Bulgaria and back on a WR250R to join the ABC/BBS crew
Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 8:26 pm
Late last year at a Wales ABC meet Mr Beddows and Dave (Nethan--BBS) mentioned that a week in Bulgaria offroading was being planned. Bikes would be crated and shipped and the base would be Matt's hotel near Samokov--see the Bulgaria braaaaap thread. I decided , as I had the time, to ride out and back on the little WR250R--simply a "smell the flowers " road trip. I set out on the 17th April from home north of Peterborough at a very early hour to catch the 11.00 ferry from Dover. A bit cold and grey, but dry. I never planned anything except a vague route off any payage and the first night was a campsite in Cambrai (I think!) --taken over by an advance party of TA helpers preparing for an onslaught of kids on a battlefield tour--and they looked after me as well!. That first night was COLD(see below). It then rained as I was packing up--not the best of starts.
First a little bit about the bike and kit--skip this if not interested--I will add the next stage soon:
2007 Yam WR250R
IMS 12 litre tank
Gearing slightly lower than stock ( I normally run a lot lower than stock for trail riding)
Mefo explorers, Seat Concepts seat from the US and resprung a revalved suspension, and my own bashplate (carbon) and screen extension.
Fresh oil, filter and chain.
Pannier frames for the US (brick built)
Ortlieb dry panniers, GL tank bag, ATV tank pannier bags from Moose and a Crane roll bag
3 man tent--Blacks ripstop 3 hoop at 2.9 kg, Downmat, down bag (British)
basic cooking and the usual wash stuff etc
Just 3 tops, 3 sets of underwear, Husaberg enduro jacket, freestyle MX trousers--both to cope with warm weather.
German army goretex top and salopettes, waterproof boot covers and goretex overmits.
Then a whole load of spares--tubes, tyre levers, electric pump, hand pump, spare reg/rect, spare fuel pump (been caught before), Li starter pack, multimeter, epoxy, wire, usual spanners etc, Sugru, Garmin Montana , two phones and chargers, LED mini floods, first aid kit, wheel bearings, oil, chain lube--and it goes on and and on!!--its a mental thing really--and the thought is that if usual things go wrong I can fix them in any garage as I have the parts.
The Yam is very good for a modern bike as you can check faults, cycle things like the fan, headlight, check the throttle position sensor, temp senders, atmospheric pressure sender and so on all from the dash--I carry a crib sheet and also a workshop manual CD!
I suppose to sum up its 3/4 camping and spares and 1/4 clothes--and after nearly 4 weeks on the road I think I got it right--but only needed to adjust the chain once--as I said in the main thread--Murphy's law applies.
The route will continue down through France and follow as far as possible the "Route Napoleon"
First a little bit about the bike and kit--skip this if not interested--I will add the next stage soon:
2007 Yam WR250R
IMS 12 litre tank
Gearing slightly lower than stock ( I normally run a lot lower than stock for trail riding)
Mefo explorers, Seat Concepts seat from the US and resprung a revalved suspension, and my own bashplate (carbon) and screen extension.
Fresh oil, filter and chain.
Pannier frames for the US (brick built)
Ortlieb dry panniers, GL tank bag, ATV tank pannier bags from Moose and a Crane roll bag
3 man tent--Blacks ripstop 3 hoop at 2.9 kg, Downmat, down bag (British)
basic cooking and the usual wash stuff etc
Just 3 tops, 3 sets of underwear, Husaberg enduro jacket, freestyle MX trousers--both to cope with warm weather.
German army goretex top and salopettes, waterproof boot covers and goretex overmits.
Then a whole load of spares--tubes, tyre levers, electric pump, hand pump, spare reg/rect, spare fuel pump (been caught before), Li starter pack, multimeter, epoxy, wire, usual spanners etc, Sugru, Garmin Montana , two phones and chargers, LED mini floods, first aid kit, wheel bearings, oil, chain lube--and it goes on and and on!!--its a mental thing really--and the thought is that if usual things go wrong I can fix them in any garage as I have the parts.
The Yam is very good for a modern bike as you can check faults, cycle things like the fan, headlight, check the throttle position sensor, temp senders, atmospheric pressure sender and so on all from the dash--I carry a crib sheet and also a workshop manual CD!
I suppose to sum up its 3/4 camping and spares and 1/4 clothes--and after nearly 4 weeks on the road I think I got it right--but only needed to adjust the chain once--as I said in the main thread--Murphy's law applies.
The route will continue down through France and follow as far as possible the "Route Napoleon"