifter that cost me £170 fitted)

So what’s better about the T7? The engine, though about 10HP down on power, is a slightly nicer unit and if I had to put money on it, the reliability of the Yamaha is going to be better. In addition, the lights front and back on the T7 are a superb design, whereas on the Toe rag, I’ll be fitting some Denali’s pretty bloody quickly.

We set off today from near Gloucester and went up through Marches via Clun and Welshpool. I filled up after 187 miles and including a fair chunk of Dual / Motorways, I’d averaged just of 67 to the gallon. Which in turn meant I had an easy 50 miles left in the tank and those 50 are with a pretty good safety margin.

As JB has already said, these bikes are perfect for small roads and exploring, but for the longer stints on big roads, I’d have far rather have been on my 1290. For this trip though they were a good choice.

Many Thanks for your review of the Tuareg.

 

[Micky]

…..and you stubbed your toe too

Air was blue

It was on your pannier in the middle of the floor