Third Seat Lucky and My Pussy

Whilst the BMW R1150GS may seem to be tall machine to the average Joe or Johanna, in practice for the long legged of us the footpeg to seat distance is quite modest and this causes cramps on long rides.  I have now had the standard seat modified twice by leading industry experts who have failed to provide a good seat that allows me  fore and aft movement whilst maintaining a good height.  This could be due to the limitations of the two piece saddle design.  As a final act before ditching the GS in favour of a V-Strom, I have raided the piggy bank and purchased an XXXhigh Touratech sports seat.

The Touratech sports seat (manufactured by Kahedo) and my washing drying.

Tomkins and I.

Tool of the Week

 

This prize goes to the angle grinder fitted with wire brush - removed paint, encrusted goat shit and a whole lot more from the GS engine protection bars within minutes.

Second prize goes to the wheelie bin, without which I would probably have lost a few limbs.

Birds Beasts and Relatives.

This is the title of a book by the late Gerald Durrell whose brother Lawrence also wrote in one way or another about Greece. Gerald spent his formative years in Corfu before WW2 where his curious and acquisitive nature lead him to collect all manner of wildlife.  He recounts his adventures in  books called My Family and Other Animals and the sequel Birds Beast and Relatives.  For many years these had been the only two books that I had read ( apart from 97 out of 98 Biggles books ).

This is the corpse of beast  no.1 found in  Mrs Nikos' kitchen sink - we gave it a christian burial.

This is beast no.2 taking residence on my motorcycle and shocking me considerably.  Mrs Nikos called it a grass hopper - I called it a ******* locust.

Beass no. 3: This is a fine example of οδηγημένη ψύλλος γάτα εστιατορίων

Beast no.4:  Goat - Camila sex it please - I am obviously incapable.

Now that I have finished with the beasts I intend to deal with the relatives and other strange or curious things  found in Greece this year:

The newest member of our family - Ginger el Greco, found abandoned 4 houses down the road.

Mrs Nikos aka αυτή που φορά το παντελόνι

  Next I would like to illustrate how confusion may easily set in whilst shopping in local supermarkets.

This is not meths.

This stuff has the same effect as meths if misused.

Essex  appears to be the number one brand of soap powder in Greece!

The crowing glory of this summer trip has to be the ability to produce shaky and poor quality video clips that are seemingly impossible to edit on my stone age equipment of journeys on Greek roads.  I have seen some very good advice shared by fellow bloggers and chose to do my own thing.

This is a flight deck ("cockpit" Camilla) view of the standard solid state video cam mounted on the mirror stem with those ball joint thingys.  The wire leads to the remote control....

....that is craftily mounted on the right hand mirror stem.  You don't get this superior functionality with Hero cams!

And finally a quiz.

Question 1:  What is the diameter of the drive shaft (to the nearest 0.2 mm) of this Yamaha micro Tenere?

Question 2: What in three words do these road signs found commonly on the verges of Greek roads near road side shrines signify?

That's all for now folks.

Rosinen Bombed Tour

The sweltering tropical weather over Wiesbaden broke just before I arrived back for the weekend, but by Sunday the thunderstorms had abated, the sun shone but with fresher air temperatures and we donned the protective clobber for our second tour of the Taunus. (The first tour has remain unblogged in deference  to the hapless bee that had flown up Mrs Nikos' jacket cuff and stung her on the arm somewhere near Dietz...)

On the way to Epstein - a typical Taunus vista.

Statues at Schlosshotel Rettershof.

Frankfurt cathedral surrounded by modern buildings - we arrived here due to roadworks  near Bad Homberg.

Clearly a large organ.

Riding next to the River Main.

The day is improving as on our quest for the Berlin Airlift memorial I spot on the map a village called Zeppelinheim.  Naturally the museum is closed.

The Berlin Airlift memorial - easy to see from the A5 autobahn but hard to find as it is appropriately sandwiched between the South main runway of Frankfurt airport, the A5 and a high speed rail link.  Access is by a footpath and bridge from Zeppelinheim.

The C54 "Rosinen Bomber".

The C47 "Dakota" with a glimpse of the autobahn sign in the near background.

A pair of Mrs Nikos' noteworthy rosinen bombs (recipe on application) redolent of a design by the late and great Barnes Wallis.

Things to do part 1

Image taken with intention of  submitting it to myshittygarage.com but gave up on the idea as it's not really a garage is it?

1) rewire day time running lights to switched ignition circuit ( to avoid draining battery)
2) refit fuel tank to proper position (note to self - let the mechanic change the fuel filter next time)
3) fit extended mirrors bought from nice man in the BMW Club and adjust angle of bars to bring mirrors into line of vision (tip from IAM examiner)
4) remove silly friction lock cruise control as it jams open with heated grip on (yikes.......but I survived)
5) add Nippy Norman's bargain side stand extended to avoid awful loping stance of machine when parked
6) check sat Nav mount powers properly (my dodgy wiring probably)
7) ride?
8) remove wind screen and fit Nikos designed flyscreen to avoid all that nasty noise and buffeting

The First Lights of Spring

You are all supposed to admire my new LED day time running lights. What's more she started first crank thanks to the new Odyssey battery. Northwich here we come.

Dilusions of Dakar

It's always a bit of an adventure buying a secondhand vehicle: Following the initial excitement of delivery little transgressions of confidence dribble out. Take this for instance, sand and two dead flies discovered in the air box. Has this bike been thrashed through the Sahara? Or maybe it's last owner went to Pendine sands on a speed trial? Stop worrying and just fit the new battery!

An Extraordinarily Large Overdraft is Born

At the flourish of a Visa card the average age of my bike fleet has been halved (almost).