
A motorcycle life – motorbikes that have lived in my garage
As ever – and for me at least, winter is a quiet time when it comes to motorcycling. In fact the last time I posted was to wish a Happy New Year to visitors to the blog.
But as head into February it will soon be time to shake off the winter and get out on the bikes. Thankfully this early part of the year brings with it the prospect of better weather and the longer days no longer seems quite so distant.
I’m not an all year biker
I know there are some folk who for a variety of reason use a motorbike all year round – but I’m not one of them. I never really have been and have no intention of becoming one. If that makes me a fair weather bike then so be it.
Ready to go
The upshot of not riding through winter means my bikes haven’t turned a wheel since the back end of October … but I know they soon will and they will be ready for action as soon as the weather is agreeable. Engines have been started a few times and batteries have been maintained with permanent connections to a series of Optimate battery chargers. I’ve a few jobs to do around the house over the next couple of weeks but before the end of the month I’ll turn to making sure the bikes are ready.
Service and new rubber
The BMW RnineT will be heading off to MW Motorcycles for an annual service and a new front tyre, the Moto Guzzi will be due a bit of attention as well, but the F900 is ready for the road.
Looking ahead to 2025
I’ve been spending some time looking at maps and making plans for another Iberian adventure.
You might recall I had a brilliant trip last year, when I spent a couple of weeks biking in Spain and Portugal, a trip which you can look back on at this link.
My 2025 Iberian trip will be later in the year and I’m pretty sure there will be some more ‘shorter’ trips before then – I do fancy heading to Scotland or perhaps Ireland on the RnineT.
A couple of random pictures … but no prizes
For some reason, and I can’t quite recall why, my younger brother recently asked me if I could make some sort of pictorial montage of the bikes I have had over the years … so I messed about for a short while and knocked up the following pictures for a bit of fun.
No prizes for working out what bikes have been in the collection but it does include four from the Suzuki GSX-R series (a couple of 600s, a 750 and a magnificent 1,000cc version).
There have been a few other litre bikes: a Fireblade, a Z1000 SX, a CB1000R and of course I still have a BMW RnineT with its 1198cc Boxer engine.
Click any image below to open
Far and wide
Although I suppose I could be described as a ‘fair weather’ biker I’ve been around a bit as well.
My bikes have taken me to many places and I think the following list is pretty comprehensive one of the countries I have biked in – and some of them much more extensively than others.
For example I have done a good number of trips (and a lot of mileage) in Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Closer to home I have done a few trips (about five I think) to Ireland – including full ‘loop’ of Northern & Southern Ireland.
1,000’s of miles across Europe
I’ve done thousands of miles in Scotland and been there more times that I can remember.
Italy has been home to a number of memorable trips and is a country where I have done many thousands of miles – a favourite being a fine solo trip down the Adriatic coast and then up the Mediterranean coast before crossing the Alp’s on a winding journey home.
Highways and byways
I have crossed the Swiss Alps a few times as well as biking in the Julien Alps and the French Pyrenees.
Other countries include: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Southern Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and of course closer to home Scotland and Wales have been the homes of many fantastic bike trips. Roll on longer days, warmer weather and dry roads.
Hi, just wondering if any of your bikes are more than 16 years old with regards to breakdown insurance cover, im doing spain in may via France but my kwacker is 24 years old but still in excellent nick as like you am a fair weather biker these days, some breakdown companies wont cover me if my bike is more than 16 years old, so just wondered how you got on
Cheers, Rafe
Hi Rafe – to be honest I’ve not done a european trip on an older bike, so that’s not something I have run into. The bike I have used for the last couple of european trips (and will be on again this year) is a BMW F900 XR and this has been covered so far by BMW’s own three year warranty (which includes euro’ breakdown), I’ll have to start looking around before I travel this year though.
I have just done a quick search on google and saw an article on the Horizons Unlimited web page which might be of interest (although it is an old article) – here’s the link to that page: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/trip-paperwork/euro-breakdown-cover-older-bikes-49003
Some insurance companies include it with the annual insurance (or it can be added at at a lower cost) so maybe worth considering via the price comparison web sites?
Good luck with it and hope you get it sorted