Tip of the Day 3 - Comfort Braking

How many times have you dabbed your brakes just before a bend, shed perhaps 2 miles an hour at most, then realised that it wasn’t actually necessary. It makes you feel better, that little squeeze, but analysed, it wasn’t needed. Fight the desire to “comfort brake”.

Tiredness and riding

Longer distances, higher speeds and heat all take their toll on bikers. Last Saturday evening, returning to Ypres after a long day, I could feel that happening. In my case (and others have confirmed the feeling), the feeling is one of being "insulated" from everything a bit - hard to know how else to describe it. The dangerous part is that the feeling is not really in synch with the symptoms - so watch out for it and stop! Often, a few minutes out of the saddle is enough, but sometimes it needs a long break, a snooze, water, coffee etc.

Riding in France

Here's a useful article on real-world issues when riding in France
http://www.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/ridingInFrance.htm

Tip of the Day 2 - hang back!

Restraint
If you ever have to crane your neck to see around the vehicle in front, you're too close! Fall back and it will allow you to overtake earlier by allowing you to read the road and the hazards on it and also to spot an opportunity. The back of the truck you are following will never tell you anything about the road ahead!

Your view is your greatest asset- retain it, don't lose it unless essential.

2 essential pieces of kit for touring

A puncture in the middle of nowhere is a pain is the ass! It screws up your day.

But with the Tire Plugger (compact version), a quick repair takes minutes. It's reliable and doesn't need any skill. Usual Health & Safety warnings of course-otherwise use your commonsense.




To reinflate, have one of these babies as well- this one is from Slime, but obviously any 12V compact compressor will do the job. If you're really tight on space, strip all the casing etc away and you will find the actual working parts take up almost no space.

Changing my own tyres- instructions link

With tyre changes every 4K approx, I'm toying with changing my own tyres in future. I use Bridgestones 020's (hopefully 021s by next change) on my R1200RT. I have the bead breaker, and a friend has supplied these instructions.

I should save about £60 a pair on each change so it's tempting.

For info, I have found the 020s to be vastly superior, especially in the wet, to all other makes I have tried over the years. In fact, I specified my R1200RT to come with Bridgestones. The dealer actually got the bike in with another brand on and switched them over prior to delivery.

EuroTunnel & Bikes

I see that EuroTunnel have now got their act together a little bit. They will now normally amend bookings at no cost, and will allow normally allow a 2 hour window so that you can arrive late and not be 'fined' £30 as in the past.

It's still the best way to travel cross Channel in my opinion - quick and informal, no tying down bikes etc.