Hi Folks,
I just did a 2000 mile A/B road ride from Santander in northern Spain over to Nice in the south of France and took the Roscoff ferry home to Plymouth on my 2018 K46 Gen 3 with my eldest son who was riding his 660 Trident.
Notes for others riding through Spain and France.
1. When the ambient temperature hits 33-36C, the Gen 3 runs really, really hot, never saw it drop below 97C and it went to 105C without any bother when I was in slow moving traffic or at a junction. Bike still performed really well even if the cooling fan was on almost permanently.
2. 97 RON Petrol available in proper manned petrol stations in Spain in nearly all places and they take Apple Pay. Not so in France. Unmanned Supermarket stations are the norm in France, sometimes not easy to spot at the side of the road even when you are looking for one coming up with the aid of a sat nav and often just 95 RON fuel.
3. Petrol stations in villages and towns in France require a physical debit or credit card at the pump, don't be fooled by the RFID tag point, it is only used for their loyalty 'points' cards. Most are 24 hours.
4. Cash is still required in bars in France, even though it might say Apple Pay in the window as you walk in. Stand your ground and offer to use Apple Pay otherwise an evil stare makes the fookers reach for the CC machine hidden deep behind the counter.
5. There are copious numbers of mostly forward facing speed cameras on A roads between major towns. Only one warning sign (not two as in Britain) and they appear often within 1km from the first sign - we were good around those as we weren't sure if they would sell the fine to a UK debt collector - its only a brief stretch where you observe the speed limit. The French cars stick to the 80/90 speed limits, so did we. Ahem......
6. If you take slip-on wet weather gear over your leathers, make sure that the wet weather gear is recent and you tested it at home first and the seams haven't fallen to pieces - otherwise it will end up in shreds like my jacket did when it is raining hard. Doh........
7. Blew the RHS dipped headlight bulb and popped the corresponding 7.5A microfuse beneath the pillion seat - my son had some spare fuses, must get some myself too.
Ran with a 20L Kreiga pack on the pillion seat and a 10L Bagster tank bag on a Bagster universal tank bag connector - used special paint tape where I thought paint surfaces would rub underneath the baggage which might get grit (blue coloured tape on the pictures) and it worked really well, no residue to clean off afterwards. Apparently it costs ?5 per m - my son got it for me and I used about 4m
We had a great father & son trip together, lots of laughs and giggles and beautiful scenery too - this is from the Gorges du Verdon in the south of France with a local friend on his RSV4 near a 700m deep limestone gorge with a turquoise-green colour river flowing through it.
I just did a 2000 mile A/B road ride from Santander in northern Spain over to Nice in the south of France and took the Roscoff ferry home to Plymouth on my 2018 K46 Gen 3 with my eldest son who was riding his 660 Trident.
Notes for others riding through Spain and France.
1. When the ambient temperature hits 33-36C, the Gen 3 runs really, really hot, never saw it drop below 97C and it went to 105C without any bother when I was in slow moving traffic or at a junction. Bike still performed really well even if the cooling fan was on almost permanently.
2. 97 RON Petrol available in proper manned petrol stations in Spain in nearly all places and they take Apple Pay. Not so in France. Unmanned Supermarket stations are the norm in France, sometimes not easy to spot at the side of the road even when you are looking for one coming up with the aid of a sat nav and often just 95 RON fuel.
3. Petrol stations in villages and towns in France require a physical debit or credit card at the pump, don't be fooled by the RFID tag point, it is only used for their loyalty 'points' cards. Most are 24 hours.
4. Cash is still required in bars in France, even though it might say Apple Pay in the window as you walk in. Stand your ground and offer to use Apple Pay otherwise an evil stare makes the fookers reach for the CC machine hidden deep behind the counter.
5. There are copious numbers of mostly forward facing speed cameras on A roads between major towns. Only one warning sign (not two as in Britain) and they appear often within 1km from the first sign - we were good around those as we weren't sure if they would sell the fine to a UK debt collector - its only a brief stretch where you observe the speed limit. The French cars stick to the 80/90 speed limits, so did we. Ahem......
6. If you take slip-on wet weather gear over your leathers, make sure that the wet weather gear is recent and you tested it at home first and the seams haven't fallen to pieces - otherwise it will end up in shreds like my jacket did when it is raining hard. Doh........
7. Blew the RHS dipped headlight bulb and popped the corresponding 7.5A microfuse beneath the pillion seat - my son had some spare fuses, must get some myself too.
Ran with a 20L Kreiga pack on the pillion seat and a 10L Bagster tank bag on a Bagster universal tank bag connector - used special paint tape where I thought paint surfaces would rub underneath the baggage which might get grit (blue coloured tape on the pictures) and it worked really well, no residue to clean off afterwards. Apparently it costs ?5 per m - my son got it for me and I used about 4m
We had a great father & son trip together, lots of laughs and giggles and beautiful scenery too - this is from the Gorges du Verdon in the south of France with a local friend on his RSV4 near a 700m deep limestone gorge with a turquoise-green colour river flowing through it.
