Sad Days

Yep Ireland is awesome, done the south couple years ago and the north this year. Great roads and people, always welcoming. As for cold fingers, do you have heated grips on your bike ? If not worth considering mate.

 

Agree, bikes aren't water soluble,but they are salt soluble...a few years ago the BMW l had then got covered in salt, l left it for about a week and then did the worst possible thing.....washed it with warm water which reactivated the salt and absolutely buggered the alloy wheel rims...
Lesson learnt!

 

Heard tell, the undocumented ones love it there!
Regards,Ken.

 

Not water soluble, but, they seem to be miscible, they’ve gotta be in our weather!
Ken.

 

Miscible - Had to look that one up.

 

I'm planning on riding all year round, as it's my only form of transport (other than the push bikes) for doing any serious distance. Won't ride when it's raining but if it's dry, I'll be out. The cold doesn't bother me, getting soaked does.

 

Pretty much people from all over the world & the country here. I'm a rare breed being born and raised here. I remember riding in the elevators in the business district in Los Angeles in my working years. You could hear 5-6 languages being spoken at the same time in one elevator ride. ...J.D.

 

Well the thermometer is reading 2 degrees but the sun is shining, the sky is blue and much (but not all) of the frost has melted from roofs and parked cars, so it's gear on and bike out. They haven't salted the roads round here yet. Just for an hour, taking it easy. Then my hands will be too cold to work the switches (no heated anything) but the bike will have been used and I'll be smiling. If it needs bit a of a clean then that'll warm me up.

 

I did just that yesterday...’Twas great while travelling Eastward, but on return journey just after lunch the roads were damp/ wet (Still some smaller roads with frost where sheltered) and, as always at this time of year...the damn sun low in the sky, straight in yer face and reflecting off car windows and the wet road surface.
Called at filling station 300metres from home, gentle hot foam spray then home and rinsed with hose before blow dry.
Really did not enjoy the ride home with one hand up trying to shield from the sun..it really was bad seeing.
It’s not coming out today.
Regards, Ken

 

Turned out to be and hour and a half. Ended up on the new (Manchester) airport relief road (A555), which is an extension of my local bypass. Was having so much fun that I didn't notice the cold. But Kenbro is right, the sun is at eye-level and makes looking through a slightly mucky visor a bit tricky . This took me onto the M56, heading west, just one junction, and then I turned for home. But a highlight was to come..the airport tunnels! Two long, dual carriageway tunnels run under one of the airport runways and I can never resist dropping down a gear, winding it on and listening to that exhaust note bouncing off the walls..glorious!
Btw, the Bonneville stayed in the garage, I was on one of my Honda sports bikes. Took me another hour to wash and dry the bike but well worth it.

 

Well, I'm now back from Belgium( and,yes, we also salt the roads hereabouts).
The Tiger is just about the easiest bike to clean that I've ever had...took me 20 minutes this morning to get it looking good again.
There's no chrome...my wheels( non spoke) are essentially painted allot and clean up easily.
So what's the problem with winter use?
Not so my Tbird...lots of shiny stuff to keep clean.

 

Because our roads look like this in the winter and I don't want to look like this again Not only that we typically have weeks at near or below 0 fahrenheit in January. Last year Chicago had two days of -25 fahrenheit and for two weeks straight we were -5 or less. That is pretty darn cold. Just not worth it to keep the bike in service for the one or two days you get without black ice or extreme cold.

 

Hmmm, you may have a point there....

 

He sure does. Timothy Peters, I reckon you ought to move mate. How about Manchester (the UK version)? Lovely here, I was out on the Bonnie again today..wasn't even cold. And what's all this fahrenheit business? Does anyone outside the US still use this nutty scale?

 

Not going to move but the wife and I are thinking of going to the Goodwood Revival next September.