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Making A Simple Day Out Complicated
Ride Date - Mid July 2024
By Bogger
Day 7
Today we are staying put, by that I mean we are not riding to another campsite. Campsite Na Spici is to be our home for another night. We are going out on the bikes and today our destination will be back along the Ohre River to Karlovy Vary, ten miles away.
We were in no rush and slowly got ourselves sorted. Myself and Pete had ambled up to the restaurant to partake of a Czech breakfast. Said breakfast consisted of three fried eggs, a plate full of ham, filter coffee, a basket of fresh bread rolls along with butter and conserves, finally a jug of orange juice. This wasn’t between us, this was each. The cost was very easy on the pocket £5.85 each.
I’d been ripping Pete for most of the trip as to how slow his Scooter was, compared to mine. I suggested we swap for the short ride into Karlovy Vary. The weather was stunning and very hot as we all set off along the river. Physically the SH125I is slightly larger than the Mode and it has a few more bells and whistles. But in all honesty there is very little to choose between them. Apart from the price. The Mode is nearly £900 cheaper.
I’ve mentioned that Karlovy Vary is n’ere but a cock stride from the campsite. So nothing could go possibly wrong could it? Just as we leave the country lane behind us and we’re approaching the town we pull over to let High Tech Pete and Ash catch up. There had been some road works on the country road and we’d got split up.
No problem, I turned Pete's bike off and we all waited. Here they come lets’ go. Well everybody went apart from me. Petes bike wouldn’t start, in fact, nothing at all. Huh? Oh FFS along with a lot of other expletives. Yes folks, we’d swapped bikes but not swapped smart keys DOH!! Pete had left my bike running whilst waiting, therefore no problem, off he went with the rest of them.
There was nothing I could do apart from wait. The thought did go through my head that if Pete gets to town and turns my bike's ignition off, he will be in the same boat as me. It’s a good job we’ve not swapped on a motorway services. Twenty minutes later Pete re-appears from whence he went, along with a stupid grin on his face. Unsurprisingly we swap bikes back and set off to catch the others up.
We have a relaxed wander around the centre of town and along the banks of the river. I have to say Karlovy Vary is a very pleasant place to visit. It’s a nice mix of old and new architecture. The place, at least to this visitor, has a certain undeniable charm to it.
However the sun has not given up trying to frazzle us. It’s baking hot so it’s time for a drink and a bite to eat. There are plenty of bars and cafes to choose from and we walk all of ten yards and plonk ourselves down outside at the nearest one, under a parasol. It was close to the river, overlooking the old part of town. It seemed quite upmarket and might be expensive due to its elegant décor and location.
Pete has no hesitation in inviting me to go and order. He chimes up with his usual, ‘Don’t worry I’ll pay you back’, you know I’m good for it’. Yeah whatever Pete, that old chestnut. I order a couple of open sandwiches and two small beers. The beers turned out to be large ones and the sandwiches were delicious. I was expecting to be stung hard in the pocket, but the total price - £7.10 for everything. You’ve just to love East European prices.
After a pleasant hour watching the folks of Karlovy Vary go about their business it’s time to head for the campsite for our last night at Na Spici and indeed the Czech Republic. We find our bikes unmolested and exactly where we left them. We always lock them up, but you just never know, although Karlovy didn’t really give us any cause for concern.
We’ve got a big day in front of us tomorrow, so we decide to fuel up the scooters ready for the morning. We head back towards the campsite, but carry on past and in and out of the village of Radosov. We know the nearest petrol station is the other side of the village of Bor, but not exactly where it is. Pete's sat nav has no signal whatsoever, so we’ll just have to ride around until we find it.
After riding up and down the village of Bor for the twentieth time and finding no sign of a petrol station, we spy some locals in the their front garden. Once gain I put on my Marcel Marceau hat and mime putting fuel in the bike. The locals
looked at each other quizzically and said a few words to each other, probably, along the lines of "stupid foreigners?" They grasped what we were after and sent us on our way with some directions. Five minutes later we are fuelling up. Phew.
We head back to the campsite. We have to cross the river again and this is via a very large wooden bridge. Heavens knows how old it was and it was single file only. It was an impressive structure, not only was it all wood but it was wood covered as well. It looked like a ginormous shed spanning the river. It reminded me of old WW2 footage of bedraggled troops making their way to the front line.
Once back at the campsite we all set about getting our gear ready for departure the next day. As Pete is packing away he exclaims ‘Oh look, I’ve found my tent pole’. Shaking my head I asked where he’d found it. ‘Under my airbed’. The bloke is a menace!
From recollection I can’t remember whether we had a drink that night. But I’m sure we did! Only 32 miles today. It felt like 31 of them was riding up and down Bor in search of petrol. Germany tomorrow. The city of Wetzlar in fact.
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Let The Chaos Commence
After the where's and why's it's time for a long ride from The Midlands to Belgium. It doesn't all go according to plan but relative to this lot's usual mayhem - it's a good start.
Not Too Much Chaos
It's all going far too well - I mean losing half your crew is an everyday occurrence ain't it? Well it is for this lot. There's little mention of beer.
Old Men Crossing Rivers
I'm getting rather concerned for Bogger. Not much beer, early to bed, no-one lost, and no mechanical tomfoolery. There's a catch, surely there's a catch
Chaos Towards Colditz
More mayhem from a bunch of blokes old enough to know better. Brits used to try and get out of Colditz, these lads are struggling to get in. Fear not - there is beer.
Escape From Colditz To Poland
The lads take a brief look around Colditz before making a dash for Poland. There's a handful of shenanigans and guess what - beer.
Poland To Czech With Nitwits
After a night in Poland the British Buffoons head into The Czech Republic. They're tired and reading between the lines getting a little grumpy, but there's booze and food so they'll be fine.
Making A Simple Day Out Complicated
There's only a short ride into town today for the lads, nice and easy. Even so Bogger manages to get himself stranded through sheer stupidity. At least the food and beer is cheap.
Reader's Comments
Bogger said :-
Said bridge cum shed I was waffling about
[url=https://postimages.org/][img]https://i.postimg.cc/02JSnp04/thumbnail.jpg[/img][/url]
Bogger
11/08/2025 18:35:52 UTC
Bogger said :-
Done it again dad!
Bogger
11/08/2025 18:36:26 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
It can't be that unusual to find a Pole in the Czech Republic?
Upt.
11/08/2025 23:51:23 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
This is the covered bridge Bogger talks about and was failing to upload...
Reminds me of something you'd expect to see in some cheesy 1970's midwest Amurican TV show. I wonder what the thinking is with covering the bridge? Essentially you've made a shed, fair enough, but you can't leave anything in there as the bridge is a thoroughfare.
12/08/2025 07:49:18 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Oh! Apparently the covered bridge lasts a lot longer as the actual structure is protected from the elements. Who knew! Thanks Wiki...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covered_bridge...
12/08/2025 07:51:37 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
It's like one I came across in deepest France:
12/08/2025 10:18:04 UTC
nab301 said :-
Some lovely architecture there.
Is the smart key idea a proximity thing that doesn't require a key in the ignition?
Nigel
12/08/2025 11:49:10 UTC
Bogger said :-
The smart key is a proximity key. If you move more than 4ft away from the bike with the key, the vehicle will not switch on. Nothing.
Bogger
12/08/2025 11:57:01 UTC
nab301 said :-
Thanks Bogger !
Nigel
12/08/2025 12:26:03 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
So... you say about 4 feet away Bogger. I reckon Pete would have been more than 4 feet away from you when riding so...
Once the bike has started the key DOES NOT need to be within 4 feet. This suggests that if you were stood next to your scoot and I - the local tea leaf - hopped on your bike and started it I could then ride away without the bike stopping? Admittedly the moment I switched off the bike I'd be scuppered regarding restarting it but then I might only want it for spares.
Tell me where I'm going wrong with this scenario.
12/08/2025 16:54:26 UTC
Bogger said :-
The problem with the scenario you describe is as follows.
I'm a big bloke, very grumpy and surprisingly fleet of foot over a short distance.
If anyone should wish to try and steal my bike whilst i'my within four feet of them, good luck.
The act of starting a keyless Honda is as follows.
Key within 4ft. Press and turn the 'keyless ignition barrel' to the
On position. Pull in the left brake lever and press the starter button.
The act of pressing the ignition barrel in gives an audible beep.
In summary, yes you could nick a keyless bike. But it's not as simple as just jumping on and riding off.
Bogger
13/08/2025 06:42:43 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I'm guessing it's the same with cars then? This is why the thieves use these range extending gadgets - they boost the signal from the key, get the car going and drive away. What I want to know is - why not just poll the key say every 10 seconds and if the key is not found then stop the bike/car? Thinking on it could be a safety issue, we can't have cars and bikes suddenly stopping because the computer lost sight of the key. With modern tech you could slowly decrease performance over a period of a few minutes to ensure a safe stop.
Note to self - I don't want keyless ignition.
13/08/2025 07:42:00 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I have keyless ignition on my car but I still have to press a button to lock / unlock the doors. Once inside I just press a button to start with the key fob in my pocket.
I can see no practical value to this at all and would much prefer a proper key. My car also has an electric handbrake but as it's an automatic I always just leave it in Park which locks the transmission whic is more effective than any handbrake. On the annual times I use the handbrake - checking for MoT - I have to dig out the handbook to see how it works. Another pointless bit of kit. I don;t know what happens if you lose battery power and need the handbrake to stop.....
13/08/2025 12:12:20 UTC
Bogger said :-
Reference keyless ignition.
Would I prefer just an old school key and barrel. Yes I would. But that's probably because I'm old and don't like innovation for innovations sake.
However there are, in my opinion, certain advantages with the Honda keyless system.
Whenever I'm on a trip, I'm always fretting about leaving a key in the bike or removing the key from the ignition and putting it down somewhere obscure. It's the same with my passport.
With the keyless system I designate a 'key pocket' and basically leave it there and try not to touch/mess with it for the entire trip. It seems to work.
The Honda keyless system also has a built in immobiliser. Not just from a proximity point of view. This facility can be activated from the keyless fob by pressing a button.
A few seconds after activation the bike is completely dormant and the ignition assembly cannot be turned on. The bike is in 'sleep' mode. The only way to start the bike is by pressing the button on the keyfob to re-activate the system and start in the normal way.
So in summary, do I dislike the keyless system. No. Does the system work. Yes. Has it ever let me down. No. Would a keyless system be a reason not to buy a bike. Absolutely not. I've currently got two Hondas with the system and my Forza 350, which has gone onto pastures new also had the system.
It's convenient and it works.
Bogger
14/08/2025 10:05:32 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Aha! So what you're saying is Bogger if you "sleep" the bike from the fob then even if a criminal has fancy "boosting" equipment or they bonk you on the noggin - without the fob the bike still won't start. That seems quite a sensible adaptation. Plus I completely agree regarding leaving the key in the bike or worrying about losing the key - if the fob can be permanently located in one pocket then you don't need to be moving it all the time.
Does it have a steering lock? I'm guessing so and that's activated from the fob too?
The problem with security is... security. My regular key has "HISS" meaning for the ignition to start the computer on the bike "reads" an RFID chip inside the key. If the response from the RFID chip isn't what the computer expects - no sparky spark spark. On the one hand this is great because even if the lock is picked or broken the bike still won't start. On the other hand if I lose the key (and don't have a spare with me) I am SCREWED. I figure the same applies with the fob.
Wouldn't it be lovely to live in a world where we don't need to worry about all this. It is what it is, and the more secure you make your vehicle - the less likely you are to have use of it if you lose the key/code/password etc etc etc
14/08/2025 13:33:59 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
Last year on my first camping trip with the k1600 I got paranoid about the keyless ignition.
The problem, I like to keep the bike close to the tent at night, but with the bike that close it is like leaving the key in the bike.
I eventually found that wrapping the key fob in baking foil and placing it inside a metal glasses case blocked the signal.
On my return I purchased a key fob blocking bag to put the key fob in.
14/08/2025 18:06:49 UTC
Bogger said :-
Ren the Hondas do have a steering lock. It is operated manually.
The ignition system works like you have a normal key.
Turning the bike on and off and engaging the steering lock is via a largish push and turn type switch.
To engage the steering lock you swing the handle bars over in the normal way and this will allow the ignition switch to be rotated fully backwards thus locking the steering in the normal way.
I'd post an image but I'd just cock it up.
Bogger
14/08/2025 20:04:12 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Bogger sent me an image of his bike, his 125 Cub. I have circled what I believe is the steering lock mechanism.
15/08/2025 07:55:58 UTC
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