Guzzirider

I recently bought myself and Helen the new Blueant interphone- we tested it in Scotland last week and it works well. Basically you clip it to the side of your helmet, then it allows you bike to bike intercom using bluetooth technology. Talk time is 10 hours per battery charge and it works up to 150m. Its very clear, with wind noise only occuring over 80mph. Handy for communicating I need a piss / petrol / rest etc without having to wave madly and make hand signals. The best thing is that there no wires and walky talkies like most other intercoms. You can also use it to answer your mobile phone, but I'm not keen on that and my mobile stays off while I ride. Will also use the interphone to listen to my Garmin Zumo 550 which arrived this morning- I can listen to directions or music from the MP3 player. I'm turning into a right techy nerd.

This place? Borders Bikes

Glad you made it back safely and had a good time Jaap! It was a pleasure to meet you! Cheers Guy

Give me a Chicken Madras, 7 pints of Kingfisher and a match and I'll beat that!

On the road I crashed my Jackal on, there was a road sign saying beware flying black motorcycles- how apt!

Is Gary boasting about his girth???

No worries Chris- I still had a great weekend despite the fall! Hope your eyes are better. As for the Inn, the lady I booked with sounded very nice over the phone too! A suggestion for next year is the Ken Bridge Hotel in New Galloway- a hotel / campsite set near alongside river Ken. The landlord is biker friendly and keen to host a bash, and the roads around there are superb. Jaap may be staying there today! Cheers Guy

My Ohlins were like that from new- just a couple of clicks of extra compression on the front sorted it nicely. Careful when playing with the Ohlins settings- just one click makes a lot of difference on the both the front and rear adjusters. Guy

A memorable trip in many ways! Helen and I had a great trip up to Moffat on Thursday night and stayed dry despite the rainy forecast. Met Mal at the Annandale Arms hotel, and in the morning set off up to the Highlands in heavy rain and blustery winds. The weather cleared when we got to Glasgow, so we decided to take the scenic A82 up the side of Loch Lomond and through Fort William. Stayed dry for most of the way, with the occasional light shower and we got up to the Aultguish Inn late afternoon. Well, I'll say no more about that place apart from the fact that I think the owner will go out of business very soon, because nobody will ever go back there. Had a great ride East on the Saturday with Helen, Mal, Euan (Macguzzi), Jaap and David (BFG). That is until I went down the road on my arse! Euan led us on some great roads east of the A9, very scenic and largely empty. Just a few miles short of our destination, myself and my Jackal parted company when I braked a little too hard on a wet gravelly road. I guess I was doing about 20mph at the time which does not sound like much but I assure you it is when you go down. It all happened so fast- one second I was upright, the next I was bouncing on the asphalt, and my bike was sliding down the road about 25 feet in front of me. I went down on my right hand side, whacking my head on the ground as I fell. I was quickly up on my feet, grateful to still be in one piece. I assumed the bike would be a write off as it had slid so far. Helen had seen me go down in her mirrors and had stopped, then some passing riders stopped to help and when we lifted the bike up, miraculously there was only some cosmetic damage and the bike was still straight and rideable. The front crashbar and hard luggage had taken the impact and the slide, the pannier popping off eventually (but staying in one piece!). I had a cracked mirror, bent footrest and brake pedal, scuffed the silencer, pannier and screen- and that was basically it! If I had been on my V11 I believe the damage would have been much more. BFG kindly rode back to see where we had disappeared to, but unfortunately his bike blew over in the wind, breaking his front brake lever and also snapping his foot brake lever. My last spill on a bike was in 1987 when I was 19, and I have ridden over 200k miles since then without falling off, so I guess a fall was due sometime, but I am still embarrassed about the circumstances and the silly mistake I made. My Roof helmet is going into the bin, as is my gore tex jacket. The back, shoulder and elbow armour saved me from more serious injury but the gore tex material wore down to the inside lining- it's warm and waterproof but does not protect as well as leather, and if I was going any faster I guess I would have got some serious road rash. We limped to the Spittal Of Glenshee Inn for repairs (BFG did a fanstastic bodge on his footbrake) and booked ourselves into a bunkhouse. The hospitality, and standard of accomodation put the Aultguish Inn to shame and we all enjoyed a few drinks. Had an uneventful ride home today- I was a wee bit sore, but the sun was shining and the route we took (through the borders and Northumberland) was great. We left David and Jaap who headed west together (hope you enjoyed your extra days in Scotland Jaap!), and Euan left us in Edinburgh. Guy Some piccies: A good turnout- shame about the Inn: Brian Johnson from AC/DC siging autographs BFG destroying his power to weight ratio with a very large burger Helen at the Annadale Arms Saturday's ride Euan's Scura Mal's naked Le Mans Helen's V11 Sport Jaap's naked Le Mans (and nice lid!) An hour lafter this was taken it had a few more scratches Thank you for saving my head!

Yes I think so- plus I have done the Fort William route many times and fancy a change! The A9 goes on forever and even though it is scenic, it's nowhere as wild as some of the roads out west but it will get us up there quicker, then we can go play in the twisties! Who is up for some dolphin watching on the Black Isle when we get up there? Really spectacular, and they come right to the shore. Only 40 mins ride from where we will be based.

I've already expressed my interest on the other forum! Would be great to see some of our European friends enjoying a British track with us. Guy

I'm guessing these forks will fit a V11- and they come with ace brakes. May be worth considering if you can get 'em cheap enough, especially if you have had a front end smash or just want to upgrade. RSVR forks on Ebay

And here is a Scottish themed joke to get us all in the mood: Teacher: "Good morning children, each Thursday we're going to have a general knowledge quiz. The pupil who gets the answer right can have Friday and Monday off and not come back to school until Tuesday." Wee Jock (a typical Scottish twang) thinks, "Ya beautie. Ah'm pure brilliant at ma general knowledge stuff. This is gonnae be a dawdle, come ahead ya radge, a lang weekend fir me." Teacher: "Right class , who can tell me who said: 'Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?' Wee Jock shoots up his hand, waving furiously in the air. Teacher looking round picks Jeremy at the front. Teacher: Yes, Jeremy." Jeremy (in a very English accent): "Yes miss, the answer is J F Kennedy - inauguration speech 1960." Teacher: "Very good Jeremy. You may stay off Friday and Monday and we will see you back in class on Tuesday." The next Thursday comes around, and Wee Jock is even more determined. Teacher: "Who said. 'We will fight them on the beaches, we will fight them in the air, we will fight them at sea. But we will never surrender?'" Wee Jock's hand shoots up, arm stiff as a board, shouting "I know. I know. Me Miss, me Miss." Teacher looking round and picks Timothy, sitting at the front: "Yes Timothy." Timothy (In a very, very posh, English accent): "Yes miss, the answer is Winston Churchill, 1941 Battle of Britain speech." Teacher: " Very good Timothy, you may stay off Friday and Monday and come back to class on Tuesday." The following Thursday comes around and Wee Jock is hyper, he's been studying encyclopaedias all week and he's ready for anything that comes. He's coiled in his wee chair, slavers dripping in anticipation. Teacher: "Who said 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'?" Wee Jock's arm shoots straight in the air, he's standing on his seat, jumping up and down screaming, "Miss, me miss, meeeeee!" Teacher looking round the class picks Rupert, sitting at the front: "Yes Rupert." Rupert (In a frightfully, frightfully, ever so plummy English accent: "Yes miss, that was Neil Armstrong. 1969, The first moon landing." Teacher: Very good Rupert. You may stay off Friday and Monday and come back into class on Tuesday." Wee Jock loses the plot altogether, tips his desk and throws his wee chair at the wall. He starts screaming: "Where the f**K did all these English b*st*rds come from?" Teacher looking round the class: "Who the hell said that?" Wee Jock, grabs his coat and bag and heads for the door, "Bonnie Prince Charlie, Culloden, 1746. See yous on Tuesday."

If you want your own room, Jockguzzi can't make it now, due to work committments. I have his mobile if you want to speak to him about taking over his reservation. Guy

I'm just laughing thinking about Antonio on his open topped bus sightseeing tour of the Highlands in the pouring rain!

An umbrella will probably get blown inside out in the gales!. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/nsc...?summary=show02 Guy

Keith I fully concur! My tweaked Ducati makes just over 130bhp at the back wheel and weighs much less than my 79bhp V11. Although I can ride the Duke faster (and its a lot of fun!), I feel more at ease thrashing my fat V11 around the tight bumpy moorland roads that surround me. The truth is that our roads are too small and crowded to make the most of the power of more modern sportsbikes, so a rider on a Guzzi can often keep up with a big fast modern Jap bike, even if the riders are of similar abilities. This is because there is simply not enough space to allow the Jap bike to use its poke, and the rider may be intimidated by highsiding and wheelies, whereas on the Guzzi you can thrash the tits off it without spinning up. Saying that if anybody wants a race, I tend to politely wave them past- I much prefer riding on my own if the pace is hot. My friend who had an accident last week, in which he lost a leg, has just had a successful operation on his shattered pelvis and is being weaned off sedation- he was a good rider and when shit like that happens its a reminder that anyone can make a mistake and get into bad trouble. Guy

I think we will be leaving Moffatt around 9ish, all being well. Going to head towards Stirling, then get the A9 all the way until the A895. Not a very sexy route, but still pleasant enough and we will make good enough progress to get up there by mid afternoon hopefully. May well have Mal in tow on his black V11. Send us a text! Cheers Guy

Does that mean you're coming?! Finished prepping Helen's bike now- should be very comfy with her new Ohlins / Maxton combination! Unfortunately I won't have enough time to finish prepping my V11 as there are too many jobs to do on it so will probably take my Jackal. Guy

It does look like a lot of fun!

Unfortunately I just found out that Jason (the guy I mentioned above) had a really bad accident a few days ago. Seems as though no other vehicle was involved, but he failed to brake in time for a roundabout at the end of a dual carriageway. He has had to have one of his legs amputated after it got infected, his other leg, arms and pelvis are shattered, and he is in an induced coma while he is in intensive care. He's a tough guy and I would bet on him pulling through. Take it easy out there. Guy

I think the highlights are on BBC2 tomorrow afternoon.

If you want to go you will make time!! That Guy Martin is a hard nut!

Sounds like a cracking idea!

Ouch nasty highside for Anstey! Brilliant helicopter coverage! He's dumped a some oil on the track so red flag.