Sunny Sundays, worth getting up for.....

Unlike some people that always look like they have their weekends completely at their leisure, I like many others have very limited time to be off riding for the pleasure of it.

It all started when I managed to catch up with a good friend of mine who I had not seen for a good 4-5 months since he has moved jobs, to become a mechanic at a bike shop at Heathfield, East Sussex. As these things go, we got around to sorting out a sunday ride, regardless of the weather and out of sheer desparation to ride our bikes for the fun of it, rather than just to work and back.

The following week came and went, and was excited like a kid at christmas by the time Sunday came along, sad I know, but was looking forward to riding wherever and in good company.

As with most things for most people these days, time really has become a precious comodity with work and family commitments, so even things like cleaning the bike and checking it over became something that had to be sorted out on the morning I was due to go out with my mate. I foolishly had got up too late, so I ended up leaving the cleaning for another day, but had enough time to check the bike over, get the oil topped up, and one last cuppa and a ciggie and I was off to meet up at my mate John's house.

The journey up to the town where he lives is a good ride, albeit there was traffic, but the A28 from Ashford is a quick road, with some good clear overtaking spots, but gets bendy as you get closer to Tenterden making quick riding more challenging with the regular sleepy Sunday drivers stuck in a part of the road where for the love of God you just cannot get past.

When I got to my mates house, I got the first glimpse of his bike, a 2002 GSX-R600, an ongoing running restoration that he picked up from the shop where he works, in a tired and sorry looking state thanks to the first owner using it for a year round hack, and despite having a full dealer history was apparently incredibly dirty. Since having the bike in his charge, he has completed roughly 75% of the restoration and repair work so far, as well as a major service and new tyres. The plastics are all original, and are completely immaculate, which for a sports bike is a miracle in it's self, as they usually get scratches and pits from all the crap flying around in the hot weather. The main thing though that struck me was the engine, smooth like it was just from the crate no rattles or odd noises like you sometimes get with the 4 cylinder Suzuki's at high mileage, just crisp and smoke free.

I must admit I was worried about the pace we were about to embark on, as my mate John doesn't exactly hang around, and with my lack of two cylinders and at least 40 horsepower, was a little bit concerned about keeping up on open stretches of road. Surprisingly, I was shocked at the pace that my Versys was managing to run at, and keep well matched cornering speeds too.

The one thing, asides the obvious lack of top end power is the braking power available, but with progressive lever control, the braking was acceptable, but certainly not on a par with the stoppers on the GSX-R. This was offset though by the dry cornering grip the setup on the my Versys will allow, meaning that I could enter and hold the same corner speeds as the gixxer, but had to be ready with third and a generous dose of throttle to keep the pace coming out of the exits.

John has fitted a set of BT014 Bridgestones which when we left his house were still just starting to scrub in, with generous chicken strips on the front and rear. By the time we had covered most of the lanes and villages on our way to Brighton he had seen off most of the crap from the tyre's shoulders to about 3mm off of each outside edge and were nice and sticky. Another thing that was spot on was the weather, which was loverly, and a pain, as amassed insect culling was in abundance for the whole journey. Whilst looking interesting to say the least as a micro sized pebble dash finish on the plastics, radiator and screen, I am dreading the thought of having to clean all that crap off again!

When we got to Brighton, Madiera drive (the main seafront promenade road) had been shut off meaning that our usual parking spot had gone, so we managed to find a spot on the promenade itself further along by the Grand Pier. Whilst locking the bikes up, two other bikers parked next to us started having a chat about my bike, it turned out they were father and son, of which had just bought a Versys himself, and was as pleased as a dog with two dicks. All this was great until I went to put the seat back on and noticed that the small gloss tail unit trim on the LHS had snapped off from it's front mounting point, meaning it had been flapping around. Looking more closely I think the cause was either my fat arse cheek pushing down on it cornering hard, or a stone flying off the top of the tyre and hitting the trim from underneath.

After watching John throw a fry up down his neck, we had a short walk and headed back down towards Newhaven docks, and back towards the A27 on a road, which frankly is like a piece of track. Whilst John was behind me, we both kept up a decent pace, and devoured the bends as they came up, no cambers, wide, flat and angled, meaning the speed could be maintained providing you got a good view on any traffic ahead first.

We persisted along the A27, which was a big mistake on my part thanks to the traffic, but soon cleared up when we re-joined the A28 from St.Leonards to Tenterden, which has loads of varying corners, some fast, and some to be taken at lot slower, but combined with the weather made for a memorable ride home.


View 6GBR DAY OFF Sunday Ride out 10th May 2009 in a larger map

After we got back to John's, I then headed home, hot and tired, and full of various ache's from climbing all over the bike for most of the day, but satisfied for having a change of scene for the best part of the day in wonderful weather, and on great roads.


Long live bikes and the summer, oh, and pressure washers, actually no, self cleaning bikes.