Summer Trip 2010 - Report

[RobC]

Chaps, I'm starting this thread but I don't have time to write a full
report right now.

Summary:
900 miles on the bike.
60 miles on a recovery truck.
660 miles in a van.

I never did get to John O'Groats.

I'll have to do the whole trip again sometime.

Regards

Rob C(The Silver Shadow is poorly)

[Jack Hancock]

That's tough Rob.   Hope you enjoyed the 900 miles.   Cheers!   Jack Hancock --- On Wed, 25/8/10, RobC <robert....@rcom-i.co.uk> wrote:

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[Keith]

Sorry to hear that Rob, hope all gets sorted soon.

Keith

Sent from my iPhone
Please excuse spelling mistakes

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[Martin Grove]

Hi Rob, glad you got back ok. You will have to update us on what happened after you got bike to Inverness on Sunday evening. Barry and i soldiered on and made John O'Groats and continued although we modified the original route to save time. Rob i have your fridge magnets and if you give me the address i will post on.
 
Total mileage for me was in the order of 1900 !!!  and not an ache in sight, good testiment to the TIGER.
 
Really enjoyed trip so thanks Rob for organising the whole thing and really sorry about your unfortunate breakdown.
 
Martin G
 
> Subject: Re: [Kawasaki ER5] Summer Trip 2010 - Report
> From: meta...@fastmail.co.uk
> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:17:28 +0100
> To: kawas...@googlegroups.com

[RobC]

Hi Chaps,
I got to the hotel in Inverness for 7ish and got the bike parked up
in car park. The plan was to somehow get it to BMW two miles down the
road. When I talked to them they were fully booked until Thursday and
wouldn't be able to get the parts until Tuesday anyway. Even if they
could squeeze in a repair on Tuesday I would still have had a 12 hour
ride home through the night so I could get back to work today. No
work = no pay and the weekend became more expensive that I'd planned
for.

The only thing I could do was to hire a van and bring the bike home
so I could fix it in my own time.

So, I picked up the van and went to Halfords to get some ratchet
straps and then B&Q for some timber and tools to build a ramp.

Fortunately, the hotel car park had a grassy bank which I could back
the van up to meaning the ramp became a level bridge so getting the
bike in was easy. Although at first I thought it wouldn't fit because
it was too tall. I had to remove the screen and the top part of the
dash so the bike would fit through the van doors. I finally hit the
road at 3pm on Monday. I drove 325 miles south to my parents for the
night. I reckon I passed Galashiels a couple of hours before you
guys. Yesterday I hit the road at 5am and drove the last 340 miles
and got home at 11am.

Not the way I wanted to end the trip but at least I'm home now and
back at work on time. The bits to fix the oil seal and bearings are
being posted to me today so I'll be taking the bike to bits this
weekend and fixing it.

Still, the roads all day Saturday was fabulous and those I rode on
Sunday was really good too.

Simon, you should have stayed with us for an extra hour as the A712
was brilliant. Fast, very twisty, very bumpy, very hilly and
completely devoid of traffic. That big clumsy looking RT of mine can
be thrown around like a sports bike. Just ask Martin and Barry. They
couldn't keep up even though I never passed 70 mph on that road. It
corners very well for it's size and the Michelin Pilot Road 2 tyres it
has grip very well.

Regards

Rob C(The Silver Shadow left its mark in a Scottish layby)

[Martin Grove]

Blimey reading that Rob .. all that was missing was the "A-Team" theme music .....
 
Martin G
 
> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:09:07 -0700
> Subject: [Kawasaki ER5] Re: Summer Trip 2010 - Report
> From: robert....@rcom-i.co.uk
> To: kawas...@googlegroups.com

[Bazza]

Well glad you managed to get the bike back and good luck with the
repairs Rob.

My final mileage was 1654 miles - more than what I covered when I went
to Switzerland :-)

Some great weather (and some not so great!), great company and a great
time had, apart from Robs' breakdown. Martin and I endured a 6 hour
run in the rain on the monday after which we were both slightly
hysterical :-)

I will post pics on flickr at the weekend.

Cheers,

Barry

ZZR-600 is all nice and shiny once more naturally, although I believe
I left some blue paint on a kerb somewhere in northern England, I must
have got carried away thinking I could make it over any bump after
offroading it down that track earlier in the day... :-)

[Martin Grove]

Clean already!! blimey my Tiger is in the garage as she arrived on Tuesday . The mileage was crazy but it was a great trip and i had a hoot, great company, great scenery, great....well lets say we had weather and leave it at that . I have not had chance to start sorting the photos yet , had a quick look at the video and the mount was a bit too low sadly, still look ok though. I have lost one of the memory sticks with the best vid on ... .. i hope i can find it.
Martin G
 
> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:51:56 -0700

> Subject: [Kawasaki ER5] Re: Summer Trip 2010 - Report

> From: harry...@hotmail.com
> To: kawas...@googlegroups.com

[RobC]

Ok, time for a fuller report.

Friday:
Met up at 10 as planned and took a gentle ride over to Derby for
lunch. 12" sausages all round.
It just started to rain as we pulled in and stopped just as we left
which was a stroke of luck. It even got hot once we'd got as far as
Glossop.
It wasn't long after that the rain really started to come down. I
think we'd just passed through Holmefirth. That was a great road.
Very fast and very bumpy and at 520m up it was the highest we got all
weekend. The air must have been thin that high because the RT's oil
temperature was reading higher than normal.
We had to stop so Martin could get his rain kit on. Barry stopped a
few miles back to put his on. Martin and I were waiting for him down
the road but Barry the Blind staring at his Sat Nav just turned onto
the main road and buggered off.
By now it was about 5pm so we decided to go direct to Keswick. The
Sat Nav said we would get there at 7pm. It got us there at 8:30.
Simon got there 2 hours ahead of us. We were so late arriving at the
B&B that we had to order food before we checked into our rooms. Still
the food, beer and company was very good even if the build quality of
the fixtures and fittings weren't.

Saturday:
Early rise and kippers and black pudding were had for breakfast.
Mmmmmmm....black pudding.......
The day started off with a gentle ride up to Gretna Green. Simon
stayed with us a bit longer and turned back at about 11:30. The rest
of us carried on further round the west coast and stumbled upon the
A712. What a fantastic road. Very fast, very bumpy, lost of corners
and no traffic whatsoever. The weather was perfect too with the sun
behind us. Everything about it was perfect. We had to stop near the
end of it as Barry's ZZR 600 was running low on petrol (a common theme
for the weekend). From our vantage point we saw one red structure in
the distance. There was nothing else for miles around. As luck would
have it it was a petrol station.
A couple of miles further and we stopped for lunch in Carsphairn. A
small tea shop was the only thing open and they did a very nice haggis
pie.
After lunch we pushed on to Gourock to catch the ferry to Dunoon. To
be honest this bit was a bit dull in places but not too bad. Just
slow through lots of small towns. Then we had to ride through
Greenock. Not a place I'd recommend. It's the kind of place where
you check your tyre pressures afterwards in case someone has nicked
the air!
From Dunoon to Kinlochleven was a real treat although Martin fell
asleep at one point. Mountains and lakes everywhere. Riding through
the Glencoe range was stunning and the final road down into
Kinlochleven (B683) was a real hoot. Downhill with fast sweeping
bends with the odd tight one to wake you up.
We pulled into the car park, removed helmets and ate a quick mean of
midgies. There were one or two about.
The B&B was very nice. There were teddy bears on the beds too if you
like that sort of thing. Barry had two for some reason.
Curry, beer and pool were the order of the night.

Sunday:
A wet start. Barry and Martin were both downcast and muttering about
getting wet for the whole 330 miles that day. I was more upbeat and
optomistic. Just as well as once we'd left the mountain behind us the
sun came out and everything dried out. Just as well because the A87
and A890 were astonishing riding roads.
Lunch of prawns (complete with prawn caviar) and scallops were had for
lunch in Lochcarron. A great setting for lunch. The sun was shining,
the food was good and a fat seagull devoured Barry's lunch scraps.
Leaving Lochcarron we rode on A896 for 30 miles or so. It was a
largely single track road that took us back up into the mountains.
Shortly after we were in petrol sniffing mode as Barry was running out
again.
Fully fuelled with the worlds most expensive petrol (129.9p I seem to
recall) we hit the A839. A road on which we could "make good
progress". Very fast, very open with good scenery. Perfect for
making up some lost time and getting a few fast miles under the belt.
After 45 miles we got back into a cloud which was slowly getting us
wet. After another 7 miles I took pity on the other and stopped in a
layby so they could put on their waterproofs.
For me, that was end of trip.
Just before we set off I noticed oil running out of the RT's final
drive. Not dripping slightly but running.
So, a call was put into the RAC and I was told to expect a 3 hour wait
for recovery.
Barry and Martin thought the right thing to do was to wait with me as
we were in the middle of nowhere about 15 miles south of Ullapool.
5 minutes later they buggered off to Wick.
So, with a hotel organised (internet on mobile phones is a truely
great thing), I laid back on the RT, turned on a audiobook, got comfy
and dozed off for 30 minutes or so. Fortunately I woke up just in
time to see a recovery wagon slowing down to see if it was indeed I
that needed recovering. 5 minutes more kip and I might have been
there for a lot longer.
I got taken to Inverness for the night as there was a BMW dealer 2
miles from the hotel. I was sure they could get me back on the road
on Monday or Tuesday morning at the latest. The recovery guy was a
nice chap too. He was a biker and he was currently doing up a 1980's
Z1000.

Monday:
To make a long story short, the BMW guys didn't have the parts I
needed and also didn't have time to fix my RT until Thursday. So I
hired a van instead, built a ramp, bought some ratchet straps and hit
the road heading south.
It rained for 325 miles until I stopped at my parents house for the
night. The bike almost didn't fit in the van. I had to remove the
screen and upper part of the dash so it would squeeze in under the
roof.

Tuesday:
On the road at 5:15 am. Got home at 11:30. Dropped off the van at
Yeovil, had lunch with the wife and kids in town and came home to put
the bike into the garage where it still remains.

Saturday:
I finally had time to remove the final drive. That bearing was
completely demolished. Lots of shrapnel fell out as soon as I popped
out the oil seal. Oddly, there was no play whatsoever in the bearing
so if the oil seal had not been ripped apart by the shrapnel there
would have been no obvious sign the bearing was toast until the rear
wheel would have locked solid. I was lucky.

Once I've got the necessary tools I should be able to replace both big
and small bearings this weekend to get the RT back on the road. After
that I'll be checking the GS's bearings to make sure they're not about
to collapse too.

So, all we need now is:

1) A Sunday evening and Monday report;
2) Somewhere to upload photo's. Any thoughts on this one chaps?


Someday I'll tweak the routes for this trip and do the whole thing
again. Any of you guys here are welcome to come along. I might even
bring along the right tools and a spare final drive bearing as it can
be a roadside repair if enough determination can be mustered.

More reports please chaps.

Regards

Rob C(The Silver Shadow is in bits)