Off On A Bimble

Sitting in a remote car park in France, with all the luggage off one of the bikes trying to diagnose an electrical  problem only an hour or so off the ferry in Roscoff on the first day of our trip......this was not part of the plan at all. This was a trip that had been more than a year in the planning, part of my 50th birthday celebrations, greatly looked forward to...and it was going wrong at almost the earliest stage possible.  I've been friends with Jeff for more than 19 years , w e share a love of food, real ales, and Moto Guzzis. As I was turning 50 in 2016 we started to plan a trip that would be fitting of that occasion. We decided that a trip to the Pyrenees would fit the bill. Jeff rode down from Newcastle to Plymouth on Friday night, and Saturday was just spent fettling the bikes, a fry up, packing, and last minute purchases . Rode 8 miles to Plymouth and t hen we were on the ferry .  Then the bar, a beer, and back to the cabin, but not before we saw a gr...

It seems that with every edition of my favourite motorcycle magazines, and pages, and even podcasts, more and more and more electric motorcycles are featuring. 20 years ago they were expensive toys, in a few years they may be the perfect 20 mile commuter bikes. Longer distances and touring may be further in the future, and physics and chemistry will impose thier own limitations. There is only so much energy that can be packed into a battery (but its getting better), and at present good old petrol packs so much punch and we know it so well, its still the best for me. But for 2050 when I wont be riding (probably!). I say hydrogen is the key, and this is why. Hydrogen is not a source of energy, its just a transfer medium. But in fuel cells it can be combined with oxygen to produce electricity with the main by-product being water. How great is that? Well its OK for Judge Dredd and commuters, but its not good enough for me. The whine of an electric motor is not what I was brought up on, I...

I'm an Aussie transplanted for these last 19 years to the UK, came over in 2000 for the TT and never went home really. Married a lovely English lady and now have a lovely English daughter. I live in the South West of England and have done for 10 years; before that it was the usual Aussie haunt of London. Which I can't say I loved, but I did meet Jill there so it does have something going for it. :-) This blog will be motorcycle musings, informed by 45 years riding in my (as of todays date) nearly 53 years on Earth. I'm not a fast rider, but I can cover the ground OK, and the further I ride the better I usually feel. In fact when I come back I'm usually on a high of some undefinable type! I have ridden on the road in Australia and the UK since 1995, before that it was trials and trailbikes in the bush, and before THAT....crashing a monkey bike into a tree aged 7. Motorcycles are such a part of my life I could not imagine life without them, and for the last 15 years I h...