Pedro

I love google maps to search for which roads to take while out there. Not exactly using it for step by step navigation but more like a paper map that you can zoom into with a built in compass. For traveling longer distances and motorways, waze is useful to have running in the background because it'll warn you of speed traps even if you're not using it for navigation.

I have never been interested in helmet intercoms, I used to tour with my girlfriend without intercoms, she would navigate and we would either talk loudly when needed or just stop if the conversation demanded it. I used to think it was quite interesting to see the different things each of us noticed on the same trip, usually noticing completely different details on the same ride. Starting to ride more and more on week days I found myself loosing a few work calls, getting off the bike to find lost calls and then calling people back, sometimes not getting through and they'd then call back when I was back on the motorway was annoying. I got a quad lock and an in-helmet intercom and although the intercom isn't good enough to maintain a conversation on the motorway, I can answer a call when on country roads and the caller wouldn't know I'm on the bike, the phone on the handlebar means I can easily see who is calling. Now, after I spent years disregarding intercoms and music while on the bike, I wouldn't go back to not having the phone on the handlebar and listening to music on the helmet, I don't do it always but probably more than not. What did you at first thought wouldn't appeal to you that after trying you would not give up?

Why would you buy a newer helmet and not use it regularly?

I don't care about dates, I change them when I think the previous one is worn out or unconfortable. My previous Schuberth C3Pro was changed when the rubbers sealing the visor shut were getting old and ripping, and the interior padding had lost it's capacity to bounce back, it made the helmet a little too big. Also by chance I scratched the visor so it went and I bought a new one exactly the same. I think that one had done 4 years, maybe 5, but a lot of dusty touring in Morocco meant that the interior had been out and washed plenty of times. This current helmet isn't lasting as long as the previous one, it feels comfy but a little on the large and loose side if I go fast on the motorway, plus I dropped it and it bounced off the street two or three times, which I didn't like doing. I was squeezed against a wall by a truck on a tight street and let go of the helmet. I have been doing more miles now than before so maybe that is why it feels like it's aging faster too.

Great pictures! You can keep the snow

Bike is due for a service that is happening next week, I think it has used just a hint of oil since the last service, which would be a first time for it. Forecast is rain stormy on the weekend so I'll spend it mostly reading a book and keeping my dog company with the ocasional breaks for play time. Also, plan on having a couple talks with my dad, he's not been having the best of luck and has just been diagnosed with LSA, a sort of degenerative sclerosis, and is rightly quite scared.

that was a 4 stroke, though, it's pretty normal maintenance for those two strokes to have the piston replaced. I have a client to races extreme enduros and last time I spoke to him he was using a Husqvarna 250 2 stroke, he changes bike every couple of years of normal season racing and the engine is the least of his worries though

That never gets old

I like how those pipes are turning up, mine look like shit, and that's why I rarely look at them from up close

Changing pistons, do you change cylinder as well? Or sleeve? or nothing at all?

Classy chair, an adirondack always looks cool anywhere

It was a great day to be up there overlooking Portugal. Sometimes you get all the way up to be greeted by fog or rain and can’t see an inch in front of you.

I have a few of the bike on dirt roads, but I like the view on this one

Nice, that’s so french! Le topbox!

Nice place to stop for a snack!

I have been tempted by one of these, or a Shoei Hornet, I quite like to cruise along with my Shoei motocross helmet up until 90 or 100km/h as it's so light and the aerodynamics work well at low speeds, although I've only done for local short rides. BUT, I don't think I will want non flip up for touring, I find the full helmets just too clumsy with the bike stopped.

I am not a native english speaker, but I think that's what I meant.

Now that's being late!

Was it the shiny lights that did it for you?

Oh, and true story, the lady intern doctor that brought me back from the brinks of death was really cute. I know that because a few guys I didn't know went in to visit me and I still have flashbacks of her slapping me awake to this day sometimes....

I spent a year or more of people telling me of shit I did that night. I came to myself in the morning in my hometown next to someone driving me home (my car being 30km away) and bringing me do my mum's doorstep hanging me from my shoulders, my mum's a doctor so I'm sure that when he told her I had a bad hotdog that night she really believed him. I had a fucking cold shower and a two day throw up / hangover. Also, that same night, I was so drunk I got delivered to the INEM tent they had at the festival, I was carried in by a couple of guys that only knew my "war name" and my hometown, and got two known visitors, the first one's review was that the whole operation was like an NBA game, while I was sucking down intravenous serum through the back of both hands, they had a team willing to mop up puke within the second, like in an NBA match when the players fall down and smudge sweat on the hardwood floor, somehow this really impressed Caco, my rich world wise friend. Then came the "other friend", he was so wasted he jumped on one of "INEM"s VW Passat's bonnets and wouldn't leave without a signed autograph from Eminem, which sounded the same to him... (INEM is a part of the Portuguese Health System, translated to Institute for National Health Emergencies", not a rapper) That's before I met you all, you all saved me ...

I knew you'd mention the japanese socket set! This thread's for you See? Isn't that a whole lot better and way cooler than a plate you keep on a nail on your shed?