Add a pizza box on the back, and I'm down with the teens around here! (other than the white beard)

roadster wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 4:04 am ... and to be fair we live on the southern most tip of England where it almost never snows or freezes. I hope I haven't jinxed that!

Despite living so far South I still get a few morning rides that are only a degree or two above zero, plus I've had the odd very rare occasion of wiping snow from my visor on the commute home. We are still living at 59 degrees North after all, hardly the tropics !

........Lets see what early 2024 has in store.

South east and east anglia can get very cold in the winter if we pick up the cold continental air mass from Europe or Siberia.

Went to Southport today (Boxing day). Seemed like it was the only day forcast to be reasonably dry for a while. I was expecting some bikes to be there,and there were about twenty. None of the Harley brigade though.I wear a Sam Brite reflective belt when i ride and some motorists seem to think iam a Police rider, they sometimes slow down when i get behind them and keep looking in thier mirror. Traditionally there is an unofficial bike meet here on first day of January its a round trip of 130km for me.' I am really impressed with my Cruisym300 i have it for five years now and just topped 60.450km. I cannot get used to the Forza 350 and it will have to go come spring.

Went to The Delph at Ecclleston today , a Boxing Day vintage bike meet, on the Burgman. There was a white Forza I noticed but don’t know whose amongst a lot of bikes considering the weather.

Last went out on the Forza, a couple of weeks back, mid Dec, it was an unusually bright, sunny, but mild day, ( 11 -13C ) which met my winter temps cut off for riding the bike. Set off at 11.30am and was back at 3.15pm before dark. Was out about 4 hrs, on a gentle 65 mile circular ride from Bolton, taking in Ribchester, Belmont, Rivington etc. Had sandwiches on a bench overlooking the river Ribble at Ribchester, where a chap was standing in the river, fly fishing, and also someone fishing from the bank. It is a sunny spot, and I could feel a bit warmth from the sun. Had a pleasant chat with an older rider from Southport on a Triumph 1200 Speed twin. A lovely view, of the river Ribble and Pendle Hill, and one of my regular stop off points. I also stopped for coffee and cake at Rivington bottom barn, where there were a few bikes ( a regular stop off place for motorcyclists ), before heading home. Although mid Winter, it felt a bit Spring like. It was great to get out on the scooter. I really enjoyed it, and felt uplifted

I also live in Bolton, my trip to Southport is through Horwich to Chorley. Coming back from Chorley i use Belmont to come home. Coming back from Glasson Dock I pass through Longridge and Ribchester to come back through Blackburn and Haslington, over Holcombe hill and Tottington to home at Breightmet.

Managed to get out for a couple of hours this afternoon mostly on narrow twisty country lanes, which I usually like but at this time of the year with the gales we've had there is a awful lot of debris about. Also lot's of wet mushy leaves in the middle and sides of the road, had to ride through a flooded section which fortunately wasn't too deep. I got held up for a while by a porsche for a while, which was being driven quite sedately, which is more than could be said three ferraris, one in Sheffield Wednesday colours, one porsche and a BMW that were coming in the opposite direction. I made my way home on main roads and even they had a lot of running water crossing them. As soon as I got home I washed the scoot down with a hose to get the worst of the muck off, as I pushed it in the garage the rain started to fall it had been threatening for a while. It was a very enjoyable run though in an area I don't usually go to, but I will go again in better conditions.

I'm still riding my electric NIU scooter/moped but as most of my journeys on it are less than 15 minutes in duration, I'm not suffering serious effects of inclement weather. Only once, last Wednesday, I drove to my evening appointment rather than ride since it was a very dark night with heavy rain and strong wind.
Having said that, however, I dug out the expensive crab-claw gloves when I got home this morning; the wind-chill was something else with the air temperature around 6℃. It was quite windy, too.
We've had strong winds of late as have most regions. I'm very careful when riding HAL and have had a fair amount of buffeting but I think my bulk on a little scooter makes for a firm planting on the road.
Incidentally, the mileage trip stands at 3980; I'm very pleased I bought it.

The weather is wacky - I've been down in Essex for Xmas, and its warm and dry down there! Bit breezy mind you, by Essex standards! Just back in the NE and its freezing!!! Haven't been out on a scoot for nearly 2 weeks!