I’m going back to see my folks in Kirkcudbright, SW Scotland at the end of May and I’m considering taking the bike (03 Ninja ZX6R) which will be my first long distance ride. Normally I take the car and blast the 375 miles up the M40/M6/A75 in just under six hours which includes one quick pit stop on the M6 Toll.
If I’m going to do it on the bike I want to avoid the monotonous motorways and complete the journey in one day. Anyone got any suggestions on the best way for me to select my route - AA and RAC route planners are both gash? And when I look at Google maps there seems to be a mssive tangle of roads sandwhiched between the motorways, none of which seem to go North very efficiently.
I’m going to buy one of the Ventura tail packs to complement my Ventura tank bag so luggage-carrying wise I reckon I’ll be sorted, but are there any other quirky biker tips anyone can offer e.g should I carry a spare litre of fuel and one of those puncture repair kits even though I have full breakdown cover? How often to people find it necessary to stop for breaks doing long distances on sports bikes etc etc.
if you’ve got a car, drive. mile munching on a sports bike just isnt fun, you’ll be stopping every 150 miles for fuel, so it’ll take longer than the car.
i use my bike for everything, including the 550 mile round trip to plymouth to see my GF, and thats the only journey i wish i had a car for!
I rode from Surrey to Edinburgh city centre in 6 hours. I covered about 450miles i believe. The ride wasn’t too bad but it was boring motorways upto Scotland and then I followed the Biggar road, forget the road number but will check it up, all the way into Edinburgh. Was nicer A roads and B roads than taking the M74 into Edinburgh.
I did stop 4 times for petrol but this wasn’t necessary as I realised I could do 150 between stops but was stopping every 100 just to be on the safe side.
The weather can be lovely at the end of May and it would be a shame to do this journey in a car if you can take the bike. If you really think it is too far in a day why not stop somewhere overnight, ignore the motorways altogether and make the trip a pleasure instead of an A to B.
My advice, touring rhymes with raining for a reason. If you are travelling any distance it will (probably) rain at some point so procure one of those one piece rain baby grow things and also consider some over gloves.
When doing distance work also take brakes according to time rather than distance. Perhaps plan to stop every 1.5 or 2 hours rather than when you need fuel or when you’ve covered X miles etc.
I did a couple of long distance runs on my old CB500. Twice to my parents house in Holland and one run to York and back. On one of the runs to Holland I set off at 21:00 anticipating getting home about 03:00 in the morning. When I got off the Eurotunnel it rained all night so I couldn’t go fast and I got home at 06:00. That wasn’t one of my better ideas. I was wet and miserable but thankfully not cold. If I was sensible I would have found an F1 hotel or something but I was not sensible in those days.
I really enjoyed one of the runs from Holland to the UK when it didn’t rain and I was able to do 90+ for about an hour. It felt fast then and bear in mind it was on a CB500. Doing sustained speed is nice.
Dave and I rode from Slough to Dumfries in a day and returned via the same roads on another day…it was fine. No issues. We then rode from Slough to Northumberland, stopped over night and then headed up to Fort William…the return was done via the same roads again.
My advice is basically what TimR has already said. Don’t bother with the car just cos you’ve got it there. The bike will get you there with no issues and you can enjoy some nice roads on the way up if you avoid the Motorways. Lets not forget that Scotland has some amazing roads that were obviously designed and built purely for bikers! :Whistling: :w00t:
Regardless of the aches and pains, you’ll regret it if you don’t take the bike m8!
2 or 3 times a year I ride from South London up to the Highlands - I have fun at my destination hence why I just motorway it up.
Dumfries is just over half way for me !!
Yes it’s a long boring journey but plenty of stops, plenty of coffee (followed by the need to pee a short while after!!).
Up to you, are you looking to make the journey an “adventure”, if so then hit the a’s and the b’s enroute. Wanting to have
fun up there, then just use the motorways.
I used to do the journey on my old CBR, it wasn’t too bad, way more comfy now on the Busa - I’m sure you’ll be fine if you take the bike, just plenty of stretching your legs when you stop for fuel.
