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Much Wenlock - Charming, Dry, And Cold
It's an easy and pleasant day in and around Much Wenlock for The Dynamic Muppets. It might even have been romantic if it weren't for Ren, the mean old grumpy curmudgeon.
A Cave, A Gratin, And Tired
Andy is making his way back up through central France now. The day is uneventful save for the quiche that's not a quiche and the GS1250 is "having a moment".
Last Day Of Fun In France
It's a lovely start to Bogger's last day in France. Malestroit is pretty and interesting, the museum is fascinating, and there's food aplenty. Shame the ferry crossing is not up to scratch.
Drawing You In
Our resident cynic Ren is bemoaning the tactics of salesfolk. It's a trap - IT'S A TRAP!! Anyone would think shops have to sell things to make a profit.
Not Much To Report, Save For More Wonderous Views
All in all it's a fairly uneventful day on the road for Andy as he makes his way homeward bound. The scenery is good, the accommodation too, although the big GS has a "moment".
A Day Of Classic And Vintage Vehicles
A rest day for Bogger? Hardly. There's classic and vintage and fast motorcycles and cars. There's posh places and new friends. Food and booze too much as you'd expect.
Anaerobic Gasket Maker
Anaerobic Gasket Maker?!? What the deuce is that? Well between Ren's mumblings and memories you might find just the merest hint of useful information. Maybe...
Cracks, Vultures, And Cow Jams
Andy is having a fascinating ride through Spain today. Cows that won't "moooooove", gaps in the scenery, gaps in the tarmac, and he's trying his hand at geology.
Skeggy Epilogue
In the final reckoning was the trip to Skeg-Vegas a rip-roaring failure or and majestic success? Neither - but you already knew that. Still, here's Ren's tuppence on the issue at hand.
Everyone Has Their Troubles
A long, cold and moist ride today for Bogger and Pete. Turns out their host isn't having the best of days either. Fear not there's still beer and smiles.
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Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
The idea that you "need" A 300meg internet connection might apply to a modern family. Dad's watching YouTube vids about car bits, Mum's streaming the latest NetFlix series, one of the kids is gaming online and the other one is uploading and editing TikTok videos. Yeah, maybe 300 meg is good.
It was a fight for me to ONLY get 73 meg to my house. "But sir - you NEED at least 150 to stream and game" - no I do not, not at all. I barely ever push 15 meg and that's when I'm downloading a massive windows update or an entire operating system (Linux).
So for most folks 4g is "sufficient" subject to a good reception, 5g is plenty.
15/06/2026 17:03:48 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I use my normal (old motorola G5) as a hotspot as well as for calls, texts etc when in furrin parts. Works very well. In fact so well I'm tempted to drop our landline as we're surrounded by mobile phone masts.
15/06/2026 12:03:02 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
ROD¹ said :-
I just insert the SIM into an old phone with a smashed screen and poorly battery and set it up as a hot spot.
I do not have any problems with the speed for my use on 5g or 4g, however if you needed to download some of the games that are available for download I think it would take all day.
By the way to be clear a hot spot can be used in the same way as a broadband router and just connect devices via an access code.
15/06/2026 09:29:14 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Monsieur Rod,
Do you use a 5G router, if so I presume you can take that with you too on your travels. Or do you just insert the unlimited data in your devices? I was considering going this way myself but it seemed a bit too far out there for a luddite, but I left those thieving b......s EE and went to our local start up full fibre network. Huge speeds, betted reliability and much cheaper too.
Does 5G offer good speeds, from my own experience of it I'm guessing it will and mobile signals are getting better even upt'here.
Upt.
15/06/2026 09:02:50 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
ROD¹ said :-
Or, imagine an old person like myself.
I do not have broadband but have an unlimited SIM deal. My wife's sister lives in Spain so she can video, phone, and message her via WhatsApp. We watch YouTube ect. When we go camping we take the data with us, and my wife is learning Spanish via Duolingo and I am learning French via Duolingo to keep our minds active.
All this uses a lot of data!
14/06/2026 16:22:58 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Consider me educated.....
14/06/2026 11:48:54 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Ian - imagine you're a young person, all you've known is a world with internet. You don't phone your parents you video call them, same with your friends. If you have a job you might be working remotely with real-time video conferences. In the evening you stream YouTube, Netflix and Sky. Video uses a lot of data.
Between this your schoolwork was online and now your job requires you to be connected. Your sending files or images, contracts or proof of delivery. Alongside this there's social media and online shopping.
That's where your 100gig goes!! Quite easily for some I'd say.
14/06/2026 10:26:17 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Ian Soady¹ said :-
At the risk of appearing like a luddite who on earth needs 100GB a month?
14/06/2026 09:53:20 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
ROD¹ said :-
100 GB for a tenner per 30days
https://talkmobile.co.uk/sim-only...
13/06/2026 15:10:23 UTC
Suzuki DL250 V-Strom 6 Month Review
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Good gracious!! And some folks have the impudence to call me tight!
I'm with Lebara Upt' but in a wild turn of excessive "profligacy" I get 10 gig a month for about £7. I've gone mad I tell you, MAD!
I concur, Google maps doesn't use a great deal of data, although I suspect if Ian used it regularly it may double his annual PAYG bill... To £20 per annum. Google maps is far from perfect but it's the only sat-nav system I've used so far, I have nothing to compare against. It "does the job"
Given the cheapest wired (now fibre optic) broadband is £22 per month my dad and his wife have done away completely with a "landline". They have a mobile contract for £26 per month giving them sufficient 5g data for Sue to do the banking and bills, and dad to watch steam train videos via YouTube. They seem very satisfied with this. I have considered doing the same but I need plenty of data for working from home at the moment.
13/06/2026 08:37:32 UTC
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Upt'North ¹ said :-
Looking good fella, like Ren, I have little sense of style and taste but the brown and black bike did look a little daft.
Looking forward to your ride report.
Upt.
11/06/2026 10:06:12 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Looking smart Ian - although I personally have no issue with a brown seat but then I have no style either.
10/06/2026 16:20:46 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
This was it before. Why anyone would give it a seat that colour beats me.
10/06/2026 11:56:16 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Looks much better with the seat dyed black. A good £15 worth. Also given the side panels a couple of coats of gloss lacquer as for some reason they were finished in matt black.
10/06/2026 11:55:42 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Oh, the indicator is dangling because its fixing bolt holds the seat on: I've removed that for dying it black and didn't bother tightening up the bolt.
08/06/2026 12:59:48 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Of course Ren. This pic shows how I do it by getting the sprocket, swinging arm spindle and wheel spindle all in line. It's actually a pretty poor design as they will probably only get that far in use under extreme compression but best to set the slack at that point. The previous pic shows it with the wheel off the deck ie at max extension.
Knee still painful although very clowly improving so I hope to be out and about on either (or both) the B'Zuki outfit and the Herald.
08/06/2026 10:00:11 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
If anybody wants any I can recommend these folks.
Upt.
https://vehicleclips.co.uk/products/suzuki-plastic-clips-for-bike-atv-quad-fende...
08/06/2026 09:12:13 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
That chain looks slack Ian, I hope you're going to adjust that once you've had your break. The near side rear indicator is pointing skywards too.
Otherwise - cool! I look forward to hearing about how it rides and I hope it suits you.
08/06/2026 08:22:06 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Now the little Hearald has come home I've started to get to grips with it. Plus points: it looks very nice (although I'm going to dye the tan seat black as it is a bit hipsterish for me); most things are in pristine condition with just a bit of light surface rust here and there. General construction looks good, welds on the frame are tidy but not beautiful. Nuts and bolts undo with only light application of correct sized spanners (and it's the first bike I've come across with 16mm A/F nuts) instead of needing penetrating oil and heat. The chain was scrap being very rusty and having seized links. It has had replacement Battlax tyres fitted at some time in its 3,000 km life as they're dated 2019 ie 3 years after the bike was registered. From the state of the chain - which was an O ring type so also probably not original fitment - I suspect the bike has been laid up somewhere with a cover not quite protecting everything.
It start readily and sounds good.
I've fitted a new chain and replaced the original rear suspension units, which are universally derided by experienced owners although looking very pretty, with secondhand units from a Yamaha YS125. They fit perfectly and actually move a bit when I put some weight on the back......
I've just finished fitting a battery charging connector so think I deserve a break.......
07/06/2026 13:59:55 UTC
nab301 said :-
I can (possibly mistakenly!) remember in the 70's, petrol (post decimalisation) being 30p per gallon ,my Yamaha 80 (yes it was a two stroke) could be filled for 50p , 1.5 gallon tank but when I search I'm told that petrol prices at the time were around 90p per gallon... it was however a time of shortages, queues, abusive customers , (working part time in a filling station, no different from today I guess) and exponential price rises but still a lot cheaper than todays €1.90 per litre / €8.62 per gallon.
Nigel
09/05/2026 17:28:34 UTC
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Upt'North ¹ said :-
Rod, my point above.
Who will have the knowledge to fix these things?
Mechanics change parts these days, or entire assemblies, paints shops are only interested in Insurance work.
05/06/2026 11:04:15 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
The good old days may not be as good as we seem to think they were, but an average home mechanic could sort these problems out without worrying about confusing the can bus system or frying the ECU.
05/06/2026 10:33:59 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I was thinking "eeee wen i wur a lad it wur ded eezy". But then I recall the headlamp in a bowl things from back in the day (ie bates style).
First off you'd be fighting the (probably JIS) crosshead screws that would always be corroded and have mangled heads. Once you'd removed them with pliers and a hammer the headlight wouldn't just come out the bowl, it'd pop out under the immense pressure of 47 miles of wiring and 224 block connectors stuffed in there. If you were lucky the three wires connected to the H4 would prevent the headlamp crashing and smashing on the floor. Changing the bulb at this point was a doddle. However getting the 47 miles of wiring and 224 block connectors stuffed back into the tiny bowl was another thing entirely. Once you did this you'd search the nuts and bolts drawer but end up replacing the mangled screws back into the bowl-cum-headlight. Ignition on - now your dip beam no longer works, when you indicate left your brake light flashes and right - the starter motor clicks, and there's a smell of burning plastic from the wire you've trapped between the bowl and the headlamp.
Yeah, the good old day's weren't quite as good as we seem to think they were.
04/06/2026 22:17:50 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The H4's on the Pan would normally fail on a long trip, at least one dipped beam, maybe two. The manual adjuster was a godsend to lower the beam so I could use the mains. Folks said there was something up with the wiring/alternator etc but I checked it all out and found nowt. On switching to Osram Longlife jobbies it was cured.
Upt.
04/06/2026 21:11:10 UTC
nab301 said :-
My DL 250 single headlight is considerably easier than that but the worst bike of all is my CB125F , front and rear bulb require some fiddly stripping .
I sure you'll be fine now with long life bulbs ,(was it the older model that had stator failure issues ?) they really do make a difference on cars and more so commercial vehicles. I've always found H4 bulbs were fine but the likes of H7 / H9 needed regular replacement.
Nigel
04/06/2026 18:26:51 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I know many cars are the same but roadside changes are sometimes a thing of the good'ol days. Although the lights were yellow and didn't actually illuminate anything. I seem to remember Cibie did a replacement unit in't day.
I've got no experience of the Bosch replacements so fingers crossed.
04/06/2026 16:27:30 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
So much plastic!
04/06/2026 16:23:40 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The good news is the lights work and all back together. One broken/lost plastic fastener. I'll take it.
Pffffffftttttt. Upt.
04/06/2026 16:22:02 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
If we head for the tunnel of excitement Ed there will be a stop. The last time we rode North from France to Wooler we stopped in Cambridgeshire....Elton I think. When we went from Portsmouth we stopped in Leicestershire on the way down. My brothers is an option in Derbyshire. But it's family innit!
We have ridden from Staffordshire to Northern France in a day, it's doable but a bit of a jaunt for two ageing two wheelers.
Changing the headlight bulbs in the STrom today, blummin nightmare. Decided it's better done in the garage than at the side of the road somewhere. Long life Bosch replacements going in. Now where does that screw go?
Upt and looking despairingly at a lot of bits of Suzuki.
04/06/2026 13:24:18 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It's a drag down to that there "daaan saaaf" from Manchester Up't so it'll be a real drag from Wooler! Her Ladyship and myself will be making that drag in the not too distant future - but after that we'll be barely covering 200 miles let alone 1,000.
May I recommend doing what we're doing? Rather than going to "daaan saaaf" in one long dull wet cold miserable day - do it over a couple of days. That way you can extend the misery! Sorry - I mean that way you can have a nice break on the way down and on the way back - thereby breaking the misery into 2 less miserable days.
04/06/2026 08:31:02 UTC
Random Link - Rain, Misery, Laughter and Puppetry