Motobiker

I came across this, a very popular biker hotel/Meeting place, 18 miles north of the Nurburgring.. but just look at whats happened to it. My photos were taken with my old iPhone SE, now traded in.

@boboneleg The trips I organise are on-tarmac only, the guys I invite are usually inexperienced riders (to begin with) who have never toured before. (usually) So, its generally very relaxed and has to be relatively stress free. Though there have been a few memorable occasions when we 'off roaded' by accident.. I got a shedload of earache. from them all aside from one chap on a TRX850 who thought it was a hoot.

What I find fascinating about this kind of attitude is that the very first mobile phone I ever saw, late 80s was powered by two lead acid batteries and was the size of a pull-along suitcase. Wholly impractical, but paved the way for a brief foray into alkaline and then once phones became truly pocket sized, Lithium. As with everything, new tech is going to be expensive due to set-up costs plus a relatively small market. But as with all tech that will change. As the switchover continues prices will fall. And eventually lead acid will be relegated to older machines for a time, until the tech can deal with them too. Ive been very lucky, the lithium battery in my own bike has been completely reliable and in the almost 3 years of ownership I have seen 3rd party replacements appear 1/4 the price of the OEM... which has forced the price of the OEM down to a degree. A 1000cc bike with a battery little bigger than a packet of 20 cigarettes - 4" wide, that when standing unused will lose 1% of its charge per month. so not much need for a charger/maintainer. Quite amazing. Lithium battery tech for motorbikes and other vehicles is based entirely on the tech used in mobile phones, and we dont give that a seconds thought. I never see phone owners wishing we could go back to the good old days of lead acid.. or even Duracell type alkalines in their phones... its all about longer usage times and shorter charge times. More from less and as cheap as possible. Safe obviously as its often kept in a pocket.

It can be summed up quite easily. The region we were due to visit is now a flood disaster zone on an epic scale its also impossible to go to France without an enforced quarantine when we return. And I cannot knowingly do that. It seems just wrong to carry on being in denial or hope there might be a turnaround. The plan for next year is a 2 week trip to the Austrian Alps and Italian Dolomites, same time. The weekend after August Bank Holiday. So will be trying to shift tunnels bookings etc to that date, if a refund isn't possible. And will begin thrashing out the details later this year once we are in the winter blues and need something to look forward to. And hope for better times.

I kinda agree (ish) My first big bike after passing my test in 1982. A 1975 T160 and it looked exactly like this.

With this merry band of Tory idiots in charge, who knows? But.. you have to be optimistic.

Yes.. everyone else. (I normally take a small group) had to drop out, mostly due to paranoia about possible enforced quarantine on return. In the event that never happened. I was totally honest. I crossed countries that were 'on the list' like Austria. And although I went into the Czech republic, briefly. I didn't stop anywhere public. and after a couple of hours was back in Germany. It was nice, after so many years taking groups to be on my tod. off the leash (so to speak) nice.. but not the same. I used the time to reccy for next year.. when we will be heading down to Austria and into the Dolomites.

Every year except this year. the door has been slammed. Luckily, last year the door was partially ajar although I was forced to be very careful about where I stayed. Germany, Italy and most unlikely of all Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein. a place that will go down in memory. A campsite with its own restaurant, where a starter cost (minimum) €25 and a bottle of Erdinger €7 Less said about that the better. Highlight.. was the most banal thing. Though a first for me. Crossing the Danube by ferry. and then looking back at the Bavarian mountains that border the Czech republic. sad git me.

probably.

Diolch yn fawr as my 'gone native' brothers and sisters would say. I'm here because Im missing implausible tales of rugged individualism and pictures of bikes in rundown or, more usually ruinous railway stations. and that. Better late than never.