Riding my 2018 K46 - had a great 2000 mile 10 day ride with my son from Plymouth>Santander>Pamplona>Pyrenees>Nimes>Nice>Lyon>Le Mans>Roscoff - 90% A roads and B roads - stayed in cheap edge of town or small village hotels for <?40 per night.
External daytime temperatures ranged from 22C-36C
Observations - Spanish / French road surfaces are very good. Most long distance traffic has now migrated onto the busy motorway network because of the speed restrictions to 80/90 kph on the A/B roads - loads of static cameras everywhere on the A/B roads but we 'made progress' between the cameras. I felt for the locals getting stuck for miles behind big trucks on their A/B roads.
Make sure you have a physical UK bank debit or credit card for France for fuel - Revolut debit cards and ApplePay rarely work in the unmanned fuel stations in France - fuel stations in France are few and far between in the countryside - mainly at the supermarkets. Cash is still necessary everywhere in France - especially in bars which state on the doors they take take cards. Nearly a bit of 'Entente Cordiale' in one bar with the owner - until he got his payment machine out from under the counter after we'd drunk our beers.
When it was 36C outside, my bike water temperature was 97C - 105C - I thought I was losing coolant until I went out to check in the morning, expansion chamber at the normal position - the bike just runs really hot when it is really hot outside - even when travelling at speed. Blew a dipped headlight bulb and the corresponding 7.5A micro fuse located under the pillion seat - 2nd fuse down on the RHS bank - didn't have lamp warning switched on to warn me - will do now.
Apparently, since late last year, it is now illegal to filter between lines of traffic on French roads - that was ignored by us.
Wore leathers and took slip on wet weather gear - an old slip on jacket and the tape on the seams fell out = jacket disintegrated and ripped apart in tatters over the only wet day we had - took two days for the leathers to dry out.
Other than that we had an absolute blast.
External daytime temperatures ranged from 22C-36C
Observations - Spanish / French road surfaces are very good. Most long distance traffic has now migrated onto the busy motorway network because of the speed restrictions to 80/90 kph on the A/B roads - loads of static cameras everywhere on the A/B roads but we 'made progress' between the cameras. I felt for the locals getting stuck for miles behind big trucks on their A/B roads.
Make sure you have a physical UK bank debit or credit card for France for fuel - Revolut debit cards and ApplePay rarely work in the unmanned fuel stations in France - fuel stations in France are few and far between in the countryside - mainly at the supermarkets. Cash is still necessary everywhere in France - especially in bars which state on the doors they take take cards. Nearly a bit of 'Entente Cordiale' in one bar with the owner - until he got his payment machine out from under the counter after we'd drunk our beers.
When it was 36C outside, my bike water temperature was 97C - 105C - I thought I was losing coolant until I went out to check in the morning, expansion chamber at the normal position - the bike just runs really hot when it is really hot outside - even when travelling at speed. Blew a dipped headlight bulb and the corresponding 7.5A micro fuse located under the pillion seat - 2nd fuse down on the RHS bank - didn't have lamp warning switched on to warn me - will do now.
Apparently, since late last year, it is now illegal to filter between lines of traffic on French roads - that was ignored by us.
Wore leathers and took slip on wet weather gear - an old slip on jacket and the tape on the seams fell out = jacket disintegrated and ripped apart in tatters over the only wet day we had - took two days for the leathers to dry out.
Other than that we had an absolute blast.
