As per my original post “In a quandary” I have been lucky enough to ride in France, Italy, Switzerland, Andorra, (Alps, Mt Ventoux, Route de Napoleon, Pyrenees just a selection) nothing in the UK has ever come close to those glorious rides. If you have never ridden in mainland Europe, do it before you eventually give up riding.
Whenever I tinker, it all goes wrong, so I stick to riding and cleaning the bikes. And clean them I do. Which is annoying, as sometimes I can’t be arsed riding, if the weather is unpredictable, as I know it’ll involve hours of cleaning afterwards.
I love tinkering so much more, always look forward to the winter months. This started as a deep clean last month, and here we are now .. View attachment IMG_20231103_180552_871.jpg
To be honest I get no pleasure from tinkering apart from checking the tyre pressures and making sure the battery is charged.I much prefer riding and I get my local dealership to do all the servicing and maintenance.Don’t get me wrong I understand why so many people enjoy working on their bikes but it’s not for me.
I’m in a bored biking phase. Takes me forever to get into the required gear to stay safe/dry/warm and then hit the roads with a load of dopey drivers. Bike comes out three times a year for two Euro trips and a service.
Moving to Scotland has revitalized my interest in riding. My affinity for late 20th century bikes caters to my desire to tinker. I think it was the tinkering part that drew me to bikes in the beginning.
Unfortunately I too get no enjoyment from tinkering with bikes. I can think loads of more interesting things to do than to spend hours cleaning and polishing. My vehicles get properly serviced on a regular basis by some mechanic friends, and they always do a much better job than I could!
My current bike (MTS 1260 GT) only comes out on rare occasions for short day rides or for multi week long tours. Outside of that, its in the garage with some gubbins somewhere taken off it for mods. Right now, it's the exhaust hanger and fitting the fog lights to the new crash bars. I honestly enjoy tinkering with it simply as motorbikes can be easy at the basics and fun to work on. It's a giant toy, what's not to like! I'll never understand bike riders who buy and ride, nothing else. That to me feels like a waste, knowing your bike mechanically is half the fun!
