Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: Smithy on May 20, 2018, 07:56:48 AM
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Hiya
Me and my mate Proper Dave have just come back from 4 days in the Lake District, he on the Honda and me on the Enfield and I thought you may be interested in a comparison of how the bikes faired.
Over the 4 days we covered just over 600 miles with 95% being on B roads or green lanes (more later). Our cruising speed on larger roads was 50 - 55 mph but the majority of the time due to the nature of the roads we travelled we were averaging about 30mph. The Honda returned a staggering average of 90mpg going as high as 96mpg on one particularly slow and twisty day and the Enfield returned an average of 75 mpg going up to 80mpg on the aforementioned slow day.
We climbed Honister, Kirkstone, Wrynose and Hardknot passes and the Enfield was consistently in a higher gear than the Honda pulling like a train the whole time.
We stayed in a 'Hobbit Hole' (luxury camping pod) for one night on The Quiet Site in Watermillock which is thoroughly recommended and a basic camping pod for two nights at Borrowdale Youth Hostel also thoroughly recommended.
Dave was keen to try some proper green laning which we did riding along a boulder strewn lane with rock steps about a foot deep and loose rocks of 4 to 6 inch diameter forming the surface the whole way. Needless to say the Honda handled it better than the Enfield although the Enfield proved to be a tough little donkey and with a few mods (bash plate, re-sited footrests, a tooth off the front sprocket and a serious diet) it would make an adequate green lane tool.
Funniest moment was when we were sat at the side of the road on Wrynose pass making a brew when a car screeched to a halt and a large Hells Angel got out and stormed over to us shouting 'have you just come over the pass on that?' pointing at the Enfield. Gingerly I said yes wondering what would come next and he broke into a huge grin and shouted 'fucking legend'. We then had ten minutes of back slapping and picture taking so he could show the rest of his chapter the proof. Turns out he was on holiday with his mum! both of them travelling in the old car and both flying higher than the kesterls!
Great few days and the bikes were well matched for riding together.
Ian
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Hats off! Where else except TC would you get a back-to-back test of these two bikes?
Another example of small or low-powered bikes ruling. Could you have had more fun on a Blade or an R1200? Nah, you'd be stressing about chipping the paint.
Keep it up gents!
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Sounds like a great trip Smithy :)
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Fair play to you Smithy not sure I'd want to bounce a Bullet around off road without some major mods. 👍
All the best Mark
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Yes great write up smithy.... especially liked the bit about the hells angel giving you the thumbs up. Made me giggle 😁😁. Used to do hardknot n wrynose passes regularly with bid bro and pals back in the day and clearly remember a lad accidentally kicking his crash helmet off the top. It bounced off just about every boulder on the way down to the very bottom 😢😢. Goodness knows how he rode home that day without a helmet.
Cheers, Michael
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Sounds like you had a ball. BrendanO hits the nail on the head.
We all appreciate the sense of freedom you get from riding motorbikes and, back in the mid to late late seventies when the lakes were a LOT less crowded than now, that's where us city lads used to head. Tackling wrynose and hardknot used to elevate that sense of freedom to another level. Obviously it still does, if you can find it on a relatively empty day. When I look back I can't believe I used to do the descent in neutral with the engine off! Gather as much speed as I could near the bottom and see how far I could get on the flat winding road between the passes. :o
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Yes and don't forget about coming down kirkstone pass back into Ambleside from the kirkstone inn...in the pitch black, With your headlights turned OFF.... with ya 14/15 year old bother on he back 😁😁... crazy but great times indeed.
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Just a note regarding CRF250s. A lad turned up on the Morocco trip on a brand new CRF, then proceeded to run it in, by thrashin the nuts off it, crossing Spain by motorway in two days, with an oil change half way down. He then rode it flat out all around Morocco, including into the desert where he burnt out the clutch, but I was told afterwards, that that was more down to technique than anything else!
He had one tiny bag of luggage for the whole three weeks, and I remember moving the bike for him, and it felt more like a heavy mountain Bike ;)