Suzi has landed!

It was raining of course. 

So we had to be quick.  All that shiny alloy and new chromed wheels.... I didn't want water marks before I get to ride it.

There was time for photo or two and then Suzi was put away in the garage until it dries up. And locked up with the Abus!!

Claire took the photos on her new Samsung A21.

I am very happy.. that is a smile!

OMG! It's heavy!

🏍️

Still a lot of work to do to clear surface rust on the rack and mudguards, and fit the parts that have arrived over the last week or so.

Need the pressure washer on the swingarm etc. All the bits that Phil wasn't tasked to do.

Hopefully the weather will be better over the weekend and we can get her out and get some fuel in the tank. Currently dry for transporting.

Phil suggested that for the first tank I put some oil in the tank. He didn't say what percentage but maybe 20:1 might not be too much to oil up the plugs.

I need the check how much is in the oil tank as well and keep that nicely topped up 

I currently have three different kinds of two-stroke unopened and fresh.

Phil's running in instructions: 1000 mile to run motor in. 3k-4k for 1st 500 miles then go up 1000rpm per hundred miles. Best to run some oil in fuel for 1st couple tanks

Suzi not back yet

We had quite a lot of rain over the weekend and into this week. It cleared away any lingering snow and although not that warm, people are able to get around.

So I was hoping "Suzi" (name courtesy of Neill Devall) would be home.

I am on school half term and with the milder, although normal for this time of year, temperatures I had hoped Baz at Specialised would have got the bike back to me this week.

And then the phone rang....

Tomorrow about lunchtime and we will be reunited! 

Another new bit!

Although I probably don't need it...

Where have we heard that before? 

Well, I remembered that the fuel cap gasket was a little aged and with the tank brimmed I had had a slight leak when on the sidestand.

The remedy? Buy a new rubber for the filler cap. I toyed with the entire cap. But as it is out of sight under the flap I decided not to bother and just get the rubber.

Another part from https://www.suzytwo.co.uk/

Getting it back?

Getting it back from Phil's once it has been finished is the next logistics problem to look at.

Obviously once it is ready to leave the workshop, Phil will want it out of the way so that he can work on other jobs. And rightly so.

Talking with fellow "Old SOC" member Stuart and he told me that when his bike came back from a restoration not that long ago, it came back with a professional courier used to moving bikes.

I suggested this to Phil as we are currently in lockdown and not supposed to travel.

I looked at the costs. Last year Stuart paid about £125 for the job to be done.  That seems a steep but when you consider the costs I incurred taking it to Phil's in August it's about spot on.

I had the trailer hire @ £55.00 plus VAT.  The 450 plus mile round trip took us the best part of 12 hours and I that much fuel came out at about £70. On top of that it was all that time in the car and I had to have my brother to ride shotgun to load and unload the bike. Luckily her only cost a meal at the end of the day and a Starbucks on the way up!

So now we need to find someone that will do the job.  I left this to Phil as he has more contacts in that arena.

Let's see how this progresses.

Rust in tank sorted.

That hurdle has been overcome and Phil has the rust in the tank sorted with a mixture of acid and water.  

When the tank has dried out it can go back on the bike and work can continue. 

Down the hatch!

Carburettors

Rebuilt by Barry Wilkes.

He has even refitted the little black plastic cover on the choke lever!!! 😁

Why am I doing this?

I have been asked this several times.

Why?

One reason is that I bought the bike in May 1984 and I want to get it running again. 

Whilst it is a non-runner it is worth a bit in parts but not really that much. 

As a runner with a newly rebuilt engine, especially, a new crank, it is worth way more. 

As a 64yo rider I have maybe ten more years riding and less as a touring motorcyclist. So keeping one bike for less riding seems a good idea.

I currently have the Rocket III as my main bike. But with a contracting scope for riding, it would make sense to keep the classic bike and let the modern bike go.

To do that. I need the GT to be running. Reliable runner at that.

One where I can go out to the garage and pull the bike out, switch on, press the button and to go anywhere I want, when I want.

This is why this project got off the ground.

If the bike looks okay. Then that's a plus.

Another part in the jigsaw

Another part of the renaissance jigsaw arrived in the post today from Reiner in Germany. A master cylinder repair kit.

It comes with the seals etc need to fix the leaking problem I currently have.  In fact. It has leaked and there is no fluid left in it all.

Another job to add to the list that I will pass onto Philip Jones once the lockdown is over in the UK. I am hoping that will be sooner rather than later.

When I am off for the summer from late July to early September would be a good time to get it up to Telford.

Oh forgot about the three B8ES plugs I bought as well.

Coupes Motos Légendes 2001

Back in 2001 I was invited to attend the event held at the Montlhéry circuit to the south of Paris.

So one Friday we set off, Claire and me aboard the Kettle for the relatively short run to Paris, it's about 199 miles. We took the A26/A1 route from the Channel. 

I chose a Campanile hotel at Porte de Bagnolet, although those in cities were called Campaville at the time. 

This one was within easy access to the city on the metro.  Parking was a bit crap as it was a multi-storey building. The problem was getting in and out through the barrier and no marked bike spaces.

Once checked in we set off for the city on the metro line a few hundred metres away.  It was also close to the Boulevard Périphérique.

We had a good wander around the sights like the Eiffel Tower etc. Had a meal and then back to the hotel.

After breakfast on Saturday we togged up and checked the maps to Montlhéry. A mere 35kms or so from the hotel.  

It was an easy run on the Périphérique and then follow the signs. We had the paperwork/tickets and a sticker on the screen to get us in. We eventually found the French GT club and parked up.

After a chat with the members we had a walk to get some coffee!

Took a photo.

We met the WBC and had a chat and a drink before having a walk around the site and watched some of the bikes taking to the banked circuit. My bike was too young to be able to have a parade lap.  

They go on the registration date not the manufacture date.  Mine was registered April 1977 and so was deemed too recent.  Maybe I will try again in 2021 or 2022 when it is old enough!

On the walk there were a good few Kettles.  I managed not to take one of my own bike, and the other film I used up on the on-track activities and the WBC stand appear to have all disappeared.  

WBC Reimo GT750

I think the Sheene RG is ridden by Alan Cathcart?

Pol Apolon

Once we had had enough of the event, we bade our goodbyes and I ignored the comments from Pol  that we would be lucky to get home on my Kettle (!). Claire remembers those comments. As we will see later they may have been right.

We had another night in the Campanile and would ride home on Sunday.  

Sunday

After another leisurely breakfast we set off home.  

I filled the tank locally and off we went.  I expected given the range of the Kettle that we would need to stop again on the A26 to fill up again.

On the A1 northbound we had one of those moments where even though we had not gone that far and we were in the inside lane, the bike lost power. 

We had barely got much past the turn off to Parc Asterix. 

I indicated and pulled onto the emergency lane/hard shoulder. Turning the fuel tap to reserve seemed to work. 

We picked up speed again and so I regained the inside lane and we stopped at the next services.  Loads of oil in the tank and about half a tank of fuel.  I filled up there anyway to save stopping again.

There was always that niggle in the back of my head that there was something wrong!  

We got home okay though after that and the bike continued to run well until I allowed it to fester in the back of the garage.  

Hence the Renaissance title to this blog.

Update

Since finishing the blog post I have posted on the Suzuki Triple Club a post to see if I can identify my French friend.

And we have a name - Pol Appolon.  The reply was from Jacques Massé who has a site called "La Bouillotte".

Jacques also sent a better photo of the day. Mine has been cropped but this one shows the bike much better.

Wasserbüffel Treffen 1999

This run was slightly different to that of 1993.

I was going to meet my friend and fellow SOC member Steve Hazlehurst. Steve had attended the Czech Invader Rally near Brno the weekend before.

My plan was to get to Köln to meet the DB Autozug to Salzburg. I'd meet Steve there and we were booked into the YH.

The bike was packed with my Swagman panniers and the Givi topbox.

The ride to Köln was easy enough and I had lunch near the Dom before finding the station near the exhibition grounds. There were other bikes there going to Villach. 

Mostly HD on their way to some treffen of their own in Slovenia I think.

Just before the train was due to arrive there was a massive storm. The train was "lost" and we sheltered where we could. 

As it thundered and the lightning crashed around us I tried to take a selfie.  Not as easy as you might think with an SLR in those long days before digital cameras were invented.

SLR Selfie - uses self timer!

Actually, I did have one with me.  The first Casio I could get my hands on. But it was/is so basic that even the simplest photos aren't that good.

The Austrian conductor made jokes about German efficiency as the train was very late having been "lost" on its way from Düsseldorf. Probably not PC for the world we live in now.

When the train finally arrived it had stopped raining and we could load the bikes.  Mine was in a different carriage to be detached at Salzburg.  

I shared a couchette compartment with a family from Germany.  I had the very top bunk of three each side. They were very pleasant and spoke some English. Luckily we were all asleep most of the way and they were also Villach bound.

Once spat out into Salzburg at around 7am I had to get breakfast and then locate the city centre and then the YH itself. The YH is walking distance to the city centre.

I had been having a few problems with the battery, the Varta I bought in Austria in 1992 (!) and so looked for a bike shop. 

I found one just across the river from the YH in mid-morning. I bought another Varta.  They had it on charge over lunch and by the time I got back it had enough life to start the bike.  

I went for a little ride before heading back to the YH. Steve arrived in time for dinner at a nearby bar.

The next day we headed south with the intention of going over the Großglockner and then deciding what to do. I tried to book us into the YH at Heiligenblut.

On the way over we had a detour rather than the quick way. We went via the Gerlospaß and the view to the Krimml Waterfall before heading through Fuschl and the toll booths.

Krimml Waterfall in background

We made a few stops on the Großglockner for photos. Looking at these does show the bike leaning over a bit too far.

Once in Heiligenblut we couldn't find the youth hostel and it was getting late so we booked into the Landhotel Post. 

A bit more expensive but parking for the bikes and comfortable for us.

After breakfast we decided to have a look at some of the Dolomites. Steve loves to ride. 

First stop Cortina D'Ampezzo. 

Then we embarked on the the triangle around the Sella Ronda. Three passes; Sella, Pordoi and Gardena.

The roads are superb. Scenic as well as a bikers paradise.

On the way around we needed petrol and stopped at a station to find it closed for lunch. So we had ours too and left the bikes on the pump.  Nearly two hours later the old guy rocked up and we ran over to get served.

From here we had no great plans and looked at the map (no google maps back then!) and headed roughly back towards Austria, sort of north west.

Arriving in Pieve de Cadora we saw a hotel and stopped.  We spoke no Italian and the lady spoke no English, but we ended up with a twin room on dinner B&B basis.  As we had little cash we wandered around to find a machine and being totally dim we had no idea what the exchange rate was. When we settled up the next day it all seemed a bit pricey. Then when we saw the exchange rate was over 2000 lira to the £ it was very cheap!!!

At dinner Steve looked at the map and saw that Venice wasn't that far away.  In fact about 75 miles the wrong way for Austria.  As we didn't have to be at Moosham until that evening we decided to give it a go.

The ride down wasn't too bad. The Kettle ran well (I have never given this bike a name!) and we arrived and parked up in the garage right by the bus station square and the train station.  As we were wary of thieves we paid and parked inside. Chaining our jackets and helmets to the bikes and under cover.

Ready for the off!

We had a walk around,  In St Marks Square Steve and I watched kids trying to catch pigeons. Apparently this was the game for young scousers when he was a kid.

As we had no idea how the river buses worked we risked it an hopped on and off again.  

Sadly, I have been unable to find many of the photos I took on the trip. After finding that tourists will stand right in front of you to have their photo taken whilst you are trying to get one of a sight, we decided to do the same!  In a bright yellow Arsenal 1971 FA Cup Final replica shirt and massive steel tipped boots I must have ruined enough to call it quits.

A bit grainy!

Once back at the bikes we paid the rest of what we owed the garage guy as we had been longer than the time we estimated,

Checked the map again and then looked at a route that would take us through Slovenia for a short distance, up a narrow pass and into Austria near Villach.

The ride past Udine and across the border at Ratece was pretty easy. We used the free to bikes Italian autoroute, I took a couple of photos to show we had entered another country.

Taken on Casio digital camera.

And then looking back the other way....

Taken on an Olympus OM10

The route then took us to Podkoren and then northwards up the road to the Wurzenpass. By the standards we had already ridden, this was a wee one at 1073m. At this time Slovenia wasn't part of the EU and so the borders with Italy and Austria were both properly manned and checked,

Once in Villach we decided as time was getting away from us that we would head for Moosham on the autobahn and so we had to buy the vignette at the petrol station we filled up at.

The run up was once again easily achieved. Both bikes running well and a fool that I was I had forgotten to pack two-stroke oil for the tank.  Buying in Austria required a mortgage to buy a litre.

By post and email I had booked us into the apartments right opposite (and owned by) the Schloss owners.  We checked in.  There followed two days of eating, drinking, and shooting the breeze, plus some rides out,

Once the rally was over, Steve shot off for home as he was riding the entire way. I had a return train to catch but not until Monday evening and so I had a lazy day locally to get back to Salzburg.

All in all and great trip.  The last big trip I have done on the Kettle.  Hopefully, as "renaissance" kicks in it won't be the last.

Lockdown

Working from home should have given me some time to get out in the garage and clear away some of the junk so that I can get to the bike without climbing over crap.

Some is destined for charity shops and others to the recycling centre. But due to the coronavirus lockdown both are shut. Helpful? Not very.

My search for a "new" John Storrie to fix the bike stalked a bit. 

John had said that if the engine was okay and the crankshaft oil seals were okay it would be a relatively simple job to do the carbs and a tidy up. Budget about £800.

If it needed the engine out and the crank sorting, then look at £1500 to £2000. He would need to get another guy called Barry or Phil to do that as he wasn't strong enough any more.

I haven't found Barry but I have found Philip through the GT750 Owners  Facebook page.

Having been blackballed from the Kettle Club years ago I have been loathe to associate with other Kettle owners other than John. It's all old news anyway.

I put a note on asking for assistance. Loads of blokes recommended Philip Jones.

He dropped me a note on  Messenger and we had a good exchange.

I said I wanted a mechanically sound bike. I wasn't interested in a show winning spec gleaming  level but one I could go out, start and have no fear riding to Austria!

On my retirement list I thought of shipping the bike, Rocket or whatever I have in summer 2022, to the US and having fun. Maybe Route 66! PCH? 

Instead that budget would be better placed on getting the Kettle fixed.

With the lockdown end still nowhere in sight I have time to clear the garage and get the bits together that I already have in stock.

Philip has quoted around £2k to take it to him and then ride away when finished.

I have to get it there. So maybe a weekend when I can enlist my brother's help and hire a van. 

Things are on the up.

Two Stroke in the Barrels

Well. After the old two-stroke down the barrels it's time to see if (after a few weeks leaving it to seep through) the bugger will turn the engine over. By hand or foot of course. Plugs out and oil in the bores.

I have seen a few basket cases online going for decent money and that's what Mrs D would like to happen to mine!

She doesn't understand the deep relationship a man has with his bike.  I had hoped to get it sorted for this year in time for the 35th anniversary of buying it. But I suppose 2022 is a target when it will be 45 years old.  By then I'll be retired and even less of a distance biker than I am now.

So fingers crossed.

Coming Home 1993

Late July 1993. Time to leave Zastávka and head for home.

Tony and Heather were back with the kids. The plan to ride across to southern Germany for an overnight. I would continue north and they would split off and head south. 

Outside the flat on Sportovní

We headed west on the dálnice past Prague and into Germany. 

The overnight stop was in a youth hostel in a castle in Bavaria near Ellwangen. 

In those days in Bavaria anyone over 26yo couldn't stay in a YH unless they were part of a family group. We qualified and they had a family room and I got stuck in a dorm with three cyclists.

After breakfast I rode all the way home tugging the trailer. 

At the German border*

In case of fuel problems I had two cans bungied to the rack on the trailer. In the end I didn't need to use either.

This was the last long journey on the Kettle for a few years. 

I started at University in Luton in late September. To earn a few quid I signed up with a local courier company. 

After a horrific ride to Devon to deliver a letter I moved onto the vans in my non Uni days and weekends. 

The GT dropped to being No2 when I bought a 1990 XJ900F. Much better for occasional courier work when a bike was needed.

Moving on.

* Raining and wearing Rukka unlined waterproofs.. Yes. I still have that jacket. 

Smokin!

On the drive in Flitwick. In those days before phones had cameras and were able to make movies 

In fact before phones were portable outside the house and carried more computing power than Apollo 11!

Renaissance

After years of neglect things are starting to move.

I contacted a few bike restorers to see if I could get the bike to them to get it running. But not much came of that avenue. 

I am not expecting showroom or concours condition. Just usable. 

In the 80's. Me nearest camera.

As it is over 40 years old it is now registered as a historic vehicle with the UK authorities. 

As a result it is tax exempt and MoT exempt. It has to be roadworthy but doesn't have to undergo the test each year. 

In the end my old friend John Storrie made some good suggestions. 

The motor won't turn over and I suspect there is some corrosion in the cylinders. It wasn't a hot seize. Just standing too long. 

Removing the plugs reveals no corrosion on the plug electrodes and there is a healthy whiff of petrol. Hopefully the 2-stroke poured into the bores will permeate and free up the rings. 

There are a few other jobs to do and I have many of the parts required; carb rebuild kits, new throttle twist grip, exhaust gaskets. 

The choke plungers in the carbs are brass. The lifter is a steel V-shape like two fingers. The brass is wearing thin and the heads might drop off. 

The "new" Motobatt battery that went in before the lay-up is dodo dead. It might recover on the mains charger. Otherwise it will need a new one. 

Tyres. Were quite new but have sat so long on one place. Maybe them and the inner tubes will have to go... 

It all hinges on the engine not being seized.  

Fingers crossed!!!!!! 

Wasserbüffel Treffen 1993

A long weekend. Luckily it was the weekend at the end of the May half-term school holiday and so I was able to load up the bike and set off in good time to get across to Moosham.

The route via the Mikulov/Drasenhofen border crossing and around Vienna and then west past the Red Bull Ring, although then it was called Zeltweg, would be about 250 miles. 

Czech fuel was cheaper and I topped up before the border. With a range of only 130 miles to a tank fuel management is important.

On arrival at Schloss Moosham I had nowhere to stay. I met up with Thomas Wahle who I had "known" for a few years exchanging letters about Kettles. 

I had never met him before.  I was going to look at nearby Mauterndorf for a room or even a bed. Thomas and the Stuttgart area Büffel Herde had a large room and parking in the barn across the road. They also had a spare bed. As I was a poor "Czech" they wouldn't let me pay.

The weekend was a great success. A couple of the Austrian members got married. We had several rides out. My Kettle was the centre of attention due to the tow bar. 

The ride back was by a different route that took me across country to the north of the outward route.. 

The bike? Ran perfectly. 

Some background

Who knows how long this blog will exist for! I don't have the foggiest idea.

The Kettle in question is a Suzuki GT750A. First registered in April 1977. 

Some background. Sit down. This might ramble on.

I bought it in 1984 from the bike shop in Hanwell near Brentford in West London. It came with some paperwork that showed it had had some engine work done. Allegedly the crankshaft oil seals had been replaced etc.

I had other bikes as well. For a while  around this time I had a "Plain Jane" GL1000, and a  GSX1000SZ Katana.

So it was a complete surprise when riding home from work a couple of years later that the crankshaft oil seals went phut

By then we were moving from Weybridge in Surrey to Newington in Kent. I obtained an exchange crank from Robinson's then in Broadstairs.

A local guy in Gillingham was recommended to handle the engine rebuild. 

At this stage the cylinder barrel to use in the rebuild was one that I had bought off a fellow member of the SOC committee, Dave G. 

As I had had Craven Panniers on my GS1000G I wanted to use them on the GT as well.

Getting them on the GS1000 required a ride down to the Forest of Dean where they seem to have relocated from West London. The existing rack was mated to some pannier rails and the hooks fitted to hang the panniers on. What makes my Comets a little different was the QD kit on the back.

By the time I wanted them on the Kettle,  GS was long gone. But I had kept the panniers. 

I had some original exhausts but they were in poor condition. I bought some Swarbrick expansion chambers and these proved a bastard to set up. And kept cracking. The stingers falling off and constantly needing re-brazing.

Red tank and Swarbrick exhausts

Also at this point a few changes were made. A spare tank was painted in Ford XR3 orange red, another mistake! I still have the red painted fuel flap. I might put it on for a laugh. 

The pipes were later traded to Dave G in exchange for standard exhausts. These are still in use now. They are a little tatty but I don't have the budget to replace them.

The GS rack was very rusty and went to the tip. Sadly I didn't keep the pannier rails and the QD plates... 

Until around five years ago it had been used regularly as a second bike except for a couple of years when it was my only bike.

In the summer of 1992 I rode to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire to have a trailer hitch fitted.

In hindsight I should maybe have bought a cheap four-stroke and left the Kettle tucked up in the garage with electricity and a trickle charger!

I should also have fitted a new rack to at least use the Givi topbox. 

Between us we had two large Givi topboxes and shared a pair of the smaller Givis we used as panniers. 

I had been made redundant in late 1991. In early 1992 I sold my Suzuki Cavalcade and after attending the 1992 Czech Invader Rally I had to sell the DR800SL.

In between selling the other bikes I did a CTEFLA course and with IBM DOS mainframe computer jobs rarer than hen's teeth, I was looking at a new career as an English teacher.

Once qualified my partner, Audrey, and I went to Brno in our Fiat Panda over the Easter holidays. The lady in the British Council office was pretty encouraging at me finding a teaching job in a school. Post Velvet Revolution, English was becoming more popular.

I applied for jobs all over Europe. I did a two week course for French kids in Bletchley to get an idea of the task to come.

In mid July 1992 with the trailer loaded with books at the front and clothes at the back and Swagman panniers fitted we set off across Europe.

Accompanied by Audrey on her own bike, a 1988 Yamaha XJ900F, we set off for Zastávka u Brna and my home for the next year or so. She had the full Givi set fitted. 

I had a job at the Gymnázium T G Masaryka (http://www.zastavka.cz/skolstvi/gymnazium-t-g-masaryka.html) to teach English within a team of four. The three others were locals, Helena, Eva and Hana. 

Oddly when I was over in May on the DR I couldn't find the school. No Google Maps back then!!!

The route was to the Dover/Calais ferry and then via Liège where we stayed in a budget hotel alongside the motorway, Rotenburg an der Fulda, where we stayed in the youth hostel above the fire station, Bad Schandau on the Elbe River in a faded old hotel and finally to Zastávka.

Rotenburg Youth Hostel

It was going to be about around 850 miles. Once used to the trailer it was easy to forget it was there. When I had ridden over two months before on the DR I had used the same sort of A4 route via Dresden and had done it in one hit.... 

There was a problem though....

I had lights, a requirement for bikes in Europe, or indicators, not both. With the trailer electrics unplugged there was no problem. 

With the trailer connected there were two extra rear lights and two extra indicators. It seemed the extra load wasn't being covered by the bike's charging system. 

In daylight I had to disconnect the trailer. No one seemed to notice. Audrey followed behind in any case. 

Until school start time and my flat being available we stayed in the "youth house" before  final few days in Slovakia and Austria. Audrey and I parted company near Vienna. I rode north to Czech and work. And she rode solo back to Bedfordshire. 

Winter comes earlier than in UK and so by October it was stashed away in a colleague's garage. To keep the battery alive my Czech buddy Ivan bought me a trickle charger. I still have it somewhere. A shame my garage of the last 18 years has no power... 

I made a few trips to Austria to buy English newspapers and with no trailer all was mostly fine. 

The battery never seemed at full power. When friends Tony and Heather Young and their twins Helen and David came to visit for a week, we had one trip down to a Suzuki dealers near Wolkersdorf to buy a new Varta battery. It was a little pricey and came dry with acid in small tubes. One for each cell. Tony sorted that for me. 

Amazingly, the dealer us still there,  Zweirad Hubeny.

With winter approaching I had one last long weekend to Vienna's Schwechat Airport to collect Audrey for a half term visit. She flew in with Lauda Air. 

After I took her back the bike went back into the garage and on the trickle charger. 

On charge in the garage.

It wasn't until February and late as it was before we got out again. This time it started easily and smoked out the neighbourhood. 

I took in Brno Lake. It was frozen over. 

Frozen!!!

Once it was in regular use I found the battery still not 100% charging on the move. I checked the connectors under the left side panel and found one of the "male" pins in the regulator / rectifier connector was bent and not engaging in the "female" side of the block. Carefully straightened out and refitted. Problem over. Until 1999!

What amazes me nowadays is that I never really contemplated the bike failing me and breaking down. 

During the rest of 1993 until I left for home in late July I travelled all over Czech and into Austria at weekends. 

To České Budějovice and České Krumlov. Quite often to Austria either through Mikulov or Znojmo. 

Also a longer trip along the Danube from Vienna to Melk. I did this one twice. Solo and once with Audrey. 

Melk Jugendherberge.

And the big one to the Wasserbüffel Club Treffen at Schloss Moosham. See separate post. 

NB: In all the pix above the bike is fitted with a base colour silver tank with no pinstriping. The Maui blue tank was tucked away safely in the garage at home. With a magnetic tank bag I didn't want it scratched or chipped.