wessie

Whatever you wear, especially if it has a breathable membrane, make sure you have a decent wicking layer underneath. I use EDZ leggings http://www.edzlayering.com/product-category/men/base-layers/ and a variety of sports tops. When touring, these items can be rinsed out and they will dry out overnight to use the next day. This allows you to pack a lot lighter for a trip. As far as outer clothing goes, I have an all season jacket from Hein Gericke which is goretex lined and has zipped vents. The company went bust so you can't buy it. Trousers are also vented and have a breathable membrane. Spada Summit from Ghostbikes. I also have a mesh jacket from Ghostbikes but it's rarely warm enough for that - just used in Italy a few times. The one I bought has been replaced with this higher spec job

If you really want to see cynical go and buy a litre of that VAG juice from your friendly VW, or better still, Audi dealer. It will hurt! But I agree that it is more likely related to a marketing strategy than anything scientific. Asda (UK name for Walmart) sell the correct grade Castrol Edge for £12 a litre. Not that the car uses any inbetween changes.

Yes. Why is it okay for VAG to put synthetic oil in my petrol car during manufacture and leave it there for 20,000 miles or 2 years. Yet bike engines will fall to bits if you use the stuff from day 1 or do more than 6000 miles (4000 in some areas) between changes. Can someone provide a scientific answer that convinces a cynical bastard like me who just sees it as a £ or $ earning opportunity for dealers and manufacturers?

The brakes get better when the pads bed in. I was looking to replace my pads when I first rode the F-Jay as they were terrible. Now they are fine, but took a few hundred miles to get better. Do the pads bed in or does the monkey on the saddle recalibrate its neurons?

fuel spill, usually diesel/gazole as petrol/essence (gas in US) evaporates fortunately these spills are fairly rare in the UK. I'd like to think it is because the British motorist is more considerate but I guess it is purely economic as diesel is more expensive than petrol in the UK so people try very hard not to spill it. Current price is about £1.20 or 1.63 euros per litre.

Mine's bigger than yours

or buy a tinted screen...

Interesting that Givi gives you a frame to increase the air gap on the reverse. That was a partial solution on a previous bike, the BMW R1150GS, where a guy called Toby invented the Tobinator extension bracket.

Seems Loomies in West Meon Hampshire survived when the owners gave notice to close due to nobody wanting to buy the business. Apparently, it has been taken over by a bunch of locals. Good luck to them http://www.loomies.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/loomiescafe "We're at the junction of the A32 and A272 near Alton."

if you are just going from my photo, those red wires are not connected to the neg terminal - there is only one lead connected the neg terminal and it is black with a brass terminal a black insulator over the positive terminal is not uncommon - my VAG car has the same arrangement

If the Givi screen doesn't work for you I'll swap it for your Yamaha touring screen, as it is sitting in a box under my bed...

johan's pedantry aside, the Italian mob have the Givi S180T spoiler recommended in another thread, just to give another choice and add more uncertainty about what works - £20 cheaper than in the UK, even when taking the delivery charge into account link here

click the English flag icon at the top you numpty! emails are sent in a version of English as well

No, @jordo27 I don't think anyone has tried the Givi screen yet - I didn't know it was in the wild yet, but had seen it on the catalogue. However, this Italian vendor who seems to get Givi stock before anyone else is now listing it as available for 91 Euros plus delivery (7.5 euros to UK) Link - not sure if they ship to Aus. Seems good value for 70 quid, if it works. We just need a guinea pig to do a test for us...

7700km is under 4800 miles. As long as most of those miles are not on motorway/freeway/autobahn then I think you will be okay. Are you travelling in areas where there aren't tyre shops? It's not uncommon for UK riders to arrange a tyre change, or even a service (as @johan did) part way around a similarly large loop - either ship a tyre to a known address or just buy locally, especially if going to somewhere like Morocco where changing from touring tyres to ADV or Enduro tyres would be useful.

It's a good job it's not like a mate's Tiger which remembers the top speed. I didn't know about this feature until after the bike was returned to him after one of those CIHAGM key swapping sessions at a weekend gathering. He prodded the buttons then tried to work out who had been riding at 136mph. Lots of innocent looks from the assembled riders.

I've seen 134mph on my speedo without the topbox on. It was still pulling but I ran out of road. There's a youtube video showing a rider in Greece maybe, doing the kph equivalent of high 130s.

At those sort of speed I tend to duck down behind my Powerbronze screen. This puts more weight over the front and counteracts the topbox effect. I have not had the bike get out of shape on straight line acceleration except when I hit the rev limiter in 4th at about 124mph, changed up to 5th and there was a bit of a head shake as the power came back on. No great drama, just giggled and carried on, at a slightly more sedate pace as traffic got in the way.

Shakedown ride for the Kappa luggage on this typically busy road in the Cotswolds

as long as you don't overdo it and end up clutching your slippers

shame they didn't use the same design as the Super Tenere - these have rubber pegs that compress if you stand up so your boots make contact with the metal grippers. Works well.

Hopefully, once I need to replace one of the XR1100s the NXR will fit me and be cheaper than the current new(ish) model price. Sadly it uses a different visor so my current dark one will need to be replaced

As far as helmets go, I have 3 now the old Arai has been binned. 1x older Raid II as a spare winter helmet as it will fit with a balaclava, the current main use XR1100 and a brand new, still in the box XR1100 as they are being sold off cheaply as end of line stock to make way for the NXR.

It's the same one - there was a 2 week gap between the 2 attempts with a Torx whilst the left hand drill bits arrived. I am now equipped to deal with further cheese fasteners if needed, although the Aldi drill really isn't man enough to apply any torque in anti-clockwise mode as the chuck comes loose.

Removed the cheese headed allen bolt from the footpeg carrier to fit the Givi spacer. The bolt has blue loctite and the head of the bolt gave way before the loctite. Initially tried a torx bit hammered into the socket but it would not bite. Next tried a conventional drill bit to make a hole to use a broken screw extractor. No dice. Next tried a left hand drill bit bit the chuck started to undo before the bolt started to turn. So, I tried the torx bit approach again, now the hole was deeper and joy of joys, the bolt started to turn and came out. Perhaps the torque from the drill & left hand bit loosened the grip of the loctite? Anyway, spacers fitted to move the footrest mounting points out to the same distance as the top luggage carriers with the Givi topbox brackets fitted. Just need the bloody Yamaha panniers to come into stock - @johan has his so hopefully when my dealer re-opens on Tuesday they will email me that the stock has arrived.