Set off from a sunny Anglesey this morning with a 70 mile dash in the offing, A55 and then the M53 to BMW Motorrad in Chester....
The RT was going to a part-ex for a newer GS, last evening was spent stripping out bits of the bike I was keeping, cleaning it and re-mounting its panniers. Up early this morning, having perused BBC Wales' excellent local weather forecasts, the kit of the day was selected and assembled. Base tee-shirt, a Knox technical overshirt, a Norwegian fishing jumper (long sleeves - polo shirt type collar). Knox Back protector, topped with a BMW Rallye2 jacket with Gortex liner. Leather trousers and superb Altberg hand made motorcycling boots, lined with winter socks. Alpinestar Goretex winter gloves. Snug as a bug and very unlikely to get cold. Schuberth C3 Pro helmet, very light, extraordinarily quiet, impervious to wind and rain.
Next the bike was moved out into the road, levels checked and allow the machine to self check its own systems including real time tyre pressure displays and oil-levels, keep it on tickover until it settled to a steady rumble. Big beast the RT, hoik it off its stand, mount up - retract side stand, engage first gear with a typical BMW clunk and off ! Narrow lane to the A55 allows plenty of time for it warm up - progressively increasing rev limits until 1.5 miles later smoothly join the A55 - practicing "block" changes up the box, not impressed ! by this time lane 2 of the A55 towards Britannia Bridge - notching up to 6th gear seemlessly a smidgin under 4k revs = 85 mph. Cruise control until the bridge.
Scrolling through the bike's computer display shows a temperature of 14.0c which descended below 10c as we approached the Cheshire border, overall consumption is a good 57mpg after it was reset on Tuesday for an identical trip, impressive for a big tourer whose speedometer is normally seen in the high seventies to mid eighties.
Notch down the helmet's internal dark visor to cut out the worse of the morning sun's glare.
Britannia is as quiet as planned, the inevitable early morning queue to he mainland has evaporated - keep in the outside lane for maximum visibility in the twin junctions on a nasty downhill curve - no wind on the bridge to frighten me this morning as the bike starts its mile munching act across an autumnal North Wales.
There's always a point on a bike trip, however small, however mundane that you realize why you still do it - today it was the sight, smell and taste of the sea at Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan - rough as anything a haze of salt-water hung over the road at that point.
Tested a little by a pretty black BMW 320 coupe, around here - pushing me and then we played a bit for a few miles, driver and rider together in some sort of automotive interaction which we both probably felt broke up the monotany - Holywell by-pass and mimsers in lane 2. A respectful ST500 moves into lane 1 to let me pass - a quick acknowledgement from me and the female driver...
Realised how pleasant the gear-change on the bike is - unperceptible upward changes, slight throttle blips to facilitate downchanges - everything in harmony, me warm comfortable and dry, bike in that groove where everything meshes.
Drove into a busy, wet and windy industrial estate on the fringes of Humph's favourite shopping experience (Cheshire Oaks) - completely dry warm and happy. A good bike for the ride - a big state of the art tourer - but I wanted a bit of rough........!
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 7 Oct 11 at 19:08
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