GSXS 1000 - Mofo's Gixxus

[Taipan]

No was always worried about getting trapped by the tide or having my bike sprayed with salt water. Although I asked my mate who's been loads and he said he never worries about it and never actually seen the road blocked by the tide.

Yeah, water rarely comes across the Strood (what the bridge bit is called!) - only on exceptionally high tides a few times a year. Don't let that put you off.....

Okey dokey I'll give it a go. Heard it's nice and always good to go somewhere you don't know.

If you do go, make sure you go to West Mersea and not the east. Follow the road down past the church and then it bends right with the sea on your left and you'll see a few places on that road, but The Victory has the best beer garden.

[Supermofo]

Yeah, water rarely comes across the Strood (what the bridge bit is called!) - only on exceptionally high tides a few times a year. Don't let that put you off.....

Okey dokey I'll give it a go. Heard it's nice and always good to go somewhere you don't know.

If you do go, make sure you go to West Mersea and not the east. Follow the road down past the church and then it bends right with the sea on your left and you'll see a few places on that road, but The Victory has the best beer garden.

Fancy a meet up and ride there at some point? Give you an excuse to take out the @
@v8-powered is local too if you fancy it? Although not much of a ride for you and @Le_Fromage_Grande ain't far in the wilds of Suffolk

[v8-powered]

Okey dokey I'll give it a go. Heard it's nice and always good to go somewhere you don't know.

If you do go, make sure you go to West Mersea and not the east. Follow the road down past the church and then it bends right with the sea on your left and you'll see a few places on that road, but The Victory has the best beer garden.

Fancy a meet up and ride there at some point? Give you an excuse to take out the @
@v8-powered is local too if you fancy it? Although not much of a ride for you and @Le_Fromage_Grande ain't far in the wilds of Suffolk

I'm up for that. A trip to Mersea will probably double my monthly mileage, the amount of time I ride these days !

[Taipan]

Okey dokey I'll give it a go. Heard it's nice and always good to go somewhere you don't know.

If you do go, make sure you go to West Mersea and not the east. Follow the road down past the church and then it bends right with the sea on your left and you'll see a few places on that road, but The Victory has the best beer garden.

Fancy a meet up and ride there at some point? Give you an excuse to take out the @
@v8-powered is local too if you fancy it? Although not much of a ride for you and @Le_Fromage_Grande ain't far in the wilds of Suffolk

Sounds good, assuming I still have the AT by then! I don't get a lot of free time at weekends (elderly dependants) and when we do, we're normally away in the camper to maintain our sanity lol, but I reckon I could sneak out one Sunday for a couple of hours at some point!

[Taipan]

Okey dokey I'll give it a go. Heard it's nice and always good to go somewhere you don't know.

If you do go, make sure you go to West Mersea and not the east. Follow the road down past the church and then it bends right with the sea on your left and you'll see a few places on that road, but The Victory has the best beer garden.

Fancy a meet up and ride there at some point? Give you an excuse to take out the @
@v8-powered is local too if you fancy it? Although not much of a ride for you and @Le_Fromage_Grande ain't far in the wilds of Suffolk

Sounds good, assuming I still have the AT by then! I don't get a lot of free time at weekends (elderly dependants) and when we do, we're normally away in the camper to maintain our sanity lol, but I reckon I could sneak out one Sunday for a couple of hours at some point!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I could do a Sunday, can't do the last week of July, I'll very probably be working

[Supermofo]

Excellent, I'll try and sort a Sunday we can all do

Anyone one else local shout if you fancy it as well

[Yorick]

Excellent, I'll try and sort a Sunday we can all do

Anyone one else local shout if you fancy it as well

Tiepin will have changed bikes 3 times by then

[Supermofo]

Excellent, I'll try and sort a Sunday we can all do

Anyone one else local shout if you fancy it as well

Tiepin will have changed bikes 3 times by then

He'll have sold the Homda, tried 6 other bikes and got another Africa Twin

[Yorick]

Excellent, I'll try and sort a Sunday we can all do

Anyone one else local shout if you fancy it as well

Tiepin will have changed bikes 3 times by then

He'll have sold the Homda, tried 6 other bikes and got another Africa Twin

Nah, DellBoy will try a sports bike

[Supermofo]

Tiepin will have changed bikes 3 times by then

He'll have sold the Homda, tried 6 other bikes and got another Africa Twin

Nah, DellBoy will try a sports bike

He's probably got the bits to build a whole one in his loft

[Taipan]

Tiepin will have changed bikes 3 times by then

He'll have sold the Homda, tried 6 other bikes and got another Africa Twin

Nah, DellBoy will try a sports bike

You've got more chance of seeing Rockburner on a Harley!

[v8-powered]

Perhaps he'll want to buy my ST1050, a great all rounder

[Supermofo]

No pics but did a nice 140 miles yesterday morning, early afternoon before the rains came.

My folks did an overnight near Maldon so I rode up there for a morning coffee for a chat and then seeing as I was up that way rode passed Abberton and then up to Steeple Bumpsted, looped back passed Saffron Walden, down to Dunmow, then home via Hatfield Broadoak. Got to my village just as it started raining

Sounds odd but it feels like it's only been in the last 2-3 rides that I've really started to feel totally dialled into the bike. Everything feels more natural, I'm leaning over further and getting more used to sort of swinging the bike over when chucking it in more like a sportsbike. I knew it'd take me a while to get used to this after the 690 but it's taken well over a year before I've got the real swing of a sporty big bike again. That's not to say I haven't felt comfortable with it or struggled but it's feeling much more natural now. Like roundabouts I'm just feeling much better just hooning it right over and the chicken strips are finally shrinking! I think the routes I've been riding recently have helped too. The A1160 to Chelmsford from Hatfield Broadoak, the Abberton road, the roads I did down in the South West, are more open/better surfaced (which isn't saying much) than a lot of the roads I've been riding in the last year or so since I got the bike. Those were great on the 690 but I think they are a bit tight, nadgery for a bigger bike and don't allow you to hoon it over easily without worrying about gravel etc. I'm using my Sat Nav differently to try and use better roads and I think that's been the key. Just wish it'd stop bastard raining.

Still happy with my decision to keep the bike dirty as looking at some of the black clouds yesterday at 8 I might not have bothered, but happier to risk it now and go with it. Total mileage is now 4500 miles and still very much in love with this bike, it's pretty much bob on for me. Fast, torquey, comfy, easy, I just really enjoy riding it. Hoping we get a break in the weather soon as fancy a trip to the south coast somewhere. Was thinking Rye via the 'High Weald' or maybe this place cos, fuck knows why, I wanna see it.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractio ... gland.html

[Supermofo]

Weather looks like it's gonna improve next week so I've booked Wednesday off work for a bike trip. Not sure whether to head to somewhere usual like Dunwich where I know I'll get good roads or head to somewhere like Rye where I'll have to do a chunk on the M25 to get over the ditch.... hmmm.

Any other thoughts of destinations? Pin Mill looks nice but been on roads that way a fair amount recently.

Had a look on Ride Mag routes but most are a fair distance away. I have 13 days hol still to book before next April after all my family stuffs been booked. So might go back to my uncle's maybe September or head to Minehead way and do the A39/Exmoor.

Did I mention I really like riding this bike

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I can do Wednesday if the weather is okay, lunch at Dunwich Ship or at Dingle Hill Cafe, or anywhere really

[Supermofo]

I can do Wednesday if the weather is okay, lunch at Dunwich Ship or at Dingle Hill Cafe, or anywhere really

Sounds like a plan. I'd been thinking of coming via Hadleigh way which means I'll be coming passed Ipswich. Can meet up and then ride to Dunwich for lunch Way home I was thinking A1120 from Yoxford, I like that road

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Meet at Hadleigh, Ipswich to Dunwich is a bit dull, pick up the A1120 at Stonham Tap and head to Dunwich.

[Supermofo]

Had a fab ride yesterday, 212 miles to Dunwich and back.

I left at 9 which was a bit later than I'd planned but helped get the kids sorted for their club and the roads in my village were piss wet so thought I'd give them a little more time to dry out. As it was when I left some of the roads were wet with puddles, some damp under the trees. This made for a nice change in a way as I was having to think about my riding a bit more than usual with extra planning for corners under trees where it was likely to still be damp. The dampness lasted till about Sible Hedingham by which time the roads were full dry everywhere. I've done the roads from Takely to Sudbury a few times and they really are a nice set of bends. All was going well and I was in good time to meet @Le_Fromage_Grande so thought I'd fill up in Sudbury and take the time to change the Sat Nav route from twisty to fastest. ETA at this point was 11.12am so thought switching to fastest and knowing I'm always quicker than the Sat Nav I'd be there for 11.....

So Sat Nav turns me towards Colchester which I thought was odd, I knew the route ended in Ipswich but the map screen on the go doesn't show a lot. Anyway, Ok, let's go this way. It then says turn left, but the road is closed, so it then takes me down the following left. This started in a not to long ago surface dressed road, should I turn around Nah, say's it's only a mile. Surface dressing turns to goat track . But I'm here now 700m to go. With 400m to go the road turns to this


Fucksake I now give up and turnabout, none to easy as I'm in mud pretty much and then slowly back up the mud covered goat track to where I started. I check Googlemaps to see where the fluck I am and turn north to Hadleigh, which is where I should have gone in the first place and which was a left rather than a right at Sudbury. Bloody sat nav

By this time I've lost near 30 mins and arrive at Le Fromage Grande just as he's about to leave. Sorry again for being late!

Anyway, from there I follow to Dunwich via Rendlesham. Nice ride on actual tarmac We parked up and had some lunch and chatted bollocks for a while. I might have taken a pic but was too busy fending off wasps, flies, spiders and ladybirds from my bacon and sausage roll!

Bout 2pm we headed back, this time via Yoxford. I really like that road it's a nice mix of stuff with some pretty scenery. I'd got a 2nd wind and was enjoying just riding. Few miles down the road Le Fromage Grande headed back towards Ipswich and I carried on towards Needham Market and Bildeston which was a great steer from a chat over lunch as the road was a really good one. Cheers for the warning about the bumps, they were certainly very bumpy.

By this point I was back near Sudbury and I was going to head up to Long Melford but was feeling the ride by this time so headed back to Castle Hedingham for a stop at a pub. Refreshed with a coke and stand up to stretch the legs I followed my nose back to Takley. At this point the Sat Nav was showing me a way I'd not been before so why not and let it take me home. Unfortunately this was via a level crossing where I had to wait for about 8 mins Luckily a young lady cyclist in the shortest dress I think it would be possible to get away with on a bicycle made this wait a bit more bearable My spirits were soon dampened by not 1 but 2 sets of temp traffic lights with lots of traffic, Karma I guess!

Rolled back into the garage about 5.45pm with a massive smile on my face and a need for a cider. That's the way to spend a day off

[Dodgy69]

My satnav taken the piss out of me a few times aswel.