To vignette or not to vignette

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I am not a great fan of motorways, the endless tedium of riding through a landscape at speed does nothing to enhance the journey but on occasion I understand that it is needed. Taking minor roads in eastern Europe can be challenging as the roads are potholed, poorly surfaced and staffed by military and civilian police only too keen to relieve you of cash for minor traffic violations. I was stopped recently by the military police and while they checked our papers (the bikes and mine) they at least could not query the collection of vignettes accumulated for recent journeys. The chance of getting stopped in these countries is proportionally higher on an imported bike and you can be seen a mobile cashpoint by some officers so my advice is for the sake of a few Kuna or Euro get the right badge and keep a few small value euro notes in your display wallet to ease the way as needed – after all everyone has to make a living.

To vignette or not to vignette

Rendőrség – Could I outrun them?

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I think it is fair to say that I could have outrun the Hungarian Civil Guard members who were laying in wait on the back roads near Szekszard in Tolna but even I knew better… as I traveled further east the one striking observation I have is that Policemen’s hats get bigger, I mean the cap size, enormous, like some overhanging sunshade. The car was lovely and in fairness so were they – more interested in the bike and my passport than anything else and seeing as I responded to the request for “papers please” with the correct documents they let me go. With a parting wave i noticed the lack of door trims and the fact that the boot was held shut with a bit of string and a bungee – least I could have done is given them a rocstrap…

Papers Please

What makes a classic?

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Sometimes it is the first bike you had, sometimes it the one you did a special trip on or the one you made another personal connection with, sometimes it is a bike you lusted after as a youth. I have always loved the angular style and square ‘in your face’ engine of the old and original K Series bikes from BMW. I found this, an unpainted aluminum tanked, 1989/90 K75C in Berlin this week… The bike was propped up under an industrial unit balcony, being protected from the worst of the winter elements, and after almost 30 years it looked like it would have coughed into life. From memory and new, it would have had about 70bhp so not much chance of me getting a (read ‘another’ German) speeding ticket, even if I had persuaded the owner to part with the flying brick…

K75 C

A Clockwise Scandinavian Loop

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This year I am returning to one of my favourite biking destinations and will be spending late summer riding north to Scandinavia. Leaving the UK, riding up through Denmark and into Sweden via the Frederikshavn ferry and avoiding the popular and contested fjords and spending time island hoping skirting the Barents Sea exploring the Atlantic Wall. Having been to NorthCape in previous trips I am pushing further east and am planning to skirt south on the Finnish Swedish border riding the east coast of the Gulf of Bothnia and picking up a ferry from Helsinki into Tallinn and south through Poland to meet friends in Krackow and then stopping in Lienz to re-ride the Großglockner before riding home via Macon – planning will be on the fly, as in past years all I have arranged is a return Le Shuttle and one night in St Omer – excited already…

2017 In Planning

So what is in my Africa Twin toolkit?

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I have had lots of requests to make up toolkits for riders and my advice is almost always the same, you only need to worry and carry the tools you both know how to use and will fix the bits on your bike you know how to fix… That said, as promised, apart from spare tubes here is what I carry in my CRF1000L toolkit…

  • 8mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm and a 15mm open end and ratchet spanner (all these will do the chain adjusters, and all the remaining odd nuts and bolts on the CRF).
  • Three MotionPro tyre levers (08-0284 12-13mm), (08-0288 27mm), (08-0286 22mm).
  • Two MotionPro Rim Shield II plastic covers.
  • 27mm and 22mm socket and drive (you will not break the rear axle torque with the MotionPro levers so either under torque your axle or carry these).
  • 8mm, 10mm and 12mm long reach socket and small driver.
  • HW5 Hex.
  • 17mm Axle key.
  • Flat and cross head screwdriver.
  • Tube patches, glue and rubber gloves.
  • Cable ties.
  • Spare brake lever (53170-MEJ-016) – the only thing that has stopped me dead on the CRF is a broken front brake lever.
  • All in a Kriega tool roll and wrapped in a Karrimore waterproof kit bag.

Africa Twin Toolkit