Pedro

Were you talking to a spanish line or being told that from the UK?

It’s not that, it’s the talks between insurance companies from different areas with poor protocols. For that reason, my bike will always be with Allianz and with prime recovery, it served me well in Morocco previously. Will always take some time when away from home though.

Is that on a spanish insurance policy? edit: More accurately what I meant to ask was if that was on a spanish insurance policy and talking directly to a spanish line, or calling the UK to recover outside of Granada?

Good point, I have regretted introducing people to this forum a couple of times.

I learned a new old expression yesterday, it’s what you say to someone (a woman mostly) that is gossiping too much about someone else’s life, tem cuidado não emprenhes pelos ouvidos, translates to “watch out, don’t go getting pregnant through your ears”

I don’t see it happening, even if it rides so great that it makes oversee the complicated nature of electronics and things about that bike, I wouldn’t buy one built before the eventual upgrades that sort new model issues. Also my bike is not going to be traded in and I don’t have that kind of cash available to spend on a bike right now.

I heard from one of Sofia’s friends in England about a very similar experience. A mate went home, got a car, and then came back with tea to wait inside the car. They got caught up with chatting though, while waiting 7 hours for the truck. Also on a friday evening/night. Not many things work well here in Portugal, but I have used recovery trucks plenty of times ( not on the GS @XTreme!) and never had to wait more than 30/60 minutes depending on the location.

Yes, if someone’s carefully looking inside my engine and closing things, I’d rather he isn’t getting suggestions by some twat that feels like “helping out”.

So did I

It was strawberry. Strawberry … a man is not made of steel.

Wrong fuel can happen to anyone, but the clearing it out at full gas when it was dying really cracks me up.

All bikes need repairing, after a certain milleage. In this case the 1600 owner filled it halfway up with diesel, then realized his mistake and filled up with petrol. And proceeded to go full gas on the motorway to clear it up because he was on a hurry, figured it was starting to stall so he got it to third gear and full gas, then it seized and was apparently glowing too He then went and bought a scrapyard engine from the UK on ebay, which doesn’t really work either. Delicate engines regarding fuel quality, those 1600

Turns out my bikes service was moved to monday, there's a 1600 scattered in parts all over the place . Suits me fine, saturday is the day when punters show up for a chat and a coffee, and then never go away. Also it's probably going to be raining a lot.

They say gloves ruin boxers. With no gloves, back in the day, there were hardly any head punches as that would break your hand. It’s amazing how one can endure that.

Having trouble realising if I’m being bated or if that’s two honest opinions, so won’t bite. One is honest, because of halfwit, the other must be baiting

I’m not usually baited by political things, but that’s moronic, in a roundabout sort of way. Homeless people, that do it by choice go out walking and seeing the world, people that live like that in a city have something breaking them inside. Getting a homeless alcoholic to stop drinking is not easy.

China is often used by today’s manufacturers to make specific engine parts with higher quality coatings than what is allowed to be produced in europe or america. Good quality stuff is not nice to the environment to produce.

In my opinion that is one of the issues with anything chinese. The confidence they inspire so far is pretty poor when it comes to parts availability or long term support. Similar to buying an Aprilia

Bit of a pointless test though, what are the chances you have the same bike in May as you do now?

Oven baked codfish, plenty of onions and olive oil. Love it, it's comfort food for a cold rainy day for me. Take away grilled chicken IOM Kippers bap, my favourite UK food so far.

I think that BMW's clutch isn't that bad. You take the rear off or lift it up, and it does look dramatic but a mechanic used to do that job will do it with little fuss. Somethings on other bikes take forever, like just checking the valves on an Africa Twin or a Super Tenere for example. The engine stays in but it's labour intensive to get to it.

You don't need to get it to that state, though, that's looking too dramatic there

Alcohol free beer used to be crap, but now I do enjoy it as some brands can make it taste like normal beer. Some food just goes along with a cold beer, and if you have one sometimes you end up having two or three if it's nice weather, so on the bike it's very rare that I have a proper beer. Try it again though, things have moved on, plus it's quite a healthy drink to have too.

Back to it, mint and basil pesto, fresh and lovely: Portuguese mum's cooking to the extreme, fried mackerels and tomato rice. Leftover roast in a sandwich, and mozzarella salad. Serra da Estrela, local specialty cheese sandwich, buttery and strong. It's the ideal snack on a cold day on the bike. @Marcel and @Buckster's favourite: Grilled aubergine sandwich, with pesto, mozzarella, and spinach. Way better than it should be. Eggs and farinheira, with healthy things to compensate. Farinheira is a very interesting kind of sausage, I don't like it unless in eggs like this. Leftover rags from making something else, now with pasta. Good stuff. Homecooked pizza, with non conventional dark flour mix. Not delicate and crispy like normal pizza, but way more flavor. Middle eastern style carrot salad with an amazing orange juice based dressing, canned mackerels and a typical Rissol. Which is fried with shrimp filling. Steak: "hotdogs" my way, with cheese and tomato, plus peach dessert as this was in summertime. Tras os Montes food. Must have posted this in a ride report. Again, pizza with Sofia. Grouper rice, portuguese style. It's lovely, very hard to get right regarding the rice's cooking point and the right amount of sauce density. I love it, and am getting better at it. Sofia's lamb meatballs with the carrot salad. Delicious dinner this was.