Himalaya Shimalaya

Well, Royal Enfield’s new Himalayan turned out to be a bit of a disappointment up close at the recent Scottish Motorcycle Show.

At first glance it certainly looked impressive on the local dealer's stand. It is a full size ‘adventure’ motorcycle, complete with funky aluminium panniers, tank mounted water carrier and a tote bag. However, at 411cc and 24.5 bhp it looks like it would struggle to pull the skin off a rice pudding.

What was it like for size? I don’t know. They wouldn’t let you touch it much less sit on it as it was apparently the only one in the country and it wasn’t theirs.

Price? They don’t know yet. It depends.

What about a test-ride? Yes, one can be arranged, sometime in June, which will be when they get their one in. 

I think that I'll give this one a miss for now.

Terra Nova

Interesting bike at my work this morning. It's a Derbi Terra 125.

A proper full size motorcycle for learners squarely aimed at prospective adventure bike riders. Very tidy it is too. I'd be curious to know how it compares to the other small 125s on the market.

Roadster

Sachs Roadster 800

Heavy Metal

(Via: facebook)

Jawa Body Paint

Smooth

Automoto 350 cc side valve

(Via: mudwerks)

Ner a Car

(Via: ageofdiesel)

Weekend Roundup

Some Assembly Required

 

KMZ Dnepr assembly line, 1980's

(Via: Facebook)

Steam Punk

(Via: blipfoto)

Weekend Roundup

Ugly Duckling

Polish Junak M14 Iskra

(Via: Facebook)

Ace Cafe Racer

50cc of throbbing power

Spotted in Bruges 2013

Royal Deeside Run

Yesterday I had a very early start to enable me to make the 50 mile journey up to Stirling so that I could meet up with some friends for a run to Braemar and a spot of lunch.

pitstop at Spittal of Glenshee

Once the morning fog cleared and it warmed up a bit it turned out to be a great day for a rideout. Bright, dry and only a bit chilly. 

The run itself turned out to be a bit more brisk that I was expecting, but then again, I’d never been for a run with a bunch of ex-policemen before! No harm done, though.

I can’t say that I’d ever been to Braemar in Aberdeenshire before, but it seemed to be very popular with motorcyclists and the food at The Bothy Tearoom was excellent, if a bit pricey.

In the end it was a really enjoyable day out and, as the weather has definitely begun to turn more wintery, it will probably be the last on the bike for a wee while.

Weekend Roundup

Apologies, but I’ve been a mite busy of late so haven’t posted much recently. To make up for it a bit I’ve been having a trawl through the archives and come up with a bunch of stuff from years gone by. More to come later.