Slowlycatchymonkey

Congrats, look forward to hearing all about it. I loved my 125 so much I cant part with it. I dont ride it much but when I do it makes me laugh a lot. The only thing that causes me any grief with it is when I forget I’m on a 125 and attempt to pull out quickly into a gap, if altering the speed or direction of other vehicles is a test fail, Id be a massive fail

Its starting to sound like the whole country is going away in May ? ?

Fair do’s. It is a very large commercial event. I prefer Overlander but I like them both. Fingers crossed for Sunny weather in May for both of us. Scotland sounds like it’s going to be heaving, fingers crossed it’s not... ? Being locked down for a year seems to have messed with my filter, just said yes to a lot of things without thinking any further than I’d love to go out ? what an idiot. August looks well overdone with two long weekends away on the bike followed 3 days later riding round Germany for 10 days, Ive been writing cheques for energy there’s no chance I’ll have ? Heyho.

You don’t need to worry your pretty head about it Buck you’re not as hairy as some and that Harley of yours will have you blending in nicely.

Hehe no, he just went off forums.

I did, I can’t repeat what he said ?

If you only get one ticket and wanna go you can join us. But I have a VIP ticket so will be there the night before it kicks off and likely be hemmed in in a mighty fine camping spot before the rest of the plebs arrive Still if your after someone to join for a beer and are happy to come n go as you please you’re welcome. The “us” is me, my husband and you might remember him Speedy23 from TMBF? Then coming and going in a disorganised fashion about 10 women I went to Everest with. Me, my husband and Speedy tend to wobble around drinking beer pointing at stuff, the other women tend to have a more measured approach.

I very much see your point but at that time the infection rates will still be as low as they are going to be because restrictions have only just been lifted. Its not a young persons festival so the majority of attendees (including me) will have had at least one jab which they’ve found does cut transmission and hospitalisation significantly. Plus the under 50’s account for less than 0.4% of deaths from Covid even when it was rampant so its pretty low risk, much lower risk than from some much nastier diseases in other countries I’ve been to. The alternative is to not mix at all until the whole country has had both jabs and then wait and see if it continues to work. Which is if they hit their target of everyone by the end of July that’s then October before everyone’s had their second jab, plus the time to full immunity it’s then November- it’s a lot of the year to lose. By then there’s also a much increased chance of a vaccine resistant strain emerging (the more time passes the further away from the original strain the mutations are) so all in all I’ve decided it’s probably one of the safer times to mix. That’s my reckoning, I suppose it’s one of those things the individual has to weigh up for themselves ?

Lol thats what I was thinking ?

Bugger. Heyho theres a reserve list running cos they are trying to negotiate more space, might be worth a go. Seem to have come up trumps (not the balding orangutang version of the word) on the ticket front this year with a pass for the night before it starts. So will be able to get a decent pitch ? Got to remember not to drink to much though, anonymity only works if the numbers are good ?

253kg blimey. I could probably pick it up once.. if it fell on a nice flat bit... which it wouldnt cos you dont come off on nice flat bits. And $19,000 into the bargain.

Yep thats what I was thinking, what modern bikes do have spares readily available across the globe. The Enfields not bad.. not that I’m biased nor nuffin ? The heavy and the ugly part puts me off but Id want to ride it and see.

Do you need us to start chanting “Do it, do it, do it” ?? Oh no wait you cant flounce, its not in keeping with the sudden, mysterious and seemingly baseless flounces this forum prefers. You’re going to have to wait until no-one can fathom what just happened and then suddenly request all your posts are removed ?

I went in 2019 and had a f’in amazing time. I’m not a festival person but the sun was shining on full blast the whole weekend, there were bikes galore, good trade stands, plenty of talks from people who actually walk the walk, lots of different bikes to test ride, an off road track on the premises, TRF ride outs, an adventure film festival hall showing good bike adventure films, tons of excellent food wagons, good live music n plenty of beer flowing and everyone seemed really bloody happy all the time, Ive never seen so many smiles with folk chatting freely to complete strangers. I’ll rephrase that last bit, Ive never seen so many legal chatty smiles before ? TBH it was like a parallel universe where everyone’s happy and I dont see how it can ever be that good again. But this year nearly every well known adventure/round the world rider seems to be going as are a large group of the women I went to the Himalaya with (and they’re chomping at the bit to get out) so who knows what with lockdown fever it might just be the best party ever... or it could rain incessantly and be a huge letdown, we’ll see ?

Theres just a small number of the Adventure bike doing the rounds. Apparently the HD adventure bikes going to be at the ABR festival this year but it’s probably a bit of a trek for you ? Great line up this year and its the first weekend after lockdown restrictions are lifted in June wooohooo ? They’ve got Boorman there promoting it but I watched ‘long way up’ and wasn’t convinced he was convinced by it so itll be interesting to see what he has to say. I cant stand bike snobs (snobs full stop) but was surprised to catch myself quietly sneering at the idea of a HD adventure bike, oops ?

Great vid. Feel like I’m on holiday with you ? Like where you shot the video and even more liked that the audio quality was good because normally theres wind noise wrecking it. Soz about the dimwit in the car, glad youre ok. Not great for the confidence is it but you look the sort who will manage to push on past it to triumph.. triumph boom boom.. aw come on who doesnt like a cracker joke?!

I wouldnt worry if they did the English have always positively thrived at going places theyre not welcome ? What June trips that?

Xtreme can help you with that, I understand its within his area of expertise.

Xtreme have you stopped paying six and started doing you own trolling? ????

Oh yeah just noticed your location, I now don’t care if they rust and crumple like tin foil you jammy git! What turned your head towards the CB500X?

They steered me away from the BMW ones cos they didn’t rate them as much so it’s worth avoiding the showroom and popping your head round the garage door to see if a mechanic has a cheaper solution. Mechanics don’t seem to suffer brand loyalty, they appear to just like the stuff that works the best. On the other hand you’ve just spent thousands on your new toy and if the Honda ones are best then apart from the obvious why skimp?

Anyway from the interesting trail braking/cornering post, the pictures of cigars n castles and now the NC500 website link I’m starting to suspect there more to Buckster than his cunty exterior shows ?

Lol well it’s one way to get yourself a decent size pitch to yourself ?

Congratulations on the new wheels, bet it’s all the sweeter for having none for a while. For my know nothing tuppence worth on the engine bars when I got my first set I went to the dealers and cos the mechanics there see all of the various types folk have unwittingly bought and they have quite firm opinions on which ones work best. The ones I’d picked out were very well reviewed but they said “yeh they are good but the paint flakes, not straight away it takes a good while but they get tatty long before they should.” They then ordered up the ones they said worked and looked the best. So the point I’m painfully wobbling towards is- I’d ask the mechanics at the Honda dealers what they think.

@Buckster Rightey dokey matey bloke flap old salty seadog amigo skip-jack jockstrap piano tuner you have posted something most fortuitous and useful which on this forum is well urr something ? Emailed Nathan Millward about the Garbage Run (LEJOG) in 3 weeks time as I have a strong suspicion it’s not going into Scotland cos of the rule of 8 (yes I know it’s currently rule of six but it changes 17th May to the rule of 8 for Scotland) and hes cagey about it, hinting in the not looking likely direction so I’ve said if he can’t split people into groups of 8 we’ll do the Garbage Run to Alston and then carry onto the NC500 on our tod. So tell me about this wild camping thing then, are there any rules or can you just pitch your tent wherever takes you fancy? Have you paid the £15 for membership to that website and if you did what’s it worth over just buying the Rough Guide to the North Coast 500? Any info appreciated.