First time touring, advice appreciated.. IOM/Wales Complete

[GTRpilot]

Riding from Cheshire to Croatia via Hull ferry in September, picking my good lady up at Zagreb airport, disc lock is all that I'm taking....well apart from a change of undies, after I've reversed them 

[doebag]

About 15 years ago, I was on 'Le Shuttle' with the car, when a guy on a Ducati 9something pulled on behind us. We got chatting, and I noticed he had no luggage at all, just a small bum bag. He told me he had a credit card, visor cleaner and spare pants. He was on his way to visit family in Italy and was sure that anything else he needed he would buy on his way or when he got there.

[Tay]

Tay ... enjoy your trip ! Pop your camera stuff in the top box that way you can grab it quick when you get one of those moments when all is needed.
Chain and disc lock ... I just used the steering lock and disc lock in Spain.. that was fine. Get a weather app for your mobile .. they are becoming more and more accurate .. may help with waterproofs etc .. take or not to take etc ... just take the basics and if you forget anything essential buy it when you're there. If you are ever out and about and fancy a cup of T on your GTR pop across to Loxwood Ave .. Ill put the kettle on. Just don't baffle me with any technical stuff and we'll get on fine !

Gonna go with basic Waterproofs, it will rain, IOM is notorious for its weather !! 4 season in one day etc.   The wife has textiles so she is ok, I just need a spare pair of gloves and I'm good.

Thanks for the offer, we've pretty much got it all planned already, but I've got some catching up to do with an old mate, I think there could be some hangovers around!. 

Don't worry about  techie stuff I dont have a clue :)   

[Tay]

About 15 years ago, I was on 'Le Shuttle' with the car, when a guy on a Ducati 9something pulled on behind us. We got chatting, and I noticed he had no luggage at all, just a small bum bag. He told me he had a credit card, visor cleaner and spare pants. He was on his way to visit family in Italy and was sure that anything else he needed he would buy on his way or when he got there.

I better get some BO basher for the leathers then !!

[Martyn1965]

I just come back from a week in France, my first Trip on my own and a few mishaps. But I will mention the main one as I thought I was a switched on type of guy.
All my stuff was in a bum bag on the front of me zipped up and secure. Anyway I got onto a shuttle bus and noticed to young girls that looked not really old enough to be up to no good. The one touched my hand a few times, I was holding the grab rail on the bus etc. This I thought was odd but as it was happening I latter found out my wallet was being taken.
Money,I will only take enough for that day
Cards I will leave a spare back at base etc
Be aware in tight spaces as this is where it happens.
The bigger the attraction, the more of a risk.
It's common very common and on the increase.
I realise this is only suitable if you have based yourself somewhere.
Take a spare phob my phob started playing up and I realised the spare ain't a lot of good in the house.
Hope this helps

[ChrisB]

We always take 2 sets of keys. One set with me and the other with the wife. Each set has a KIPASS fob, pannier key, top box key, disc lock key and padlock key for the cable we use to secure helmets to bike when parked. Just be sure not to leave a set in the luggage on the bike.

[Tay]

So.....

We were pretty brutal in the end as far as packing was concerned.. She got a pannier, with enough gear 'ish" for 2 weeks as did I.

Techie stuff ended up in the tank bag, hence I could take it with me on the ferry etc.. this worked out pretty well, the top box had wet gear, shoes etc bike cover.

The only thing that didnt get used was a small mini tripod for the camera.

The trip was pretty uneventful with no mishaps etc. The lugging of panniers, tank bag, jackets, lids, top box was a bit of a pain in the ass, eg: lugging it all in leathers, got a bit bloody hot.   

Best idea of the trip was the lightweight kevlar jeans I had,  I was just going to use them as lightweight riding gear for the trip but in the end I posted the knee and hip armour back home and just used them for going out etc, I had shorts but since it wasnt hot I only wore them a few times. 

The weather in the isle of Man was dire for a few days, it flippin hoofed it down, luckily we were staying with friends that do holiday cottages, they had a cancelation so we ended up with a nice cottage for a week.
Since it was school term time, we ended up in the car mostly after the kids were dropped off with our friends.

We managed to get out and about mid week and did a few laps of the TT circuit whilst we could,  despite it not peeing down then it was still pretty wet and cold on the mountain, the 8-9 deg temps were a little unexpected for June/July.

Saw a few museums, went to a few Bike/Car places, did some vids, took a bunch of photos, saw some basking sharks, did a full tour around the island.  We were expecting the worst when we left IOM and headed for North Wales, turned out to be great for the most part, slightly damp at one point but as long as we didnt stop we stayed dry.  Even saw a few low passes by the RAF near Bala.

We ended up just north of Cardiff on Wednesday and caught up with some more friends, then made our way back Yesterday.

Despite a twats best efforts to try and kill us in his little red mini on the M4, we made it back with the GTR intact, and immensely impressed with the fuel usage and the trip in general.
Before we left for the trip we pottered around in the south on some spins around West Sussex, heading out to Ryka's, Custom Cafe, Wessons and Loomies etc, getting around 44-45MPG so didnt expect much more than that on the trip. 

Over the 1300 miles we managed 54MPG on average, I ended up panicing and filling up frequently just in case, but I needn't have worried, there was tons in the tank. That included the spins around the TT circuit, often easing it past 120-130Mph and a spirited M4 jaunt yesterday to get back home.  I could have done with some more airflow on me, it was it was pushing 31 degs on the trip back and we had had no space for the light summer gear.                   

The GTR performed flawlessly, although it needs a bloody good clean!! 
The rear is starting to look like its squaring off a tad, not surprising with 2.5k on it now, I seem to recall the ZZR did that on the standard tyres after a coupla K.  This this was fully loaded for 1300 miles.

Mightly impressed with the whole experience on our first tour. 
Not sure when the next trip will be, but looking forward to it.

 

[O.C.]

good report sounds like you had a great time despite some bad weather,  thanks for sharing ~~~any piccies ? 

[ChrisB]

Buy some pannier bags they are a godsend. I got mine from Heine Gericke but there are some tailor made ones on ebay.