Well I finally put some real milage on the bike , 2500-3000 miles aprox in ten days and funnily enough it was quite comfortable just a bit short on tank range, but 150 miles from two and a half gallons isnt to bad
Set of for Dover Wednesday night and made the Dartford tunnel/crossing in good time and no rain ,but the M2-A2 was a nightmare , Torential rain and many parts unlit which was where I had my first major scare of the trip hitting standing water in the pitch dark at 80 ish mph The force of water ripped both feet from the pegs and according to my mate following on his Blackbird the Ducati did some quite interesting gyrations trying to stay upright , Decided to cool the pace after that
No problems on the ferry and landed in Calais at 04:50 french time , It was dark,raining and they drive on the wrong side of the road and to top it all my mate is adamant that he,s not going anywhere near Paris even though I point out that it will add miles to the journey So we spend the next 14 hours criss crossing France heading in the general direction of Limousin and eventually reach the Haute-Vienne and the little hamlet of Tersanne where we are staying at 7:30ish in the evening ,To say we are tired would be an understatement , with the ride down to Dover taking roughly 6 and a half hours plus the waiting to get on the ferry , the crossing and the scenic ride through France we had been on the road nearly 24 hours Yes you can fall asleep on a moving motorcycle and no I don't recomend it.
the next eight days were spent touring round Haute-Vienne though unfortunately I had to take things easy as my mates wife plus my wife and kids had flown down and hired a car , it didnt mean I couldnt hare off at every oportunity though and my mate found out why I ride a Ducati and not a Honda .
Large capacity V twin with bags of low down grunt , light weight and exceptional chassis + twisty and well surfaced French roads versus overweight and over powered jap four = the italian thoroughbred disapearing into the distance Though I suppose it was no contest really as it was a sports bike versus a sports tourer .
The ride home took a more exceptable 16 hours but being stopped by a French radar trap after overtaking a stream of traffic whilst doing 120+mph nearly gave me cardiac arrest I was desperately trying to think what the French was for "Do you take Visa ?" when the rather attractive lady officer gave me a big grin indicated i should slow down and sent me on my way
French antics
Moderator: Trig
I have to be honest here and admit to braking down onceJase wrote: A Duke in the rain..... thats unheard of !!!
Had to wait in traffic for the car to keep up and noticed my radiator temp was pushing past 100c ,As the bike is fitted with the later 888 engine but still has the smaller 851 radiator fitted I have a manual switch for the fan , flicked the switch and nothing looked across to my mate to tell him I had to pull over and a coolant pipe let go steam everywhere and a scolded leg but fortunately the pipe had blown off rather than split and we where within 12 foot of a garage so only took 30 mins to fix (Full fairing to remove etc) On the plus side the wifes went on ahead so the ride back was head down and nail the throttle
get yourself sorted and buy a DukeClass-- wrote: gah all i feel right now is severe jealousy
One day mate i will finally get a decent bike and have a good blast with u
Class
<a href="http://www.ducati-upnorth.com" target="_blank">http://www.ducati-upnorth.com</a> have quite a few members up your way and I may possibly be up that way in the next few weeks for the September rideout on the 17th.