Post by teuchter on Jun 17, 2011 16:38:52 GMT
With spate of write ups of smaller trips, thought I'd add mine. Not a Divvy trip but may be of interest anyway.
For my Dad's 60th birthday present I offered to hire a couple of Royal Enfields. He's not regularly ridden a bike since the early 70s but with retirement looming, is thinking of getting something again. I thought this would be great to relight his passion for bikes and an ideal father-son bonding trip. We spend very little time together and when we do, wives are normally there to steer conversations away when they wander to motorbikes and the like (sorry Mum).
The last bike he regularly rode was a Royal Enfield Crusader 250. I only remember seeing it running once in my lifetime, around 1978 when I was 5. He still has the bike, in bits in the roof of his garage awaiting a restoration, alongside a half dead Honda Superdream he bought off me 17 years ago.
So one showery Thursday lunchtime in late May we picked up a pair of newish Royal Enfield Bullet 500s from A7 motorcycles in Langholm, near Lockerbie. For those not familiar with these bikes, they're based on the old Brit 50's Bullets and have been made (and gradually developed) continually since then in India. The biggest change came a few years ago when they switched to a 'new' fuel injected engine to meet EU emmissions laws but they apparently did a good job in making it feel like the original. Luckily (for me at least) they had also finally adopted modern standards of a left side gear change and right side brake pedal. They have both kick and electric starts too.
We were hiring the bikes for 24 hours, noon to noon and had a rough plan to head through the borders on narrow back roads in the direction of Berwick, or somewhere around there. No accomodation was booked in advance - we'd just take a direction, stick to minor roads and see where we ended up which is the way I prefer to tour.
Form filling and a walk round of the bikes (which didn't take long!) out of the way, we set off cautiously, wobbling a little on unfamiliar, skinny tyres on roads awash with water from the torrential downpour that had chosen that moment to start. The rain lasted for about 20 minutes. This was to be the pattern for the next 24 hours - glorious sunshine with a short heavy rain shower once every hour or two. Following twisting and undulating B roads in the direction of Hawick, the rain soon stopped and the roads dried quickly in the sunshine and wind. We grew more comfortable and confident with the agile little bikes and at one brief stop, it was great to see Dad pulling up behind me, grinning like a kid at Christmas inside his helmet.
After a quick lunch in Hawick, we carried on through Jedburgh to Kelso. Growing more used to the bikes, we revved them a bit more and 'blasted' past a few lines of traffic and lorries at 70mph. It felt a lot faster on the bikes thanks to the fantastic exhaust notes from the 'sports' exhausts they were fitted with. Generally they were happiest cruising up to around 60, ideal speeds on the narrow lanes we chose to stick to.
Parking in the square in Kelso, we quickly encountered a phenomenon that I'd heard about but never experienced in my years of riding 'common' Japanese bikes. These things really attract attention. Within 5 minutes several old blokes had wandered past, asking about the bikes and commenting on bikes they used to ride. Some knew of (and had owned) modern Royal Enfields while others were surprised when they spotted the 09 and 10 registration plates.
Us in Kelso...
The rest of the day's riding was through Duns and on to Eyemouth, a fishing town near Berwick where we booked into a bed and breakfast. Leaving our rucksacks there, we took the bikes out again on the coastal back road past St Abbs, swapping bikes to see if there was any difference between them. There wasn't. It was a great wee early evening run and on the way back with a tailwind on a long straight we flattened ourselves on the tanks and wrung the throttles. I saw 85 on my speedo before backing off before the end of the straight but there can't have been much left in her after that and it isn't really what these bikes are about.
We had a few pints and a meal in a harbourside pub, where my Dad admitted that the 130 miles we'd ridden that day was the furthest he'd ever ridden in a single day before and he was thrilled with it. It had done his confidence a world of good and he'd loved every minute of it. The bikes were very different to the VFR800 I was used to but I must admit I'd loved the trip too. With the right choice of roads, they were great wee bikes.
Outside Melrose Abbey...
The trip back was more of the same, sticking to B roads with a few jaunts on twistier A roads we passed through Duns again then Melrose, Selkirk and finished the trip with a fantastic ride along the B7009, following the river Ettrick through Ettrickbridge and Eskdalemuir, finally returning to Langholm.
It wasn't all riding in the sunshine. Sheltering under trees from a heavy hail shower near Eskdalemuir...
230 miles in 24 hours isn't a huge touring mileage but it made for a perfect, relaxed run with the Royal Enfields being perfect on the sorts of roads we chose. Avoiding the major routes, it was a trip across the Scottish borders on scenic and for the most part deserted roads. My Dad told me that to him, these were just like the bikes he remembered riding "back in the day", though he's now trying to justify to my Mum getting a Triumph Adventurer at some point (not so easy when he's recently spent a fortune on a new car).
Would I own a Royal Enfield myself? If I had a need for two motorbikes then yes, it would make an ideal second bike for lazy weekend runs on country roads. As a main bike I need something that can haul luggage and a pillion now and then and manage big miles easily. The Bullets *could* do it but it would be missing the point of them really. Saying all that though, with current petrol prices 80mpg is nice!
To me though, the best part of the trip was just spending time with him and going for a ride together. I've been riding motorbikes for almost 20 years and can't believe it's taken me this long to get out for a run with him!
The approximate route we took
Pete.
For my Dad's 60th birthday present I offered to hire a couple of Royal Enfields. He's not regularly ridden a bike since the early 70s but with retirement looming, is thinking of getting something again. I thought this would be great to relight his passion for bikes and an ideal father-son bonding trip. We spend very little time together and when we do, wives are normally there to steer conversations away when they wander to motorbikes and the like (sorry Mum).
The last bike he regularly rode was a Royal Enfield Crusader 250. I only remember seeing it running once in my lifetime, around 1978 when I was 5. He still has the bike, in bits in the roof of his garage awaiting a restoration, alongside a half dead Honda Superdream he bought off me 17 years ago.
So one showery Thursday lunchtime in late May we picked up a pair of newish Royal Enfield Bullet 500s from A7 motorcycles in Langholm, near Lockerbie. For those not familiar with these bikes, they're based on the old Brit 50's Bullets and have been made (and gradually developed) continually since then in India. The biggest change came a few years ago when they switched to a 'new' fuel injected engine to meet EU emmissions laws but they apparently did a good job in making it feel like the original. Luckily (for me at least) they had also finally adopted modern standards of a left side gear change and right side brake pedal. They have both kick and electric starts too.
We were hiring the bikes for 24 hours, noon to noon and had a rough plan to head through the borders on narrow back roads in the direction of Berwick, or somewhere around there. No accomodation was booked in advance - we'd just take a direction, stick to minor roads and see where we ended up which is the way I prefer to tour.
Form filling and a walk round of the bikes (which didn't take long!) out of the way, we set off cautiously, wobbling a little on unfamiliar, skinny tyres on roads awash with water from the torrential downpour that had chosen that moment to start. The rain lasted for about 20 minutes. This was to be the pattern for the next 24 hours - glorious sunshine with a short heavy rain shower once every hour or two. Following twisting and undulating B roads in the direction of Hawick, the rain soon stopped and the roads dried quickly in the sunshine and wind. We grew more comfortable and confident with the agile little bikes and at one brief stop, it was great to see Dad pulling up behind me, grinning like a kid at Christmas inside his helmet.
After a quick lunch in Hawick, we carried on through Jedburgh to Kelso. Growing more used to the bikes, we revved them a bit more and 'blasted' past a few lines of traffic and lorries at 70mph. It felt a lot faster on the bikes thanks to the fantastic exhaust notes from the 'sports' exhausts they were fitted with. Generally they were happiest cruising up to around 60, ideal speeds on the narrow lanes we chose to stick to.
Parking in the square in Kelso, we quickly encountered a phenomenon that I'd heard about but never experienced in my years of riding 'common' Japanese bikes. These things really attract attention. Within 5 minutes several old blokes had wandered past, asking about the bikes and commenting on bikes they used to ride. Some knew of (and had owned) modern Royal Enfields while others were surprised when they spotted the 09 and 10 registration plates.
Us in Kelso...
The rest of the day's riding was through Duns and on to Eyemouth, a fishing town near Berwick where we booked into a bed and breakfast. Leaving our rucksacks there, we took the bikes out again on the coastal back road past St Abbs, swapping bikes to see if there was any difference between them. There wasn't. It was a great wee early evening run and on the way back with a tailwind on a long straight we flattened ourselves on the tanks and wrung the throttles. I saw 85 on my speedo before backing off before the end of the straight but there can't have been much left in her after that and it isn't really what these bikes are about.
We had a few pints and a meal in a harbourside pub, where my Dad admitted that the 130 miles we'd ridden that day was the furthest he'd ever ridden in a single day before and he was thrilled with it. It had done his confidence a world of good and he'd loved every minute of it. The bikes were very different to the VFR800 I was used to but I must admit I'd loved the trip too. With the right choice of roads, they were great wee bikes.
Outside Melrose Abbey...
The trip back was more of the same, sticking to B roads with a few jaunts on twistier A roads we passed through Duns again then Melrose, Selkirk and finished the trip with a fantastic ride along the B7009, following the river Ettrick through Ettrickbridge and Eskdalemuir, finally returning to Langholm.
It wasn't all riding in the sunshine. Sheltering under trees from a heavy hail shower near Eskdalemuir...
230 miles in 24 hours isn't a huge touring mileage but it made for a perfect, relaxed run with the Royal Enfields being perfect on the sorts of roads we chose. Avoiding the major routes, it was a trip across the Scottish borders on scenic and for the most part deserted roads. My Dad told me that to him, these were just like the bikes he remembered riding "back in the day", though he's now trying to justify to my Mum getting a Triumph Adventurer at some point (not so easy when he's recently spent a fortune on a new car).
Would I own a Royal Enfield myself? If I had a need for two motorbikes then yes, it would make an ideal second bike for lazy weekend runs on country roads. As a main bike I need something that can haul luggage and a pillion now and then and manage big miles easily. The Bullets *could* do it but it would be missing the point of them really. Saying all that though, with current petrol prices 80mpg is nice!
To me though, the best part of the trip was just spending time with him and going for a ride together. I've been riding motorbikes for almost 20 years and can't believe it's taken me this long to get out for a run with him!
The approximate route we took
Pete.
