Best Four And A Half Hours In Ages

[fixitsan]

IMG_20210417_163824 by Chris Barron, on Flickr

 

IMG_20210417_163845 by Chris Barron, on Flickr

 

IMG_20210417_183730 by Chris Barron, on Flickr

 

 

As my wife's favourite marmalade comes from the Green Welly stop in the Trossachs I thought it was time she got another gift, so, that's where I headed.

 

Sadly the gift/marmalade shop was shut (covid or something ?)  , so to give my tears time to dry in the privacy of my own helmet I just kept on going further to the cooler fresh air of Glencoe,

 

The Angel GT on the back now feels really good and it seems to work well with the Pilot Power on the front, which always feels 'bitey'.

 

The big lads on the big adventure bikes were out in force. They always got to 60mph before I did on the straight thanks to their larger engines, but come the twisty bits their 21" front wheels were more of a hindrance than a help and (maybe because they had the wrong tyres)  they moved from being in front of me to behind me one by one, when the time was right. There were a few lads on their sports 600's who insisted on taking the racing line, but eventually it just resulted in them running out wide on the exit of left handers, sometimes, running out over the centre line into oncoming traffic...and that ate away at their own confidence pretty quickly Eventually they lower their speed to 45mph, and I proceed gracefully past, giving them a thumbs up, Salt and wound ?

 

The most surprising thing was the fuel consumption. This round trip included 40 miles of motorway and the rest was fast A roads and some long steep inclines. The low fuel warning started to flash after 175 miles. I've gone further than that before but, not in this configuration. It's fitted with Scorpion cans, open airbox, Samios remap including the disabling of the deceleration fuel cutoff action, and a -1T front sprocket (which brought the bike alive), an wind catching extended screen and 17.5 stone of me, (each one of which could definitely be improved to make a more fuel efficient bike)

 

It took 17L to fill, and it wasn't completely brimmed previously so that's at the very least 46.6mpg,  (16.5 km/l )  which I don't think is all that bad for this performance level

 

Over the past 5 years or so I invested £900 to buy the bike. Fixing the stator was another £80, a recent swingarm with almost new pivot bearings and brass adjusters was £50 recently, which I thought was a 'no brainer'  because it would have cost me more to replace merely the bearings and shaft  in my own swingarm.

 

It does leave me with a swingarm in need of refurbishment though so should anyone need it feel free to shout up, being a Yorkshireman I'll see that you get a fantastic deal dunt tha know.

 

I previously bought a complete rear shock linkage with replaced bearings for 50 Euro from a French breakers who sell TDM stuff for almost pennies and the only other 'big expenses' were £80 to  have the shock rebuilt, and  a pair of wheels , the front (£40) because I wanted to go down to 17" tyres, and the rear because it was much cheaper to buy the wheel than to get a good powdercoat job on my existing wheel (£20 IIRC)

 

Added together, it all works out at precisely bugger all per week, over this 5 year period.

 

But to be exact, about £4.60 per week (excluding tyres, oil, filters , etc which I would have to shell out for with any bike)

 

Cheaper to run than most mobile phones I reckon, and definitely, cheaper than a big adventure bike or a sports 600.

 

I could be tempted by a KTM950, but,  I'll be waiting for many years to come before finding one of them I can use, for £900 ! Not to mention the six points I've already got from DVLA in their driver excellence ratings program.   .....

 

I'll have to go back again for the marmalade when it reopens 

This post was last modified: 17-04-2021, 11:02 PM by fixitsan.

[Gdog]

Sounds like a crackin day out fella, nice one

[alanfavell]

:good:

[ramotdm]

You are making me jealous fixit,

 

wish I could go to Glencoe, Green Welly and be back in 4 1/2 hours,

 

you are a lucky man living up there  :good:

[fixitsan]

You are making me jealous fixit,

 

wish I could go to Glencoe, Green Welly and be back in 4 1/2 hours,

 

you are a lucky man living up there  :good:

 

Blessed I am :good:

[agrantg]

 

Blessed I am :good:

 



 

You are making me jealous fixit,

 

wish I could go to Glencoe, Green Welly and be back in 4 1/2 hours,

 

you are a lucky man living up there  :good:

I have to add a couple of hours to Fixitsan's time, but still very doable from here. Glad you enjoyed the run. Let me know when you're going for marmalade and I might join you. Ali

[fixitsan]

 



 

I have to add a couple of hours to Fixitsan's time, but still very doable from here. Glad you enjoyed the run. Let me know when you're going for marmalade and I might join you. Ali

 

 

I will do Al, it would be good to meet up.

 

The route now has average speed cameras installed on some of the previously 'abused' sections, but to be honest i saw a few bad crashes over the years usually inexperienced riders getting a fright when some corners tighten more than expected, or where the road drops away after a hidden brow.

 

The cameras have made me think about making an average speed readout for the bike, because in some places you overtake cars which are traveling at 56mph, which might mean you exceed the limit temporarily to make a safe clean pass. It would be good to have something to show I'm not going to receive a penalty !

This post was last modified: 18-04-2021, 12:29 PM by fixitsan.

[Rallyist]

Nice circular route  Tyndrum, Glencoe, Connel, Dalmally, Tyndrum, no doubt being spoiled with anti speeding measures

[fixitsan]

Nice circular route  Tyndrum, Glencoe, Connel, Dalmally, Tyndrum, no doubt being spoiled with anti speeding measures

There's no monitoring through the glen , yet.

[steve27bha]

You are making me jealous fixit,

 

wish I could go to Glencoe, Green Welly and be back in 4 1/2 hours,

 

you are a lucky man living up there  :good:

I'll add to your pain - I live about ten minutes closer than fixit, but suspect he'd save that with faster running.

 

Tip:- eat at the Real  Food Café over the road from the Green Welly.

 

Last year I noted cameras eastbound from Crianlarich to Lix Toll, none westwards to Glencoe. Any on-board monitoring would have to be reset at each camera.

 

The cameras have moved what was one of my favourite stretches of road well down the list.

[ramotdm]

Steve

 

Last September we ventured once more to the Highlands, saying the weather was not good, is stating it mildly,

 

after 5 days of solid, biblical rain we headed back home,

 

would have been better suited to a jet ski, 

 

If my Spain, France jaunt gets cancelled again in September, I don't know if I dare ride back up to the Highlands this year,

 

will be a long ponder that one

[dablik]

That's just bad luck Steve, remember the sweltering August in Scotland when we met up on a bumpy road, quite by mistake, weather more akin to Spain that year, cant remember which one though..

[fixitsan]

I'll add to your pain - I live about ten minutes closer than fixit, but suspect he'd save that with faster running.

 

 

Sounds good Steve, I'm working away in Newcastle again this week but back at the weekend, fingers crossed for bright skies

[ramotdm]

That's just bad luck Steve, remember the sweltering August in Scotland when we met up on a bumpy road, quite by mistake, weather more akin to Spain that year, cant remember which one though..

 Yes I remember it well, the Torridon Road

 

[attachment=o14083]

[ramotdm]

Kin el Cliff was July 2014, time flies eh

[dablik]

Kin el Cliff was July 2014, time flies eh

 

bloody ell, so long ago....god where's the years gone..

 

And 70 splongs that cow charged me furra room that would of been empty, i remember that alright..

This post was last modified: 19-04-2021, 06:09 PM by dablik.

[steve27bha]

.....

 

Last September we ventured once more to the Highlands, saying the weather was not good, is stating it mildly,.....

 

You got the wrong week then!

 

Attached pic is me on Skye on 18 Sept 2020 on the third day of a 1,000 mile trip all round the coast. Great weather as shown. Didn't need to wash the bike when I got home later that day - see the shine!

 

[attachment=o14084]