Hello again guys. You know when you have a day where everything just seems right? No not even right - Perfect! Well I had one of those today.
If anyone's been following my (admitadly limited) postings then you will remember I was having some problems with chronic spoke breakage. Finally decided to give up trying to patch it myself and have my wheel professionally rebuilt by a local gent, which was done at some point last week and re-fitted to my bike. Had some stuff on order from our suppliers here across the pond for my Bullet for a while now, but hadn't fitted it because I had it's MOT booked for last week and I was paranoid that if I didn't get it fitted on time I would miss the appointment! Anyway, upshot is that it passed last week, so I decided to take time this week to fit my shiny new English made '50s style exhaust and do a quick re-jet. While it was out of action I thought I may aswell do the oil changes too - replacing the Primary oil with ATF and creating a slighly lighter mix for the box with some 90wt with some of the heavier stuff already there.
The upshot of all these things is that my bike is now running amazingly...I know it's been said before, but the new exhaust and re-jet REALLY make a difference! An indicated 60mph seems happy territory now, and there is just enough pull left in the engine at 50mph to make powering out of corners possible now. Seriously, if Hitchcocks phoned me tomorrow saying they wanted the same amount again or else they would take the exhaust from me then I would do it without hesitation - it makes that much of a difference!
Anyway, back on topic - I'm just back from the most amazing day I've EVER had on 2 wheels. Went for a small ride, which turned into an almost 5 1/2hour epic ride (once you factor in break etc.). Here is the route I took
Click Me. It took in some of the most spectacular scenery there is, and the roads were amazing too, but the main factor is that most of the really good roads were around the 50mph mark - i.e. perfect bullet territory! Luckily I had decided to take my camera with me so I could snap a few decent pics of my bullet...
And so I put it to you, the jury, that Scotland is the BEST place to own and ride a bullet.
Evidence;
Leaving Dundee at around 10am this morning it was a little on the chilly side (10'C), but not a cloud in the sky, so I wrapped up warm and headed towards Glenshee.
First pics of the day were taken just outside Blairgowrie. Check the sign! Let the fun Begin!!!
This next one is fairly typical of the road up there - just see it twisting and winding into the distance...
This one was taken in the Glenshee Ski Centre - at the highest point of the day (600m/2000ft above sea level - which is where I came from!). Was a bit cooler up there - about 3'C plus about 14mph wind! - so I didn't stay too long!
The road on to Braemar
Clear mountain stream
Met these fellows there - it's 'Tommy and his Wife'. His wife didn't seem to like me taking their picture!
Mind you, Tommy didn't seem to like it either...
I parked up at a layby on the way back down and found this vista. Now if only I had a BMW GS - then I could take on the mountain!
To be fair, it really doesn't matter - I've got a Bullet, they're much more picturesque! It's a toss-up between this Pic and the first one for my new Desktop pic...
And the view from the other side...
Then there were more twisty roads through the glen to my next destination. Lovely!
I stopped off for a Coffee and Soup at 'The Spittal of Glenshee' - It's a restaurant and hotel that I pretty much demand you go to if you're ever near - lovely home-cooked Scottish food infront of an open fire which is exactly what you need if you've just ridden to the ski centre!
Here's a few pics around the hotel.
From Spittal, I headed back to Blairgowrie but got so swept up in the ride that I didn't take many more pics of the road! D'oh! Still, I surprised myself - kept up a fair pace without being out of control and even had to overtake a 650 Guzzi something or other and 600 Suzuki Bandit! On a 500 Bullet! Wasn't trying to be fast, just smooth - kept a fairly constant 50-60mph speed through a lot of the corners which helped.
Once I got to Blairgowrie, I took one of my favourite roads to a place called Dunkeld. Passed a few old phone boxes on the way - can you get a much more British image?!
The road to Dunkeld (like a lot of country roads in Perthshire) is quite frequently lined with dry-stone walls, which seem to reflect the sound from my un-baffled 'silencer' quite nicely! Seriously, I couldn't keep the grin of my face!
A very typical hamlet you come across all the time
The road suddenly turns and tracks right alongside a Loch, which you may be able to see here;
Then into Dunkeld - which is an amazing wee place - tucked in right beside the river Tay. If you're ever there I reccomend going to the 'Taybank Hotel'. Great ales, food, folk music sessions and they are very biker friendly!
Silvery Tay
Bridge into Dunkeld
Started to cloud over a little at this stage, but that didn't stop me taking the short way home, oh no! I decided to head over to Glamis castle (no pics though since I wasn't stopping) and then to re-visit some of the roads which myself and the Bullet cut our teeth on during break-in, just to prove that Scotland not only has great roads to ride once break-in has finished, but ones you can safely enjoy at the really low speeds too!
Here are some of those walls again - seriously couldn't help but blast full throttle at this bit...
Brought back good memories of this time last year when I rode those ones again!
Anyway, back to the main point of the post! It is with this evidence that I put forward the proposition that Scotland is the best place to own and ride a Bullet. Does anyone fancy challenging that with some of their pics? This could be a cracking topic!
Cheers, Stu
P.S. All my shots were taken on a fairly decent camera, so if anyone would to see the originals at high-res then just PM me!
Topic: Scotland; The Best Country for the Bullet? open to suggestions ***Photo Heavy*** (Read 5218 times)