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CHOICE OF FOUR SMART COLOURS

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POCKET

POCKET FLAPS HA VE DOUBLE

CHROMED STUDS

FOUR LARGE EXPANDABLE

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LEG ADJUSTERS

RUFRYDA - the id eal two-piece suit with the Twelve Point Plan to beat foul weather. 100 % waterproof waxed cotto n. It looks rugged, and it is rugged. Yet, so light and so easy to wear. Take another look at the Twelve Point s. You can't better them, and you can't match th e co lours either . Charcoal, Brick Red , Denim Blue and Verde Green . Th ere's a lif et ime of motorcycling comfort for the m en in Rufrydas - the suit for all seasons of Sport. Sizes: extra small (32-34) , sm all (34-36), medium (38-40), large (42-44) extr a larg e (46-48). PRICE £15 .50, p & p 27-!p. And NOW the Rufryda International - the suit with the built-in toughness to stand the gru elling pace set by Tri alsmen th e World over. Th e v it al inside-l eg area is protected by strong leath er pads , which in no way imp ede movement , but provide that extra con fid ence in rough going. Back pockets added, too. PRICE £18 , p & p 35p . Order, stating size, colour, cash, COD or terms. from :

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The twelve-point suit to beat foul weather

~··································· I a• a a a ara a .a a a a a a a• 3 a a a a a a a a,a a a a a a a-~• NOVEMBER 1971 VOLUME 12 NUMBER 11 PRICE: 13p

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•

End to End in style TWO BMWs CRUISE FROM LAND'S END TO JOHN O' GROATS SOME month s ago a reader wrote in to MCS describing a run

from Land 's End to John o' Groat s on a YR3 Yamaha . The run wa s made in May of thi s year and took a little und er 21 hour s overall, and rath e r le ss on the road. In that lett er he intimated that , with a 750, he thou ght that he cou ld do the trip in about 18 hour s.

Thi s ca ught the eye of th e ever-alert BMW publicity peopl e and the read e r- Ian Robin son , of Mole sey, Surrey-was con­ta c ted with a view to hi s using a BMW to test hi s asser tion .

There ha s be en no shorta ge of such end -to-end ride s over the la st yea r or so , notabl y b y our erstwhile contributor D .L.M. , who ha s undertaken a number of attempt s to achiev e a reall y rapid tim e . Th e poin t of thi s trip wa s quite diff erent: the BMW R 75/ 5 is a produ ct in which BMW hav e a very great deal of faith, and an unhurri ed journe y from end lo end of the country with th e rider s arriving fr esh and ale rt could , they felt, easily be achi eve d al th e pa ce sugge sted by Robin son.

The offic ial ob server wa s to b e from MCS, and th e choice la y b e tw ee n BMW-ownin g B.P. and H **** .ownin g M.R.W. As event s turn ed out, [ wa s th e on e to make th e trip. As I. reg u­larly undertak e l ong-dis tance tour s on my own ma chine thi s ride appealed to m e co nsid erably.

Th e BMW h as a number of advanta ges over the Ya maha for su ch a journ ey, and th e mo s t important was th~ far grea ter rang e on a full tank: unl ess r efuelling interval s of 200 mile s or more can be used a gre a t time penalt y is suffered. Th e overall de sign of th e BMW is clearly aimed to give th e long-di stan ce tr avell e r a worth y steed and thi s run is cert ainl y a fair test of thi s propo siti on.

The pro spec t of jumping aboard a machine and reelin g off close to 2 ,000 mil es o n a fairl y d emanding time schedul e, far fr om to :ils o r succ our , m ean t that the carr ying c,f spare s was likel y to boo st moral e . W e carried a fair number of spar es, from point s, plu gs, bulb s to tub es . N on e of th ese were needed on th e trip, alt houg h I found it adv isable to chang e the point s on my ma chin e befo re I le f t. We we r e offered fairin gs or cras h. bar s, but as th e road s were twi sting and narrow a t both end s of th e journ ey , and would be covered in darkne ss, we felt that the r edm ·ed f!ro und cl ea ran ce wa s to o great a pri ce to pa y for th e ex tra comfor t : th e re is no sub stitut e for layin g it down and turnin µ: o n th e pow er· if a ti ght eorn er ge ts sudd enl y much ti ght er. r hav e found that a BMW 's 1·ocker rov ers tou ch d :iwn in !Spirited co 1·ne rin g, so for a run at a low er pare any limita­tion of gr ou nd ,,Jea r ance would n ot be wel comed. One of the R 75s was fitt ed with a nea t pair of pann iers and a carri er , but o th er wise no ex tr as of any kind were fitt ed o th e r than a spare throttl e and a spare clu tch cabl e for each ma chin e.

B oth I and Rohin son coll ec ted our ma chin es severa l da ys b e fore our dep artur e to Land ' s End and spent them gettin g used to th e mach in es . Eac h had it s own p eculiaritie s, as do all ma<"hin e s in some deg re e. Robin son 's wa s pron e to waggle at th e fr o nt a t so me speeds if th e handl ebar ;; were relea sed, min e ha d a te mp eramental front brak e. W e eac h C"l1ecked ove1· our ma<"hine ~, a pr oce ss that on e alw ays hopes is unnee essar y, and oft e n i s . Rohin so n wa s quite ha ppy with hi s R75, but T spen t some tim e p ersuadin g the brak e to per form as well as J know from p rev iou s exp rrienc e that th ey ran be made to work. I r annnL quite hav e succeeded as I did not find th em as l!OOd as tho se of th e R60 / !'i that f tested pre viously . As Rohil' son had

416 Mo lor cycl e Sport , N ovember 1971

the carri er , l used a co uple of tlio , e us,·ful L,,wis tnnkt op ba gs to hold my gea r . Fin a ll y RoLin son and I left for Cornwa ll 011

a fine Thur sday a fternoo n and i,:ot used to eiu·h o ther' s par e durin g th e 280-mil c trip. Seve ral sca~on, · Produ.-tion racin g, and a lot of te, t ridin g of biµ: 11111,·hin es , m eant that I tend ed to trav el a lit1l c faster , but not enoui:h for e ith e r of us to ha, ·e to modif y our own per sonal pu,·c to ,tay in reu sonubl e contnl'I. l am sure that thi s is a very good thin µ: wh en ridin g in com. pany with other s, as eve ryo ne ha ,- hi s own ,atyle and pace th at kee ps him m ost al e rt and produ,· e;; leas t strain : alwa ys attempt. in g to matrh speed s with an oth er r ide r ov er a Ion:: period of time can be ex tr em ely tirini:. :\llowini: nothin:.; for petr ol , lops it was rl ea r by th e tim e that we had ::ot to T rur o that mi overa ll avera ge of 50-55 111.p.h. would need 110 spe .. ial effort s on our part as we were tr ave llin:: al a littl e ove r that rat e whil e und er no tim e pre ssur e al a ll. Th e tarµ:e t of 1B hour s overnll mea nt an overall ave rage speed of !'ii) m.p .h .. hut as about six hour s of th e journ ey would be in darkn, ·,-,- on unknown r oads th e extra ma rgin would proba bl y he full y used up. Fur th er. an y bad wea th er would .-ut into our time margin very qui ekl v.

At Truro we had an exce lle nt m ea l at tlw Re mlezvous D~,. Gou rm ets ( not up to the expecta ti on s rai,-cd hy th e Good Food Guide, hut . till up to th e di sc·riminatin µ: s tandard s appropriat e to BMW rid ers !. The s ilent, rega l proµ:r css of th e BMW enr-oura ges a .-ivilized attitude to l ife - I wonder what th e average age of BMW owner s mii,:ht bc?- and aft er a mellowing meal we filled up to th e brim th e ma ssive tanks of th e BMW s at P enza n(·e hcfor e pror ecding to th e Land 's En,I Hotel for a bri ef night ' s rest. Mr. W ebster at th e Lan cl's End Hotel mad e us welc-ome and arran ged for us to get so me br eakfa st befor e we lef t at + a .m. We reti red to heel to l he merr y datt cr of heavy

rain. Four a.111. is not a nice hour at th e hc,-t of tim es, but in l:ite

Sept ember with wet tarma,· ahead, and th e c·lear promi se of furth er rain , it is quite ind e,·cnt. The road s from Land "s Encl arc narr ow, twisting and very greasy und er th ese ,·ondition s, and in spit e of ou r sedate proi,:re ss Robin son qu ietly !Slid down th e road a few yard s onl y two m iles from th P start. l had ju st di s(·overed that the lining s of th e BMW ' s fr ont brak e grabbed wi th a paral r in g sudd enn ess after a ft•w hou rs· id le in th e clamp atmo sph ere and near ly joine,l him. :'ic ith c1· he nor th e bik e wa s damag ed and after a short del ay of !'i-10 minut e;; we were onee mor e on our way. Not an au , pi.-iou s start. We pott ered along at 40-50 m.p.h. for man y mil es. and rno n hit heavy fol! and heavy rain as we rame up to Boclmin Moor. The se unpl easan t c·ondition s forC"ed us to ,-low ri ght down and stop seve ral tim es to ch ange gog:.;les. Only as daw n start ed to break wh en we wer e near Ex e ter clicl l'onditions improve. The fog lift ed , but th e rain kept on for rath er lonµ:er. We were way behind ;:rhedul e b y thi s tim e , but at lca,:t we rnu lrl mana ge 70 on th e dual-lane road s to Taunton and Br i,.tol - when th e lor ri es let us. Ne ar Bri stol - which we pas,:erl throu gh in ru sh hour - the rain le t up and we clrov, · a l,lassful 30 mil e · without rain whipping our fac es . Having lo,t our way pr etty thorough ly after Bri stol, we fou nd our selve ;: at th e Aust Ser. vi<"es on th e M4. hy the Seve rn Brid ::e, wher e we had hreakfn st anrl refu eller!. By th at tinw we had rovere,1 onl y about 200 mil es at an ave ra ge of approx im at,-·ly 40 m .p.h. befo re we

Cm11 in11ed 011 puge 436

The Choice of the Enthusiast

1 va n Mauger , the reignin g Briti sh, European and World Sp eedway Champion, has ach ieved the uniqu e distinction of w innin g the World Champion ship for three consecutive year s. He h as worn out quite a few left boots s inc e h e arr ive d here from New Zealand in 1957 with a pretty young wi fe, a we tt painted but elder ly bik e, and an utt er dedication to speedway.

1 v an' s approach to speedway ridin g is hi ghly profe ss ion al and he looks aft e r hi s m ac hin es 'vvith meticulou s a ttention.

To protect the Jaw a 500 cc engines he a lways uses Duckhams Q20-50.

As h e put it , "An oil won't win races for you, but Duckham s makes an enormou s cl iffere nc e to engine life".

He al so u ses Duck ham s Chain guard for hi s primary and rear chain s, as he

found th at th e high revs throw off any oth er lubric an ts.

And when you ride like I van Mauger your chain s take quite a 'sandbla sting' from the shale that is thrown up!

At the circuit, in the paddock, what oils are being used? By the enthusiast Duckhams Q20-50 - the same oil that you buy from your local retailer.

On track or motorway, stressed to the limit and sometimes beyond, you can depend on Duckhams.

Depend on Duckhams Britain's ~argest selling motor oil OUCKHAMS Duckhams Oils ~EJ Summit House ~ MOTOAO<

West Wickham, Kent BR40SJ

Motor cyc le Sport , Nove mb er 1971

l

END TO END IN STYLE Continued from pa ge 416

sta rted to eat. A s we left Aust it started to rain aga in and we slunk off northward s in low spirit s . Th e ma chin es were behav­ina b eautifull y and doin g ove r 52 m.p .g. With n o mi sfirin g or an; other eviden ce tlrnt th e stead y downp our was up se ttin g

th the y both purred along bearing their well-wetted rider s to:::d s Birmin gham. As we approached the Midland Me ss th e fog (s mog? ) rea pp ea r ed and made our progre ss ju st that littl e m o r e di spirited. After Stafford (we had co me up the M5/ M6 route to en sure that R ob in son 's rout e of la st May wa s followed as clo sely as po ssibl e) th e weather cl ea red and sta yed clear ri ght up 10 J o hn o' Groat s. The BMW s had shown th eir suitability for su ch lon g rid es by thi s tim e . Ne ith e r of us wa s sadd le so r e, the top two gea rs were quit e enou gh to 1naintain ste ady progre ss , and under p owe r th e gea r- change from and to top and third wa s very re aso nabl e (y et I had a deep and well. sc uffed de nt in m y boot b y th e end of the clay: th e pre ssur e r equired i s undul y hi gh for l ess stiff footwe ar).

Th e steady 70+ cr ui sing on th e mot or way wa s far fr om at a co ns tant p ace : our speed varied b etwee n 85 and 65 to vary th e rid e, and a s th e in crea sing stiffn ess of our achin g neck s dictated. A sma ll handleb ar fairing would have mad e a grea t de a l of diff ere n ce to our co mfort at sustained spee d. As we were in n o great hurr y we (loo sely) m e t th e hound s of the spee d limit and our ne ck mu scl es and purred on lo th e F orton M6 se rvi ces . We reac hed th em at 12.20 and , o f co ur se, we re immediatel y ca ught up in th e crowd of peop le wh o had pulled off th e motorwa y at onc e for lun ch. We go t som e cho colat e and after a l e isurel y stop of over h alf an hour started off

on ce mor e. The new Shap Fell part of the M6 ha s mar vellou s view s and

when th e M6 e nd s th e A 74 con tinu es to pro vid e mu ch mor e varied sce nery th an th e dr eary mile s of th e main part of th e M6. Thi s A road i s an extremely fa st route and we mad e good tim e alon g it. No t all that good time , howeve r , as a hard­dri ve n 1300 Cortina wa s with us for mo st of the M6 and A 74 until we turn ed o ff toward s Stirlin g. T he indu striali zed mid­b elt of Sc otl a nd i s a m os t unin viting reg ion and we were glad to see th e hill s as we pulled in at Cumb ern auld lo refuel at half-pa st three. By tha t tim e we had cove red a liul c und er 600 mile s in th e 111h h our s since we had se t o ff; as thi s meant an average of co mfortabl y over 50 we were still on a po ssibl e sc h edul e, althou gh we had ye t to cross th e mountain s and dri ve th e odd 150 mil es or so in the dark from Invernes s . The weather wa s now mo st kind and we rnde in bri ght sun shin e on dry roads. As we l e ft Pitlo chr y th e traffi c start ed to show s lgn s of th e imp endin g wee k e nd , hut thi s did no t sl ow us clown al all. T he sh ort cut acro ss th e Per th lo op o f th e A9 was pe rfect for fa st ridin g, twi stin g, open and well surfaced. Th e BMW sh owed tha t it di sa pprov ed of m y des ir e to corn er it in an undignified an d ex tr em e ang le o f l ean : th e ryllnder head s were often only an i:ach or so fr om th e gro und - thi s th e BMW wa s quite happ y to e nr.oura ge. T al so tri ed to u se a littl e e n gine brak in g to augment the brak e s as th ey lost th e i1· bite in th e swoop from 75-80 to the 20 m. p.h. rorne rs . T hi s it did not enj oy as the ma ss ive flyw h ee l in ertia and th e ped es tri an gear-c han ge cau sed a definite kink in th e lin e at eac h gea r- chan ge. Only a few <·orn er s a t thi s pa re sh owe d th at the BMW wa s sup er b for fast tourin:r , hut not th e id ea l m ar hin e to use for really exub erant ridinl): ove r s ud1 terrain. N o m a tt er , on ly a couple of m.p.h. s lo we r p a, ·e res to red th e imp e .. rabl y smoo th cor ner in g and ar<·e lera ti on lin es 011t' c more, third gea r being engaged ea rl y, and th e marhin e b e in g driven all th e way throu gh th e be nd. Thi s po we r-on style suit ed th e m a,·hin e well and gave stah le a nd e ffortl ess handlin l): a t thi s mar g inall y redu,· ed rate o f pr oµ;rcss .

436 Motorcycle Sport . No vem ber 1971

Th e hrake s stopp ed show in g ,il! n , of ,·omp laint at th e la st few m .p .h. of a fa st stop , a nd l coultl orw ,· mor e en j oy th e well­co ntr olled bite o f th e tw o leadinl! , hoes ~low in g th e heavy m achin e e ffect ively . I h asten Lo add th at th e brak es were n ot fadin g, but s im ply had lo st the ir " h ilt' .. l, y about 20 m.p .h. afte r a rea ll y ha rd slop fr om hi irh speed . I ,·annot ;:ay how f.ast ns both m y spee dometer and Robi n,on ·, had ;.:i\·en up by th en . Th e spe edometer on my m a,·hin e ha, I wou 11d it self up round th e end of th e .. loc k a nd , tu, ·k on th1· rcv me tcr rim. Robin son 's h ad swit ched , flull ere d and di ed hark to an impot ent zero. ( lt recovere d it s sp irit s agai11 af te r a 11il!ht"s r c, t. l Th e tyre s on th e m achin e;; had given no rau sc for worry . Th ey were German Metzel er s and start o ff with a ,ha ll ow tr ea d ,lepth of around -hum. In th e clamp and rain- sod den mil es tlw y had given a sta hl e and unfu ,;:y rid e ov e r th e !,tr ea min ;.: r oad ,urfal'e s : over th e m ou nt a in s th ey p rove d to h e ju , t a, ;.:ood in the dr y . The onl y sli ght qualm that I had wa, th at th e tr ea d depth on m y ma chin e wa s clippin g be low 3 an d tow ard ;; 2m m by th e Lime we had go t back to London: thi s rat e of we ar is rather too hi gh for co mfort when th e initi al tr ea d dept h is , o ohall ow .

We saw no sheep on th e r oad until af ter In ve rn ess, in co n­tra st with our re turn j our ne y. At ln v1•rn ess we , topped for a final fill-up at 6. 35 and after a Ion;.: stop of 25 minut es h ad ea ten and reste d enoug h to s tar t o ff int o th e du sk wit h thr eo hour s to go. The roa d s ou t of ln vernc,,. were we t and dri ed out onl y after aho ut 10 mil es. As we turned o ff th e .-limb ove r th e mou nt ai ns to Bonar Br idl!e th e li l!hl fina ll y faile<l and the h ea d . li ght s of tire two m ac hin es seemed to i;ivc all too li u le h ell) when we were tryi ng to di s,·ern the ed l!es of th e unm ark ed. unlin ed , narrow and twistin:r ro ad ,. The pene tra tion o f th e headh ea m wa s no t r ea ll y goo d enough . alt ho u gh dipp ed bea m was fine. Robin son wa s hand i .. app ed hy th e ex tra re flec t1n g layer of hi s ;.:lasses wh en tra ffil' <·amc in th e oppo sin g direction , and so J rode ahea d to lii;ht th e roa d and give a ta il-ll ght to fix on to. A L a steady 31h -1Ph th ousand r.p.m. we dro ve on. Thi s was fairl y fa st for th e con diti ons , lmt - as for almo st all of our rid e- hy no m ean s the fastest that w e ,·ould r eas onably ha ve mana ged on thi s trip. As the li ght s o f W i,·k stubbornly r efu se d to app ea r , we bo th star ted to roun t down the mil es as th ey sh owed up on th e s ignp os ts. I reme mb e r one parti cul arl y sadi sti c se t o f signp os ts ded ai minl! .. W i,·k 75 mil es", whi ch Was repea ted over about th ree o r fo ur mil e,. of roa d : 900 mil es is a Jon g wa y and we we re both feel in:r a bit tired of dri vin g . Thi s tiredne ss wa s m ental ra th er than phys ica l and was m ore bored om th an fatigu e . Quit e a tr ibut e to th e ma,·hin es that we were riding and a rl car indi<·ati on as lo how we ll th e de signers ha ve sor ted out r id ing po siti on,, se at shapr s and smoo th.

n es~ o f powe rpl an l. We go t to W ick al 9.38 an d set off fo r J oh n o' Groat s at a

stead y but not ov e r-rapid rate. :"iot know in g th e roa d , I wns sur e th at thi s la st pi ece of th e trip nmH J,e on tor tuous and tri cky Jan es, but I was proved \Hon~: th is last 18 mil es is a

se ri es o f very fa st strai i:d1ts, lin ke d hy w icke ,1 Jilli e bends. At 10.5 Rob inson rod e on lo th e for eshor e al J ohn o ' Groa ts and we li stened to th e sea. Tha t mornin~ we hail clone the sam e at Land 's End and now we lt ad hea rd th e ;:ea at l,o th ends o f th e roun tr y in the same d ay- b ut n ot ;:el'n it a t e ithe r. As the pu r pos e o f th e trip had now be en a,·hi eve<l , and we harl covei·ed th e 900 miles in 18 hour s and 8 minult 's withou t any r eal pre ssure and arri ved in re asona hl y fres h plry;:i,·al !'Onrl iti on , we to ok it ea sy h iwk to W i .. k. B y th e t im e wc had put. th e bik es away al the garage o f th e Stati on H otel it wa s nea rl y 11 P.tn. and we had ov erru n th e tim e for wh i,·h we h a,l ar ra ng ed a m ea l. However, t.he r e,·ept ioni st a nd th e m ana ;.:er . Mr. Ca rt er . m anag ed to ge t u s a mea l fr om an as so, ·ia ted res taura nt wh i,·h wa s on th e po in t of ,·l os in g. Tt wa s mo re th an wcl, ·om e. anrl we ate it with a hun ger th at had heen h id d ,•11 hy th e dio t·ola tc thnt we had chewe d int ermitt entl y on our jou rney up . Scoll ish h ospi.

ta lit y to th e hun ~ry trav e ll er wa s mud, app recia ted by u s both. Th e fuel l'on sum e d on th e trip wa s wo r ke d out after we had

fi ll e d up th e n ext m ornin g and th e key figur es were: Elap sed tim e 18h 8111, , peed -I9. 74 111.p, h ,; :-pee d 5.J m.p.h. ; fuel con ­

s un1 p ti on ra te -19.l m.p. g. Th e fuel 1·o n ,-umption ra te o f ov er -I9 111.p.g. at a road average

o f 5 -i 111.p.h . i,- ve ry ~o od in my o pin ion. It is fur be tt er than o th er lar :;c an d we ll-kn ow n nrn r h inc ,; wo uld be l ik ely to a1·hi eve, and a s I wa s ridin !,! fa s te r and u sin g m or e petrol th an R ob inson , th e a1·tu a l fi!,!ure a ppropriate to ou r joint road av erage speed is undul y pe ss imi sti l". At Cu mh c rna uld I ne eded -L2 ga ll on s to r e fill lo Robin son · ,. 3 .9 . so ove r 50 111.p.g . a t ove r 50 m .p .h . is a r easo n a bl e Htm ni. ,n · of th e pe r formant" e th at we ob ta ined. Ju s t takin p; th e ove~a ll averages of mil e s and gallo ns, we obtained "49 ' ' at ". 19· •- a ll j oke s re latin g to the go ld ru she s of 18 .i9 hav e ,·! ea rl y on ·urrecl to u,-, but we fo r bear to r e print th e m h ere .

Th e r et urn j ou rne y to Edi nbur gh wa s onl y 320 mile s, an d we loo k thi s in a mor e dviliz e d m anner. Aft er a few mile s o f ridin!t fr o m W iek th e r oads ha d dried out once mo r e and we tra ve ll e d on to a pic tur e~q u e set of h air pin s on the Cnit hn css t·oas t fo r som e photograph y . As I pu ll ed the BMW off th e mnin­s tanrl i t fe ll ove r o n to th e cy li nd er h ea d. On exa m inatio n , . th e re as on wa s th e lo ~s of one o f th e mai n stand pivot bolt s, so th a t th e 111ar hin e lur ch ed clow n wu rcls as it came o ff th e stuncl. As T h ad pa rk ed 0 11 a 51eep hill on th e oppo site side to it s fall th ere wa s nothin" I cou ld do to save it. No damage o th er th an a Pimpl e -s iz ed d; nl in th e e ncl of th e rele va nt roc ker box cover . Thi s bolt wa s th e on l y sign th at th ere h ad bee n any v ib ratio n on_ o u1· trip. The onl y o th er sign of stra in wa s a weeping front dri ve shaft boot sea l 0 11 m y m achi ne and a not ice ab le sum p ove rfl ow o f o il on R obin s on 's. T nm sm·e th at we wo uld h ave been <·o ntinu all y ,·o n ce rn e d if we h ad had m achine s with rear l"ltains, but th e sh aft driv e co mplet el y r emov ed that cau se for eonce rn . We go t 10 ]n ve rn ess af ter 2% h o u r5, in cl uding our s l op for Ilho tograp h y- a ve r y mu ch sh or ter tim e th an ou r 2h -10111 o f th e previou s eve nin g, sh ow in g the effec ts o f da yli ght. h is ~, sp l e ndid ro ad fr om W ick to In ve rn ess an d Lo be comm ended lo a ll tho se w h o enj oy clear road s tlrnt ri se and fall throu gh 0 Pen bend s w ith the oc casion al sh arp twi sty s tret ch to k eep you aler t a nd lon g undulation strai ght s to stretch ou t the lon ges t-l e "" e d l . ''"' tna <' 11ne .

At ln ve ni ess we p ar k ed th e BMW s b es id e a Men·e des 350SL and an el eg ant hu t ag ing Sil ve r C loud and wen t in to eat our lun ,·h in the pa n ora m a lo un ge of th e Ca le donian H otel. Af ter an unpr e te ntiou s and we ll- cooked m ea l of Scot s fish that h ad d ea rl y bee n fr esh caugh t , we l ef t for Edinbur gh. A t a sm all town abo u t 11 mile s o ut fr om th e floodlit sp lend our of P r i1wes S tr eet is a l ate Vic tor ian hou se co n verted to a hotel, the Ho uston Hall at U phall. T h e surroundin g a r ea can on ly h e clesct"ibed as dingy , hu t th e Hou ston Ha ll s tand s p r oud in it s ow n pea ce ful !):round s and sen •ed u s a superb din ner . T he K ni ght s give on e n o choi ce, a nd pr ov id e on ly n fixe d pri ce, fixed tabl e d ' hot e , but d o n't l e t th at di ssuade yo u fr om tr y in g it. The w in e li s t is e qually goo d, and here ,li es the rub o f civiliz ed lou ri n g by m ot on· yd e ... a ha lf- hottle b e twe e n two is the limit of good sens e . Th e BMW s looked quite a t hom e in tire cat· park ... and th er e we effe c ti ve l y fini sh ed ou r li ttle jaunt by m oto1:cycle .

Late in th e even in g we w en t into Edinbur gh to ca tch th e late ,-l ee pe1· h a, ·k to bondo n , as ou1· tim e off wa s r apidl y runnin g ou t, and a seco nd jou rn e y fm· in to the ni ght wo ul d h ardl y le ave us cornpo s ,menti s in th e morn i-ng .

ran Robin so n an<l I then di s .. usse d the r irle all(] eontra sted it wtth hi s M ay ru n on h is YR 3 Yamaha (s im· e re pl a1·ed by a YR5 ). The sea t of th e BMW , on w hi ch l ha ve comm ent ed so fav our a bl y, wa s appa 1·ently no b e tt e1· th an that on the YR3, but th e ove 1·all fa ti gue af ter th e run was fa r l ess whe n on the BMW. T he h an d l in g of the flat twin wa s he ll er tha n he had exp e..tetl

and h e go t used to it very qui ckly . The engine br aking ·wa s, o f cou rse, welcome after the Yamaha's complete de pen den ce on the bra kes, and the need to drive the BMW ha rd thr ou gh bends to stop it squirm in g on the overrun wa s anotl1er thing to note . T he gearbox was n ot considered to be very plea sa nt to u se , altho u gh the 3/4 cha n ge was th e be st in th e b ox and the mo st u sed . Robin son found the r ev-coun te r vir tually u sele ss and drove by ca r : on th e odd occas ion when he chec ked th e reading h e fo un d tha t he wa s changin g at a safe 6,000 .

l h ave found, via th is run, the answer to on e of m y peren nia l prob lem s : ju st what kind of te st can reall y fa irlr sor t out the be st from the b etter of th e vast range of fine ma chine s that are now avai l ab le . I ma y have th e ans wer n ow, hut the ide a of 1,500 mil es in three day s fr om eed to end of the country i s not a ta sk that I wou ld lik e to under take on a r egular ba sis!

A real r ide on a genuine road -runne r . . . pit y about tha t shalle r ing prke. M. R . W.

EDITORIAL Co11ti1111ed f rom page 401

yea rs, whi ch is ju st abou t the period we consider th at the 50 will continue to give re asonable service . Total ou tl ay ove r fo ur yea rs by: Train £402

( Thi s figure can he redu ced by pur chasi ng seaso n ticke ts .) Ca r parking and fuel cost : £510. Wear and tear : A difficult figure lo asse ss hut we don't think that £25 per yea r would be unr easo nable, bea rin g in mi nd th at the car will have done an extra 20,0 00 mil es ove r thi s period and so will need al least new tyr es, brak e linin gs and exhau st system. Th erefo re, say, £100. To tal over four yea rs .. . £610 750 m otor cycle: fuel cost .!:240 Wear and tear : Eve n more difficult to assess . W ould

.£15 a yea r by unrea sonabl e, whi ch ove r a pe r iod of 20,000 mil es is £ 60

T otal ove r four years .. . £300 50 "s tep-thr ough " : fuel cost £ 72 Wea r and tear : We are workin g on the basis of almos t

wr itin g the ma chin e off afte r four year s (20,000 mile s) so we shall assume that th ere will be lit tle need for m aj or rep lacement s. Make i t a nomi nal £5 a yea r

Initial pur ch ase pr ice £120 less £15 trade -in four years lat er ...

£ 20

£105 £ 20 T ax an d in sur ance, approxim atel y £5 p~-~ yea~··

Riding gea r, bearing in m in d the tra in / car man is star tin g from scr atch £ 25

To tal ru nni n g cos ts over four yea rs .. . . .. ... £252 So, over a period of four yea rs th ese are the pertln ent figures:

Trav ellin g by train has cos t .. . £402 Trave llin g by ca r ha s cos t .. . :: : .:·. .. . £610 Trave ll !ng by 75.~ m otor .. ycle has cost . .. £300 Trave llm g '.1y 50 step -throu gh" has cost .. . £252

You don l h ave to be an Ein stein to see th at there is a big profit to be sh own over almost all ot l,e f f l b v · I Tl . ,. orms o trnv~ . us m g t 1e 50. 1ere a re m consi ste n cies \Ve 1 I cl t ep l · ·1 · 1ave rn o al'c . Ru nn mg cos ts w, l vary, so will train fa L k" tie

I . . , res. oo mg at 1

figur es, iow~ver, sho w that IL 1s po ssible to inv est in a rathe r mor e ex pe nsive m olor cyd e for commut in d ·u f ·t

I b g un su puy or 1

aft er all cos ts rnve Cell de ducte d (T h i · I 11 l · l . · s m rgH we upp en 10 a one-lime enl m srnst who ho s drif ted f 1 . · ·11 · . awa y rom mo or · ,·ychn g but sh retam s an mt erest. ) It is qui te clear that . eve n if on e u ses a. m otor cycle of 500 c.c., or over . the re is II good case fo t· run nm g a 50 for ,·omm u tin " E ven 1·f I b e11ks . . l .,. one on y r eve n, notl un g 1s ost and th ere is the added bonu of pr otect in "

' " I t" b"k ( ) f I 0

ones 1es 1 ·e or car rom L 1e wear und tear of town lif e. We huve left to the las t Lo emph as ize wliat · I tie • 1s per rnps 1 "rea lest bonu s- over a peri od of fou r years on , 1 0 e can expel to save ove r 1,000 hour s over ra r / Lrnin tr uvell,· S 1 ·

l o I ng. omcl 11ng

lik e 40 days, or c nys a year . To put it an oth, t fortni ght off a yea r ! · er way, an ex ra

Motor cycle Sport, Nove mb er 1971 437

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