Pedro

In the Algarve, when southern winds bring dust from Africa you can sometimes smell a little bit of it. It's a great thing that smells like you're in an Indiana Jones movie

I've got a few moments that are deeply memorable, but most memorable are two: 2014, first trip to Morocco on the 1150GS with my girlfriend, we arrive at Tangier on mid afternoon and spend an hour or two on customs, sort of lost and not really understanding what we were doing on each paperwork booth, I remember not being in a rush and sort of savoring the moment because it felt like all the adventure books and reports I had read. Then, as they slowly opened the harbor customs' gates we roll onto the seafront avenue in search of our hotel that was on the same avenue. It was quite warm and late afternoon by then, riding slowly with my jacket open, going past the bad fish smell that used to be in front of the old docks (now it looks like a nice european city), I remember the first roundabout and the first moments in morrocan city traffic, the usual gathering of guys at the end of the afternoon, what I remember as most memorable is the feeling of adventure and literally smelling Africa as we roll out of customs. It's maybe too romantic, but I do remember that I would never feel like that again, and I was right an the next few times that feeling got replaced by familiarity. This is on video, but for some reason both my external hard drives have not been cooperating and I am waiting for my brother to help me out with them, it'll take a while as he's in Croacia. 2017, the fourth trip to Morocco, second trip on the current 1200GSA, we get out of home at around 9AM on a saturday on late September, weather is nice but morning chilly, we get onto the motorway heading south and cross the Tejo river north of Lisbon and the bike feels specially smooth while we cruise at 120 or 130kmh, I remember thinking that we had a whole trip and adventure ahead of us, I remember the light, asking Maria if she was comfy. I appreciated that moment as it happened and would have been happy if that was the last moment in my life, the feeling of enjoyment of a whole trip ahead. The plan was to ride straight to Morocco that day, but the weather was so nice that when we got to the Algarve we decided to cut the day short, have a nice grilled fish lunch, and go have a swim in the ocean in the afternoon. Then a nice dinner and too much wine, it was one of the best days of my life. I remember the before was a saturday because on the next day, a sunday at around 07:00AM we are leaving home to heading to Tarifa and I remember to casually check my insurance papers to find that Morocco wasn't in my policy, and all insurance offices would be closed because it was a sunday ?. My mate Paulo, who does my insurances handled it at 8:00AM when I woke him up with a call, and that's why I will always have my bike's insurance with him. Another one, long time ago, I think maybe 2006, I was on a ride on my Transalp to the Serra da Estrela, got off the road onto a dirt road for 100 or 200 meters, and stopped for a piss. Parked the bike and left the helmet on top. As I finish and turn back to the bike I notice a dog is sniffing it, I assume it's a curious shepherd's dog but as it round the bike I see it's a little big for a dog, with a long snout, it's an Iberian wolf, which is quite smaller and thinner than north american wolves but still I was shitting myself. It moved 1 or 2 meters from the bike towards me, and I'm frozen with fear. It just quietly sniffed the air, and walked away. It was scary as hell.

Loved it

So did I when i posted it, some things never change

I think so too, it sure looked like it from when I watched a few episodes of "The Son", really looked like parts of southern Portugal.

I think it's a pretty balanced bike, it's sort of lightweight as it is because of not having a battery and starter. Plus it suit's it's unbreakable personality because this way it's always ready to go without worries of a flat battery, it is very easy to start as it is, unless you're picking it up after dropping it on a warm day.

Yes, they're road legal here. Although I don't think I've ever seen a XR400 with the stock blinkers on.

Bob being creepy:

Woke up after a night of hard noisy rain expecting to be in for the day, but the sun was shinning so thought it was a good day to take Maria's bike for it periodic warm up run, got my cool leather jacket and went for a ride. For legal reasons decided it was best to keep out of tarmac even though I didn't feel like getting the bike dirty, I haven't got the heart to get this bike dirty but the dirt was moist and ideal for traction and not getting either dust nor mud up. Short 10 or 20km run and got back home to park it back up in it's spot, after a quick cuddle. Taking this bike out for it's run in a thing of love. Wasn´t intending to, but the quick ride up the dirt road made me feel like going for a blast in the XR, so after the 230 was parked I changed clothes, the cool leather jacket for the summer jacket and motocross boots. Took some farm access roads: And then some medium to high speed dirt roads over some of my favorite local landscapes: I have the XR running on well setup suspension, but I have almost new Michelin AC10 on, and it's a tire that I don't rate at all. I chose them for being street legal but regret it whenever I use them at over 80kmh on dirt, they give poor feedback on the front wheel, you never know when it's about to wash out from under you, next time it's going back on motocross rubber. Anyway had a great ride and the only worry was when coming out of a fast corner almost running into a pile of manure someone left parked on the middle of a dirt road. On the way back too a picture of the coolest bridge I know, while waiting for the traffic to switch back my way, the bridge Rainha D.ª Amélia crosses the Tejo river: Made it back but before coming home decided to give the bike and my boots a hose down to get rid of the farm track mud on this service station right at the end of the dirt road. It's really convenient to have a service station at the end of the dirt road: Getting back home just before some heavy showers, in time to aply some silicone spray on the plastics and make it ready for parking for a few more weeks next to it's little sister, the 230.

If the objective is to lower the temperature you need to get rid of the cat, there is no way around it. If you're replacing a cat with something that creates the same amount of back pressure you might as well keep it stock. Find somewhere that can remap the bike, and change the exhaust or just replace the cat with a straight pipe if that is an option on your bike, there's no way around it.

This thread is like arguing if the best pizza is made in Brazil or Argentina. AC/DC!

Hell, I love the show as a grown up, good stuff!

Agreed. But sometime his nasal sound comes across as special and sure enough nobody can quite imitate him.

true, still insane, though

Let get this straight, you feel like you have a blown front tire, so instead of stopping and having a look you simply ride back home? Tomorrow, I might go for a little ride on Maria's bike, it hasn't gotten a warm up in a little time, maybe 5 or 6 months, maybe more. Might even post a video of how a bike starts ....

I would go with Montesa or Bultaco, but the badge doesn't look right to me.

We're later down the line than Spain, though, Pete. Lots of people on the train come here to work on these places, daily, and that never stopped until now, so there you go.

I wouldn't do it without a remap. It might run ok but there is a change it will run too lean. There must have modern offroad teams and shops willing to help, you will probably find a capable alternative to a dealer.

On another note, I made it home yesterday, after a nice ride. Had a nice meal all by myself, of a little cheese and peas with chorizo, was half way to getting a little drunk on my favorite local whine when my folks called to ask if I had been allowed in as my area has exploded with hundreds of infected cases overnight. This is worry for Portugal as all the big distribution centers for the major supermarkets are here, and if they shut down it would get tricky to distribute food and stuff. I'm not too worried myself, as I am alone anyway. It's raining, though, so I am home.

Oh my, has Yamaha's announcement of a possible new XT250 got all you english guys's panties in a twist? Man up, get a 600...

Getting back out...

I care about them, an old BMW is a cozy place to be, specially in the winter. Maria's treasured E30 that I now use to go grocery shopping when it's not raining: And my brother's beasty, only 30% of it is still E30, though ?

Once or twice a year I attend a meeting with sales guys from all over Spain, around 12 guys from different areas. You can imagine the conversations at dinner, and these are educated guys that do like each other, but even then their rivalry shows in the most interesting things, like who makes the best olive oil, the best sardines, the best whatever... One of them told me, a couple years ago, that kids from the same grade from all over Spain learnt history from 31 or 41 different history manuals. Each one deleting Spain's feats as a country and finding a way to make their own area more important.

Seems a problematic place to have a chain and a spinning compressor, right inside your core when you're in full tuck ...

Agreed, but it's your choice to keep a nice moped on the boat, or a moped disguised as Travis Pastrana's super cross bike : Normal guy with a cool moped vs annoying hipster