cedarbrook63
Junior Member
Well I don't know how much disruption you boys and girls West of the Pond have been suffering from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano belching out a lot of ash and debris but there's been chaos on this side of the water.
I was due to fly Birmingham UK to Dublin tonight but all flights were cancelled, I couldn't get to the ferry by train or coach and I HAD to be there tomorrow so I jumped on the trusty Sporty and ate up about 260 miles all in in about 3hrs 20 mins.
It was colder than I expected and I had to change to my winter gloves part way when my hands got too numb to feel the indicator switches. I'm getting great use of my saddle bags these days so I was prepared (even if Hobbit thinks it's an offense putting them on a Sporty - not to mention my crash/highway bars and detachable windscreen. It's a wonder he's prepared to be seen with me :lolrolling).
The conversion to 1200 and Mobil 1 20/50 gave me an engine that ate the miles - she was happy cruising at 85-90mph nearly all the way, with really good torquey accel whenever I wanted it and just over 115mph on one beautiful road in North Wales (hope there weren't any speed cameras in action ). Not bad for what some would call a glorified tractor engine eh! And I got over 10miles/litre as well even at that speed. I am well pleased with the other woman (as my wife affectionately calls my Sporty)
The scenery in Wales is stunning, riding along between majestic Snowdonia National Park on the left and the beautiful coast on the right. I wish I'd had more time to take pictures but this was a race for the ferry as it was an unscheduled trip. I hope to ride her home again on Tuesday and will hopefully have some time to get some pics to post of a beautiful part of Britain.
The Sportster may not be a touring bike but apart from a bit of shoulder stiffness (and I'd spent the entire day in "office desk position" before literally immediately jumping on the bike which wouldn't have helped) the ride was comfortable. I guess it would be armchair like comfortable on one of the big twins but then I don't know if they could chew up the bends and the twists like my Sportster can. It's been a good dry run for my road trip to Bruges in Belgium at the end of May - I'l definitely take lots of photographs on that one .
I was due to fly Birmingham UK to Dublin tonight but all flights were cancelled, I couldn't get to the ferry by train or coach and I HAD to be there tomorrow so I jumped on the trusty Sporty and ate up about 260 miles all in in about 3hrs 20 mins.
It was colder than I expected and I had to change to my winter gloves part way when my hands got too numb to feel the indicator switches. I'm getting great use of my saddle bags these days so I was prepared (even if Hobbit thinks it's an offense putting them on a Sporty - not to mention my crash/highway bars and detachable windscreen. It's a wonder he's prepared to be seen with me :lolrolling).
The conversion to 1200 and Mobil 1 20/50 gave me an engine that ate the miles - she was happy cruising at 85-90mph nearly all the way, with really good torquey accel whenever I wanted it and just over 115mph on one beautiful road in North Wales (hope there weren't any speed cameras in action ). Not bad for what some would call a glorified tractor engine eh! And I got over 10miles/litre as well even at that speed. I am well pleased with the other woman (as my wife affectionately calls my Sporty)
The scenery in Wales is stunning, riding along between majestic Snowdonia National Park on the left and the beautiful coast on the right. I wish I'd had more time to take pictures but this was a race for the ferry as it was an unscheduled trip. I hope to ride her home again on Tuesday and will hopefully have some time to get some pics to post of a beautiful part of Britain.
The Sportster may not be a touring bike but apart from a bit of shoulder stiffness (and I'd spent the entire day in "office desk position" before literally immediately jumping on the bike which wouldn't have helped) the ride was comfortable. I guess it would be armchair like comfortable on one of the big twins but then I don't know if they could chew up the bends and the twists like my Sportster can. It's been a good dry run for my road trip to Bruges in Belgium at the end of May - I'l definitely take lots of photographs on that one .