I seek your valued advice lads & ladettes...

A group of my mates have arranged a 4 day tour of Northern France in May this year (2011). Nothing too fancy just a few days touring using hotels/B&B's.

At the moment all I have in terms of transport is my car and my Yamaha XT600E (1999). My XBR is in bits at the moment (not that it is any more capable than my XT in this respect (it's middleweight Jap single). My finances (thanks to New Labour/Tory anti-British traitor governments) don't allow me to procure another bike. Like many others here in the UK I'm hurting bad.

Here lies the problem -

All my mates are riding sports tourers namely:

1. Triumph Tiger 955
2. Suzuki 1250 Bandit
3. Buell 1200 (adventure thingy)?
4. Kawasaki GPZ 1100

All of the above are multi-cylinder sports bikes capable of blistering speeds.

My mates have just invited me along with my XT6! They insist that road speeds will be no more than 70 mph and that 60MPH is about the right cruising speed. They tell me I will always be in the front dictating speeds.

I have thoughts of seeing ALL the above bikes leaving me behind. I also don't want to push my XT6 to levels where it will get damaged. I don't want to mess their tour by insisting on slow speeds.

Obviously the XT6 is one of the worlds alltime great RTW bikes but it's not exactly sporting performance.

I'd say my bike (and my backside) is happy doing no more than about 60 MPH for 3 hours tops. In one day 200 miles is comfortable at a push 300 is possible (with a knackered back like mine). That's another problem, my mates will be very comfortable in almost every respect while on tarmac.

The only place the XT will whip ALL the above is when the going gets rough. The proposed tour is ALL tarmac.

I don't want to spoil the tour for the others.

Do I risk it or not? Common sense tells me to sit this one out (at home).

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Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

NO WAY are you mates going to keep their speed down. If they're anything like my mates, they will for a few hours but the tempation to open the thottle on lovely European roads will be too much for them.. It would be for me too..

That shouldnt stop you taking the XT, caus i'm sure they'l wait for you now and again..I know myself the XT is only really good upto 70mph and even then its overdoing it but it's still fun until then. Maybe try to keep them to the twisty, slower roads...

Still, better than the car which will be BORING unless you take a different approach and just do your own thing in the car and then meet at agreed meeting points such as campsites, retaurants etc..

You could also fill your car full of their luggage too and be the trip hero

And, don't forget all that cheap plonk you can fill your boot up with...

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Yeah very good advice....

The car will probably be a bit expensive on the ferry (chanel Tunnel) compared to the bike.

Thanks.

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Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

I would go.

I did something similar when I was down to one bike for a short period, a Harley Sportster. I organised a trip for six round the Normandy beaches. I just agreed some RV points along the route, museums, monuments etc and finally the hotels we were going to stay in. I got left behind quite a few times, but we always met up sooner or later. When we were riding the coastal roads and small roads inland they didn't have a great advantage over me, so we all stayed together; however on the duals they were gone.
I think a lot depends on who you go with and how they ride.. I never asked or expected anyone to wait for me, I was just happy to be away on my bike. The important thing was we went.
Perhaps the most ideal thing would be if you could persuade someone else to go who rides a similar bike, then you would have a buddy to stick with.

Go.

Charlie

BTW, if that trip doesn't come off have you thought of going to the XT owners camping weekend at Hay on Wye in May? No big bikes to leave you behind on ride outs there.

Charlie

Youre friends want you on that trip, join them.

If you want, regear the bike a bit.

Do it, and take pictures!

If your insured for their bikes (3rd party..?) then maybe each guy can take a day turn at driving the car and you get some fun or at least a ride on their bike..?

Chucking all the gear in the car is a great thing and maybe each guy will only do 1 day in the car.

2 penneth for what it's worth

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Geoffshing

'Security is a product of one's own imagination, it does not exist in nature as a rule, life is either a daring adventure or nothing.'

i travelled quite a lot of europe with my xt600e and a friend with his cb500 he would blow me away on the open road and wait somewhere for me ,great fun all the same just go and enjoy youre self or you could just sit at home and be bored

I would take the XT!

When I had my XT600 I went on a trip to Scotland with mates on bigger/faster bikes, I began to think that taking my ZZR was a better idea until we set off on one particular leg (I was last leaving) and when we got to the end point I was not the last there by any means!

There is plenty of fun embassaring bigger so called faster bikes on the right roads ie. back roads and also demonstrating your riding ability for planning and roadcraft. Bigger bikes/big horspower sometimes makes riders lazy/poor at reading the road.

You cannot kill an XT600 if its in good mechanical condition with good oil.... I tried and failed!

It may be the start of your enlightenment into the fun of smaller bikes. The skills you will learn riding a smaller/slower bike will be infinity better for your riding long term than your mates, they will have learnt nothing.

Seek out the backroads - much more fun!

I'm still doing the same now with my mates on blades etc and me on my 640 and 990 Adventures! It gives you a nice glow inside.

4 days in Northern France! You are not going to covering thousands of miles so don't worry.

Each rider will go at their own pace so you just set regular rendovous points where you all meet up for coffee and lunch. Your beverage will be waiting for you when you roll in and you'll have a welcoming party. What more do you want?

Nobody want to be in the saddle for hours and hours (except iron butts). Everybody will appreciate the rest, especially the sports bike riders who'll have sore shoulders and wrists.

The XT will be fine as long as you are not pushing yourself to keep up -then it's more about your stress and not the bike's.

Enjoy.

Just phoned my mate and told him - ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO!

The XT6 (1999 Red one) it is.

Thank you (all of you) for your valued advice and encouragement.

Just popping to my workshop to polish it... lol

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Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

Hey.. 5k miles? go for an oil and filter change before the trip!


good luck and have fun!

Vando

It's great that you've decided to go.

I have a Daytona 955i, but I don't really ride it in winter, or if like you the road bike is out of action for maintenance. So I do lots of rideouts on my XT with much more powerful road bikes.

On slippy roads, or on tight B roads, I don't get left behind, and I quite often lead at the front. When the roads dry out and open up I get obliterated!

I agree with Touring Ted that your mates wont ride everywhere at 60/70mph, and it's probably not fair to ask them to if they don't ride that way normally, they will get frustrated by it and may start to resent having to "babysit" the guy on the XT! You will find yourself riding along on your own a few minutes behind them from time to time, but don't worry about this, and don't get frustrated by it. Tell them go and enjoy themselves and fill their boots, you will catch them at the next stop. Ride at your own pace or that of your XT, enjoy the scenery and when they stop you'll find you arrive only a few minutes behind them.

Make sure you have all decided and agreed on a route at the start of every day, and make sure you have all agreed and know where the stops/tourist attractions are on that route and make them pre-arranged re-grouping points. Make sure you can navigate independently of them so you are not screwed if you do get completely left behind because they go the wrong way or get lost. The worst case scenario is that you will see them at the hotel in the evening. Keep your own copy of hotel reservations and ferry bookings, so you could check in without your mates if needed.

Make sure you have mobile phones that work in France, and if one of them has a sat nav or GPS enabled smartphone, and you have a sat nav that will really help you, as neither of you need to know where you are if you do get lost, they read a GPS co-ordinate off theirs over the phone, you stick it into yours, and say see you in 10 minutes! No need to know road numbers, town names, landamarks, etc. You will often struggle to get each other by phone as you can't hear it or answer it while riding, so if you are lost and can't get an answer, then text them, "where are you? text me back with your GPS when you stop" and stop and check your messages every 10 minutes.

There's only 5 of you so a formal marker system used on big rideouts may be overkill, but you might want to consider a scaled back system, whereby if they come to any change of direction, they stop and wait for you. If it's not safe for 4 bikes to stop there, one of them stops to wait for you and the other three wait at the next layby or junction. Have them stop as they enter each town so you ride through complicated junctions together. If one of them smokes you are laughing, his fag breaks will give you a chance to catch up, and excuse for him to stop, and buy him a packet of fags at the end of the day.

You will suffer more from fatigue than them, as you won't get all the stops they do, and when they stop for 15 minutes, if you were 10 minutes behind, you only get a five minute stop. So explain this before you go, and if you need to stop for longer, tell them!

Don't ever pass a petrol station without looking to see if they are on the forecourt.

Relax, don't worry about getting left behind and separated, you're a big boy and can look after yourself if worst case scenario does happen!

Have a great time!

What a fantastically helpful post that was. Thanks for taking the time to reply like that.

Everything you say makes good sense. I suspect you are a veteran RTW biker?

It may only be a few days (in May) in France, but to me it's a break from mundane work.

Thanks everyone.
Neil

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Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

Your welcome. I so wish I was a veteran RTW! Maybe once my son has grown up and I've got a bit more time on my hands I'll do a trip for a few months if the wife is sick of the sight of me by then. ;-) Biking holidays for a couple of weeks is as much touring as I get, but I suppose I am a bit of a veteran at riding in big groups of bikes (50+) in the UK.