Planning a UK tour in October...

[Mez]

I've had this ridiculous idea for a UK tour sorta thing later on this year and I just wanted to see if you guys had anything to say about it.

Gonna be a bit cliche here, will my moped make it? I've read stories about people travelling thousands of miles on 50s before so of course I'm brimming with confidence. Al's NZ tour inspired me a fair bit. It's a Baotian, I've heard that they're pretty reliable considering. Ok, I'm lying, I don't actually have one yet, but I'm getting it in the next week or so.

Anyway, I've looked ahead at my timetable and I should be getting 10 days off in October. Provided I have the £££ when the time comes I'll be leaving on my first free day. Here's my route plan:

Really long url

2,300 miles at an average of 30 mph, that's.... just short of 80 hours on the road? I'm thinking 8 hours a day, early morning starts (which I'm getting good at now) so I can get off the road early afternoon. It's quite a challenge (and quite an achievement!) but I reckon I'm up to it.

I intend to camp out where I can to cut down the costs, and I'll be taking a cheap trayful of tins of food too so I shouldn't fork out too much, if at all, for eating while I'm away. I'll be taking £150-£200 for fuel and I suppose it would be wise to take a few hundred for any unexpected hitches aswell. Also I think I'll only take one change of clothes to cut down on unneccessary bulk... I'm pretty good at roughing it lol.

I hear things like tyres, chain and sprockets (though n/a) should be changed before a trip like this.

Anything I've missed or any advice much appreciated!
____________________
My deviantArt gallery - My Youtube profile
Honda CG125 -> Baotian BT49 -> AJS JS125 -> Honda CG125-> Kawasaki ZL400 -> Kawasaki GPZ500

[Hooky]

Good on you

Many people have toured on tiddlers, its not easy but with planning and preparation it will be great fun.

I have a few questions and added some advice

Will you be doing the trip alone ? ( a young lady on her own on a bike trip ).

Camping is fine BUT allow a couple of nights in a nice warm B+B. (If you are really serious about this trip Im sure the BCF massive would not mind you blagging a room for the night if you need it >.)

Buy a sat nav from e-blag (or borrow ).
Full service, take a tin of puncture weld and make sure you have full breakdown cover. (no point in taking loads of tools etc , other than a plug and spanner)

Keep a spare key (taped under the bike)

NEVER make plans to ride a certain distance over a fixed time, just plod on and enjoy the ride..

Biggest tip is have good clobber and decent waterproofs.

DONT over do it taking non essentials, you will never be more than 16 miles from a shop or services on you route.

Have fun and stay safe (check-in every day to your folks before its time for beddy-byes.

Have a good look at https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228592&page=1

It might be a good idea to load up and do a simple one day ride to get used to 8 hours in the saddle, 200 miles ? see how you get on

[Mez]

[Noxious89123]

£150~£200 for fuel? fecking hell....

I did 100 miles on friday, and it took me 6 hours... (was stuck in traffic alot. Strangely enough, i can do the trip in 3 hours @ avg. 65mph and use just over a quarter tank. In the 6 hours on friday i used just over half a tank, and it only cost me £4 to fill her back up....

So if;

100 = £4
2,300 = £92

And thats when my bike is being un-economical!

Surely a 50cc moped would do better MPG than a 125?
____________________
'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi

[Mez]

[Al]

Hey glad you liked my trip ,
It sounds like a cool little adventure your planning on doing.

If you haven't got the scooter yet I'd make sure its been run in before you start your trip, it won't like being run in by sitting flat out for hours on end.
I've never herd of a Baotian before, would you be able to get parts for it easily enough if anything did break? It would be a shame if a small part broke, yet you had to end your journey early because the part was going to take a couple of weeks to order in. Was one of the reason we went for the common as muck Hondas.

I don't mean to sound negative as I'm sure its possible but 8 hours riding a day for 10 days in a row would be a lot.
On my trip I think that was about the very max we did in a day and then we had the next day off to recover. I'm not sure how you would cut the miles down but I'd aim for about 5 hours riding a day, with the option to do a little more or less when needed.
It all depends what your main goal is, if you just want to cover as many miles as possible then go for it. I don't think it would be as enjoyable though as your be aching and knackered for most of the tour.

You won't need to worry about chains and sprockets as your scooter won't use them, If you've got new tyres on they will last for the 2300miles. If there not new I'd just replace them to save any hassle in the trip as scooter tyres are only cheap.
Tyre foam would be a good idea as thats the most likely breakdown, spare oil and a spark plug along with some basic tools and breakdown cover in case things do go wrong in a big way.

Things like sat-nav, MP3 player and mobile phone are great but your need to find a way to charge them every couple of days.
Maybe leave your mobile phone switched off and only use it in an emergency.

The route looks good although I notice you have got a bit on the M4 which you'd need to find an A or B road that runs along side it as you wouldn't be able to use the motorway.
One of the problems is that all the roads signs take you via the most direct route, which will normally be the motorway, so you'd need to be careful sticking to your planned route and avoiding them.
There is plenty of garages all around England, but you may need to be careful about running out of fuel in that bit of the journey in the North of Scotland I'd imaging there fairly spread out up there.

When you go for your test run do it with the scooter fully loaded to get used to the extra weight, it can feel strange carrying so much weight on such a small light bike. We felt very top heavy to start with although you soon get used to it.

Goodluck I'm sure it will be a great trip whatever happens, don't plan too much as it will start to seem like work and your get annoyed at yourself if you get behind. Just go with the flow a bit and things normally work themselves out.

If I don't hire a bike and ride across Canada next year I'm going to do a couple of tours next year one to Spain on my 400 and one to Scotland on my Vespa
Although it is a 125 and cruises at about 55mph so it would almost feel like cheating.
____________________
Yamaha FZR400RR 3tj
My Instagram Thingy