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A Cave, A Gratin, And Tired
Andy is making his way back up through central France now. The day is uneventful save for the quiche that's not a quiche and the GS1250 is "having a moment".
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.
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Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Ian Soady¹ said :-
When I started working at my last job I had the option of either a lease car at - if I remember correctly - about £70 / month (1990s so a long time ago!) One of my colleagues spurned this offer and always went for 3-4 year old fairly high level cars - BMs, Mercs, Lexi (to quote Alan Partridge) etc. He reckoned with the 45p / mile allowance he was quids in. After some years I agreed with him but got it all slightly wrong by buying a Triumph Stag......
By getting cars a few years old he avoided depreciation which is by far the biggest cost. I'm not impressed at all by a PCP costing nearly £300 per month. That's £3,600 per year merely for the privilege of driving a "new" car. And you have to start again after the lease period is up. Plus the fact that if you exceed the contract mileage or get a little scratch on it you'll be stung.
I'll stick with my gently decaying Land Rover.
Regarding Crit'Air I have the appropriate sticker and in fact it's not nearly as onerous as you think. Unlike UK low emission zones, they tend to come into effect only at certain times so it's not too hard to avoid.
05/06/2026 16:52:37 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
My friend, now deceased, was a car dealer. Back in the 90's when I was valeting for him customers would come in with cash or a bank draft and purchase a used car. In the 20-teens I'd still drop in from time to time for a chat. What he said happened then was folks would arrive and say "I have £X00 pounds a month, what can I get for that?"
It's a different mindset.
Sharon's daughter has an income and no interest in spanners or grease. For say £250 per month on PCP she gets a new car every 3 years. On top of that is a "servicing scheme" for another - I dunno - £20 or £30 per month. As such she knows that for a reliable, clean car still under warranty it will cost here £280 per month. No stressing about blown head gaskets or an ECU throwing it's toys out of the pram. As long as it goes for it's service and she has any damage fixed then all is well and good in the world.
I get it, I really do. My bike now has 68,000 miles on the clock and is 8 years old. Something, somewhere, somehow will give up the ghost sooner or later, it's a ticking time bomb. I can fix things and replace things, that's all good and I enjoy doing that. What I do not enjoy is thinking "if this goes pop when I'm in France/Spain/The Highlands and enjoying my holiday that's going to rather spoil the fun".
In a perfect world I'd have a daily rider, old and rough around the edges, cheap to run and I'd use it to hack through winter. Then there'd be a pristine new bike complete with warranty that I know will be fine and if it ain't then there's going to be some warranty claims. I have very seriously considered PCP for the new bike as I could keep the miles down by using the hack most of the time. Thing is that's an expensive item to have for the 2-3 proper trips I can squeeze in each year.
The young folks of today have a different attitude borne from a different world that they now live in. Before modern technology a washboard and a mangle would last several generations and pass down through the family. Today your mobile phone is out of date by the time you purchase it and entirely dysfunctional after 5 years because the internet and tech has changed completely.
Your car is already heading the same way. For example many cities globally no longer allow "old" vehicles into the centre of town! France already has this - I was trying to understand the "Crit-Air" thingy. So what's the point of BUYING a car to last 15 years when things are changing so ridiculously fast? Before you know it another law will come in, a new tech will emerge, or a new tax will bite you in the behind. Think short term, think what do I need today - because tomorrow is WAY WAY WAY less certain than it used to be.
05/06/2026 14:04:55 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I'm lucky with the car as my local independent garage is run by a bloke in his 40s who is very competent. The sort who will change a bulb on MoT for the cost of the bulb. At the last look his labour rate was £80/hour which would soon mount up if anything extensive was needed.
Speaking of B&C there's another series which I occasionally remember to record where 2 blokes have given up their jobs to fix up old cars. They call it a success when they make £1,000 after a week's worth of work for the pair of them. Really? That's only £500 a week each - barely minimum wage. And that's before you cost in rental of their fully equipped workshop which must be at least £100 / week. Someone's not being honest. How odd for a TV programme......
05/06/2026 13:31:49 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The PCP was a question rather than a fact Ian, just makes you think when a new set of brakes alone can cost a lot of money. Fine like you say if you're willing to get grubby, but not many are. Changing those 3 bulbs yesterday was probably around 2 hours of labour, what would that cost at Newcastle Suzuki? I'm guessing £250.00 plus.
Your point on B and C is the same point I was making about bodywork. Thinking, I think Er'Indoors motor was probably due about 25 to 30 hours of bodywork plus parts. That's got to be £4k plus on a car worth £3k tops. It could have been a lot more hours too once you go down that warren hole of cash. Unfortunately I don't have the skills or space or equipment to carry out such extensive repairs, now go back to the original point of who'll fix the vehicles of today, have you seen the age of mechanics lately. Most independents are ageing quick and all the kids are in swanky franchised workshops plugging cars in to talk to Munich, Beijing or Tokyo.
05/06/2026 13:00:04 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I occasionally watch said programme - or at least its offshoot - and am always huegly amused when they spend £X on a car / bike, spend 2-3X on restoring it then sell it on for maybe X+10%. And seem pleased when they "only" lose £10k or so! I don't know who pays for the shenanigans but making TV programmes must be more lucrative than fixing old bangers.
At a minimum of £80 / hour paying people to fix vehicles is very expensive. I'm happy with my 15 year old LR Freelander - although it's a bit excessive now we no longer have the caravan - but it needs little other than servicing and consumables. A couple of door locks is all I can remember needing in 6 years. As for bikes I would never dream of letting anyone else touch them.
I can't quite see how PCP can be cheaper as someone must be making money somewhere.
05/06/2026 12:05:39 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Nidger, anything new will be too expensive or too difficult to repair. I think 10 years will be the useful life of most wheeled contrivances, after that run them until they die. Skip. Repeat.
This just made me realise my bike is 9 years old, how did that happen? It's entering it's run it and wait for caboom period.
Again back to man maths, if you don't do your own spannering isn't it just cheaper to PCP your way through vehicle ownership? I'm not saying it is, but tyres, exhausts, brakes, clutches etc aren't cheap. One reason we swapped Er'Indoors motor is that the bodywork was getting tatty, I didn't get a quote for the repairs which would have been considerable but does anyone except the mechanics on "Bangers and Cash" actually do this stuff anymore?
Upt and ponderin.
05/06/2026 11:01:25 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
nab301 said :-
Ren, I don't think it's just Chinese brands , forgetting chassis/ suspension parts modern cars for example can have up to 30 modules /computers and complex wiring harnesses which I can't see being available later in the life of the vehicle if required .
A friend of mine has a GS550 Suzuki which I just realised is nearly fifty years old and running well, I won't be around to see but will any of the current crop of bikes be around in Fifty years time?
Nigel
04/06/2026 16:06:34 UTC
A Cave, A Gratin, And Tired
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Yes indeed. Very impressive.
04/06/2026 09:57:35 UTC
A Cave, A Gratin, And Tired
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
That's a blummin huge hole in the rock that. I'm guessing the road goes through it?
04/06/2026 08:26:18 UTC
Honley Venturer RX-3 First Look
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I googled Honley nab301 - according to the government records the business was wrapped up in 2022. It was my understanding the company were bringing in branded chinese bikes as I have seen the same bike with a different name on it. I can only guess that it somehow didn't work out I'm afraid.
And this is what concerns me with the Chinese brands. Imagine Company X is making a bike, a perfectly good motorcycle. They're selling it to anyone and everyone who then rebrands the bike as a Mutt, a Honley, a Benelli, a Keeway, a Hero, a QJ, an ABC and a XYZ... This muddies the water. One brand goes bust leaving shops with end of line stock. Another messes up their customer service and parts.
If it were sold as "Company X" we would become familiar with the brand and in time grow to trust the brand. It is obvious the Chinese (and Indians etc etc etc) are clearly not stupid and I suspect we'll see a reduction and convergence of the multitude of brands into a few strong and eventually trusted brands.
04/06/2026 08:25:22 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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Upt'North ¹ said :-
Rod, my point above.
Who will have the knowledge to fix these things?
Mechanics change parts these days, or entire assemblies, paints shops are only interested in Insurance work.
05/06/2026 11:04:15 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
The good old days may not be as good as we seem to think they were, but an average home mechanic could sort these problems out without worrying about confusing the can bus system or frying the ECU.
05/06/2026 10:33:59 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I was thinking "eeee wen i wur a lad it wur ded eezy". But then I recall the headlamp in a bowl things from back in the day (ie bates style).
First off you'd be fighting the (probably JIS) crosshead screws that would always be corroded and have mangled heads. Once you'd removed them with pliers and a hammer the headlight wouldn't just come out the bowl, it'd pop out under the immense pressure of 47 miles of wiring and 224 block connectors stuffed in there. If you were lucky the three wires connected to the H4 would prevent the headlamp crashing and smashing on the floor. Changing the bulb at this point was a doddle. However getting the 47 miles of wiring and 224 block connectors stuffed back into the tiny bowl was another thing entirely. Once you did this you'd search the nuts and bolts drawer but end up replacing the mangled screws back into the bowl-cum-headlight. Ignition on - now your dip beam no longer works, when you indicate left your brake light flashes and right - the starter motor clicks, and there's a smell of burning plastic from the wire you've trapped between the bowl and the headlamp.
Yeah, the good old day's weren't quite as good as we seem to think they were.
04/06/2026 22:17:50 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The H4's on the Pan would normally fail on a long trip, at least one dipped beam, maybe two. The manual adjuster was a godsend to lower the beam so I could use the mains. Folks said there was something up with the wiring/alternator etc but I checked it all out and found nowt. On switching to Osram Longlife jobbies it was cured.
Upt.
04/06/2026 21:11:10 UTC
nab301 said :-
My DL 250 single headlight is considerably easier than that but the worst bike of all is my CB125F , front and rear bulb require some fiddly stripping .
I sure you'll be fine now with long life bulbs ,(was it the older model that had stator failure issues ?) they really do make a difference on cars and more so commercial vehicles. I've always found H4 bulbs were fine but the likes of H7 / H9 needed regular replacement.
Nigel
04/06/2026 18:26:51 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I know many cars are the same but roadside changes are sometimes a thing of the good'ol days. Although the lights were yellow and didn't actually illuminate anything. I seem to remember Cibie did a replacement unit in't day.
I've got no experience of the Bosch replacements so fingers crossed.
04/06/2026 16:27:30 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
So much plastic!
04/06/2026 16:23:40 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The good news is the lights work and all back together. One broken/lost plastic fastener. I'll take it.
Pffffffftttttt. Upt.
04/06/2026 16:22:02 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
If we head for the tunnel of excitement Ed there will be a stop. The last time we rode North from France to Wooler we stopped in Cambridgeshire....Elton I think. When we went from Portsmouth we stopped in Leicestershire on the way down. My brothers is an option in Derbyshire. But it's family innit!
We have ridden from Staffordshire to Northern France in a day, it's doable but a bit of a jaunt for two ageing two wheelers.
Changing the headlight bulbs in the STrom today, blummin nightmare. Decided it's better done in the garage than at the side of the road somewhere. Long life Bosch replacements going in. Now where does that screw go?
Upt and looking despairingly at a lot of bits of Suzuki.
04/06/2026 13:24:18 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It's a drag down to that there "daaan saaaf" from Manchester Up't so it'll be a real drag from Wooler! Her Ladyship and myself will be making that drag in the not too distant future - but after that we'll be barely covering 200 miles let alone 1,000.
May I recommend doing what we're doing? Rather than going to "daaan saaaf" in one long dull wet cold miserable day - do it over a couple of days. That way you can extend the misery! Sorry - I mean that way you can have a nice break on the way down and on the way back - thereby breaking the misery into 2 less miserable days.
04/06/2026 08:31:02 UTC
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