What's your unusual biking pleasure?

[StromGeeza]

I don't mean the usual 'freedom of the road' type stuff, but maybe something small, idiosyncratic or something that we might otherwise overlook or have never thought about

For me, I like it when you've just filled up with petrol and the fuel tank feels nice and cold between your legs...

[greywolf]

I managed to get 300 miles from the smaller Glee fuel tank yesterday. That gave me a feeling of accomplishment.

At 270 miles (434.522km) traveled, the last bar started flashing indicating 2.5l (.66gal or .055Imp gal) remaining.

Published tank capacity 20l = 5.3g = 4.4Imp gallon

Distance traveled = 305.2mi = 491.171km

Fuel on refill = 4.918g = 18.62l = 4.095Imp gallon

Fuel economy = 62.058mpg = 3.79l/100km = 74.528mi/Imp gallon

I guess I can't abbreviate gallon without changing it to a bird.

[Fatbelly]

Is this small and idiosyncratic enough for you? Honda City Express, 49cc of raw power.

[Tusker]

The smell when I open the shed door....

[Keith Cross]

Turning off the intercom on the bike and not letting the wife know

Keith C

[shedchief]

I am very partial to the smell and crackle of a two stroke.

There. I've said it. What a load off my mind. Liberating...

:twisted:

[Gassoon]

At bikemeets such as Stromtrek 3, for me it's getting up in the middle of the night, unzipping the door of my tent and stumbling forth in the eerie stillness to admire the row of Stroms in the pale moonlight, then licking all the seats.....................................................C'mon! I can't be the only one!




Oh all right, after a ride I like to go back into the garage with a cup of tea and listen to the bike cooling down in unevenly spaced 'tocks', a patter of clicks, and even some 'gloing' noises.



Edit: Greywolf - were you using a specially high octane for that impressive 300 miles?

[Ptarmigan]

Think you might be on your own with that one Gassoon!

     

[greywolf]

Edit: Greywolf - were you using a specially high octane for that impressive 300 miles?

No. I was using regular 87 octane (RON+MON)/2 with up to 10% ethanol which according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating corresponds to 91-92 RON and UK regular is 95 RON. High octane prevents knocking but doesn't have any more energy that lower octane. Ethanol has only 66% of the energy of petrol/gasoline but is 108.6 octane.

[Gassoon]

Thread hijack alert! So are the Str quote wikipedia - "However, burning fuel with a lower octane rating than that for which the engine is designed often results in a reduction of power output and efficiency."

So are Strom engines sc and Gladioli versions) optimised for 95 RON?  There seem to be so many 'real-world' examples of mpg's being improved with higher octanes, at least anecdotally...For example,I was just last week reading about our mate TravellingStrom's latest adventures across Kazakstan where it seemed to make a difference what octane he was using. (I am also getting a feeling of deja vu about the subject, like I've read you giving a patient explanation of this somewhere before! )


Back on topic - another quite unusual practice amongst Strom owners, it seems, I like cleaning my bike.....there, I've said it too shedchief, very liberating!

[Fatbelly]

I think in third world countries like Khasak...Kazk....kahsa...you know, that place....and especially in India when you pay for higher octane what you actually get is cleaner fuel that is less likely to have been transported in ancient tankers and stored in rusty tanks then pumped with filters that haven't been changed since the pump was built in 1957. That makes a big difference.

[Juvecu]

I'd say my unusual biking pleasure is being able to smell things when I'm riding along. Even if they aren't always the most pleasant smells it's still fine. I like when I go past a farm and I can smell that it's a farm you're going by or when you pass someone on a 2 smoke engined bike/scooter and you can smell it

[Gassoon]

I'm with you there , juv! Although I don't particularly like riding in rain, I love the smells that are around when it rains out on the bike...

[MartinW]

The little bump when the wheels go over the draft excluder on the floor by the garage door .... That mean's I'm about to go for, or have just survived, a cracking trip out somewhere.

[Juvecu]

Ah, yes! The smell of "rain", nice and earthy. That's a good one, Gassoon

[Abercol]

Had a strong smell of cut grass on the run yersterday...swiftly followed by a 75mph left hander to see the rear of the grass cutting tractor covering the whole lane.

The Fireblade owner behind me said when he saw it he doubted he'd make it and he had no idea how I managed to go from right behind it to right around it in the blink of an eye.

[jimbo8098]

Cleaning it!

Black is a bad colour to keep clean. Can't imagine what white is like!

[StromGeeza]

Cleaning it!

Jimbo, clean mine any time mate. I like the result but not the process...

[bencav]

]I like cleaning my bike....

Really? Nobody would have guessed it!!  

For me, its using the bike on trips to see friends you don't see all that often. There is a guilty pleasure in hugging someone fondly when you are still wearing manky, wet, cold bike gear  

[hookie]

Riding on a cold early morning in France and smelling fresh bread from the bakeries and wood smoke from the woodburners in peoples houses as I go through the villages.