I'm intending to take a small tour once lockdown has passed, possibly ferry to Spain then across the Pyrenees and back up through France. I love watching touring vids on YouTube, but most are understandably done by people on GS's or other touring bikes. My last tour was on a CBR600FX around 15 years ago. Looking back, my mate and I were woefully unprepared. Luckily the bikes were reliable and we had a great time. This time I'll be on my own and want to be more prepared. Do any of you have any hints, tips, stories about a trip you've done on a non-tourer? Any videos? Sorry non-tourers, I just wanted to approach from a different perspective. The things I noticed were: 1. It's bloody cold in Spain at night. Didn't expect that when blatting back from Benidorm to Santander. 2. Hot roads make the back wheel spin up easily. 3. No mobiles or sat nav back then. We only got separated once and found each other by following the road signs to the destination. 4. Needed better ear protection; essential on such a long trip. 5. The N623 was a brilliant introduction to riding in Spain. 6. Old people in villages raise their walking sticks. This means pull a wheelie! 7. Stick out the foot to say hi to other bikers. 8. Look out for dusty crap at the edge of roads. It's slippy. Stay safe all...
A strange thing I've noticed: They ALL drive on the wrong side of the road for some reason over there too! DS
Hi meepmeep, I gave up with GS's a long time ago when I started doing more adventurous trips, they are just do heavy and restricted where I wanted to go. So, my overall advice is focus on lightness, weight of your bike, your luggage, the kit/clothes/tools you take with you. The goal is to make the ensemble on you plus your bike to be as light as possible. 1. The bike - obviously make sure it's in good fettle, recently serviced, good tyres and brakes. Strip anything off the bike that you don't need. Don't take loads of tools or spares, you almost certainly won't need them and if you run into problems use your breakdown cover. 2. Luggage - I use soft luggage rather than ally boxes or givi panniers. 1 Lomo cylinder shaped bag attached to the pillion seat takes all my gear except money, camera, documents (always take original reg doc and insurance) which sit in a small tank bag. DON'T take loads of clothes. The amount of times I returned home to find I never wore 75% of the clothes I took. 3. Don't book all your accommodation before you set off. It will constrain where you go as your ideas evolve during the travel. It's so easy to book on-line nowadays just decide on a general direction and let the road unfurl. If you're on your own, you are free to do whatever you want, whenever. 4. If you have special interests, WW1 & 2 for example use them as your way points. So when you get home you have the feeling you achieved and learnt stuff, rather than just drifting. 5. Make sure you always have a small bottle of water with, you don't want to get dehydrated. 6. Have 1 big map with you for strategic decisions, then buy local maps (at the supermarkets) to show you the best riding roads. I've included a map of last years trip with AndyPandy, just to give you an idea of places, distances etc. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/46.4340562,1.8302802/09110+Ax-les-Thermes/Andorra+la+Vella/Aínsa/''/43.1961105,-0.6201814/Bayonne/Agen/Bergerac/Thiviers/@45.372993,0.3934349,9.84z/data=!4m53!4m52!1m1!4e1!1m5!1m1!1s0x12af781a0d368c5f:0x406f69c2f4361b0!2m2!1d1.837545!2d42.720254!1m5!1m1!1s0x12a5f52b4a25fb0b:0xa00947091997280!2m2!1d1.5218355!2d42.5063174!1m5!1m1!1s0x12a7fac837fb6415:0xa85fba784ddee6c0!2m2!1d0.1403811!2d42.4146941!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0xa8500fb5e67beeec!2m2!1d-0.5537203!2d42.5670689!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0xd51408b63ded46f:0x9d4bd7d3d9323d5c!2m2!1d-1.474841!2d43.492949!1m5!1m1!1s0x12abb31aff85830f:0x40665174815bbf0!2m2!1d0.616363!2d44.203142!1m5!1m1!1s0x12aad07c6048f55f:0xd23474adfc552221!2m2!1d0.483392!2d44.853806!1m5!1m1!1s0x47ff17c260baf969:0x40665174817f290!2m2!1d0.922369!2d45.416858!3e0?hl=en It's not exactly what we did, but hopefully it give you some ideas. Just for info JACA is a lovely place and I look forward to going back there soon. Have a great trip, keep safe and enjoy, Dave
Not sure what bike you are intending to use, so here is my two pennies worth. You need to decide on whether you are goinfg to use hotels/B&B's or take a tent. If you are on a non touring bike I would propose using hotels/B&B's to lighten the amount you need carry. You will need some good quality luggage, either fixed or throw over. Planning your trip is important, so think about routes and locations you want to visit and daily mileage. On a non touring bike you might want to reduce your mileage to stay comfortable. Make sure your bike is serviced and the tyres will last out your trip and then get booking it. Most importantly, go and enjoy.
Thanks Dave. We've been renovating an old place in France for about 12 years, so I'll most likely use that as my base once in France. I appreciate your map, it's given me food for thought...
pick your main places to aim for but just go with the flow much better that way take a dice with you if you cant decide roll the dice odd you go right evens you go left. you can get lots of things while your there from supermarkets so don't pack to much that can easily be brought there . Enjoy
Ah, Somerset. Another place on my list to visit. I grew up near Ilminster and still have family nearby. Love it there!
Have European breakdown cover. A mate who mocked me for having a 'boring' GS once had to be brought to the ferry on the back of a truck and then met by another the other side - he hasn't lived that down and never will, but he was glad for it. DS
Pretty much what everyone else said. Above all enjoy yourself and don't worry to much,things have a way of working themselves out. I toured a lot of Europe on a Speed Triple,so you don't need a tourer.
My top tip for anyone wanting to go on a bike tour, is take far less than you think you may need and more money than you budgeted for!
Every bike is a Tourer ! I've done many trips here in Australia , and I've seen Postie bike's (110cc Honda) right up to Honda Goldwing Aspencade !! And almost everything in between. Though some bikes do need more Tweeks than others. Suspension , tyres and comfort are high priority changed for touring. Lighting and luggage to suit your requirements , type of riding you are doing will affect your selection of parts you'll want to adjust or modify.
I was once given some advice regarding packing for a trip. Work out the absolute minimum you need in terms of clothing and gear, set it all out on the floor and then halve it!
Yep... I have known mates just pack old kit (smalls and tee shirts etc) and each day throw the worn/dirty kit away, leaving room for duty free items on the way home..
I went to t'south o France for 3 years ont trot, on an FZ750 and twice on a GSXR1100K, two up wi soft luggage. So you can tour on owt. I'd recommend European recovery though, as last time I went to t'pyrenees, my Mille let me down, and it cost me 500 euro to get it from Pamplona to Santander. Unbelievably, there was a bloke from my village, who now lives in Spain, ont ferry, and he was going home to see his parents in his van! So he took mi bike home from Portsmouth. T'most embarrasing part was pushin t'bike through docks and up ramp onto t'ferry, being passed by loads o Hardly's chugging away, as there was some Hardly rally somewhere in Portugal!!
I have done a little bit here in Canada on my Thunderbird and I have two saddlebags and had a light back pack. As others have said keep light on the clothes and my mistake was that the Thunderbird did not have the touring seats and my arse was sore.
I toured France and Switzerland on a GPz750 Turbo in 85 and an RF900r in 08, that was hard work on my wrists but it was fun. I saw two Honda C90s at the top of a Swiss alp and met an old boy at a bike show who was off round the world on a 125...he was in his 80's
We did 3000 miles with everything, tent, airbed and clothes tied to a Rentec rack, how we managed I'll never know. But yes, a real fast bike!
