Specs

On 30/09/2023 at 21:04, Marcel said:

Her roots dumy...go back a few hundred years most of us are all from across the pond...

Speak for yourself! 100% Welsh here, putting up with shit from the Ingurlisch and the clowns in our devolved government. 
 

On 31/10/2023 at 09:20, zzzak said:

Are you Polish ?

Wot?

17 hours ago, zzzak said:

Lovely topbox.

It could double as a sunshade with a bit of potching. 

On 23/10/2023 at 10:34, Pedro said:

I'm counting on a good photo from @MooN and @Specs and @Buckster and @Sir Fallsalot!

 

@XTreme, do you think your new phone's pictures are too photoshoped to enter this now?  

It’ll be next month. Still waiting for a rack so that I can fit a top box. Should be here Wednesday. 
Shite weather forecast for the coming week so I don’t think I’ll be getting out much. 
 

I have an ancient BMW waistcoat (is that a gilet?) that I bought years ago when working on a ship in refit up at Birkenhead and was riding home every weekend through the winter. It was brilliant and I might have to dig it out and start using it again. A good while ago as I’ve been retired ten years come April. Time flees. 

Had a bimble around the Beacons for a few hours and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I do believe that some bonding may have happened!

Trying to do some video editing but unable to find idiot mode. 

Photo is on Brecon bypass. 
 

Bugger. Missed the turning. 
 

2 hours ago, XTreme said:

Yeh.....I'm seeing similar responses on FB.

The main issue seems to be lack of grunt!

Perhaps a slightly longer stroke engine for better low revs torque? 
 

Third gear will pull from about 10mph to about 90mph, but it doesn’t pull very hard until about 4k rpm. Keep it above 4k and there’s plenty of torque and power. 
 

The bike saga goes on. I received the parts from SW-Motech so it has now been fitted with the sump guard, top crash bar, soft panniers and rails and a GPS mount. I still need to hard wire the mount but have been using the lighter socket for now.

Last Monday I rode up to North Wales to visit my aunt for her 92nd birthday and to try and get a video of the Llanberis Pass. Some of you might have seen the results on FB. Anyway here they are again.

"Yesterday I rode up to Porthmadog to wish my aunt a happy 93rd birthday, and then to ride the Llanberis Pass once again. Note to self - learn how to use the camera before you use it!

Long story short, I had to ride the pass three times as the first time I'd forgotten to start recording, I think! So it was back to the campsites, turn around and try again. Success! Or so I thought until I got home. It seems that for most of the time I'd only used the front camera so didn't get the 360 experience. Anyway here's the result. A very sedate run up the pass catching up with a load of cars, that seemed to have been held up by cyclists."

Someone asked me what I thought about the bike so far.

"Hmmm. Fuel consumption seems to be about 63mpg so far but should improve. The seat is a work in progress. I hope that my arse wins else it’ll be another seat. Engine needs to be worked, so seems noisier than the GS. Quickshifter and gearbox no better than the GS - had expected better, but maybe I need more time to get used to it. Suspension ok, but obviously not GS standard. No cruise control, a shame.  No fuel range indicator - surely easy to incorporate in a software update.  No external temperature gauge. I’ll find a stick on one online.  I’m sort of happy with it, but time and a long trip will tell. Would I recommend it? Not sure yet."

I did try and post this a couple of times before but didn't get much joy with it and gave up!

Not sure what I'm going to do about a top box. I have an almost new Touratech one, but they haven't produced a mount for the Transalp yet. I'll just wait I suppose. 

3 hours ago, Pedro said:

850 miles isn’t enough. He just told you it doesn’t have any torque compared to the GS, so let him forget about the BMW and awake the next morning thinking about reliability.

I need to do a proper long trip, outside Wales, loaded up, to get a better feel for it.

No bonding yet. 

1 hour ago, Saul said:

Basically he was quite upset with Eddy Jones.  

Thanks!

2 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

How many miles have you put on it now Al. got to be honest i haven't noticed much difference with the 20mph limits probably because i'm usually driving in the rush hours so cant get to 20 and i just ignore them like i did with the 30mph when i can  LOL

Only about 850 or so I’d guess. Popped over to see Ralph yesterday so that was about forty miles. Might have another run up to Pwllheli in a couple of weeks. 

On 26/08/2023 at 08:59, Specs said:

I have some bits to stick on and a rally next weekend so will get something done. 

I finished putting most of the bits on this morning. Have been up in Scotland in the caravan. Next time I’m out I’ll take a few snaps. 
Must admit that it’s a bit of a learning curve after having GSs for the last nine years I think! I keep forgetting that I need to work the engine! The bloody 20mph nonsense here makes any built up area pretty intolerable. 

Has to be Sofia’s IoM photo as I climbed that mountain in my bike gear one year. Extremely Betty Swollocks! 

9 hours ago, Saul said:

He's not happy 

I got fed up waiting for him to get to the point. 

On 26/08/2023 at 15:17, Sir Fallsalot said:

Got out on the bike early this morning before  it gets too hot forecast says it could hit 17 deg C today i was out at 07:00 and home by 10:30   

Anywho the real reason was to see how my arm would cope on the bike as i haven't ridden it since it started hurting. It was a little foggy at home when i set off so naturally i headed up to my mountain to see if it was clear up there and it was. i wont be surprised if Pete calls photo shop here saying that's not fog it should be black as its coal dust 

Headed over to one of the hills in the above photo  to see if it i could get better shots but it was much the same 
These are looking into the Cynon valley 

And this is looking into the Merthyr valley  from the same spot

I took a few photos on the rock which i shall bore you with. It's a place i used to play and climb as a kid we call it the gap some call it the giants bite but its the gap end of 

This is below where i took the above photo 

Looking through the gap

You can just make out the radio mast on the left of the hill in the background which is where i took the first two photos

Since i was here again i decided to test my lights in the tunnel since repositioning them.

They are pretty good the photo makes them better than they are in real life 

Someone has a sense of humour LOL

Headed home from here but wanted to check out a road on the way back I've been talking with the council about getting re opened, I last rode this over 15 years ago cant remember it being this bad though, most of it is relatively easy this is where it starts getting hard, i got off the bike and walked it for the next 200 yards as underneath all the brambles is loose slippery rock and its down hill which the photos don't show well.
Its going to need some lane maintenance before its ready to ride and yes this was a road you could drive your car along years ago.

Tree was a little low to ride under

This old road is only about a mile from my house so it was home from here the arm was ok it didn't hurt anymore riding the bike over rough terrain then it does when i'm sat on the sofa so that's one good thing i suppose.

 

Some fantastic photos there Fred! 

4 minutes ago, XTreme said:

And that Strom is a lot heavier I think!

Yes. I think it’s about 12 kg heavier. 
 

Can’t ride it now though because service due a week next Saturday and by my reckoning I’ll have about 800 miles on it by then, 400 now. The service guy said it was ok and to not worry about it!

8 hours ago, XTreme said:

It's a great price.......and seems to come in cheaper than the new Strom 800DE.

Though I'd expect Suzuki to drop their price to undercut the TA because they've always traded on having the most competitive pricing.

By the time a few extras like the quickshifter are added it comes in at about the same price as the Suzuki. Anyway I thought the Suzuki fugly and no screen worth talking about. Far better torque characteristics though, and it has fully adjustable suspension. 
I swore that I’d never get another Suzuki after I watched the Bandit rust in front of my eyes.

Yes. Cwmbran. 

As you might have noticed, the GS has been traded for a new Transalp. I wanted something smaller and lighter for my advancing years. Well, I managed the lighter bit, but the seat height is the same and I still struggle with the leg over. It had to be the black stealth one for me; red, white and blue not exactly my favourite colours!

Extras fitted are a quickshifter, hand guards, some wind deflectors, centre stand and heated grips, and have taken gap insurance and the prepaid first three services deal. Bike has a Datatag tracker fitted.

As Fred knows, new Honda seats are hard and I live in hope that it will break in before the bones of my arse give up. I did four and a half hours going up to North Wales and I felt like a rent boy who’d pulled a train - not good. I did it in three and a half coming home, and it did seem a bit better. Maybe my arse was getting used to it!

Reminds me a lot of the KTM’s I had, probably a lot to do with the engine characteristics, and the longish suspension. A bit of a pain to keep a steady throttle in town at 20 or 30 mph but fine on the open road. It’s quite happy to chug along at 30mph in 4th. Power comes in from around 5k rpm up to about 9.5k rpm; the red line is at 10k. The torque is developed as the revs build up rather than low down although 3rd will take it from almost a standstill up to about 100mph ish I’d imagine. Still running in but Honda say after 300 miles okay to wind it up. Twisty B roads are fine using 3rd and 4th.

I like the handling, but the suspension isn’t that great compared with the GS. A combination of a hard seat and budget suspension with only preload adjustment doesn’t give much scope for adjustment. I haven’t tried tweaking anything yet but intend to try some small changes.

It’s averaged 65.4 mpg over 400 miles and I reckon that’ll get better. I was using as much power as allowed (keeping below 6k rpm and no full power acceleration) for the first 300 miles and then I kept the revs up a bit more for the next 400.

That’s pretty much my initial impressions. Hopefully maybe some more to follow.

I have a black SW-Motech crash bar and sump guard on order. I’ll fit the crash bar when it arrives I suppose but will leave the sump guard until after the first service which is a week next Saturday. I need a GPS support and will probably get their soft panniers. I prefer the Garmin XT to the rather simple Honda Bluetooth offering.

Their video show the bits fitted to their bike.

I’m off to a the overland Event near Oxford next weekend so will try and get a few photos then and then some more after the service has been carried out. 

17 hours ago, XTreme said:

Let's see some shots of it........and how do you find it?

I have some bits to stick on and a rally next weekend so will get something done. 

2 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Transalp?

Yes. Had to be done. No way perfect, and probably a bit gay, but a lot lighter.  

Went up to North Wales on the bike on Monday and came back yesterday. It rained. 

27 minutes ago, zzzak said:

I'm 71 on the 24th, many people have lost bets on me never making 30.

That's two older than me then.

Four of us went out for a drink last week and I was the youngest! Unusual.

This came up on YouTube this morning. Interesting and better than housework.