Touring Scotland on a Tmax 530

[MrGrumpy]

Moffat road is my favourite, the road in 2008 where i wiped the derision off the faces of my big bike/sport biker mates by well and truly trouncing the lot of them, after them saying we will wait for you at the other end, can we keep our sarnies in ya moped etc etc, i was sitting 10 mins with me lid off before the first one turned up, the look on their faces i will never forget, just outhandled and outclassed them and that was on a bog standard Tmax before i modded the crap out of it.

Last time I was there, I was going down from the Lakes to Moffat on the Tmax and got entangled with a group of bikers, who were going OK, but not as fast as I wanted. Then they got entangled with a bunch of wallies on cruisers with no rear suspension who were barely managing 30 on the iffy road. So it ended up with me getting slightly forceful and getting round the lot of them! Fun but not much time to admire the scenery....

[Cloudswiper]

Agree that the B7076 is a belter!

The guy who runs the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat is super helpful. He gave us maps of his recommended rides and even put the routes into our GPSs.

We heard dire warning of the whole of Scotland and especially the NC500 route being overun by staycationers. Not so! No more crowded than any other time I have been up there. Found it easy to book hotel & B&B accomodation at reasonable price (I'm not too fussy). We stayed in Moffat, Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh (just this side of the Skye bridge) and Broadford on Skye then Stirling and a night in preston before ride home to West Sussex. I can recommend the long single track ride out to the end of the Ardnamurchan peninsula (the most westerly point of the UK mainland) and a similar single-track trip to the little coastal village of Elgol on Skye. Lovely seeing the maginifcent Kelpies at Falkirk on the return leg.

[blackmoon181]

Yeah big horsepower doesn't help you on those twisty scottish mountain roads. I did the NC500 route camping a few years back on my commuter SH300 with a number of work colleagues. Was a real eclectic mix of bikes, a blackbird, R6 , yamaha naked, a magna and a ER-6F. Despite the usual scooter comments i led the group for almost the whole of the trip. I think after going over the Lecht pulling away from the blackbird, the guys understood that I could ride. she ran out of steam on the straights but as you know these types of roads lend themselves well to small light bikes. Was using a little oil as i was hammering the hell out of her but she coped great. Just wish the suspension was a little softer!! Something about a CVT transmission and having the rear brake on the handlebars really helps!

Certainly when i was younger i was in the "i've got something to prove mindset" when riding scooters with other bikers. Now i just ride slower on my "boring" NC750X which ironically is much faster than the SH300 and enjoy the ride and company!

[MrGrumpy]

I did the NC500 route camping a few years back on my commuter SH300 with a number of work colleagues.

My mind is boggled....I wouldn't have contemplated for a nanosecond any sort of long distance touring on my SH300! My 8 mile commute was quite far enough to travel before the discomfort started to set in! I'm only average size but I found the SH very cramped. There again, the previous owner of my Bev 350 had toured Spain on it, but for me the shoulder pain after 20 mins was excrutiating.

[Deleted User 18446]

There's a series of YouTube guy from Ireland rides to Gibraltar thro France and Spain on a sh300 .Even dodges security rides up the Rock lol .

[blackmoon181]

I did the NC500 route camping a few years back on my commuter SH300 with a number of work colleagues.

My mind is boggled....I wouldn't have contemplated for a nanosecond any sort of long distance touring on my SH300! My 8 mile commute was quite far enough to travel before the discomfort started to set in! I'm only average size but I found the SH very cramped. There again, the previous owner of my Bev 350 had toured Spain on it, but for me the shoulder pain after 20 mins was excrutiating.

I'm not going to disagree! Funny thing is i had a Bev 350 before and toured scandinavia 2-up on it! One of the ways i look at it, is if you don't know any better you don't know what you are missing. As someone who never has but would much prefer flying business even first class across the atlantic you get the idea... Now if i ever had both a silverwing and SH300 and actively chose to take the SH300 on the tour. now thats madness

like most vespas you can scoot onto the rear seat whilst riding to stretch your legs.