GSXS 1000 - Mofo's Gixxus

[weeksy]

Scrotes get younger!

[Supermofo]

Scrotes get younger!

And always up to something! Just had a call from the school she's hurt her ankle and Mrs is now taking her to hospital. Bloody kids! massively crossing fingers now

[Skub]

Found someone to get rid of my chicken strips

I bet she said,"Da,get that top-barnacle off and only then I'll pose for a pic".

[Supermofo]

Weather was nice all last week and not so good/had things on the weekend so didn't get to ride on the weekend . Same this week as I'm off to Suffolk for a long weekend on Fri with the folks and my lot.

So thinking I might take tomorrow off work and do something like this. Nice 4 hr ride and stop off a few times. Did think of heading West but I don't really know anywhere that way. Possibly a good time to start but I know roughly where I'm heading with this as won't need the Sat Nat till Sudbury way and I'll be running off the battery for the moment as still not sorted my wiring.

Route.PNG (520.66 KiB) Viewed 654 times

Did note some half decent roads towards Silsoe on my way to Wrest Park yesterday so that's a possible start to a route West for next time.

In other news I'm either starting to get used to the tyres, they are better in warm temps and/or they perform a lot better when not 8psi under what I want them to be. Probably all 3

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Sudbury to Mannigtree - I'd go via Hadleigh
Mannigtree to Colchester - I wouldn't use that route, I'd go to Horsley Cross and join the A120 there.

And whereabouts in Suffolk are you going for the weekend?

[Supermofo]

Noted

To be honest this won't be the actual route as once I'm passed Sudbury I'll probably put the Sat Nav on medium twisty and let it do it's thing to Manningtree or somewhere in the Dedham Vale. I have thought about going South from Sudbury towards Bures then East through the Vale itself. But remember Hadleigh from going from BSE to Clacton for a ride so that's an option. No idea what's in Manningtree, seemed a good waypoint. Ridden through it once on that ride via Hadleigh and remember it being small. But if it has a coffee shop might be worth a stop for some witch hunting

The area around Colchester I'm hoping to avoid all the big roads and let the Sat Nav sort me out as don't want to do the A12.

Caravan park with the folks and my family in Kessingland but won't spend much time there. We'll probably do Southwold, Dunwich, Orford, etc over the weekend. I've been there before and it's alright as a base and the kids like it. Quiet at this time of year and a stony beach that's empty and massive which is good for the boy's thrown glider things in the morning.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

We stayed at that caravan park 13 years ago, my boy (he was 3) cried when we left because he enjoyed it so much.
Dunwich Ship does superb fish and chips, much better than the place on the beach.
Lowestoft beach is very good, just don't visit the town centre, stay south of the river Waveney

Manningtree has a nice bit beside the river, there's usually an ice cream van there, there are plenty of cafes there, Mistley joins Manningtree and is the nicer bit.

The only way to avoid big roads near Colchester is to go through the town centre, as you can't cross the river below Colchester

[Supermofo]

What a cracking day yesterday was

Decided not to do my usual and leave early doors as wanted to walk the kids to school. By the time I faffed about it was 10am once I'd got a full tank of fuel.

Decided to set off down the A414 to Sawbridgeworth and then on to Takeley, normally I'd then head to Dunmow from there but wanted to shoot for Thaxted so went straight on and against my better judgement took the first signpost for Thaxted which headed me into a rabbit warren of single track lanes with lots of gravel and mud. Compounded by the fact that all the sign posts then just mentioned the next little hamlet rather than the bigger towns. Was about to turn on the Sat nav when I finally escaped! Right at the end of the good road I wanted

Anyhoo I then went through Finchingfield and onto Castle Hedingham. This is a cracking road which I love but sadly attack mode wasn't happening, just one of those days where things weren't clicking. Sometimes this can scupper a ride as you try and force things and end up not enjoying it but luckily my mood was good and instead I settled for flowing bend swinging instead and was really enjoying myself. There was some traffic spoiling the party but the GSX dispatches it rapidly as soon as there is the slightest of spaces.

Decided to stop in Castle Hedingham for a coffee. At this point I was as happy as a pig in poo with my decision to fuck work off



Now at this point I should of kept to my plan of going on to Sudbury as then I'd have had a cracking road there and another down to Manningtree...but I decided to turn my Sat Nav on which suggested an on the face of it nicely twisty route to Manningtree which was straight across rather up/down. Wrong move! The roads were back to single lane gravel tracks and whilst they were indeed twisty speed was much reduced and they were far from ideal on a 150 bhp, 210kg bike. Bugger. Still I was on the bike, the scenery was nice and the sun was shining. I did curse when I did 1 mile of the excellent B road I should have done from Sudbury down to Burges but lesson learned.

Next stop Manningtree for a pub lunch looking out over the river



Well I say over the river there were a load of pensioners having lunch between me and the river but decided not to take a pic of them.

After lunch I decided to change the sat nav to least twisty to save me the gravel and the route was pretty good although had to do the outskirts of Colchester. Road from Colchester down to Heybridge was decent if a few too many cars and massive bastard lorries but thems the shakes at that time of day mid-week.

Dropped into the pub at Heybridge for a coke, 10 mins out from there my arse started to ache but not bad considering it was 2.30pm by that point. Heybridge was nice as always other than stepping in some dog shit on the coast path





It was now gone 3 and so I headed home. Least twisty was just the A414 home which was dull so back to medium twisty. First bit was aces but then it tried to take me through a ford I know this cos it took me there once before and back then I missed the small 'Ford' sign. Even though I have avoid Fords as an option. Bloody thing. Anyway after that was all good until i was on the road to Sawbridgeworth which is decent so ignored the sat nav and enjoyed myself although speeds were capped as more cars about now.

Rolled into home just after 4pm with 147 miles up Cracking day and only at the end was I starting to feel the distance. Biggest gripe was cramp in my left leg from changing gear. Not sure if the lever needs moving a bit or just bike fitness. I suspect bike fitness. I do have to bend my foot down a bit for upshifts but if I moved the lever up I suspect I'd have to lift my foot for down shifts. Might have a play though.

With the Sat Nav I could have done with less single track routes which were broadly ok with the 690 but more limiting on the 1000. Next time I'll go with my instinct and stay on the Bs rather than the unclassifieds. Having said that all told I had a great day out on the bike followed by an ice cold cider in the garden

[Skub]

Bike fitness is definitely a thing. After the Winter lay off I feel every bump in the road the day after,but over the Summer your body gets used to 4 hours tooshing about.
I've never had a bike where I didn't have to tweak the controls. Gear lever,rear brake and the handlebar levers all need to be reset for me. That's one reason I love ASV levers (not the shorty bmx ones) everything is minutely adjustable to get it like baby bear's porridge.

For the gear lever,I take a couple of 10mm spanners and tweak while I'm out,until I'm happy.

[weeksy]

Cracking write up matey.

[Supermofo]

Bike fitness is definitely a thing. After the Winter lay off I feel every bump in the road the day after,but over the Summer your body gets used to 4 hours tooshing about.
I've never had a bike where I didn't have to tweak the controls. Gear lever,rear brake and the handlebar levers all need to be reset for me. That's one reason I love ASV levers (not the shorty bmx ones) everything is minutely adjustable to get it like baby bear's porridge.

For the gear lever,I take a couple of 10mm spanners and tweak while I'm out,until I'm happy.

Not done my levers yet and surprised that they've not really been noticeable despite being set high as standard, keep meaning to re-set them.

The 690 gear lever was silly high and you'd have to take a boot off the peg to knock it down so that was an easy tweak. With the GSX it'll be interesting as the down feels fine so don't want to mess that up. Might try fine movements at a time and see.

Yes bike fitness is definitely a thing. Again I'm happy with the GSX as I was out for hours before feeling it, for what it is it's a comfy thing as standard.

[Skub]

Not done my levers yet and surprised that they've not really been noticeable despite being set high as standard, keep meaning to re-set them.

I had to go with bar end mirrors because the stock mirror mounts are shared with the levers,so when I adjusted the levers the mirrors showed me sky!

[v8-powered]

Nice route. Can't beat Manningtree on a lovely sunny day, great outlook.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I find the GSXS footpegs a bit small for my feet, so I have to have my foot in a little more than I'd like, which gives me a little foot ache.

[Skub]

I find the GSXS footpegs a bit small for my feet, so I have to have my foot in a little more than I'd like, which gives me a little foot ache.

I see a set of Gilles rearsets in your future,young man.

[Supermofo]

Nice route. Can't beat Manningtree on a lovely sunny day, great outlook.

Yeah could of done with a look about TBH I should of mooched up to Mistley as well. Still gives me an excuse to go back Can see me going early of a weekend morning on my original intended route

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Let me know if your going, Manningtree is about 20 minutes from mine.

[Supermofo]

Let me know if your going, Manningtree is about 20 minutes from mine.

Will do, we'll have to meet up anyway as said we would ages ago. Maybe meet somewhere semi on route and have a ride before a coffee or something.

I'll try and sort a Sat/Sun morning and let you know

[Supermofo]

Went for a quick ride this morning and ended up doing 72 miles

Nearly 1400 miles up now and really loving this bike, engine, brakes, handling are all great and comfy enough for reasonable rides.

Noticed when I filled up that my 150 mile Essex ride was done at 53mpg on the on board trip, so possibly not a real 53 but bloody amazing for a 200kg, 150 bhp bike. It only took 12.5 litres or something too.

I usually leave and come back much earlier as I wasn't home till 12.30 and did some faster routes and it was noticeable how many more police cars there were about. Inc 1 that had stopped a group of bikes on the B184 south of Saffron Walden. Another reason for early rides!!

[Supermofo]

Starting to rue my decision to have my puncture repaired rather than have the tyre replaced. As well as being not great I felt that on my last ride it felt like the profile had gone off. Got home and you can definitely feel the profile has flattened on the rear a bit. It's only done 1700 miles. Was hoping to get 3k out of them but think they'll be dead long before then. Repair was done at 700 miles so only got me a 1k miles.

Starting to think I might need to bite the bullet before my planned trip to the South West. They are OK at the moment but 500 to 600 miles might see em square properly and ruin the ride.