It seems everyone has come around to my way of thinking at last. It’s only taken 17 years…
I’ve had an (air quotes) “adventure” bike since 2009 and never looked back. And while I spend an alarming amount of time drooling at the BMW K1100 cafe racer custom bikes on Facebook market place, I’ve never bought one. This is mostly because it’s really hard to buy something you know isn’t going to be as good as something you’ve already got. Even if it’s all about “the experience”…
Well I’m fully vindicated in my stubborn refusal to buy anything that isn’t a soft-roader (it’s not a proper off-roader, it’s a bit soft). For a long time, Adam has had motorbikes from trials bikes as a kid up to Triumph Street Triples and now Ducati Scrambler Cafe Racer. And recently my other friend Edd (I know right, multiple friends!) passed his test and bought a Royal Enfield Interceptor. We’ve had great fun pootling around the Peak District on the bikes, but now theywant to do a proper bike trip to Scotland.
And for that you need an adventure bike.
(Or so the magazines would have you believe you need one. Personally, I think every bike is an adventure bike if you have adventures on it)
Low and behold, with our departure date approaching first Aimi announced that she would be swapping in her cafe racer style Yamaha XSR700 for a CFMoto 700MT (a Versys 650 in Chinese clothing) a bigger screen and some panniers later and she’s ready to roll.
And then Edd announced that he would be trading in his Interceptor for a Honda Transalp. This is the remodeled version and reportedly incredibly comfortable, capable and well specced. And then he added some bells and whistles in the shape of hand guards, soft panniers and a pizza delivery top-box.
Faced with being surrounded by adventure bikes on his cafe racer, Adam has arranged to borrow a Triumph Tiger 800 with all the luggage. So now we are all comfortably (or as comfortably as possible) situated for this adventure.
Except, that is, for waterproofs.
I’ve had my Hein Gericke motorbike jacket since 2008 and it’s been one of the best purchases of my life. However it’s now nearly 20 years old so it’s no longer Scottish Weather waterproof. It barely manages pop to the shops drip drops waterproof any more. So I needed to come up with something and though I may say so myself, i think the solution I have found is genius.
Fishing gear.
Not the cheap, thin, works once stuff you get in the discount section at GoOutdoors. Proper trawlermen fishing gear that gets used at sea keeping actual fisherman as dry as possible while they work on the deck of an ocean soaked commercial fishing boat.
This is the gear I went and purchased. Thick, heavy and not breathable but I cannot think of anything more waterproof.
And I’m glad it was because setting off this afternoon it was teeming it down with rain. We met Edd and Adam at a BP just next to the M6, filled up and then gritted our teeth for the long ride north. It was just as long and boring and unpleasant as expected but having Aimi to chat with made it better.
Of course Friday afternoon meant the roads were gridlocked with weekend travellers like us. We wove our way thru several traffic jams. Neatly threading our wide bike boxes between the cars Aimi got left behind a little when the lads got ahead, but she caught back up before long. My super loud exhaust definitely helped part the mechanical sea of cars when they heard me coming. Aimi had no such facility.
We battled thru the rain and wind to our favourite stop at Teabay services. Here Edd was super grateful saying a hot pie was “just what he needed”. This was the whole reason for stopping, I just love their pies. It was a little meaty lump of joy on this miserable road north.
Luckily, the hotel has called to confirm arrival and given us keycode access to the rooms. When we finally arrived a lot later than expected, this made life so much easier. Bikes locked together and bags hauled inside we passed out almost instantly in the comfy beds.