Its all in the name............

The comments I receive on the blogs are very important to me and I have been inundated with literally one comment regarding our bikes name.

First and foremost "the Sheds" name is a term of endearment.

So let me tell you how we came to name her.

I know we have readers in several parts of the world, but in the UK when you buy a car or bike that is not what you thought it might be in terms of quality, reliability or aesthetics, it can be called " a lemon" , a Friday afternoon car (or bike), "a dog", a "bit of a wreck" or in our case "a shed" referring to the similarity to the small propose build wooden out houses most British gardens have for keeping tools and the lawn morrow in, often neglected and nearly all let in the weather, but non the less do the job.

Now our bike was not a looker when we bought her, lots needed doing and she needed some TLC.

When I picked her up and called Sandra, I said she we have a bike and it's a "bit of a shed" which has stuck to this day.

I have bored you all to death with the spec and the work done, but she no longer retains its "shed" status but is "The Shed" never the less.

There are 8 differences between the two similar pictures can you spot all 8

The Why’s …….. And Wherefores

Banging on about the shed has to stop, there are bigger and better things to discuss, There is major question which has always troubled man, it is a simply question with only one word

Why?

This is where Bri gets all deep and meaningful….. Don't worry normal service will resume shortly.

So why are we doing all of this, I can't really speak for Sandra although she does often speaks for me but I thought I would try and tell you anyway.

There are the usual responses to the great question …… why?

"It's because its there"

"Because we can"

Or, of course the classic oldie, …….."why not"

My response is a bit more complex, After all I haven't always hankered after a long motorcycle trips, well not until the last ten years of my life that is, but I have always been restless, I am the chap who looks around can like what he sees but cant wait to see what's over there. I guess its curiosity. But this in itself is odd as I in fact hate the thought of travel, but love travelling, I guess that's apathy. A curious apathetic….

When in the past the lads have asked me to go on a European motorcycle trip my first thought is nah…. Wanna stay at home, but I know when on the trip, I would love it, so I make myself go. I have always done this and had some great times travelling and seen a good part of the globe because of it.

This trip is no different, it scares the willies out of me yet I know I am going to love it.

Is this making any sense?

The other reason is of course, to leave your mark.

I want to do something big, some people build extensions to there homes, run marathons, pass exams, succeed at something. That's what I want to do, I want to do this and come out the other side knowing I have done something big that I can be proud off. Of course we all want this and it's only doing this with a woman I absolutely love to bits (and is keen to do it too) that makes it possible for me.

I want to see and experience everything, good and bad, meet people and hopefully restore a flagging faith in human nature and indeed myself.

The other thing, is timing, timing has been very good to me lately, meeting Sandra and falling in love, for those of you who know our story will know it was a matter of very precise timing in both our lives, We both can do it now….. So we will.

So there are my reasons, and what do I expect to get from this, Conquering fears and prejudges, maybe, defeating that apathy, increasing self confidence, I hope so, but cant tell. But I bet we come back changed people, and for the better too.

Now what does surprise me is Sandra and her reasons for doing this trip. I would never in a million years travel with someone like me, but I know she is the perfect travelling companion

Do I still want to go……. Of course not, The TV is so big and the sofa so comfortable.
Will we go…… of course we will and will love every minute of it.
Will we come back different people ……….
…………….Who the hell knows?

Shake Down ...... with Mixed Results

It's been a too long since my last blog entry so I will start with an apology.

Right what has happened since my last blog?

Well, "the Shed", has been on a series of shake down runs in order to sort out any weaknesses or to see if any bits actually fall off. Well one or two bits have actually fallen off (one very minor the other major).

First the major one. On the way home from work a few weeks back the bike started to behave rather oddly weaving badly in roundabouts, on inspection I was horrified to find the rear wheel was loose, now I know I torqued every thing up properly and cant for the life of me understand how this has happened. I also found play in the rear swing arm so that needed adjustment too, whether these two things are related is unknown. Anyway It resulted in a through and detailed examination of the drive train and everything seems fine and I have tripled checked everything and every nut and bolt has witness marks to see if anything else is falling off.

The minor thing was I lost a bolt from the windscreen

All the above was tested on a big ride out over the Easter brake. Just me this time as I was heading for a stag weekend in Scotland and Sandra had some family to see and collect parts for sorting the house out.

My Niece (who also rides bikes by the way) is getting married and it's the tradition to take the groom (bike rider also) out for a bit bash along with some beers etc. Now since most of the immediate family ride bikes, it made sense to have a biking weekend.

I rode up from Southampton to the Dumfries and Gallowayarea in Scotland (via a stop over in Preston), We rode around some fantastic roads over the weekend, I can really recommend this area for some great biking roads Now "The Shed" was not the fastest bike there but it (and I) did well against some exotic machines from Ducati Honda and Aprila, I think we kept up OK.

The ride back was just fantastic setting off early on a cold and very misty morning, I intended to get back to Southampton In one go, and as the early morning moved on the temperature went up and the roads remained quiet of holiday traffic.

I managed the 400 miles in about 5.5 hours (I did stop for lunch) and it felt good knowing I can still do reasonably high miles should the need arise.

The Shed behaved herself and now returns good MPG after CW Motorcycles in Dorchester solved the miserable fuel consumption I had previously experienced.

Oh one other thing I had bought new discs for the shed and after only 1500 Miles both front discs have warped. I tried to save money by going for a cheaper option but basically there discs are rubbish and will be sent back to the manufacture with a strongly worded letter,

So we have reached our target of 2000 miles on the shed and (after a bit of messing about) will be declared, "ready"

You may have seen that we have added a connection to the SOS Children?s Village charity on our home page. This charity does some amazing work and we will be visiting some of the villages on our trip. Please give there website a viewing and if you feel you can donate a small amount then we have added a donate button to allow this.

Time now runs short. We have only 54 days to go or I have only 28 working days left, which means only 15 trips to work in the car (I stay away from home some nights). Not that I am counting you understand. I think we are both feeling the strain a little now, We have had some busy weekends and both maintaining full time jobs with so much to get done its beginning to tell.

Still we have our leave date and if its all done or not we will be gone.