Pedro

19 hours ago, XTreme said:

Par for the course here Bob.......you get used to it.

Having said that, car drivers have a lot more respect for bikes than they do in Britain. They've never been labelled with the social underclass stigma either.

Very often I stop to take a pic and a car will pull up and ask if I'm OK or need help! Different culture and mindset here.

Most of the country grew up riding mopeds......and there's even blokes in their 80's still riding them.

Usually carrying a tree or something similar. 

If there is one thing Spain has got going for it, is a massive motorcycling culture. Motorcycle racing used to be almost as big as football, lunch time GP racing broadcasted on tv used to have a bigger audience nationwide than football, and most small villages had or have an anual party with the highlight being a small bike road race.

to be honest, Thumpertalk is not really about touring or anything more than proper offroad and racing, and Horizons Unlimited is not really about bikes.

8 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

I've just been reading a post on the CRF page some guy winging about changing the oil. This is his post

I tried to do my 1st Oil and Filter change WTF.. The manual is useless! I over filled the oil based on 4.1 litres and the drain plugs WTF !!! The bash plate needs holes for the Filter replacement and access to the drains. !!!!

What a tool, put a bit less than what the manual says and then warm the bike up, check the oil and top up if necessary, obviously really difficult. The drain plugs holy shit there's two of them what the fuck do i do now  and the bash plate how the fuck do i get at the filter and drain plugs with that in the way remove three bolts takes a minute to take off if your slow and of course this is all Honda's fault, got nothing to do with him being a useless twat I'm starting to think you meet the biggest twats on a Honda LOL

Could be worse, couple of years ago there was a guy on a car forum that drained his gearbox and topped up his engine with gear fluid. After a few miles the gearbox started acting funny ...!

Don’t bring the grim great sadness onto this thread @XTreme, this is about happy kids doing powerslides, not Annie the orphan 

Spooky as shit, and the table set for a meal? I wouldn’t be hanging around

Love those wide open dirtroads, that’s a European’s fantasy 

39 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

That's what I love about small town bike shops in Europe, you never know what you'll find in them.  There are hardly any shops like that left in the UK now, they're all just owned by conglomerates , the staff know fuck all about the bikes if you ask them a technical question.

Damn right, Pete, give the guy a chance a go try the electrical scooter. 

There's lettuce in that, @Tym

I do like a great burger, but that's just revolting.

23 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

You might want to seek some advice about that clutch elsewhere, Unless they've changed things recently the clutch on a GS is dry and has no contact with any oil other than the usual leaky crank shaft oil seal 

On liquid cooled bikes, since 2013 or so, it's been a wet clutch that you access from the front of the engine.

6 hours ago, XTreme said:

Pedro's looks amazing......but I have a doubt about reliability compared to a Jap.

I also have an even bigger doubt about the weight......it's nearly 90lbs heavier than the Strom.

And as for paying €1300 at a Dealer to replace a clutch........that's scary!

A modern GS is not a bike you want to have problems with, that's certain, as things get expensive fast. However, my bike has done 60.000km last week and has never needed anything. It'll get new clutch plates, though, as I've been advised to change them to improve the gearbox smoothness and as preventive measure against oil contamination fucking up the engine. Plates will be 300€ plus fitting, which is easy compared to previous generations.

It is frugal, I love the handling, the brakes, etc, and I really like boxer engines, no other engine I would rather have for the riding I like to do. Also, when I bought it I chose it specifically with two up touring intended, and there is absolutely no other big trail that can do that better than this bike, period. 

Would I live with a Super Tenere? Surely I would, and I would love that if I had one, and maybe it would last longer too. But I like riding my bike a lot more so that's what I do and just put up with the risk of fixing it. 

40 minutes ago, Grasshopper's Ride said:

My driveway in the 90's.  Mine is the GS500, a simple bike, but it was fun on the coastal highways. 

 

The GS500 was a bestseller in Portugal. Really a cool bike to have in it's time, maybe cooler than the bigger sellers XT600 and CBR600.

1 hour ago, yen_powell said:

It's a nice castle...

Bloody hell Ian, thank you for that trip through English culture

I would like to thank everyone that made this possible, it was a team effort and it's your award as much as mine. God bless America!

just leave the honey jar in plain sight and make it easy on the poor guys

@XTreme

Here you go, @XTreme

9 hours ago, Specs said:

 

The heat unfortunately would be all too much for me. I ventured for a little jaunt last week for some 'advanced training' and managed about 300 miles in temperatures around 30 degrees, and that was way too warm for me. I was in bed by 2130!

That's easy to manage, just don't do it in the peak of summertime like I did.

12 hours ago, XTreme said:

Pedro's got it for June!

@Pedro.........give me a full size image of your bike to go in the header!

But it has to be taken from a distance so I can crop the height to fit it into the space available!

OK, do you want it via email?

5 hours ago, yen_powell said:

Is that a real thing? 

Yes, very similar in texture to codfish livers, which I think you guys in the UK know about

It's cooked with sliced garlic and white wine.

I see a bike with an aggressive road geometry like that and tires pretending to be offroad, and I instantly default to hate mode.

Also, what's up with bigger diameter rear wheel, is this reality or is this just fantasy?

Bloody hipsters!

Garlic doesn’t do that to me, or to most people in southern countries. Don’t know if it’s because of the way you cook it, but none of that here, I think.

My dinner was composed mainly of cuttlefish eggs, just to let you guys know.

Correction, old simpletons 

You two are just a couple of simpletons 

1 hour ago, Buckster said:

What defines “Christian” then? 

Nowadays, being good and gentle to others.

Used to be going off on killing sprees accross the middle east