Many of us have spent time in the Picos Mountains in Northern Spain this summer – and you can see why!
If you haven’t, it may be time to consider them, 24hr ferry to Spain, stunning scenery and fantastic roads.
Photos: Andy Sellers, Jane & Alan Bradford, Kathy Drogemuller, Simon Daniels, Salli G
Motorcyclists, on average, own more than one motorcycle. Only truly hardcore automotive enthusiasts own more than one car, the financial and logistical constraints of the format conspiring to ensure that even most performance-oriented cars need to be able to function as someone’s only mode of practical transport. Motorcycles don’t have that problem.
Today, it’s possible to have a garage full of bikes that have dramatically different operational envelopes. But what came first, the chicken or the egg? Do we need multiple motorcycles because each one is only good at one thing? Or is it the other way around, and brands are only able to thrive while selling specialised hardware precisely because they know you have other bikes for other purposes?
There are dirt bikes for exploring byways; sportsbikes for clipping apexes at trackdays; naked roadsters for B-road blasts; big tourers for nipping to the Black Forest for a long weekend in comfort; and even long, low cruisers for rolling up at your favourite biker cafe in style. In truth, I could spend the rest of this article just listing the many genres and applications of motorcycles, and still have someone email me a list of those I’d missed.
And yet, even if you have the means to stock your garage with diverse choices, there’s a purity to doing it all on just one bike. There have been several times in my riding career when the question of which bike to ride was moot, and it’s always liberating. No worries about whether I’ve brought the wrong bike for a particular ride or trip, no nagging concern that I might’ve had more fun on one of my other motorcycles. It was a bike ride, I rode my bike. Simple.
Insurance, tax and MOTs all need paying for regardless of how the mileage is divided up, and the reality is that you can only sit in one saddle at a time. Sure, there are practical benefits to sharing the load – if one bike is off the road for repairs or maintenance it’s handy to have a backup. Although it must be said that this argument breaks down if, like me, you aim for your fleet to have as little overlap as possible. If your sporty bike gets a puncture the day before a trackday you can’t exactly shrug and take your cruiser instead.
And yet, I’m increasingly convinced that one bike can do it all. Twenty years ago the only way to get good brakes, suspension and decent power was to grit your teeth and clamber aboard a dedicated sportsbike – comfort and practicality be damned. They were the flagships, and everything else was compromised in some way – and so people compromised on luggage and comfort instead. But these days the most expensive bikes in the showroom stand tall on their dirt-styled tyres, glowering down at lesser bikes with their array of LED spotlights. Adventure Bikes can do now everything as well, or better, than everything else in the showroom.
20 years ago, top-flight sportsbikes were the only way to get good performance.
Touring, trackdays & commuting – there’s a certain simplicity to doing it all on one bike.
Upside-down cartridge forks and radial brakes, but also two-up comfort and luggage?
Comfort? Check – Adventure Bikes, or Adventure Tourers as some variants are labelled, are designed to soak up big miles with ease. Performance? Check – the top-flight models from the European manufacturers use big engines to put out more torque and power than can be usefully employed anywhere outside a racetrack. Brakes and suspension are not only better quality than race bikes from just a few years ago, they manage the trick of enabling these big beasts to out-handle dedicated performance machines on the bumpiest of neglected British roads.
Want tech? Sportsbikes are the ones playing catch-up these days, with the slickest TFT screens, automated electronic suspension and riding aids going to the Adventure Bikes first. And finally, luggage; beefy subframes and fashionable yet functional top-loading panniers mean that the dedicated touring motorcycle has all but died out, with only BMW and Honda offering a grand total of three models between them in the UK. I know that there’s a little more choice in North American markets, but in Europe, the Adventure Bike has completely taken over.
And honestly, I’m just as guilty of contributing to this state of affairs. I bought a V-Strom 650, modified it to suit and then spent 75,000 miles riding it in all conditions, on all surfaces, in every type of terrain and weather, across borders, on road, track and beyond, with and without luggage and passenger. And during my adventures, did I ever think that another bike might have been better at performing the task at hand, might have made a trip, ride or other biking experience that much more enjoyable? Sure – but only for one small part of the journey. You see, unless you do all your riding within a few miles of your house, you’re going to put down some miles travelling to the good roads, or the racetrack, or the trailhead. And while a sportsbike will be slightly more fun when you’re actually knee-down at Mallory Park, there’s a reason why hardcore track-rats cart their bikes around in vans. Carving up mountain passes is indeed more rewarding on my Street Triple than it is on my V-Strom, but only just. And the V-Strom will make the journey there far easier and more enjoyable, with better wind protection, as well as easier-to-use, more spacious and more secure luggage.
Dedicated touring bikes still exist, but adventure bikes have largely made them redundant.
With bumpy roads, variable weather and lots to carry, would they have been better off on ADVs
After several days of re-packing and re-strapping my tailpack, I really started to miss my topbox.
This point was driven home by me earlier this year across two separate trips – one 7-day blast across the Swiss Alps, and another shorter loop around the Scottish North Coast 500 – both undertaken by myself and a friend on our trusty Street Triples. We both had an absolute blast, but after long days in the saddles we realised that we would’ve given up very little in terms of cornering enjoyment if we’d been riding middleweight Adventure Bikes instead.
500 miles along French motorways was a trial to be overcome. Squeezing clothes and toiletries into tiny tailpacks was a daily frustration. The bumpy roads of the highlands knackered our wrists and short fuel ranges were a constant gnawing concern. Sure, you may want to stop every 100 miles, but you can’t always find an open petrol station in many of the most interesting parts of Europe, never mind beyond! When the rain arrived, I missed my V-Strom’s windshield, fairing and handguards. And while oiling my chain would’ve been easier with the V-Strom’s centrestand. Many adventure bikes solve the problem entirely with shaft-driven rear wheels.
A BMW R1250GS is lighter and more nimble than it’s fully-faired RT cousin, has better wind protection than the naked R and will be far more comfortable during the long motorway stretches than the RS. An S1000RR has more power and weighs less than an S1000XR, but which one would you rather take for a long ride through the Pyrenees? Which one would your pillion prefer? Naked bikes, sportsbikes, retro roadsters – they all look great and perform brilliantly when the conditions are magazine-photo-perfect, but at any other part of the trip you’ll want something a little less single-minded.
Twenty years ago the compromises would have been huge. I would have had to sacrifice a massive amount of engine, handling and braking performance to get my desired level of comfort and practicality. Not any more. And there will certainly be those of you who see the pain and discomfort of using a more focused device as a badge of honour and pride, and I certainly understand that. There are those amongst you for whom any compromise will be one too many. My brother maintains that he’ll never give up the front-end feel he enjoys from his sportsbike, and his wife seems perfectly happy to tour from that tiny back seat. That said, it’s funny how he’s putting far more miles on his CCM GP450 these days…
And so, as always, it comes down to personal preference. I’m not going to be thinning my personal fleet just yet, nor stop adding more specialised bikes to the garage to fill ever-smaller niches. I’m fortunate enough to able to afford to keep multiple motorcycles, even if the annual mileages on my more focused vehicles is dwarfed by that of my Adventure Bike. And if you only have the resources or the space to keep a single motorcycle in your garage, then why not pick one that is a jack of all trades, while also managing the impressive trick of damn near mastering them all?
“Call that an adventure bike? This is an adventure bike!”
Nick Tasker
First published in Slipstream November 2019
Roger was a regular at 7Ws
40 winks in the bar at the Commodore.
We recently saw the loss of one of our long standing members, Roger Hatch.
Roger passed away on 6 August 2019 at the age of 74.
He had been a member of TVAM for 14 years and had passed his advanced test in 2007. I met Roger back in 1977 when I worked with him at Slough College Management Faculty for a year or so, where he maintained all the audio visual equipment whilst I covered all the graphics requirements. He was always quite a character. He will be missed.
Editor
First published in Slipstream October 2019
Until a few years ago, I had absolutely no interest in bikes. My only experience was riding my Dad’s old Puch Maxi 50cc moped just to get me to and from college for a year. Once I’d passed my driving test, I never gave bikes a second thought. I preferred riding horses!
Fast forward to 2012, my husband Ian announced, out of the blue, that he wanted a bike and would take his test again. Mid-life crisis I called it. He had ridden bikes as a teenager, a 125, then an RD250 at 17 but once he’d got a car, he sold it and never got another one. In March 2012 he booked himself on a 1-week DAS course. The day after he passed, he went over to Aylesbury to pick up his Honda CBF600 SA. I was persuaded to jump on the back one Summer’s evening and reluctantly agreed. I absolutely hated it, way too fast and I felt vulnerable and not in control – never again! Until a year later when he changed to a Triumph Sprint, this time it was more comfortable, but I still wasn’t convinced.
As a keen cyclist, Ian was interested in marshalling at cycling events and one of his friends from Reading Cycling Club said he would need to do the advanced test so suggested joining TVAM. By Spring 2014, after chopping in the Truimph Sprint for a Triumph Explorer 1200, he joined TVAM. I rode pillion a couple of times on the Explorer and found it pretty comfy. That summer for my 50th birthday, I agreed to a weekend away on the bike to Hay-on-Wye. I was nervous but we had a great time. Later that year, Ian passed his advanced test.
In early 2015 we found out about a trip to France for 1 day, a ‘French Taster’. It was one night in Calais and a day’s riding on some French roads. Good for those who had never biked abroad. We had a great time despite the appalling weather. Strangely, it didn’t put me off and a couple of months later we went on another french trip to Normandy with some more TVAM members. I’d always wanted to see the beaches and the WW2 sites. I was actually beginning to enjoy this biking lark! We did the pillion riding course which was really useful and informative. Looking back, I think the people we’d met helped make these trips so enjoyable as well as some lovely roads.
We began to visit Wales a couple of times a year where the roads are just fantastic! Ian had been on his first 7Ws so we rode some of those amazing roads in mid Wales. I started to tag along to some of the Green team runs and some of the other group runs. I had got used to the marker system and buddy system after a few rides, but at this point, whilst I had become accustomed to riding pillion, I still had no desire to ride myself.
In September 2016, we went to the Picos de Europa national park in Spain with some other TVAM members. I absolutely loved it! The roads and scenery were fabulous, we were with a great bunch of people and we all got along well and had some laughs (and a few gins!) along the way. On my return, I decided to bite the bullet and get some bike lessons. So, in October 2016, I booked a taster session with Lightning Training in Caversham. I got on one of their CB125s and rode it around the car park for a bit getting used to the gears and brakes. Despite driving for over 30 years, riding a geared bike didn’t feel natural at all, however, I enjoyed it, so I did my CBT training the following week. I spent the first half of the day around the car park getting up into 2nd gear and practising emergency brakes and U-turns. I got my certificate at the end of the day, really pleased with myself – not bad for a 52 year old!
I was keen to do my Direct Access quite quickly – I wanted to get it done and dusted in a week, like Ian had before – so, I booked a ‘Roadrider’ day for the following week to get some more road experience. I had to go to the Lightning’s Oxford centre as Reading was fully booked. I rode the CB125 again around Oxford City centre, which was very challenging – bicycles and buses everywhere. We rode a couple of times between their Oxford and Reading centres to pickup and drop off the bikes, and as we did I was becoming more used to the bike’s controls.
I booked my MOD 1 training for the following week with Lightning, again. I spent all day in their training pad on a knackered old Suzuki Gladius. I was a bit peeved as they had some newish CB650s but they thought they were a bit tall for me. I had a fairly good first half of the day, then I dropped the bike on a U turn ending up with a massive bruise on my leg. It knocked my confidence and they decided not to let me out on the road that day so I was a bit deflated and decided I wasn’t ready for the test. I had bought myself a CB125 but found it a bit small so I got myself a 2007 Honda Varadero 125, which was perfect for me. It was a bit taller and didn’t feel like a 125 in size. It was a great practice bike and I went out a few times on it just getting used to gears, brakes and turning. I kept it for a year, until I got bored of trying to keep up with Ian on his Triumph Explorer.
In 2017, going pillion again, we went on our own to France for a ten-day tour, then again to the Picos in the September. When I got back from Spain, I decided I was ready for my big bike test. I had heard about BMW’s Rookie to Rider training through another TVAM member, so I made some enquiries and in October 2017, almost a year to the day of passing my CBT, I booked myself on a 5-day training course up at their centre in Royston, Hertfordshire. The process was pretty easy and they even recommended a local B&B. It turned out that the lady owner had recently passed her DAS with them the summer before and couldn’t recommend them enough. The best thing of all was I got to learn on a new F700 GS!
On the Sunday morning, I arrived at the training centre in Royston around 9am having travelled up the day before. Over a couple of cups of tea, I filled in all the paperwork and then we had a briefing in the classroom with the other students. I immediately opted to start on the 700 rather than the 125. We did a couple of hours or so around their training pad just so they could see our level of riding, then we went out into the countryside, stopping in the popular biking village of Finchingfield. As I reverse parked, my foot slipped on loose gravel and the bike went over – couldn’t have happened in a worse place in front of all those Sunday bikers! Anyhow, I brushed myself down and carried on after a quick cuppa. Apart from that slight hiccup, we had a cracking day’s riding, even getting in some twisties. I couldn’t wait for day two.
Day two was MOD1 training day. Lots more in the training pad, mastering the slaloms, figures of 8 and lots of U-turns. I managed to drop the bike a couple of times doing U-turns but carried on, determined to master this manoeuvre. We did lots of road riding in the afternoon.
Day 3 was more MOD1 and MOD2 training and we got to practise in the actual DAS test enclosure before the test. I dropped the bike AGAIN on the U-turn. At least it was a practice and not the real thing. I was beginning to doubt my U-turn abilities. Everything else was spot on. .
Day 4 was the MOD1 test. I was nervous and didn’t sleep much the night before. After some more practice in the training pad we headed off over to the test centre just outside Cambridge. There were 2 of us and I went first. I failed! I was gutted and so was Julie, my trainer. I’d done a near perfect test with just that one fault. I’d wobbled over the white line on the U-turn. I did the actual U-turn OK but going over that line was a fail! How frustrating, the other chap passed.
I decided to save day 5 for another time and upon my return home, I spent days on my 125 practising. I had to wait 3 weeks for a re-test, thankfully passing MOD1 the second time and immediately booked my MOD2 test for the following week. I passed with just 3 minors. I was over the moon!
While I was away, Ian had sent me a picture of a 2013 BMW F700GS, the same as I’d been training on at Royston which was for sale in Christchurch. So, the day after I passed, I removed my L plates from my 125 and rode it down to Christchurch on a rainy November day to view the BMW. I picked my new bike the following week, riding home on my own BMW700GS. Happy days! Stopping in Lyndhurst for lunch on the way home, I stalled and dropped my new bike in the car park. I’d only had it five minutes! The throttle was sticking a bit, but I had to ride it home like that in the rain and it was getting dark! I rode quite a bit during the winter months and decided to wait until the Spring before joining TVAM and eventually joined as an Associate in April 2018. Since then, I’ve had over 30 observed rides some good and some not so good but my scores were coming down and my riding improving. I was struggling with cornering, particularly right-hand bends not looking round enough and keeping to the left. I practised these a lot and went on the 7Ws last October plus the Look, Lean and Roll course this year which both helped my riding, cornering and overall confidence immensely. It all started to fall into place.
Finally, on August 1st 2019, I took my Advanced Test and got a F1RST! I am absolutely chuffed to bits. Looking back, it took longer than I would have liked, but I’ve learnt so much in that time, especially as I’ve only been riding a bike just under 3 years. Of course, there’s always room for improvement and I see this as a continuing learning curve with each ride. I cannot thank Observers enough for their support. Steve, my Observer, for encouraging me and getting me through this process. I’m not the easiest of students. Plus, of course Ian, for putting up with me along the way. It’s been quite a journey.
Riding a bike has opened up a whole new world. I’ve been on roads I never knew existed in this country, seen stunning scenery and ridden amazing roads in the UK and through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Spain. I’ve met some fabulous people along the way in TVAM, alll of whom have been so friendly and encouraging throughout my journey. Too many names to mention, but you know who you are.
Looking forward to new adventures and hopefully a new bike in the near future.
Julie Colville
First published in Slipstream October 2019
Changing the framework of your mind!
Elspeth Beard, you may have come to see her at the TVAM Seminar on 19th June – nearly 100 members did. Describing her as a remarkable lady is never going to do her justice! If you missed it, you missed a great opportunity.
In 1982, at just 23 years of age and training as an architect, Elspeth decided to go around the world solo on her motorcycle! At this time there were no credit cards, mobile phones, no Sat Navs, no internet and little in the way of global communication – do you remember the telex machine? She was the first woman to embark on such a journey and when she left she had little idea of what lay ahead.
She spoke with great humility about her travels having survived some horrendous accidents, travelled through some very unsavoury countries, fended off sexual advances and fallen in love twice. She worked at various places and saved money to enable the next part of her journey. Camping for much of the journey Elspeth rode across the United States to Los Angeles, crossing to New Zealand, stopping in Australia, then on to Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, India, Iran, Turkey and back home. En route, she looked after her own BMW R60/6 with the help of a Haynes manual and religiously carried out the maintenance.
Her story was told with honesty and wit and is an inspiration for all motorcyclists. In all, Elspeth covered 35,000 miles over two and a half years but when she returned her story went unheard. It wasn’t until 2008 that a freelance journalist heard about her adventure and wrote about it.
Slowly her story emerged and in 2014 Elspeth finally decided to write her book ‘Lone Rider’. Fast forward 5 years and there is now talk about wanting to make a film about her. What a fantastic end to a story that continues to inspire so many – what an amazing lady!
In Elspeth’s words, ‘There are always excuses not to do something and never the right time to make a start, so just do it!’
David Naylor
First published in Slipstream October 2019
I’ve just got back from the last IAM Track Skills Day of the year which was held at Thruxton. It was a great day with most of the riders present being TVAM members taking the opportunity to brush-up their cornering skills on the lovely flowing, grippy track and to explore parts of their tyres not normally in contact with tarmac.
This was the first year I’ve instructed for these events throughout the season, meaning I saw around 450 riders go through the process from track familiarisation to independent riding under supervision over the 6 sessions on track. With a focus on accuracy and smoothness the progression of exercises encourages riders to experiment with braking harder than you would on the road, just to see how quickly our bikes can slow, to maintaining positive throttle through corners and accelerating away. The day isn’t about speed but smiles – and there was lots of those around yesterday despite rain in the afternoon sessions.
Demand for these special skills days has been growing over the past few years as the IAM recognises there is a demand for events using the safe environment of a race track but which aren’t out-and-out track days with screaming 600’s and 1 litre bikes ridden by power-ranger clad racers going for a lap time. Dates are already being negotiated with circuits for 2020 and these will go on sale from the first day of Motorcycle Live 2019 in Birmingham on 16th November. Whilst we will continue to organise our own TVAM days at Castle Combe if you want to ride Thruxton you will need to book these early through IAM RoadSmart as the track’s owners will only deal with them. As more details become available we’ll push a note out on the ‘all-members’ Club groups.io forum.
Just occasionally one of our number distinguishes themselves through quiet perseverance and by ‘just getting on with the job’ of training riders to be safer on our busy roads. Every month we recognise our Observers who have successfully guided another Associate through their Advanced Test. One of our Observers though has now decided it’s time to hang up his gold badge having moved to Poole and bought a boat. With 48 test passes and having been an active club member for many years (decades) quite a few know Colin Wheeler for his sense of humour, fun, and healthy scepticism for bureaucracy. I understand Colin will be at St Crispin’s this Sunday and I’m sure we will all want to wish him well for the future.
Andy Slater
Chairman