A nice way to pick up my new bike.

[Davy F.]

It was an 05:35 start on Wednesday the 20th of April for me so that I could catch my 07:10 flight from Belfast to Manchester, England. On arrival there, I got a taxi to take me the 25 miles to a town called Rochdale where sitting outside the dealers (Robinsons) was my brand spanking new Kawasaki Versys.
I met Kris (that's him in the first pic) who I had been dealing with over the phone for the past number of days and we got down to business sorting out the monies/registration/insurance etc. By 11:30, the deal was done, adjustments carried out, Zumo 660 fitted and I was off on the road.




The weather was fantastic for mid April and I kept off the motorway network as much as possible, stopping for lunch at a lovely country pub. Fed and watered, back on the road and made my way to the Lake District in Cumbria which is a really beautiful part of England. I stopped in a town called Keswick where there is a cracking sweetshop as I knew my lovely wife would like a block of hand made fudge (I get a new bike, she gets a bit of fudge  ). An ice cream for myself to help cool me down was needed, then back on the bike for the final leg of the journey towards Stranrear in Scotland where I would get the ferry home to Northern Ireland.





I did stop again to relieve my butt and I can see why many complain about the seat of the Versys. However, my BMW R1200GS that I had a few years ago was no better and buying a Sargent saddle was the best modification I did on that machine. Hopefully, Sargent are considering bringing one out for the Versys. However, I digress.



I reached Stranrear at 19:15 and filled the tank after covering 239 miles from Rochdale (58mpg). The ferry sailed on time and two hours after that I was back on home soil. Another 12 miles later and I pulled up at my house at 22:35.

A rather full day and I could have had the bike shipped over for about the same amount of money that it cost me to go get it. But this way, I had fun and I guess a bit of a bonding session with the new bike.

Am I happy ?

Ohhhhh yes !!  

[kevin_stevens]

They don't sell Kawasakis in Ireland?  Oh, is it because it's Orange?  

Nice bike!

KeS

[Orson]

Lovely pics  

I'm glad you enjoyed nice weather  

[JSharp]

Great way to bond with your new bike! Nice pictures and a nice story. I love seeing the shop in the brick building. Vehicle dealerships used to look like that here. Now they're all huge buildings mostly out away from town.  

[Mr.Black]

 

[mugwump58]

Shadows. I'm jealous of people that live where there are shadows.

All the doctors here recommend we take vitamin D and I've just spilled oatmeal on my keyboard

Nice bike

[Fred Manfranchenson]

Nice Kawi Smeggy  

They don't sell Kawasakis in Ireland?  Oh, is it because it's Orange?  

Nice bike!

KeS

 

[Rincewind]

Nice story, Smeggy - sounds like a long day!  That's a good-looking bike - I like the new stacked headlights.  

I'd be interested in your thoughts now regarding the Versys versus the Tiger 800 that you tested.

[Castaway]

A beautiful bike that compliments the beautiful countryside.    

Sounds like you've got warmer temps than we do here ... ice cream? Damn you!      

[falconati]

Have fun - ride it hard!

[motociclista]

From one Versys rider to another: Way to go!

Ship a new bike? Where's the fun in that?

Love that color, too, BTW. Naturally, we don't get it on this side of the pond.

[Akumu]

Nice story. Grats, man.

[JimWilliamson]

Sweet.

I like the under carriage exhaust - it's almost not there.

[black hills]

 

[Davy F.]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone.  

Have to say, this is my first ever Kawasaki and the bike is a wee cracker ! So far, I'm really enjoying running her in and I can see just how good it's going to be and I reckon I'll be doing quite a few miles this year.

One other thing to note, my wife shared the fudge.  

[Ack535]

Thanks for sharing! I would love to ride in Scotland and Ireland sometime during my life.

Pete

[Gary B.]

Congrats and thanks for sharing the ride! Beautiful country!!

[2DFlyer]

Thanks for the ride through the country side!  All the better when imagining the sights, sounds, breeze, a nice pub lunch, and the narrator's accent.

[UFO]

Congrats Smeg.  You always spoke fondly of your old TDM, I suspect this is probably why you migrated to the Versys?

[veefer800canuck]

SMEGGY, IS THAT YOU?

Well knock me down and call me Susan!!!  I thought we'd lost you.  

I had to row through your old posts to see where you had dropped off the planet.  

Seems that between posts #34 and #35, you took about four years off!  

on: 14-08-2010, 03:30:50
Well then, would it annoy you even more for me to tell you that I have had the new Super Tenere out for a nice 100+ mile demo ride ?  

on: 10-12-2006, 07:58:22 Thanks for all the hard work, everyone.

 

 


Anyhow, great to see you back on the board, and yes, I did see that you've been posting about for a bit, I just hadn't noticed it, likely due to copious amounts of good drugs and also being distracted by cute nurses.

Welcome back. It's always good to hear from someone who dates back to ST.n v1.0  


And see, I'm not the only one either: http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,56255.msg1294246.html#msg1294246