Yours is a gen 1 thou isn't it Stevie?
Quote from: Hedgetrimmer on 15 October 2016, 11:16:47 amYours is a gen 1 thou isn't it Stevie? Nope, back on a boxeye for my grafter bike, that's the one I'd be looking at touring on once I'd chopped the tiger in for an xsr900!!
Not done any long distance stuff on my Fazer (It's an age thing) but my most arduous trip on a motorcycle was back in 1964 still a learner, no crashhelmet, no waterproofs other than a plastic grey packamac (thick polythene) And plastic bags over baseball boots I set out from Fernhurst in Sussex and headed off to Scotland (Kirkcaldy). My steed was a 1959 175cc BSA Bantam, my friend who did the trip with me rode a 1960 197cc James Captain.As Learner riders we had to stay clear of the M1 and opted for the A1 but had to find alternative routes when the A1 turned into the M1 as it did.Both my friend and I were apprentice bricklayers at the time my weekly wage at the time was £1-19 shillings for a 39 hour week (max an apprentice then was allowed to work) that equaled out to 1 shilling an hour or 5p. So no money for motorcycle luxuries. We both worked on the Friday and headed off on our adventure to Scotland at about 7 pm that night, I remember we had done less than a mile and it started raining and to be honest I don't actually recall it stopping until we hit Galasheils at 8pm on the Saturday some 25 hours later. We had no plans about our journey other than some of my friends (Scottie West's) relatives that he had never met we were staying with them in Kirkcaldy. Well we stopped riding at about 8 pm through exhaustion, Scottie had thrown the James up the road at one point in the afternoon, I did not realise he was missing and went back about 7 miles on a dual-carriageway to find him, he was sat on the side of the road face covered in stinging nettle rash, skin missing from hands and knees and ankle looking very sorry for himself, but no permanent damage done, bent footrest and front brake lever.Anyway we spent that night dug into a very large heap of road chipping that had been deposited in a large lay-by covered with our grey packamacs, we both slept like baby's in that gravel heap through exhaustion. Starving hungry soaking wet we set off again from Galasheils at about 7am on the Saturday morning and arrived at Kirkcaldy around 1-00pm. The second week of our holiday trip to Scotland we went further North to a place called Portmahomack on the tip of the Dormoch Firth, about 190 miles North of Kirkcaldy. A total one way trip nowadays of 670 miles, would have been more then because we were restricked to A roads. If my memory serves me well I believe we did about 1500 miles that holiday and all on 175cc and a 197cc British Two Strokes that loaded with suitcase on a rear carrier that had the balls out top speed of about 48 to 50mph on the flat and considerably less on any incline, I remember go over a mountain range (Grampians I think) with both bikes dropping to less than 25 mph with our 3 speed gearboxes. Would I do a trip like that again................. Foc off.
Tommyardin,What a great read.We are of the same generation and your article certainly captured the spirit of my teenage years.Thanks for posting.
Author
Topic: Longest journey (Read 3716 times)
