Author Topic: Newb from UK (Read 6043 times)

DaveT · **on:** November 16, 2011, 08:58:30 am

Hello there fellas.....and ladies !! Hope you don't mind me dropping onto your forum from the other side of the pond. I just picked up a 2010 C5 Classic in Teal (?) green from my local dealer (approx 50 miles away) last Saturday, so that was my first & thus far only ride !! I enjoyed it, but did kept getting my steel toe Dr.Martens trapped under the gearlever on the up changes !! I realised when I got home that you can adjust the angle of the footrest.....so next ride I'm hoping will be more relaxed !!
Although, the British winter weather is just kicking in now, so I guess I won't be doing too much riding.....not that I'm a fairweather rider (I cycle all year around) but the road salt they spread on the roads would eat a RE frame/engine cases !
But hey if it's off the road, more time to "aesthetically" customise.......get that back light in the dustbin !!
So overall I love the bike, beautiful looking & will hopefully behave itself & not need too much wrenching........the reason I bought the bike, I realised I'd spent the last three years building "interesting" bikes (Motobecane, MZ, Zundapp) but not ACTUALLY riding......so I figured I ought to ride not wrench & that's how the Classic came to live in my garage ! Cheers for now. Dave (Lincoln,UK)

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #1 on:** November 16, 2011, 10:32:49 am

Welcome!

TCP · **Reply #2 on:** November 16, 2011, 01:21:17 pm

LIkewise welcome, after all, RE originated in your backyard.

I put a heel toe shift lever on my C5. Cost was negligible, but I really like it.

Keeps me shifting smoothly and saves the toes of my boots.

Caseman

Desi Bike · **Reply #3 on:** November 16, 2011, 02:47:00 pm

Welcome from Canada. I had the same shifter problem with my Docs. The shifter can be moved on the spline or the peg adjusted. Or a heel toe shifter.. Ride on.

Alan LaRue · **Reply #4 on:** November 16, 2011, 04:45:37 pm

Welcome aboard!

Arizoni · **Reply #5 on:** November 17, 2011, 12:59:01 am

DaveT
Good to have you aboard.

I know you are going to love your bike.

All of the looks and charm of the Olde British bikes and most of the shortcomings fixed.

Be prepared for total strangers going out of their way to talk to you though.
Even in America it is amazing the number of people who love and remember motorcycles like the RE.

The conversation usually starts,
"Back when I was younger I used to have an XXXXXXXXX (fill in the appropriate Norton, AJS, BSA, Royal Enfield, Matchless etc.)........."

GlennF · **Reply #6 on:** November 17, 2011, 03:06:25 am

Quote from: Arizoni on November 17, 2011, 12:59:01 am

DaveT

The conversation usually starts,
"Back when I was younger I used to have an XXXXXXXXX (fill in the appropriate Norton, AJS, BSA, Royal Enfield, Matchless etc.)........."

Either that ... or ....

"My whole family rides those back in India. Indian girls love guys that ride a bullet, it must be the thump. Did you know you can get mag wheels ? ".

Marrtyn · **Reply #7 on:** November 17, 2011, 03:55:59 pm

Yes,welcome, neighbour, i'm in S. Yorkshire.
I would rcomend ACF50 to protect your bike from salt/corrosion--excellent stuff. I dont ride in winter, but give a good liberal coat of the stuff, whilst in storage over the winter months. If its a mild winter just get out and ride, -the bike will be protected.

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #8 on:** November 18, 2011, 09:35:47 am

I've just bought some ACF-50.

Do you squirt it on then wipe it off/rub it in?

It's as think as munkey spunk so wouldn't it get all the dust and dirt sticking to it?

Oh Hello BTW.

Hertfordshire.

Rusty · **Reply #9 on:** November 18, 2011, 10:12:05 am

Quote from: Lwt Big Cheese on November 18, 2011, 09:35:47 am

Do you squirt it on then wipe it off/rub it in?

It's as think as munkey spunk so wouldn't it get all the dust and dirt sticking to it?

Yes and yes but the beauty of ACF 50 is that you can sloosh off the dirt without washing off the protection. Vulnerable areas will need a re-application if you regularly ride through winter

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #10 on:** November 18, 2011, 10:28:30 am

Thanks for that.

My "Bombay Taxi" has a distinctive patina, including rust holes right through the mud guards.

I can't afford for it to corrode any more, so I want to keep it as is - but ride through winter.

Alan LaRue · **Reply #11 on:** November 18, 2011, 02:39:38 pm

Oh, gotcha!

(Weird... how did this comment get into this thread. I'm sure I entered it in a different thread.)

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #12 on:** November 18, 2011, 06:52:27 pm

Gotta get me some of this for this winter.

Reading the directions from various sites you can pretty much spray it on and rub it in everywhere EXCEPT the brakes. I'll probably leave it off the tanks sides too so it doesn't gum up all my pants.

Scott

palace15 · **Reply #13 on:** November 21, 2011, 10:42:57 am

Welcome, so thats 3 of us in the UK I know of ! I am in London BTW, its a pity the UK owners club doesnt seem so active or is it?
Dave

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #14 on:** November 21, 2011, 01:51:49 pm

Hello Palace person.

I hear the Enfield /Triumph night is good at eh Ace Cafe. Have you been?

GlennF · **Reply #15 on:** November 21, 2011, 09:59:18 pm

Quote from: Ducati Scotty on November 18, 2011, 06:52:27 pm

Gotta get me some of this for this winter.

Reading the directions from various sites you can pretty much spray it on and rub it in everywhere EXCEPT the brakes. I'll probably leave it off the tanks sides too so it doesn't gum up all my pants.

Scott

Yeah pretty much.

It leaves my bike with a slightly oily sheen ... which is totally appropriate for an old school motorcycle like the bullet.

If you wanted you could wax the tank and other painted parts and just use ACF50 on the engine and mechanical bits but I just spray the entire bike.

palace15 · **Reply #16 on:** November 23, 2011, 05:09:22 pm

Hi, sorry for late reply, I am in Thailand at the moment. I have yet to go over to the 'ACE' for one of the bike nights but will look out for the next one and report back if I attend, or perhaps we both will make it there?

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #17 on:** November 23, 2011, 06:05:52 pm

Wax?!?!?!? Then I'd have to wash it first. That sounds like a lot of work

Scott

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #18 on:** November 24, 2011, 09:30:26 am

Leave it in the rain?

Palace. I'm being asked by another Enfield rider to do the Ace trip. Apparently it's full of Japanese who can't beleive their eye's! Only a couple of RE's turn up. So you would be a star attraction!

DaveT · **Reply #19 on:** November 24, 2011, 11:52:13 pm

I only get down to the Ace about twice a year......not for any specific events, just because if you are in London Town & you're into bikes YOU HAVE TO GO !! I always think it looks a bit grim when you get off the tube at Stonebridge Park & you have to walk under the arches of the old North Circular Road looking at all the filth, debris & graffitti under the bridges.....& then around tthe corner, there it is !! Best bloody "full english" anyway (& not bad prices for London).....yes it's a bit touristy & it may well not be 1959, but get a seat by the big glass windows, tuck into your mug of tea, splodge some Heinz 57 on your black pudding, buy a piece of merch, go outside for a smoke on a hand rolled Golden Virginia (I can't condone smoking kids, it's not big or clever...but it's still cool at the Ace Cafe !!!) & all is genuinely good in the world.
I just hope the Ace Cafe USA can match it for nostalgia, just make sure they get PROPER Lincolnshire sausages & Lancashire black pudding on the menu !!

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #20 on:** November 25, 2011, 04:12:34 am

Ah, the full English breakfast. We spent a week in Twickenham at a place that had that available every morning. I made it my mission to eat it every day. Three days in I got terribly ill ( totally unrelated to breakfast ) and haven't been able to even think about a full English breakfast since without wincing, just bad associations. I guess I just need some immersion therapy. There's a place here in town that does a very nice one from what I hear, I need to go face my demons one morning.

Scott

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #21 on:** November 25, 2011, 10:47:00 am

A couple of us are planning a trip:

Silver Ball Transport cafe on the A10 near Royston for Full English breakfast
High Beech for egg banjo for lunch - a biker caff place, near Enfield!
Ace Cafe for ... well another Full English I guess

Mmmm fatening...

DaveT · **Reply #22 on:** November 25, 2011, 08:40:55 pm

Enjoy your culinary tour of English Breakfasts !! The good thing about them, is you don't really need anything else for the rest of the day !! Although if you followed tradition & had one every day before work, I don't think you'd feel like doing much work !! I went to a "greasy spoon caff" in Driffield, East Yorks one time for a BIG breakfast & neither of us could finish it !! I thought I was going to pass out if I just kept eating !! Man, that thing was so big, I didn't know if I should eat it or climb it & plant a flag in the top of it !!

REpozer · **Reply #23 on:** November 26, 2011, 07:28:12 pm

I had an English breakfast,......thought it to be more like a redneck breakfast.

Pork&beans on toast, poached eggs, and hot dogs on the side.

Thankfully I had enough Tabasco sauce to help me choke it all down.

Yep, I feel very cultured.

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #24 on:** December 13, 2011, 05:21:20 am

And to be correct they should be Heinz beans that I don't think I've ever seen here in the States.

Scott

GlennF · **Reply #25 on:** December 13, 2011, 05:36:46 am

A proper breakfast should include toast, eggs, bacon, beans, fried tomato, mushrooms sausages and a token US hashbrown or two.

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #26 on:** December 13, 2011, 05:45:10 am

Isn't it rashers and not bacon. Kinda looks like bacon but a little more meaty and a different shape.

Fried tomato? Jeez, must it all be fried? Even the vegetable?

Scott

2bikebill · **Reply #27 on:** December 13, 2011, 08:49:36 am

It must ALL be fried, even the, uh, fruit...

And fried bread, not toast, for the authentic experience. I'm talking proper lard, none of your pansy cooking oil.

Sometimes you get fried potatoes if there's any left from dinners the day before.
Hashbrowns are a late interloper. Nasty. They're never real ones - always out of a packet, even in the USA! I had an American neighbour once, in Scotland - she made the real thing. It ruined me for any of that pre-packed crap.
Bacon is sold in rashers - back bacon (the wide stuff) or streaky (thin but tastier). We just cook it here. In the USA it's fully cremated and the remains are served as bits of crispy carbon. Shame.

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #28 on:** December 13, 2011, 12:51:31 pm

Ooo man I'm hungry now...

$:-\$

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #29 on:** December 13, 2011, 03:19:28 pm

I'm in the US and I hardly cook anything, especially bacon. Bacon should be just hot enough to make the fatty streaks translucent. Steaks should be just warm enough to melt the fat inside to melt and make them juicy. Steak tartare is better still. I never understood crispy bacon, why cook out all the fat? That's the tasty stuff! When I visited my relatives in the Netherlands some 25 years ago there was some kind of bacon you could eat raw. It was great!

Scott

2bikebill · **Reply #30 on:** December 13, 2011, 03:58:57 pm

You have my unreserved apology Scott. I've eaten up and down and right across the USA and never had bacon that wasn't cooked to a crisp - and I go out of my way to look for mom & pop joints off the freeway too! That said, I've had some great feeds on such trips. Best omelette I ever had, I think it was called a Denver omelette, was in a dusty old Navaho place in the middle of nowhere - I had a strong impression I was the only non-Native American who'd ever been in there.....or perhaps they just don't talk much....

$:-\$ Reckless confidence and an english accent generally lead to all sorts of interesting conversations I find, especially out in the sticks.
Anyway, now I know where the good bacon is, next time I'm coming to yours for breakfast at least once. I might even let you talk me into a steak supper....

DaveT · **Reply #31 on:** December 13, 2011, 06:18:13 pm

.......and nobody has yet mentioned "the diet of champions" which MUST be on a proper full English......Some good thick slices of BLACK PUDDING !!
Delicious !!

2bikebill · **Reply #32 on:** December 13, 2011, 06:22:31 pm

mmmmm fried pig blood - NOW you're talking. Extra lard on mine please

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #33 on:** December 13, 2011, 06:41:49 pm

There tend to be two kinds of extremes in the states: chain restaurants that overcook everything so no one sues them for food poisoning and a new breed or artisan cooks who frown on any steak cooked past medium rare and say hallelujah to the fact that the FDA have finally officially stated it's ok for a pork chop to be a little pink inside.

Most places I go don't over cook bacon, but yeah, people are obsessed with crispy. I'll never get it. You're welcome to breakfast at my place if you're ever in the neighborhood.

And many native Americans tend to be quiet folks and keep to themselves in certain areas. Given their history with Europeans I can't say I blame them.

Scott

2bikebill · **Reply #34 on:** December 13, 2011, 06:59:48 pm

"..... Given their history with Europeans I can't say I blame them...."

That was the way my thinking was going at the time. Later on also, at Wounded Knee, when I felt kind of obliged to buy some stuff from a couple of Sioux guys who had a stall. I've rarely felt quite so intrusive and out of place as I did there, being a tourist, taking pictures, them watching me...

I guess the food everywhere is improving - even here. Not been over there since 2007 but I'm getting the itch again so it wont be long. I'm taking my riding gear next time and going to rent an Enfield for some sunny riding round Arizona.

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #35 on:** December 13, 2011, 07:22:46 pm

I was prepared for the worst in food when I visited England a few years back. The smell of full English breakfast that lingered in the air all day where I was staying was a bit much after a few days but everything else I had was quite tasty.

Scott

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #36 on:** December 13, 2011, 07:59:34 pm

English food has come on no end in the last 30 years or so.

Now we can beat the French for good food.

Funny having a discussion about bacon, I thought it was cheese that was awful over there and the fact it's put on everything!!

Desi Bike · **Reply #37 on:** December 13, 2011, 10:43:14 pm

The french Canadian dish of Putine is wonderful... Nice hot french fries (chips for Will) and more than a gracious dollup of boiling chicken gravy and a whopping smattering of 'less than half a day old' white cheddar cheese curds layered throughout the fries and gravy... melting throughout the concoction from the boiling gravy... Now we're talkin' haha... If done properly its like a heart attack on a plate.

Ducati Scotty · **Reply #38 on:** December 13, 2011, 11:09:06 pm

American cheese, a type of cheese like cheddar, not just from here, is a processed food product and pretty bad, as are the gloppy processed sauces we ladle over everything. Once again, dig a little deeper and you will find small and large shops hand crafting beautiful cheeses all over the country. They may not be cheap but they are tasty. And I'd you have the right connections you may even find soft, young cheeses made with unpasteurizes milk which are illegal to sell here. No law against giving them away so it pays to know the right people.

Scott

Lwt Big Cheese · **Reply #39 on:** December 14, 2011, 10:29:21 am

No unpasteurised!!!

A friend of mine has just opened a cheese shop!!!