Wishing you were in a different country...

[-bandit]

It's that time of year again. It will be getting colder from now on, plus the endless weeks of grey skies and pouring rain. For me, it makes commuting on my bike miserable, having to dry off all of my gear every time I ride.

The roads are full of grit/shit/oil, meaning that every time I wash my bike, the next time I ride it, it will be covered in absolute shite. It also makes it quite dangerous. This makes me hate living in the UK!!

Does anyone else wish they were in a nice warm country (especially this time of year) where the roads are dry and the sun is shining?

Australia always springs to mind for me...

It might be just me being a massive pussy...

[yampug]

in an ideal world i'd love to own a place in nz and one here and just swap between the two depending on time of year. one day when i retire or win the lottery that's what i'll do.

[MC]

The summer was fun, particularly when it didn't rain in ages and the roads were really grippy, but sweating like a mother f**ker wasn't. Ideally I'd like it to be 20ish degrees all year round with only occasional light rain, is there such a country?
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[Polarbear]

I'm in Singapore. Safety gear doesn't exist. Girls ride pillion in split skirts.

And my hotel has a snow machine in the foyer, 27 centigrade outside and a fuckin snow machine, lol

And I still wish I was home
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[FergieinFranc...]

Wishing you were in a different country...

I am, have been for 10 years, and loving every minute of it..

Admittedly, not a hot country, a little better climate than Cornwall though.

From just a biking prospective:- traffic free roads, beautiful well maintained D roads, spectacular scenery, friendly bikers, plenty of cafe's and restaurants, all accepting bikers with no hassle, plenty of bike clubs that do a lot of day out ride-outs, and a couple of track-day circuits. Biking heaven.

Would I go back to live in the UK...never.
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Prendre garde au temps entre le chien et le loup

You don't scare me....I've got a daughter...

[Snorty]

Constantly. I hate the climate here. Rain and cold weather pretty much saps any joy out of the world
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Current: Yamaha FZ1 '07 | GSXR 750 SRAD

Past: CB125TDC | TZR125 | GPZ500 | CBR600F3 | ZX9-R | GSXR1000 K4

[-bandit]

I must add too, where I live the roads are badly maintained so that just adds to it...

From videos of bikers in European countries I must say that their roads look 10x better.

[andys675]

I don't think we have it too bad in the uk considering, my niece has just arrived in saskatoon canada where it is already -37, and you could only ride a bike for maybe four months a year............
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Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.

[Clutchy]

I'm just grateful I'm in the UK where I have TV, good food, house, well paid for my age, a car and motorbike, a summer which is enjoyable and a variable temperature, hot all the time would annoy me so much.

Could be worse, could be in Syria!
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Malaguti F12 Phantom-Dead, Suzuki AY50- Dead, NRG power DD LQ, CBR125.
*33 BHP restriction up on 10/12/14* Current bikes/car: SV 650 S/ MKIV GOLF
Guide to pass your test with no lessons!

[Skudd]

I'm English and find the weather normal.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Benno]

[Rogerborg]

[bezzabsa]

I wanna stay in the UK.....Just 550miles further north than we are now..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Hebrides

[pepperami]

Wishing you were in a different country?

No! I just wish there weren't as many people in this country all clogging up MY roads!
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[chickenstrip]

Sometimes in the winter, yes, it'd be nice to be somewhere warmer and drier (obviously?). But it's been a cracking summer - after a few years without a bike, I've covered 9500 miles on the FZS1000 I bought at the beginning of June this year (my 4th FZS1000). Wales trips, including 2 brief camping forays and one of the best fast (for me, anyhoo) rides I've had in my life, Peak District ride, Malverns, Cotswolds (on my doorstep), back to Essex (my old hunting ground), and much more. Every kind of road, every kind of scenery the UK has to offer, sometimes alone, and sometimes in a group, and still only touched the surface. In fact, I could write out quite a long list of places still to see despite having toured most of the UK, both on bikes and on foot, over many years.

So no, I would not want to permanently relocate abroad, I love my home country too much. But I would like to travel abroad more, and like everyone, get fed up when the sky is a uniform grey with several days of rain and I need my bike fix!

[mailee]

I curse being born in the UK! I hate the cold and lose the feel of my fingers through most of the winter. I absolutely love the heat and swear I was born in the wrong country! Give me 30 to 40 degree heat and I would be happy all day. Bring on global warming.

[Cheeseybeaner]

I think as a biker you've got to learn to like the weather in all its forms! Wet weather riding can be pretty refreshing some times (at the end of the day its only water), and it can be nice to take up the challenges bad weather can bring to riding a bike. Its pretty mild at the moment here, I think the truly cold periods disappear just as soon as they arrive generally. Though I like heat and riding in it the really hot weather soon becomes irritating to me when its prolonged.
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My bikes: 2003 KAWASAKI ZRX1200R, 1996 YAMAHA DIVERSION XJ900S

[biker7]

I ride two bikes. A cruiser for the warmer weather (including winter sometimes if it's dry) and a 'normal' bike when it's not so good; then I don't mind wearing all the gear necessary. I find this works quite well for me - just one bike to get dirty and the other to keep the chrome nice and shiny. In the hot weather I like to keep gear to a minimum - being too hot on a bike is almost as bad as too cold or wet.

I live next to the Gower in Wales (moved here to retire). Could live abroad but we've got some world class beaches down the road so I don't mind if it rains now and then (which it does in Wales!) Wouldn't mind riding in the states (Route 66?) but most of the time I'd rather be here. Tomorrow I'd like to be on a nice dry, warm, twisty Spanish road.....but probably it will be padded weather suit, touring boots, warm gloves and hi viz waistcoat and then washing the bike when I get back. Ho hum!
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Swansea area
Fat Bob (2019)

[esullivan]

I was born in California, grew up in New York City and Boston, and been living in London since 1998. I love it here. Endless things to do in the city and you're never too far* from nice country roads for riding. Sometimes, like this morning with zero traffic, you even get a pleasant ride in the city. Man up and get better gear!

(* the definition of "far" varies depending on available time, anywhere from the Cotswolds to the Highlands.)
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Current: '14 VFR800X Test passed 31/10/12.
Previous: '12 NC700S, '11 CBF 125, '04 SH 125.

[Fifteen15]

Spending Christmas on a beach in Vietnam. Not missing the UK one bit right now
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"Pain is weakness leaving the body, and blood makes the grass grow faster...but I'll wear my gear anyway"

[Mario_Kempes]

It's coldish here in Catalonia just now but the skies are, like almost every day, sunny, blue and cloudless.

The difference it makes to your quality of life is unbelievable. It does rain, obviously, and I've used my waterproofs a couple of times this month but it's pretty rare.

Riding in the height of summer can be an ordeal though. You start to fear every traffic light.

[Ste]

Spain.

[deadwolf]

It's the dry season now in Penang, blazing hot every day and barely any rain. Brilliant time to hit the local twisties and long may it continue.

But when it rains, it fucking pours. You don't want to ride in the rain here, fucking tropical gale force storms.

I actually enjoyed riding in the rain in the UK. It was fairly mild most of the time, it calmed traffic down and really had this nice, almost melancholic atmosphere. And it also made you appreciate warm destinations and hot food.

Not to mention, stuff dries fast in the UK. If I got soaked here I would still be wet (and stinking) hours later, goddamn humidity.

Buying/selling bikes here is a pain in the arse. No V5s or doing it by mail, you have to go to the local equivalent of the DVLA with the other party, wait two hours and then provide fingerprints before they process the change of ownership.

Bikes here are more expensive as well, surprisingly enough. My current 150cc Kawasaki cost as much as my CB500 and Bros 650 put together. A Panigale or Goldwing would run you about the local equivalent of £100,000 because the currency is so weak.

But in return? Drivers are used to bikes on the road, give way 99% of the time and you can have a good time on small displacement machines. Tax and servicing is quite cheap. And there's no brutal British wind which was what I found fucked me up the worst. No constant snotting as well.

You win some, you lose some. Meh.
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Motorsapien Art

[c-m]

Would love to be in another country.

Even when I was in cold areas of Spain (Salamanca, Aragon etc..) the skies were clear and the sun was bright. It makes a huge difference.

Guess I just need to learn another language.

[Boris the spider]