Trip 2015

The French, Swiss and Italian Alps

   In November of 2014 I was at the motorcycle show in the NEC in Birmingham with Col and came across the guys from Bikeshuttle. The plan is to put your bike in the back of their purpose built truck and take it to Geneva, leaving you to make your own way their by train and plane then meet your bike the following day. We thought the idea had promise so decided there and then that Geneva was on the table for the 2015 road trip. In January we put the trip to Geneva idea to the others, and forecast our costs using bikeshuttle and only myself and Col were going to be able to do this one. The were afew other issues by using the Bikeshuttle service we hadn't thought of which when we weighed it up shoved our costs up and the price out of reach.
 Still determined by the idea to ride in the Alps we looked at other ways to get us there. Riding the 740 miles eachway was not what we wanted to do, so we decided to hire a van ourselves, stick the bikes in the back, along with anything else we needed but we would still use the same hotel Bikeshuttle use as they have underground parking. So through the early parts of the year we hired a van from Europcar, booked the hotel and Eurotunnel and our trip was made.

  We set off at 4am heading to the tunnel, the news was reporting strikes in Calais and the illegal immigrants were also up to no good, so we were expecting to be part of "operation stack", but along the M20 nothing was left apart from a portable loo every half a mile.

  We planned to visit the old Grand Prix curcuit at Reims on the way as Col and I both have seen it on television and wanted to do a lap, also to Ride the Italian Jobs Grand St Bernards Pass and find some roads to add to our Ultimate riding roads list.

   The van seemed to be a great idea as we arrived at the Eurotunnel only 3 and a half hours later which on the bikes in the past had took a further 1 hour due to fuel stops. It felt great not to be sweating and stuck in leathers on the back of the train.

    We arrived in Reims at dinnertime and made our way to Gueux where the old grandstands are still standing and had a look around before taking the van around for a few laps of the 1952 layout of the circuit.
 Time was rolling on so we continued on across France and the temperature on the vans read out went from 22 up to 29 degrees, again we were glad not to be in leathers at this point.
 We arrived at the Business Park Hotel at 18:30 local time, its just on the outskirts of the French part of Geneva. A brief cock up took us into the Swiss part and the City centre which meant we had to buy a Vignette from the Police for 40 Swiss Francs (about £28) this meant we could use the Swiss motorways for a whole year, even though we only needed them for all of 5 miles.  The room was nice on the top floor and we dropped our luggage then went to the restaurant next door for Pizza and Beer.

  We woke up to blue sky, I suggested we went to the 3rd highest of the mountain passes Grand St. Bernards Pass as it was the closest, just 2 hours 10 minutes away from the hotel of which 90 mins are on the motorway. We arrived at a town called Martigny and I put the camera on the bike. The climb started and a few long bends that doubled back on themselves got us back into riding twisty roads again, Snow could bee seen on the mountain tops in the far distance and I pressumed that was where we were headed as we followed the river then through a few tunnels before taking the turn that says Col de St Bernardo, it got steeper and tighter, the road surface was a bit broken and patchy in places and the bike was in first gear alot suddenly you see the buildings at the highest point of the road and we stopped on the carpark to look at from where we had came. The temperature was a good few degrees cooler, and with your leather jacket off a definite chill could be felt at 8100ft. Snow was left in patches here and there but not on the roads. I bought an over priced drink from the restaurant and then we set off into Italy to see the bit from the film " The Italian Job".
  The tarmac was very good over the border, imagine someone has just dropped spaghetti onto the

The high road zig zags up the mountain

mountain is the best way to describe the way the road had been laid. It just kept twisting left and right, some corners were into huge rock faces and others were onto huge drops with nothing but a small fence to stop you going over the edge. After 10 miles we came to some roadworks so turned around then headed back to the top. Col wanted to do it fast, where I went for the quick but scenic version, trying to look at the views as well as keep a reasonable fun pace,  Thank you Italy, the road was great fun.We both enjoyed the Italian side but my mind was now on the journey back to the hotel as it was getting a bit hot. We stopped for fuel on the route back, the local temp was now 32 degrees, even with the visor open and my jacket undone it was not cooling down. The motorway was busy and the engines were running over 100 degrees for a lot of the time the fan was on trying to keep it cool but all it was doing was using the battery up. We hit Geneva at 17:30 rush hour and in the queue Col saw 117 degrees on the temp gauge, We got back to the hotel our leathers stuck to us and our faces covered in road dust stuck to sweat. I checked the weather app on the phone. it said the next 3 days were going to be 32,34 and 37 degrees!
 Our UK all year round leathers are not designed for that kind of heat, there's no vents only a zip out inner lining, so out it came.
 
 Next day we looked at the map and headed for the French Alps and Annecy Lake, we noticed a

Mont Blanc in the distance

Lake Annecy behind the bikes

mountain called Semnoz with a twisty road on the map so after a drink and cooling Ice cream we climbed the 16km route along the D41/D110 to the top at 5446 feet. Another great bit of tarmac through the forest with plenty of turns to keep you busy. Not quite so exciting as the previous day on St Bernards Pass but still entertaining enough and cool enough on the top to be bearable.

 Down by the lake it was 34 degrees the clear water looked inviting as we sat on a bench in the shade our leather trousers and boots not giving us a break from the heat. We needed petrol but neither of us wanted to summon up the will to go looking for a garage and to go on the journey back to the hotel.
      Back in the village St Genus Poullity we used a pub called Charly's, a guy from the USA got chatting to us about bikes and his mate lived locally so told us to try a road I had been looking at earlier from Gex to Saint-Claude. This became our plan for the next day as it was not so far and it was gonna be hotter again. So we discovered the Jura Mountains.

  The road leaves Gex and snakes its way up the mountain, through a few villages, over some fresh tarmac and then over the top.
Its around 4650ft so was nice and cool, which was a relief as the temperature was forecast for 37 degrees. We took a left and dropped down the mountain another twisty road with a couple of tight bends and a hairpin thrown in for good measure before we rode through the village of Mijoux. The climb starts again and the road now with race track smooth and fresh tarmac which had the banked corners you would expect on a track, weaved its way up through 5 hairpins in the forest section. Over the top the road opens and dips slowly down and eventually you get to my favourite part called Les Moulins,

this doubles back on itself and has 9 sharp bends all very close to each before it goes through a few more villages, one of which I liked the name of called Mont Brilliant. We pulled into the little picnic area just before arriving at Saint-Claude and threw our leather jackets on the ground, the sweat was dripping out of us but we both enjoyed the ride.





 The Journey home was 14 hours long, it could have been 80 minutes shorter but there was an incident on the M25 causing tail backs for 4 junctions and unfortunately we were stuck in it.

  We found some great roads, its such a shame that none of them are just up the road from where we live!
 I think there will be another trip in Switzerland yet.

 The whole trip for 5 nights cost us just under £750 each, (not inc spending money)

Summary
Date:- 12th - 17th July 2015
Weather:- 6 Hot Days 29-37 degrees
Hotel:- Business Park Hotel - Geneva
Miles:-1900, 1560 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.20 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in the Swiss Alps
 At the 2014 bikeshow we met bikeshuttle, so we tried to book a week in the Swiss Alps using their services, but it was going to cost too much. We liked the idea so hired a van and did the trip saving a few hundred pounds. Riding in Italy, France and Switzerland we discovered some amazing roads and scenery. Even saw snow in July.

Spring 2015

   Well Spring has arrived at last, the thicker gloves have been put away until next winter, my leathers have shrunk *coughs* so I bought an exercise bike and a pair of Joe Rocket leather trousers with the armour that fit much better!
   We have been making plans for rides and places to go in 2015. Col and I are looking at doing a tour of the Swiss Alps trying to visit the most popular of the mountain passes, taking some inspiration from Top Gear and the Italian Job along with a website called AlpineRoads.com, and then so the others can come on a trip later in the year, a 1 nighter in Wales going to the places we are just to far from to do on a Sunday morning which has the others intrested in aswell.
 We aim to ride the A4069 over Brecon Beacons, the A483 as usual and the A5 through Snowdonia to mention a few.
 The MCN fantasy road race manager has started and we have set up our own league, During the 1st game round Ryan has come out on top. (see the news section)

  So far in 2015 Col and I have had a few rides out. The first of our longer routes of the year when the sun made a welcome appearance was on a trip to Dom's in Leominster for a coffee, unfortunately Sam his little dog is no longer with us, RIP little buddy.
 The sun had put a little heat onto the tarmac and the new Pirelli tyres I have bought gripped well and we had a fun morning along the Worcsester side of the A44. 

Dom's Cafe Leominster

 While on the carpark outside Dom's cafe we saw a Fireblade with rebound adjusters on the top of the fork legs which looked imressive so Col has bought some and is trying them out.

 On the look out for places to get a coffee we came across the Station at Arley and watched the old Steam train go past.

Arley Railway Station Cafe

 We also made it to Shobdon airport to the cafe there, this was during our coldest ride this year, the temperatures promised to be 8 degrees but in reality with the wind chill etc it was more like 4, we were miserable, and bloody froze when we got home.

 Matt has done a few evening rides with some friends over his area, Rich and Jon are both yet to make an appearance but both are talking about a few weeks from now, we will see.

 Camera

 I have been experimenting with different camera mounts for my SJ4000 digital video camera we use to take onboard footage when on our trips away.

(an excellent Chinese alternative to the more expensive GoPro, which uses Go Pro fittings) 

  I have stumbled on to the perfect mount, again it fits into the side crash bobbin and uses a rubber transit bolt from a Bosch washing machine, the footage even at above 7000RPM has next to no distortion unlike the previous versions which distorted as soon as you moved away. (I have an endless supply of these bungs if anyone needs one.)

Believe me thats 7000rpm and hardly any distortion 

Dyno Run

  When a group of us get together we often get round to talking about the power of our motorbikes. Its been on the cards for a few months to go and do a Dyno run over at Projex in Cradley. Col booked us in and myself and Col went over. Matt, Jon and Rich all have plans to give it a go.....one day!
  

Black Blade    vs    Red Blade

  It was our first outing on the bikes of 2015, bad weather had scuppered any plans on all other weekends so a short run to Cradley sounded like a good plan.
 I arrived at Col's to find his bike on the drive gleaming after an earlier wash. We set off to Cradley with a petrol stop required as we thought fresh petrol would help produce more power out of the engine. I have always been a fan of Shell petrol and as coincidence had it that was the fuel the garage was selling. We pumped the tyres up so that both the bikes were the same.

  We arrived at Projex and the guys there started to get interested when they saw two identical model Honda CBR1000rr Fireblade's that have the same exhaust system and with similar mileage, so the competition started. Its the Black Blade  vs  the Red Blade.

  We checked online what the bike produced from new.......172BHP at the crank.
Kev told us to add about 11% to the reading we were going to get as his machine measures BHP at the wheel.

  Col's Black Fireblade got strapped in and then he put the bike through its paces, doing the same test 3 times. Then the average would be worked out. Kev had lots of good things to say about the power delivery and how smoothe it was running.

  When he was done the printer fired up and printed a graph with the number we wanted to see............
Black Blade....149.4BHP  add 11% is 165.8BHP approx at the crank a loss of 6.2BHP in 10 years. Not bad...

  We had a cup of coffee and Col told me with a grin over his mug, he had sneakily put the higher octane petrol in at the garage.  I felt robbed, how was my bike going to compete with that? We mentioned it to Kev who told us it wont make a noticable difference so the competition was back on.

 My bike was strapped in and Kev started run 1, he shouted that he thought Cols felt slightly smoother at low revs. Again I thought the Black Blade was getting all the good vibes.
 Run 1 done and Kev hid the screen.Run 2 he came off shaking his head and Run 3 and the printer fired up, we waited.........
Red Blade....152.62BHP  add 11% is 169.4BHP approx at the crank a loss of 2.5BHP in 10 years.

  Obviously it would be wrong of me not to bring this up from time to time : )

 It seems people spend lots of money to make the bikes have more power, when really unless your a racer your not going to see much benefit on a Sunday morning ride. So if you want a faster bike than your mates for the road and leave money in your pocket, gain some teeth on the back cog.

If / When any of the others give it a go, I will add it to the competition.

If you have done a Dyno run and want to add it to our site, contact me here for details. 

Watch / hear our dyno test video here:-

  DYNO RUN's

Col's   Honda CBR 1000rr Fireblade 2004 - 149.4 BHP          lost 6.2BHP
Phill's Honda CBR 1000rr Fireblade 2004 - 152.62 BHP         lost 2.5BHP

Mark's Kawasaki ZX10R 2004                   -  152.43 BHP        lost 11.8BHP

Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade 2004

 This is the 2004 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

 The Black version is Col's and the Tri-colour (Red one) is Mine (Phill's)

  Col bought his in 2013 with 11000 miles on the clock from a local bike shop after spotting it on Ebay. We called into the shop one Sunday morning in January and as soon as we saw it Col decided it was the one.
 The snow fell and stopped him from collecting it for 2 long weeks, but eventually it arrived and he turned up on it the next fine Sunday morning. 

 A cold Sunday morning in late January 2014 myself and Col visited Streetbike for a look around the latest bikes and a coffee. A Honda Fireblade had just arrived as a part ex against a newer bike, so I gave it a look over and booked a test ride. Streetbike refitted the standard rear shock as it had a lower one fitted and fixed a few little problems and I collected it the first weekend in March with 16000 miles on the clock.
 I have enjoyed every ride on the Fireblade, the performance, rider comfort and handling suits me fine. 

 The 2004 Honda Fireblade was the first of the totally new design Fireblades and the 1st that was not designed by Tadao Baba the designer of the fireblade from the original 1992 model. It was designed by the team responsible for the 2003 Motogp bike RC211V and shares some lines and technology from the swing arm and rear shock. The model stayed similar until 2007 only with a few cosmetic changes to the front around the headlight, slight geometry changes to the frame and improvements to the engine and a larger rear sprocket.
 Personally we like the smoother lines on the 2004-5 version to look at. 

The Honda 2003 Motogp winning team was Nicky Haden and Valentino Rossi.

  
Controls
  The Instrument display has a rev counter and a digital read out of the current speed. The select button scrolls through 2 trip counters,the Odometer and displays the time. The brake lever has an adjustable postion, The bike has twin headlights of which only the one side illuminates when the engine is running and cannot be turned off, the other side comes on when man beam is selected. The rear section of the seat lifts off to reveal a compartment big enough for the tool kit, a rag and a bottle of visor cleaner, but don't think of putting any thing to eat in there as it will get very warm having the exhaust silencer right below it.

  Riding it
  
  The seat is nicely positioned, but is firm, and  the reach to the bars is comfortable. The foot pegs are quite high and back giving it an agressive feel. On longer journeys or sitting in traffic can cause wrist and shoulder/neck ache. Out on the road the bike has a lot of punch when you open the throttle, turns quickly, yet feels stable at the same time. When I have ridden it, i thought it felt as though 70mph was its happy speed, where the engine picked up instantly.  The default suspension setting are a little soft so we adjusted them to a few clicks stiffer.
 Since owning my Fireblade we have noticed that Col's bike uses more petrol than mine roughly working out at an extra £1.50 per tank. A service may help.



  Stats

• Engine size  -  998 cc
• Top Speed  -  178mph
• Power  -  172 bhp
• Weight  -  176kg
• Fuel tank capacity  -  18ltrs
• Av MPG  -  35mpg
• Tank Ramge  -  135 miles
• Ins group -  17
• Tyres  -  F 120/70/17   R 190/50/17
• Suspension  -  Fully adjustable

The Original Exhaust

The New Exhaust

  Modifications.

  Both bikes have got Scorpion exhaust silencer's fitted, these take about 2 hours to fit as most of the rear of the bike needs to be removed. We opted for them as we liked the look better that the other brands available at the time. They have the option of removing the baffle which makes it sound racier but not so loud to give you a headache. They also look better and weigh a lot less than the standard type.

 Common Problems.

Check the Fireblade owners forum for information that may help solve any issues you may have.

 Problems this bikes has Encountered

 When Col bought his, the breather pipe to the fuel tank had come off, so it leaked petrol when the tank was full.
The stator packed in on Col's, Honda have now released a fixed version that stops them from burning out.

Our Photo's

2014 Road Trip

Galloway

 For 2014 we decided to re visit Galloway as we had unfinished business on the Dalvine pass (A702).
When we were there in 2012, we had 4 rain filled days somewhat spoiling the twisty roads promised by magazines and internet site, so we planned to return. To save some money we only did a 3 night trip which gave us 2 full days in Galloway.
 We set off on a hot sunny afternoon, but an hour late as Col had an issue getting his pants into his luggage bag, we had arranged to meet Rich up on Junction 38 of the motorway by the lake district and we made good time reaching him. We refueled at the next services on the motorway, heading off Scotland bound. After about 40 minutes I realized I still had 1 more gear to go and had been running in 5th gear since the last fill up. We had to stop once more for fuel and that had cost me £1 more than Col on the same bike.
 We arrived at The Buccleuch Arms in Moffat and was met by John who showed us to the bike garages. We unloaded checked in and enjoyed our first taste of Innis and Gunn beer (Recommended).

  The following day we got up to a dry sunny day, the sky had a few big dark grey clouds lingering around but it looked mostly dry. Waterproofs strapped to the back seats just incase we set off straight to the Dalvine Pass. We decided "lets just do what we came for while its dry!".
 The road out of Moffat (A701) is a good warm up with plenty of twists to get you started. We then turned onto the pass which starts under a motorway bridge. We stopped under the bridge, reving the bikes making them sound sporty as the noise echoed and bounced off the bridges walls while we cam'ed up.
 We pulled out into sunshine, and headed for the hills. The scenery here is beautiful, but the road didn't give you time to see much as the ribbon of tarmac was smooth, dry and twisty. Col and Jon passed me as the road became damp and the pace was a little more careful.

 We head west and down the valley eventually joining the A76 and turned right up to the next road that took us back towards Abington. This road was similar to the pass through the lake district, with a Welshmans fantasy having lots of sheep on every corner. They were even waiting for a bus!

Locals waiting for the bus!

 We got to Abington and decide its was coffee time, so found a truck stop for a brew. Rich is not big on road signs and this became obvious when stopped here.

We set off in the direction of New Cummnock and joined the B741, definately the worse road of the trip. On the map it looked nice and twisty and scenic in reality its a patchwork of poorly filled pot holes, we were pleased to see the end of that section of road at Dalmellington and joined the A713, which was a little bit better but still had poor tarmac. We stopped for a chat along side Loch Much and noticed that we were in Ayr, the Tarmac for Galloway started only a few metres away and it was perfect.

We crossed the boarder, hungry so found a place for dinner in a village called Carsphairn. We set off and as about a dozen guys on BMW touring style bikes went past so tagged onto the back of them. 10 minutes later i cornered to find one of them had come off around a bend and was in the ditch at the side of the road. Two of his mates had pulled in just infront of him so we stopped to check all was ok. His bike seemed to be mostly covered in dirt and the guy was a bit dazed but no serious injuries were obvious so we carried on on way.
 We headed back along tha A712 to Dumfries and then back to Moffat. We had been lucky with the weather only encountering a few damp roads and dodged the rain all day.

 The following day we decided to visit Caerlaverock Castle after seeing it in a magazine in the hotel. We headed off via the Dalveen pass and hit some heavy rain so stopped to shelter under the motorway bridge. The sky was blue over the pass so as soon as the rain cloud had passed we set off riding through some prettys damp conditions but fun was still had. We rode down through Dumfries and down alongside the river Nith eventually arriving at the castle bathed in hot sunshine. We stopped for a coffee before having a look around and then using the castle which made a stunning backdrop for some photo's.

 

 We headed back the way we had came, the weather now was with us, we turned onto the A702, stopped at the bottom and prepared for a dry run.
 I had the camera on the bike, so sent Jon 1st, then Col, Rich and me at the back hoping to get some good footage of the bikes leaning one after the other into the corners.

 We got to the best bit just at the bottom of the climb over the mountain, I saw Col pull out to pass Jon and thought I am going too. I knocked it into 2nd and opened the throttle, my bike kicked into action and 170 horses all sprang into life, Col was now passing Jon.  I quickly passed Rich and caught Jon at the next bend, out of the bend I could hear the GSXR's exhaust wailing as he tried to keep infront but my Fireblade was in a gear lower giving me the run on him, the next corner approached and I followed him around opening the throttle slightly earlier and got past. Col was now 50 metres ahead, I hung onto the gears catching a metre here and there until the unwelcome damp roads stopped our fun about three quarters of the way up. We slowed to a more suitable pace for the conditions stopping at the bridge with big grins and heroic stories.
  We decided we had still time to go to St. Marys Loch, for a coffee and another great photo opportunity. The wet weather was catching us, so we split up. Col wanted to go back to the hotel, the rest of us wanter to pass the Beeftub along the A701 another cracking bit of road. Col left us and we carried on. The A701 was fun the corners are all open and easy to read we were getting some good lean angles along there until we caught up with some traffic. Jon was at the front but passed the Beeftub layby so Rich and me pulled in for a look. After a few minutes we carried on back towards the hotel and the rain started. I absolutely hammered it down. I dont think I have ridden in rain that hard since the first trip to Germany. It lasted all of 5 minutes but the water was dripping inside your boots and i could feel my toes getting wet.
 We arrived at the hotel, it was hot and had missed the rain so we put the bikes away, hung the leathers in the shed and went to find our evenings entertainment.

 Jon told us the next day he needed to get moving early as he was doing a night shift at work when we got back!
 9am the bikes were loaded and ready to roll, Col sat on his bike but the rear tyre was flat, but not totally so we went to the petrol station filled up with air and fuel and set off to the motorway and the 1st services. Cols tyre was holding up, loosing 5lb pressure here and there but we got back just in time for a last 10 minute soaking. Cols tyre had started to degrade having lots of tiny splits around the centre for about half the circumfrence. Rich's front tyre is now done and needs replacing. Jon's and My bikes both went good.

 Fuel wise.
 Rich's ZX6R was cheapest to take
My Fireblade was next (apart from the 1 section of motorway where it was in 5th gear)
Jon was next
Col seemed to be putting a minimum of 50p - a maximum £1 more than me on most fill ups.

 All in all it was a good few days, I wouldn't have been the same without you guys, thanks and see you next time : )

Summary
Date:- 5th July - 8th July 2014
Weather:- 4 dry days, occasional drizzle
Hotels:- Buccleuch Arms - Moffat
Miles:- 811.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.26p to 1.36p a ltr (8 petrol stations)
EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon and Rich
Aim:- To ride the Dalveen Pass A702
We decided as we had unfinished business still over the boarder of Scotland that we would return to the area and try to get a dry ride along the A702. The section of road we wanted was the part that ran between A74 and A76, which winds its way through the mountains, we had 4 attempts did we do it?. Click here to find out more.