Motorcycling

Getting ready for the trip to Morocco

Getting ready for the trip to Morocco

First post

Atlas mountains (Shutterstock) This is a trip I have been thinking about for a while. But I didn’t just want to drive to an airport and fly to Morocco. I wanted to use my favourite transport mode - my beloved motorcycle. And the KTM Super Adventure is well up for the task. I have only made a very approximate plan of my route but it would basically look something like this: ride to Folkestone, Channel Tunnel to Calais, then ride through France but not planning to stop much.
Motorcycle parking at Westfield

Motorcycle parking at Westfield

A useful tip if you want to park your motorcycle without venturing into the centre of London.

Westfield London (Shepherds Bush) Every so often I do need to get to London but I have been warned by other motorcycle riders to be VERY careful when riding in the big smoke. They can quite easily pinch your bike when you are on it. Now a few years ago I found parking at the Westfield shopping centre car park very handy and relatively cheap when using a car. But did you know you could park your motorcycle there as well?
Becoming a motorcycle Master

Becoming a motorcycle Master

My journey to obtaining an IAM Masters degree in motorcycling

I sat there on a warm sunny Tuesday, early afternoon, and my examiner just left. I sat there holding a card. A card that said Congratulations on becoming an IAM RoadSmart Master. In their own words this is the “highest UK civilian riding standard”. Quite an honour. How did I get here? Me on a bike between Bromyard and Worcester (Biker Pics) It started in 2019 when I decided to join the IAM and the local riding group.
Bike trip to Slovenia 2022

Bike trip to Slovenia 2022

Met with the end of the UK drought with a BANG!

Herefordshire to Slovenia UK to Slovenia, Day 1 of 2 Had a similar plan to last year’s bike trip but this time consolidates both ways into 2 day riding each way. My first worry was what was going to happen in Folkestone. Not two weeks before there were severe delays in the area and drivers were queuing for hours on end to get to the Eurotunnel port. Thankfully they seemed to have sorted out the issues and there was only a slight delay at passport control.
Bike trip to Slovenia 2021

Bike trip to Slovenia 2021

My first motorcycle trip abroad!

Had been to Slovenia many many times since I moved to the UK aback in 2007 but mostly flying and mostly with easyJet. Drove here and back once in those years and that was only to do the inital move and then drive the car back as it was a Slovenian reg and a LH drive which didn’t make sense plus made the insurance a bit tricky. Due to all the COVID issues I decided to try my first biking trip to it.
The KTM beast

The KTM beast

My KTM in Wales in May 2021 - Click to enlarge I finally decided to replace my Honda NC750x DCT. The Honda was a great bike, very easy to use, never stalled due to its DCT gearbox but it was very underpowered. It was a bit of a job trying to keep up with my fellow IAM riders out on our Sunday rides. Plus it didn’t help seeing this video from Yammie Noob about the top 7 dorkiest bikes .