Bike Madness ?
Lurch88 - 8/9/14 at 05:29 PM
Ok
So this week I am down in Sunny Spain on Holiday
The guy we are renting the studio from mentioned his mate is off on his travels soon
and is selling up everything before he goes.
He is selling a Yamaha 600 ish (Not sure on model but single cylinder adventure type ,old)
wants 200 Euros for it and the guy we are staying with says we can keep it at his place until I can get back to pick it up
Getting it shipped back is looking like £500 ,but riding it back sounds like a hell of an adventure
I am going to have a look at it tomorrow ,with an open mind
The bike is still GB registered
Sooooooooo the question is,Pitfalls? suggestions on were to stay on the trip back? ,crossing boarders?,
any one had any experience of travelling 1500 Kilometres on an Old bike ?
I have fancied a restoration project in the garage for a while and this is a rather extreme way of getting one!
Any feed back very welcome
Ta
Mark
smart51 - 8/9/14 at 05:46 PM
Get breakdown cover!
A road trip on a bike sounds like fun. 1000 miles is an awful lot of fun though.
designer - 8/9/14 at 05:46 PM
Try Shiply.com, you might get a good price for bringing it back.
Also Spain is full of 'white van men' who shuttle backward and forwards Uk/Spain. A bloke here had a Harley brought from London and only
payed £200.
mark chandler - 8/9/14 at 06:12 PM
I guess you are looking at an XT600 type bike, worth £600 in the uk running but tatty.
Had a friend years ago who bought a 100cc two stroke a day before touring, rode it through France, Spain all the way to Gibraltar, on the way back it
started wheezing a lot so purchased a hacksaw and chopped the back of the exhaust off then got all the way back to the uk and sold it for what he
paid... Pennies.
Go for it, Spanish and French roads are lovely, as above breakdown cover if it goes wrong you get back for free, just call when you want to return if
it fails halfway through.
Come up through Spain on the east coast, then pop into France and cut along the Pyrenees then drop back into Spain for the Portsmouth Bilbao if
feeling flush, if not then drag back to Dieppe Newhaven boat for a few hours rest or tunnel for an hour break.
When we rode down a few years ago, well 10 I guess we did not bother booking anywhere, after 3pm look for B&B signs. We stayed in some lovely
houses cheaply and if all else fails a more expensive characterless hotel.
[Edited on 8/9/14 by mark chandler]
Lurch88 - 8/9/14 at 06:44 PM
would actually be looking at Roscoff to Plymouth or possibly Satander to Plymouth Ferry
Any Idea just how long you could actually sit on this type of bike in a day before your arse fell off ?
Its not exactly a Harley is it !
or how long would a thousand miles take assuming no major dramas
Three days comfortably ?
Slimy38 - 8/9/14 at 06:51 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Lurch88
would actually be looking at Roscoff to Plymouth or possibly Satander to Plymouth Ferry
Any Idea just how long you could actually sit on this type of bike in a day before your arse fell off ?
Its not exactly a Harley is it !
or how long would a thousand miles take assuming no major dramas
Three days comfortably ?
Personally I'd sit on a sports bike a lot longer than a Harley!! I've never liked the laid back position, much prefer the 'gorilla
hugging a basketball' route.
Three days would need to be 350 miles per day, that's five hours at 70mph (average). Realistically it'll be closer to 50mph. If you're
really pushing yourself at that speed then three stints of two hours will probably work, which leaves you slightly over three days. Chuck in a ferry
crossing and you've used up closer to four.
[Edited on 8/9/14 by Slimy38]
Lurch88 - 8/9/14 at 07:06 PM
That sounds realistic
Ta
chrism - 8/9/14 at 07:36 PM
Don't forget if it's still UK registered once you hit UK soil it would need to be MOT'd straight away, as I'm assuming since its
spain it wont have a valid uk mot. Of course you could always book an MOT for the day you arrive back and ride it straight there.
MikeRJ - 8/9/14 at 09:19 PM
Sounds like an great adventure, though it would be even better if you could share it with a buddy (e.g. be a pillion on the way down and ride back
together).
XT600's aren't particularly great machines for sustained high speed cruising; you probably wouldn't want to do more than about 70mph
for any length of time with the very upright riding position. However, they are tough machines and the engines tend to plod on for high mileages if
looked after.
Is the bike MOT'd and Taxed still? If not that could be a bit dodgy once you get back to Blighty.
simonrh - 9/9/14 at 11:32 AM
I rode from UK down to the very top of northern spain (pyrenees) and out again into andorra.
Went via Lemans to see what is was like too.
Not sure I would want to have done it on a 600 single but people go a lot further on them and if it is an XT600 then they are really simple and really
tough.
I planned the route in infinite detail and shouldn't have done, much better to see what comes up and go with it!
TrophyJem - 9/9/14 at 12:54 PM
Check it is really UK registered.
Many UK reg vehicles in Spain are there illegally on a sorn, or even supposedly scrapped.
A UK registered vehicle can legally only be out of the country for 6 months before it has to be exported and registered in the country it is in. If
it's been out of the country for a while it could be a real problem bringing it back.
Lurch88 - 9/9/14 at 01:03 PM
Well this is the beasty
Yamaha Tanere 660
Its been out of the county for 6-8 years has No MOT or Tax
he has no paperwork for it at all and its probably still registered by the previous owner
The back brake doesn't work its done 52000 miles
Various electrics have been "altered"
I think its not for me sadly