Everything about motorcycle riding in Japan

Few people know how beautiful Japan is. The vision people have is neon illuminated cities and bullet trains which is one aspect but beyond that lies one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my travels around the world. Tourist figures are growing but most come to ski or visit the major tourist cities and never get to see what is at times for me truly jaw dropping scenery. Riding a

Japan Inland Sea Tour

I just completed a motorcycle ride visiting some of the best view points around what is referred to as the Seto Inland sea of Japan. I then went island hopping across these waters to visit some of the islands in the middle where few people travel. If you have a little time then perhaps you might enjoy to see some photos from the tour. I had this ride planned for April, in Spring. But I have

Europe alps remastered

Six years since I did the ride in the Europe alps. I just revisited the post and saw how crappy the photos had been all limited to low resolution. Fortunately I still have all the photos from that ride archived and so just updated them to high resolution versions as well as adding quite a few more never posted originally. Added a little extra text too so now it actually looks how it should have -

Yamaha MT-09 Tracer review

I had the pleasure of being able to ride a near new 2015 Yamaha MT-09 Tracer around New Zealand for 9 days so it seems fitting I put a few words to paper metaphorically.   Ergonomics seemed to work well for me (I am 6’ tall) Seat to peg distance was excellent, I never experienced any cramps in my knees such as I can get with bikes that have higher or rearward pegs. The bars sit a little

New Zealand North Island Motorcycle Tour

It was so nice to revisit one of the best places to ride a motorcycle, New Zealand. Last year I had been thinking I should try return to New Zealand and ride the lower north and upper south islands. I then forgot all about it while yet again thinking what to do about my plan to ride in Europe with the Versys 650 I have in Ireland. The Aussie dollar remains so weak and everything is already so

Sport touring tyre comparison

A brief and unscientific comparison of four popular sport touring tires fitted to a Yamaha FJR1300. I have tried four different sport touring type tyres on my Yamaha FJR1300. Metzeler Z8 which (somewhat oddly) came on the bike when new. Bridgestone BT023, the non GT variation of what is usually fitted to this bike new. Pirelli Angel GT which was suggested by others and Michelin Pilot Road 4 GT.

Deux roues déplacent l'âme

I wonder why I am so drawn to travel by two wheels. I am pondering this as pack my motorcycle touring kit into my suitcase leaving about two shoeboxes of space for actual clothes and regular items. Yes it is the freedom of the open road but also something more. Not easy to summarize or describe. I could rent a car for 1/4 of the cost of renting a motorcycle and do much more travel but I don’t. I