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...It's about bikes... and travels... mostly on bikes!
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Last Day Of Fun In France
It's a lovely start to Bogger's last day in France. Malestroit is pretty and interesting, the museum is fascinating, and there's food aplenty. Shame the ferry crossing is not up to scratch.
Drawing You In
Our resident cynic Ren is bemoaning the tactics of salesfolk. It's a trap - IT'S A TRAP!! Anyone would think shops have to sell things to make a profit.
Not Much To Report, Save For More Wonderous Views
All in all it's a fairly uneventful day on the road for Andy as he makes his way homeward bound. The scenery is good, the accommodation too, although the big GS has a "moment".
A Day Of Classic And Vintage Vehicles
A rest day for Bogger? Hardly. There's classic and vintage and fast motorcycles and cars. There's posh places and new friends. Food and booze too much as you'd expect.
Anaerobic Gasket Maker
Anaerobic Gasket Maker?!? What the deuce is that? Well between Ren's mumblings and memories you might find just the merest hint of useful information. Maybe...
Cracks, Vultures, And Cow Jams
Andy is having a fascinating ride through Spain today. Cows that won't "moooooove", gaps in the scenery, gaps in the tarmac, and he's trying his hand at geology.
Skeggy Epilogue
In the final reckoning was the trip to Skeg-Vegas a rip-roaring failure or and majestic success? Neither - but you already knew that. Still, here's Ren's tuppence on the issue at hand.
Everyone Has Their Troubles
A long, cold and moist ride today for Bogger and Pete. Turns out their host isn't having the best of days either. Fear not there's still beer and smiles.
Prologue, Rain, Lost, And Hot
Another short winter break in Shropshire. This time Much Wenlock provides the location and the weather does what winter weather does. It'll be fine, hopefully.
Much A-Wenlock About Nothing
Title page for a short winter break in Shropshire.
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Latest Posts
Drawing You In
Ian Soady¹ said :-
MZssss....
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/motorsports/action-packed-mz-racing-weekend-set-...
29/05/2026 11:58:45 UTC
Drawing You In
Ian Soady¹ said :-
The actual roadholding is very good; the feel however is an acquired taste. There's actually a racing series for them (mind yiou there's one for MZs as well).
https://2cvracing.org.uk/...
29/05/2026 11:58:29 UTC
Drawing You In
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Now THAT's good MPG Upt'. It boils my blood to think a car (albeit a hybrid) can achieve a regular 75mpg when many motorcycles weighing 1/3 the weight and 1/2 the frontal aerodynamic area still only achieve 50-65mpg. I do like the Aygo.
Citroen 2CV BrosSteve? Now you're talking. A wonderful piece of agricultural engineering, simple and effective, built to be looked after by farmers with basic tools and a big hammer. Air cooled boxer engine too. There's a company in France converting them to electric giving them a little more power (not too much, the handling can't handle it).
29/05/2026 10:22:14 UTC
Drawing You In
BrosSteve said :-
Hey Ren what about a Citroen 2cv?
Good mpg and has the added bonus of car leaning for the bike effect.
Although it does lean the opposite way...
29/05/2026 09:48:44 UTC
Drawing You In
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Although I wouldn't want to mislead anyone who reads this drivel and takes any notice of it so....
The average mpg so far for the month of May 2026 is 75.8 mpg imperial. That's over about 250 miles and in mixed driving but no motorway.
You're welcome.
I only know this because the blummin App says so, does everything have a blummin App these days. Seems so. It even rates your driving prowess, we score 90 apparently.
29/05/2026 08:39:29 UTC
Drawing You In
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ed, if fuel consumption and four wheels is the goal a Toyota AygoX HEV is your friend. How does a 20 mile jaunt across the Borders at road legal speeds and 93.8 mpg sound?
You've got to buy a new car of course but that's just detail.
It's even got a boot and back seats, sort of. ACC set at 20c and life is good.
You're welcome.
Upt.
29/05/2026 08:06:13 UTC
Drawing You In
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Wait a minute I have another brilliant idea. Them feet forward bikes can be unstable with slow manoeuvres, how about another couple of wheels for stability, oh and a roof to keep the rain off. Essentially I need a small 125cc car.
And before any of you HEATHENS suggest a Piaggio 2stroke powered french voiture sans permis from the 80s - go rattle your head! However a Kubota diesel powered Aixam might be just the ticket.
28/05/2026 22:59:25 UTC
Test Ride Review Of The Suzuki Inazuma 250 - By Ren Withnell
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
79 bikes?!?! I wish I had a garage as big as yours. You said the Inazuma is like a modern day Benly with a bit more poke - yeah I can see your point. Neither will set your pants on fire with performance but they're both a hoot to ride as well as trustworthy and economical. I'm in contact with a chap that's got over 80,000 miles on his 'Zuma without any real problems save a camchain tensioner that was easily fixed. Enjoy the Suzuki!
28/05/2026 21:38:29 UTC
Drawing You In
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
12000 miles isn't "terrible" but that's annually if you're doing the miles. Cost BrosSteve?
Oh no! Are you telling me I'll get less mpg on the trips where I'm fully laden nab301? Right that's it - next project - aerodynamic luggage streamlined with the rider. Come to think of it the luggage solutions on the feet forwards bike Bogger recently featured looked quite aero... hmmm... got me thinking now.
Even at 80mpg the CB500X is a kicker compared to the CBF125's 120-140 mpg. I believe the newer CB125F is even more frugal.
So - right - CB125F feet forwards streamlined with integrated luggage system...
28/05/2026 21:30:29 UTC
Drawing You In
nab301 said :-
Ren , I'm with you on MPG , I have a'99 1100S BMW which I don't use anymore but for roughly 20 years and 120k mile it covered (only) 10miles per litre (45mpg,) less if commuting in suburbia , A friend was using an Inazuma 250 at the time and that was when I stumbled across your blog (CBF250 and 125) at the time I also had a carbed CB500 which did maybe 55 to 60 mpg but it decreased as the mileage increased towards 100 k miles. I'd never considered a Suzuki Bandit 600 previously because of the reported (mainly in the press) poor mpg , I took a spin one day and liked it enough to purchase a low mileage '04 carbed model in 2014, strangely it was cheaper to run than the CB500 , better tyre and fuel mileage .
Obviously no where near the mpg of my current restricted Honda 500 / DL250/CB125F but good all the same.
Overall since then my average mpg has more than doubled to more than 90mpg , if you're interested I fitted The hard panniers (for only the second time since 2019) to my Dl250 the other day and on that trip was struggling to get the normal 90 mpg, on comparing with the next trip minus the panniers mpg was maybe 3 mpg better...
Nigel
28/05/2026 15:49:54 UTC
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nab301 said :-
I can (possibly mistakenly!) remember in the 70's, petrol (post decimalisation) being 30p per gallon ,my Yamaha 80 (yes it was a two stroke) could be filled for 50p , 1.5 gallon tank but when I search I'm told that petrol prices at the time were around 90p per gallon... it was however a time of shortages, queues, abusive customers , (working part time in a filling station, no different from today I guess) and exponential price rises but still a lot cheaper than todays €1.90 per litre / €8.62 per gallon.
Nigel
09/05/2026 17:28:34 UTC
Glyn said :-
Just to add my bit, I remember 3 star petrol ( that had to be mixed with oil in my bantam ) was three shillings and six pence a gallon! I’m so old I cant be arsed to do the conversion to this modern day numeration stuff. What was wrong with 12 pence in a shilling, a florin, a half crown, 10 Bob etc? I would add that my first wage packet was for £4 per week out of which was deducted 10 shillings and 3d for whatever the government needed it for. Hopefully it was better spent back then. I’ve just spent a week in Munich and either the authorities have more money or they’re spending it more wisely. Not a single pothole to be seen anywhere.
09/05/2026 10:58:06 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
A pound a gallon!!!! Robbery!!! Mind you ROD that's back when a pound was the average annual wage.
Let me think. When I started riding I can still picture the sign at Gilsons Garage, £1.65 per gallon. And it was a pound for a can of pop in the club.
Today it's £1.52 per litre or £6.90 per gallon. I'm paying over bloody £3 for a bottle of cola. On my straw poll cola is a bit cheaper or petrol is more expensive these days, but not all that much!
09/05/2026 06:18:33 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
I was about to respond but I thought Ian would trump me with lower prices for a pint.
My pints when first going decimal were 12p for special mild or special bitter.
I also seem to remember a conversation where people were saying that they would stop driving when fuel reached £1.00 per gallon!
I hope things improve with your knee Ian.
The doctors advice to strengthen surrounding muscles sounds good.
08/05/2026 12:03:11 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
20p a pint? Extortion. My first pint was in the High Force Hotel after a school walking club hike from High Cup Nick, passing the crashed Wellington(?) bomber up on the high fells and fording the Tees just above the waterfall. We must have been mad as any slip would have seeen us doing a Professor Moriarty. I remember the beer as being 1/9d (one shilling and ninepence) or about 9p in new money.
You lot don't know you're born although it's more recent in your memories than in mine.
In other news, visited a physio yesterday who confirmed I have a torn meniscus in my kne. Basically not much can be done other than exercise to strengthen surrounding muscles, and time. Maybe up to a couple of months of the latter....
Surgery is no longer recommended.
08/05/2026 10:15:18 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Goodness me you're REALLY old Upt'! When I were an 18 year old yoof my night out was a fiver. £2 of petrol into the H100A (2 stroke, this is what put me off 2 strokes). 2 quids worth of juice would see me right for a full week's riding. A whole £1 to get into Maxime's Rock Night in Wigan, leaving the remaining £2 for 2 cans of Coca Cola. I'd spend the evening failing to gain the affections of various "rock chicks" then ride home through the cold and the rain.
It was this time in my life I gave up drinking. The nights I was sober and failing with the girls were much more fun than the nights I got drunk while still failing with the girls. Sleeping in a warm bed sober is so much nicer than trying to sleep on Wigan Bus Station with a hangover.
Right - I have reviewed Ian's words and images re compressing the string. Now armed with the diagram and a better comprehension I can see the problem. This all leads me to be thankful I live in a time where we have hard rubber cush drives, it's a wonder anyone from the 40s and 50s has and fingers left!
08/05/2026 08:15:07 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Made me think....yes I know....I shouldn't.
I'm sure the first pint of beer I bought in the late seventies was about 20p in new money. It would have been in Talke Working Mens Club in North Staffordshire, it had a great snooker room underneath the main building. Happy days, I was probably running a Gilera Trial 50 and petrol was 17 new pennies a litre.
Upt.
07/05/2026 17:19:34 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Show off. Don't come on this ere forum for the aged flaunting your wealth. It's tough being a pensioner you know. I remember when you could go to the flicks, catch a PMT bus there and back and have a bag of tripe and chips in proper newspaper for 10 bob. Maybe even play around on the back seat of the bus too!
Tell that to the kids today and they won't believe you.
07/05/2026 17:11:24 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
What ya gonna do with the £3.64 that you could steal from my account Upt'?
07/05/2026 15:32:10 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ed, of course I'll oblige. You deserve it.
Please post you bank account and credit card details including your security and pin's and I'll get right onto it. You're welcome.
No what should I spend it all on?
Upt and Sincere.
07/05/2026 10:19:34 UTC
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Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I don't think it's the nanny state ROD, more likely a box ticking exercise.
"So - what have you done to improve road safety in your area Council X?"
"More speed limits, more pedestrian crossings, speed bumps, sticky-out kerbs (traffic calming). Oh and we had a few quid left over so we did some of them road positioning things for motorcyclists."
I've no objection to them really - when I first saw them I was surprised that anyone had noticed motorcycles exist let alone be acknowledged on the roads. I thought it was a marketing thing at first! Anyhow follow them - or don't, there's no law about it (yet...).
It's speed bumps that really get my back up. Knowsley MBC where Sharon lives must have a few councillors that are "supported" by Suspension-Parts-R-Us Ltd.
29/05/2026 08:14:12 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
"Education has to be a good thing" BUT.
Is it really education or more nanny state!
28/05/2026 22:02:09 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I've seen these things plenty of times on my travels. I figure they're there to encourage riders to keep to some kind of sensible road positioning rather than taking full on MotoGP lines. It's a bit like speed bumps - sensible drivers wouldn't be speeding in the sort of areas speedbump are used and daft eejits just bounce over them in their Chelsea Tractors. Sensible riders will likely be there or thereabouts with their road position, daft eejits will be wherever they feel will be fastest.
28/05/2026 21:46:51 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Here, or thereabouts.
But obviously only if I was paying attention to the job in hand.
Pffffffftttttt.
28/05/2026 17:44:36 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
With no approaching traffic, just a hazard centre line and with luggage on I think I'd be going just over the inner edge of the right hand line.
28/05/2026 17:40:59 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Like this Ian, but you can make your own mind up if it's a help or a hindrance depending where you'd be positioned. But education has to be a good thing, no?
28/05/2026 17:38:42 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ian me o'd mucka, the blue information sign is merely an instruction that road markings are coming up which indicate the correct positioning. The actual white lines, hopefully none slippy variety, move left or right to show the correct line. The signs don't show where the lines will actually be left or right of centre. It struck me that they think positioning is only important for motorcycles which I don't agree with.
28/05/2026 17:33:57 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
A bit strange, seem to be suggesting staying in the centre of the lane. Mind you with some of the lunatic offsiding I see around, it might be a good idea. When I was coming back from seeing the little Herald* on Sunday there were some real clowns on the A41, and I had to tuck right in on a couple of left-handers (to me) to avoid prats apexing over the centre line in the other direction on the A41 near Whitchurch.
No idea why as the road was so busy with tracors etc as they could only get a clear run of a few hundred metres at a time.
*Herald arriving on Monday. The buyer of the C11 texted me to say he's had it running and was very pleased with it.
I like the Citroen black (grey) Maria. And as for 62 degrees - been 33 C here for a couple of days. Too hot for spannering.
28/05/2026 14:24:49 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Anybody seen these with the corresponding road markings to assist with positioning. They were a new one on us.
Upt.
27/05/2026 17:07:13 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
First day ride of the year, tick.
62f's and sunny, it'll do.
Upt and Er'Indoors.
27/05/2026 17:05:28 UTC
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