“just popping out dear……..”

Mrs Betabiker was dismayed!

No beef for Sunday!

CATASTROPHE!

“No problem dear,despite it being Sunday morning

and we live in the middle of rural France,

I feel I can find a solution to the problem”

I fuel up the 2 FZRs,

Find the rucksack,

and with son John on board the FZR400

me on the FZR600

head off for Brantome,40 miles south.

Fantastic, quiet,sinuous roads,

virtually no traffic

and a sunny warm day-25 degrees.

We play tag -never less than 70mph,

never more than 100mph.

The 600 FZR pulls like a train,

with no discernible powerband.

When needed,

a shot of acceleration is easily gained

by shifting down a gear.

It does have to be said that the 600 demands some input

in the handling dept.

Whilst very stable,

its 189 kgs bulk requires

an involved effort to hussle through the twistys.

I was aware that I was “counter steering”

(turning the wheel slightly

in the opposite direction

as the cornering move commences.

It is normally an operation done unconciously,

but once you know about it,

you notice when you are doing it!)

ANYWAY

together with the counter steering,

I needed to “push” the bike down in the corners

pressing down on the inside foot peg

and applying pressure with the bum cheek !

Arriving at a very crowded Brantome,

we had a quick beer at a shady bar

overlooking the river

bought the beef joint

( and some nice lamb)

Togged up and belted back.

great run,only marred slightly

by me getting stung on my neck

by a wasp caught up in my “Buff”

Was the beef good?

Bloody marvellous!

new addition

Thought you might like to see

the new sister for the FZR 600

and the FZR 400 already living with us.

YES

its ANOTHER

FZR 600!

Can you ever get enough of a good thing?

I bought this one off EBAY FRANCE for 1500 euros!

1992

1 owner,

Everything replaced

20K miles from new!

Its up in Alsace which means a 2 day round trip

to collect  her,but its a scenic route!

With this 600 it means that Ann and I

can now legally(well almost)

do track days with log book and insurance

rather than the complicated

and expensive alternative route

-an FFM racing licence ;

This involves medical certificates,

club membership

and a “training licence”-

very expensive

unless you are doing track days every week.

A licence entitles you to a 10 euro dicount per day,

but costs something like 250 euros a year.

You need to do 25 trackdays to break even

-I dont think so!

Plus,this way We can ride on the road

( if summer ever comes.)

Plus plus-Stratobiker Steve has finally seen the light

and bought a “proper” bike

-one with an engine attached !

Its a near mint Kawasaki KH400 triple

-I bet you can smell the 2 stroke smoke as you read this ,eh?

Best of both worlds

-fabulous French roads

and a great selection of circuits to ride

-CANT WAIT