Atlantic Highway to Lizard Point

[UK-Rider]

Another short video from last week-- riding the Atlantic Highway to Lizard Point, two-day ride, 675 miles last Wednesday and Thursday. Includes Porlock Hill, sunny beaches, surfboards, lighthouse, coastal hikes, ribs, and beer.

Notes: I stayed at Lizard Point hostel, which is a National Trust building right next to the lighthouse. Pretty amazing-- I've never been at a lighthouse at night. I shared a room with a hiker doing the entire coastline.

The 10 minute walk to Lizard Point village for a huge slab of ribs at the Top House was the highlight of the day.

Traffic started getting bad at Porth/Newquay. I had planned to ride to Lands End and then back to Lizard Point, but that 40 miles would have taken over 2 hours with traffic, so I just cut it. Traffic was mercifully light toward Lizard Point, which may make it a better destination than St. Ives and other locations during the summer.

I also did green lanes at Salisbury Plain on the second day, and I'll post that final video later this week.

The route:

LizardPoint.jpg (79.54 KiB) Viewed 1649 times

[qcnr]

Thanks for the video.
Just a few questions ref. the bike. Is it a 1090R? How do you like it? What bike did you have before?
It's on my shortlist for a new bike this year.

[UK-Rider]

Thanks for the video.
Just a few questions ref. the bike. Is it a 1090R? How do you like it? What bike did you have before?
It's on my shortlist for a new bike this year.

Hi,

Past couple of bikes-- Honda Varadero 125, 10k miles in one year.
2013 BMW F700GS, 28k miles in three years.

The F700GS was so easy to ride that it was a little boring after six months, and it didn't feel right above 75 mph (vibrations) and it wasn't taken off road. It also had reliability and corrosion issues.

I test rode a lot of bikes before deciding. KTM 1050, African Twin, KTM 1290, BMW 1200 GS, KTM 1090 standard, 800GS Rally, BMW 1200 R, 1200 ST, etc.

I though the KTM 1090 standard would be the bike I would want, but I found its ride too rough in terms of suspension and road feedback, but I liked the 124 hp engine. I tried the 1090 R just as a joke thinking I wouldn't like the higher seat and off road suspension, but instead I found I liked it much better than the 1090 in terms of ride quality.

The 1200 GS bikes seemed too large to me, and too smooth and soft and protective with the large front fairings. Like the Missenden Flyer, I would likely never take a 1200 GS off road for fear of not being able to lift it or damaging a £18k bike. By comparison, the 1090 R was more challenging to ride, requiring more attention and rider input and having a rougher feel under hard acceleration, but also feeling much lighter and smaller (but also more top heavy at times). I liked that challenge, and also I knew it would take years to really take it off road well, but that would be something to work to over time instead mastering something in six months and getting bored.

A year and just under 12k miles later, I fell I made all the right choices, and there's not really another bike I would trade for at the moment. I think the 790 R Adventure would be easier off road, but since I do 500 mile days on motorways sometimes I might be concerned with having too much smaller of a bike for long road miles, and tyres will always be a compromise since I can't afford new rubber every 4k miles. I had TCK 70 tyres from the start (not the standard TKC 80s) because of this, and I got 9k miles out of the first rear tyre and the front tire is still okay at nearly 12k miles.

I hope this helps-- I would buy a 1090 R before the production is reduced. Big savings on low mileage ones at dealers are also a good idea. I also put on a used touratech saddle to bring down saddle height by 20 mm, and that was surprisingly beneficial for simple things like moving the bike backwards and similar, given my 32 inch inseam.

I have done green lanes on the bike-- hope to post a video of that tomorrow.

Jim

[qcnr]

Thanks very much for the feedback. Unfortunately here in Norway MC dealers are few and far between.
There is a local KTM dealer but at the moment is struggling to get anything other than what he has in the
showroom. No 1090 R, no 690R, no 790R and that is it for for MC dealerships fpr me that don't include a
days roundtrip or flying to Oslo. So I can't test ride a new bike.
Did manage to sit on one and didn't feel it was overly tall for me. And apart form a luggage rack and an engine
guard I feel that is the most finished bike in terms of needing extra farkles and gucci bits.
Safe journeys