InvictaMoto's Döra the Explörer

I currently use an Oxford magnetic tank bag. It's a small enough for those days when you just need somewhere for your spare specs and wallet but it also expands. But it is the magnets that are my concern. No matter how much you wipe the base of the bag, the magnets will start to scratch the paint.  So before the Spain trip last summer, I started to look at the Givi tank-lock system. In the end I shelved that as I had only recently bought the new top box and and inner bag! So with Spring approaching (sometime any way!) I decided to have another look. Prices don't seem to have changed much, and when Googling, the overseas shops seem to have prices about 20% cheaper than here. With postage taken into account they are still cheaper. So, I ordered the Givi 3D604 bag from Motocard . Delivery takes about a week and that's okay as I don't intend to use it for a while.

The weather has been pretty cold on occasions and so with other commitments poor Döra hasn't been out of the garage for over a month. So it was with some trepidation that I togged up and rolled her out onto the drive.  Alarm off, then press the button. Boom. First time start. Where to go?  I was going to give her a ride around the Marsh to give her a run. It was 4.5°C when I set off along Burmarsh Road towards the west right to the end then round to Newchurch then Ivychurch and then Old Romney.  The roads were generally traffic free which is a good thing as often they are less than two cars wide. The most fraught thing is meeting cyclists, either direction, who seem to have no sense of which side of the road to actually ride.  In the UK it's "keep left". From Old Romney I joined a few other bikes on the A259, most turned off towards Lydd and Camber. I carried onto New Romney and back home along the A259. Not far, but by the time I got home it was...

And so it soon became the 13th December and Dora went to Laguna to have the latest "service bulletin" to be sorted. The side stand bolt. The weather was around 2°C when I set off so I decided to stick to the main roads and the motorway rather than the back roads across the top of the Marsh.   Once booked in a went across the road for a bacon sandwich and a coffee.  The job was done so quickly that I had barely got sat down when my phone chirruped with an SMS to say it was done!   I wasn't in any hurry. The pub was cold as well, but not a patch on the outside world. Dora was parked outside and I took a photo quickly and then togged up and rode home. Heated grips on full power.

In the end, me and Döra didn't make it to Ostend. The weather turned very cold and icy and a 6am start didn't make any sense. So, Döra stayed tucked up in the garage and I had to re-book my crossing for another time.

I heard on the grapevine that there was another "service bulletin" to dealers for the Explorer. This one concerns the side stand bolt failing and the bike tumbling into the weeds. I  contacted  my  dealer ,  Laguna  in Ashford, and they  confirmed  that D öra is in the VIN range and needs to be booked in ASAP. As I am in Ostend this weekend for the St Nicks Rally it has to be the week after. So I have booked her in for 0930 on the 13th. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong this weekend. Although saying that, I do tend to use the main stand wherever possible. It is so much easier using the luggage if the bike is upright.

Döra is booked in to Laguna on October 31st for the 10000 mile service. I'm quite a bit short on miles at the moment, but with a ride out coming up in a few weeks I might get to 8000!!!

After a pretty heavy butt cheek battering in Spain, and especially on the last two days either side of the ferry, I decided to try a new sheepskin approach.  One of the guys we chatted with on the quay at Santander and on the ferry, and his wife, two-up on a KLX1000 Kawasaki, said they had bought sheepskins off eBay from a company in Yorkshire. They looked a lot shaggier than the Alaska Leather ones that I bought for Claire and me way back in 2004. So I bought one. The jury is out.  It is a rectangle, with an anti-slip underside and a thick elastic to pass under the seat.  I think my arse cheeks need to recover before I can feel any benefit. The suppliers are www.sheepskinseats.net  and are available via eBay as well as direct.