Motorbiking
"Biker" for me usually means motorbiking, though I also have a couple of mountain-bikes... see Trail Bike
My current motorbikes are a Honda CBR600RR ABS 2017 and a Kawasaki Ninja Z250SL.
Previously I have owned: Kawasaki ZX4-RR (Ninja anniversary edition), Honda CRF300 Rally, Honda CBR600RR 2005, Honda CBR600FW, Honda VF750F, Yamaha FJ600, Suzuki GSX750EX, Yamaha FJ750, Yamaha XJ900, Kawasaki Z750 and I passed my riding test on my Kawasaki KH250.
See also my Motorbiking web links
A6, Shap Fell (426 m.)
Blencathra/Saddleback (868 m.), Lake District National Park
Riding the awesome A6 over Shap Fell in Cumbria on my Ninja Z250SL. Brilliant biking road, long and sweeping, excellent surface (the A6 is still classified as a trunk road) and relatively sparse traffic which gives five miles or so of fantastic motorbiking. Can be chilly, the road summit is 426 m. altitude, then the road sweeps down to Borrow Bridge at 303 m. and back up again and on to Kendal. A dynamic road for dynamic riding. Worth running a couple of times in each direction. Same sort of feel as the Snaefell Mountain Road on the Isle of Man but easier to get to. Currently one set of road works with traffic lights.
Scooter life. Fun! Colourful scooters and motorbikes of the Savoie group of Club Piaggio out on a rally run. Old, classic and new, some four-stroke but many still leaving the nostalgic smell and smoke of two-stroke oil. We saw them setting off after lunch at Faverges, not far from Annecy.
Riding the North Cumbria coast; warm summer sunshine on a route that I often enjoy riding my Ninja Z250SL in the winter when the coast is warmer than around the Cumbrian Fells. Clear views of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland over the Solway Firth.
Hartside - Hadrian’s Wall - Carter Bar - Cheviot Hills - Kielder Forest
Raid ride from the Lake District to Northumberland then the Scottish Borders, a sort of Reivers raid in reverse. Up the twisty road to Hartside Summit (575 m.) with photos taken for me by an electric company linesman up a pole while he was waiting for other work to complete. He rides a KTM 990. Fantastic views of my Ninja Z250SL and the Eden Valley beyond.
On to Alston, coffee stop at Haltwhistle; next Hadrian’s Wall and the Scottish Border at Carter Bar (418 m.). Refuelling at Jedburgh then the ride down through Kielder Forest and calling in at the grim fortress of Hermitage Castle before a tea-time stop for a luscious chocolate cake at Newcastleton, still in Scotland.
Dawn as I gear up to ride north from Marseille
The great pleasure of riding to the Alps of Upper Provence for a few days on my CBR600RR and meeting with my riding mate from Annecy, riding his GSX750. We rode together many of the Alpine cols around and up to the great Col du Galibier (2642 m.) between Savoie and Provence.
Subcategories
Alps Biker 2016
I'm riding light for a week on the mountain roads of the Alps. No laptop, although I do have my SLR camera but photos will have to wait till I'm back in Marseille..
I left Marseille for a long ride north via the Col de la Croix Haute (1179 m.) to Saint-Gervais under Mont Blanc. A bit of rain towards the end of the day which cleaned the Provence dust off my white leathers and boots but didn't soak me through.
