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But don't bother with Bennetts if you have lots of mods on your bike(s) as you may find they refuse to quote, citing "too many modifications", as happened to me.

I was somewhat surprised as that's never happened to me before.

Kevin

Thanks Charlie.

Kevin

Kevin & Lyn, excellent write up, I still don't know how you can complete so many miles in such a short time frame. 

Thank you but I assume that was for this post rather than my short tale of the RAC screwing up just above?

Kevin

Well..... Here we go again. Been flown out to Limoges by the RAC, having the fuel pump replaced as we speak. Hopefully I'll get the bugger back in next few hours and begin the ride back home! ..... Fingers crossed!

Our Tiger broke down a few years ago in Spain. The RAC arranged for it to be picked up and their agent wouldn't let us leave until they'd had confirmation from the RAC they would be paid; that took hours and hours during which we sat on uncomfortable chairs in an old warehouse with no access to food or drink. Eventually I just told them we were leaving.

We picked up a hire car the RAC arranged and continued our tour. They then told us the bike had been moved to a Triumph dealer who wouldn't touch the bike unless I went there and signed a disclaimer. After a detour of a couple of hundred miles or so we arrived at the dealers to find he'd told the RAC he didn't work on Tigers and it was still where we'd last left it. I wasn't best pleased and less so when they eventually recovered the bike and it had been damaged.

Kevin

<snip> Bournemouth Kawasaki told me that they are happy for me to walk around my own bike for the 4000 "service" with no jeopardy to the warranty.

Hmmm, if I'd had a co-operative dealer like that wed have probably kept it. As it was I figured if it had to go to the dealer anyway they might as well change the oil.

Kevin

According to the manual its 7500 miles after the initial 600 mile service. Attached the relevant part from the 2010 manual below

Are you able to scan your service book, the one that has the service stamps? Unless something changed after we bought our 2010 bike the service interval in there isn't 7500 miles. The short service interval was one of the primary reasons we sold it and kept the FJR.

Kevin

To maintain the warranty the service intervals are 3750 miles, not 8000.

Kevin

The GTR is showing its age now and in my opinion is desperately in need of a substantial update   

I agree. I'm sure we'll be back in the sports-tourer market at some point and a GTR would be Lyn's first choice. We really enjoyed the two we had but it would have to be updated and a revision made to the stupid service intervals before I'd consider another one.

Kevin

For those of you who like reading our ride reports, our write-up of the IBA European Tour is now on our web site:

Leg 1 and Leg 2.

We were rather pleased with the result.

Kevin

The trouble with buying from eBay... is that the item often does not come with any warranty.

That's not the whole story.

eBay offers online auction sales and Buy It Now sales. Buy It Now sales from legitimate stores on eBay, such as the Garmin eBay Store, do offer the full Garmin product warranty.Products that are purchased from eBay auctions are not covered by Garmin warranty. A copy of the original sales receipt from the original retailer is required for warranty service. Online auction confirmations are not accepted for warranty verification and Garmin will not replace any missing components from any package purchased through an online auction.

The trouble with buying from...Amazon is that the item often does not come with any warranty.

It does you know.

Kevin

Save a few quid, it all adds up.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221047162777?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Cheaper still on Amazon.

I think they're definitely worth it. There used to be four updates a year but that seems to be dropping to two with the advent of the new NTU format.

Kevin

Why did you go for speakers rather than, for example, in-ear monitors?

Kevin

I wonder though how far down the narrow mud track your GS would have got with its 'boxer' engine 

[nods] Fair point, well made. I don't think it would have been the gear lever I had a problem with!

Kevin

[most]

<snip> I tested the Super Tenere (S10) twice and was blown away by its outstanding quality andproven track record of reliability. <snip>

Apart from the recall to resolve the headlamp harness overheating on the previous model of course (not to mention the rusting spokes but we won't mention those!).

We're on our second (also a ZE) and they're great bikes (not as good as our GSA IMO but we're going to have to disagree on that). Don't get too carried away with the stock tyres though as they're not great in the mud as this short blog post will testify; it was completely stuck. I think I've now got most of the mud off...



Kevin

4. Alaskan sheep skin

5. Airhawk

Has anyone tried these and got an opinion? I'm inclined to try the airhawk next

Lots of people swear by sheepskin but it didn't work for me. I didn't detect much difference in my comfort level and when it poured with rain the sheepskin got absolutely soaked and eventually overcame the waterproofing in my trousers; not pleasant.

I've used both the Airhawk 2 and the new R version. I think the latter is better, certainly on our GSA anyway. The idea is to put as little air in it as possible and it works but I still felt disconnected from the seat (probably because I was!). I've got a v2 and an R and will be keeping the R for emergency use.

Assuming you can't borrow one from a dealer (I've never heard of a company doing try-before-you-buy with these in the UK but they apparently do in Germany), if you PM your address to me I'll lend you mine so you can give it a go without the expense of having to buy one.

I'd also echo Steve's advice about the LDComfort shorts but I found them a bit too warm when riding in higher temperatures (not that that's likely to be a problem for you up in the Frozen North).

I've had several seats remodelled by various UK people and I've tried several third-party seats but the only thing that really worked for me was getting it done by a US person who basically threw away all but the seat base and built bespoke seats for us; they really are excellent but not cheap. We used Rick Mayer but many people in the LD community swear by the Russell Day-Long. Either would involve sending your seat to the US and the Day-Long can increase seat height quite a bit.

Kevin