I’ve been rereading some Christopher Brookmyre (One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, Pandemonium & Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks) and Carl Hiaasen (Tourist Season & Razor Girl) recently - light, easy, entertaining reading. 👍
I could do with something new though, might have a look for something on Amazon.
+1 on the LED replacement strip lights. I have them in the workshop and stable - I made a bulk purchase when there was an offer on at Screwfix. Six 4 or 5 ft lamps for under £100 IIRC.
We are a trio of mid life crisis victims from Ayrshire , 4 and a half lungs , and 5 kidneys between us
Looking to swap stories and routes / recommendations
Cheers
Welcome!
How’s many legs, arms, eyes and brains between you? 🤔 Full disclosure required! 😂
Jim
Well that’s a result! RST do seem to be willing to respond to customers and deal with issues. It’d be better if they had better manufacturing and/or quality control of course.
Looks great, but at 16.1kgs I’d have a hernia lugging the thing on and off the bike 😂😂😂
+1 on the Teepee / pyramid design.
I have a back condition that means my crawling-in-and-out-of-tent days are over. I bought a Eureka Lone Tree 4 which I can just about stand up in (I’m 5’11”) and the centre pole is ideal for pulling yourself up in the morning and it weighs in at a modest 3.5kgs and there’s bags of room.
Craig’s Teepee design looks taller, definitely standing room in there.
'Could always bore a tunnel thru the worst bits. I think there's a good used Hitachi boring machine in Seattle we could let you have for the shipping alone.
Yes, they’re not thinking this through are they! 😂😂
I think there might be a spare tunnelling machine left over from the Chunnel or DLR extension.
Having said that R&BT is a brilliant biking road on the occasions when it is open! 🤪
My RST Adventures had to go back too. They never leaked and were really comfortable but a manufacturing issues came to light about 18 months into ownership. All credit to RST, even though they were well out of warranty they replaced them. They didn’t have any direct replacements at the time so they sent (with my agreement) a pair of Paragon 2s. They’ve been fine, no leaks, comfy, lots of feel, road orientated boot.
Sidi Adventure 2 - £240 from SportsBikeShop. Free returns if they don’t fit. General consensus is go a size up from your normal size. I’ve used SBS for lots of purchases, I highly recommend them. If you find somewhere closer to home, see if they’ll price match 👍
... as used by most literate camping retailers about this time of year 😁
Welcome Alan. 😎
We asked Steve for photos of the alleged car park drop. None were forthcoming so, officially, it didn’t happen 😉
JRT
P.S.
An adventure bike doesn't have to be an Adventure Bike
True words indeed. Every bike I’ve ever owned in the past 40 plus years 😳 has been an adventure bike!
P.S.
An adventure bike doesn't have to be an Adventure Bike ---- but personally I avoid anything that goes Potato Potato Potato Phart Phart !
Jimster just needs to wrap some different parts around that Sportster motor 😂😂😂
A Buell Ulysses!... the very best or very worst of both worlds, depending on your point of view.
Oh yes, welcome to the forum Jimster.
Steve T is a man of many talents and changing bikes is certainly one of them !
SteveT’s many talents:
1. Changing bikes.
2. Roadside brew-ups.
3. Changing bikes.
4. Fixing your ejector seat.
5. Changing bikes.
6. ...?
Welcome Alec. You and SteveT form the core of the CB500X ADVScotland chapter. That’s until Steve moves onto something else. He has form in that respect 😂😂😂
When I used to go backpacking I made sure to use the same brand of gas cylinder - probably CampingGaz as they were the only ones available from the outdoors shop I used to frequent.
I weighed a full and an empty canister, giving me the weight of gas. From there was pretty easy to estimate how much was left in a canister (I usually had two or three on the go at a time). Being conscious of having to carry everything in a rucksack, I’d take a ‘light’ canister for one night out, a heavier one for multi-day trips on the fells, and a bunch of just-about-empty ones for bike camping where the bulk wasn’t an issue. To be honest it didn’t make a lot of difference in pack weight, but I never disposed of a canister until it was empty! 😉
Thanks Andy. I’m looking forward to getting it finished and clearing the workshop 👍
Almost there...
Still to do:
1. Fit the footpegs, bashplate, fairing and side panels (they're just on loose at the moment).
2. Ride it 
Apologies for the overly contrasty image, I'll get some better ones once it's complete.
If I am stuck for inspiration as to what to "put on" my fallback is always the Traveling Willberries.
A good choice 👍
I was never a fan of Bowie after Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust, etc. but he did know how to reinvent himself and move with the times.
I liked Mick Ronson’s guitar work though. When I worked in Hull, I used to have my lunch at the Mick Ronson memorial tea stand in Queens Gardens. I was fortunate enough to see him play (guesting alongside Eric Clapton and Albert Lee) in 1980. Brilliant guitarist.
