GSX1400FE.com :: Ride outs on my GSX1400 Final Edition K6

Ride outs on my GSX1400FE

This Page is just a few places I've been on my GSX1400FE over the last few years. I don't ride as a group, just me and the wife riding pillion but sometimes we do go to biker hangouts, unfortunately most of the time I forget to take the camera out with me, or remember to take any photo's, but here's a few places I did remember or notable places!

2010
Northern France 10th - 14 April 2010
For my Northern France trip visit the >> Northern France '10 << page

GSX1400 Owners Club - April fools meet, National motorcycle museum, 4th April 2010
The 4th Annual GSX1400 owners club meet held for the 2nd year running at the Nation Motorcycle museum, Birmingham. Not as many turned out this year as they did last year, quite a few less in fact, due to the weather, although to be honest not a bad day, but rather cool with a few showers. Good to put faces to names, and good to see some familiar faces again, looking forward to next years meet!
Please note that I have nothing to do with the running of the GSX1400 owners club.

Cat & Fiddle, Peak District, Nr Macclesfield, Cheshire, 7th March 2010
The Cat n Fiddle the second highest public house in England on the A357, this road attracts bikers and car drivers alike for it's twisting winding road, I've ridden this road numerous times and never get board of it, although it is a road that deserves a lot of respect, if you don't it will bite you and then it's game over! So one gloriously sunny morning in March, not a cloud in sight but bloody cold with temperature's varying from 2c to 4c, when I got the bike out first thing in the morning it was -2c. I couldn't believe that up at the cat n fiddle the was still snow on top of the hills. pics to follow as soon as I get chance to upload them

Ford AVO owners club national day, Stanford Hall, Leics. 21st June 2009
Fathers day, Sunday 21st June 2009, I'll probably get beasted for this one, but a former passion of mine before I gave it all up to concentrate on my bikes was old Fords, namely Escorts / RS from the late 1960's & 1970's, I've been out of the classic seen for several years now but a work mate was taking his Mk2 Escort to show it in the club stand. Although it was a car show I did go on the bike and I also thought it would make an excellent photo opportunity for the GSX1400 being a retro 70's styled bike to actually be part of something 1970's, as luck would have it I managed to park the bike right along side a trio of ex-works (Factory Ford Rally Prepared RS1800's) mk2 RS1800 Escorts.

Ok Diner, A1 northbound, Tickencote, Nr Stamford 24th May 2009

One of this years best Bank holiday weekend Sunday 24th May, up early to see some guys at work off on a cycle ride to Skegness, it was a glorious day not a cloud in sight. Originally I was thinking of meeting up again in Skegness, but on my way to Skegness on the 1400 I caught up with them at Newark around 9am, Getting hungry and needed somewhere to eat, so after seeing them all in Newark I decided to take a detour and head down the A1 from Newark, and wanted to find the Ok Diner restaurant, an old 1950's American "tin" diner, I'd been meaning to try this Diner for a while and never got around to it. Not too bad so long as you don't mind being robbed when you get the bill, not the best prices for food in the world but you do get unlimited coffee refills.
Great Yarmouth to Matlock, Derbyshire 24th-25th May 2009 (continued)

Continuing on with our travels from the ok diner the same Bank holiday weekend Sunday 24th May, At the ok Diner we decided to head for Great Yarmouth instead of heading back to Skegness to see the guys from work, My wife Wendy had been wanting to see the place for years, shortly after setting off I pulled over to use my Ventolin inhaler (I'm asthmatic) and realised I'd left it in my other bike jacket at home. After pondering for 10minutes or so on whether turn back home or not, I eventually thought I would carry on to Yarmouth as we don't get many days with as nice a weather as this so I struggled on short of breath but nothing to worry about. We got to Yarmouth and found a chemist in a supermarket and got a emergency prescription, I had quite enjoyed the ride today, just the right temperature 22c and not a cloud in sight, biker heaven. we had planned on just a day trip but with the weather being so nice we found a hotel on the seafront with a sea view and stayed overnight. Monday 25th, we departed Great Yarmouth quite early at around 7:30am travelled for around an hour and called at MacDonald's for some breakfast, weather was quite good until we started to get near Lincolnshire, it clouded over and the temperature dropped. we called at a Truck Stop called Cheerio cafe a few miles from Sleaford bypass at around 10:30am for a coffee and a bacon butty for a warm up as we had become quite cold. Continuing on we headed for Matlock, Derbyshire, and it started to get warmer, we arrived in Matlock around lunchtime, Matlock is a great biker hang out, close to where I live and also is a great suntrap when the sun is out and usually quite sheltered from any winds. although later in the afternoon it did suddenly cloud over, and no sooner had we arrived home it started to rain just seconds after pulling up at home.

Hunstanton 19th April 2009

A biker hang out I didn't know about, I went here purely for the ride out to a quieter east coast destination and surprised to see the promenade full of bikes, its a nice ride to Hunstanton with good roads through Notts & Lincs providing you don't get caught up in traffic and speed cameras/traps.

Ponderossa Cafe, Horseshoe Pass, North Wales. 13th April 2009
Another biker hang out that I've been meaning to to go to for quite a while and never got around to, it had forecast a good warm sunny day, by the time we got to Wales it was bloody cold, then by the time we got to Ponderossa cafe on the Horseshoe pass up on the mountain then it felt like mid winter, although what do you expect for mid April!! The cafe was packed solid, it surprised me really as all the reports I've heard about the place people complaining about how bad the food was!! The horseshoe pass itself wasn't a bad ride at all really apart from the Police pulling in and spot checking bikes for no apparent reason.

GSX1400.org April Fools Meet @ National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham. 5th April 2009
2009 bike season kicked off to a great start with this years GSX1400 owners club meeting with a massive turnout. I don't know the actual number of 1400's that turned up, but I "guestimated" it at easily over 100. The previous 2 years it had been held a the Vic, Coalville, this year a change of venue to the national motorcycle museum in Birmingham. I was amazed at the amount that turned up on the day.

2008
GSX1400.org March Midlands meet @ The Vic, Coalville, Leicester - 30th March 2008
Got to be the Largest gatherings of GSX1400's in one place to date. On Sunday 30th March 2008 the GSX1400.org owners club had organised a meet for the start of the new bike season due to the success of last years April Fools Day meet. This meet was bigger and better with owners travelling from from around the country with over 60 GSX1400's attending plus friends on other bikes, an excellent turnout! On the way down I had arranged to meet a friend of mine on his new Fireblade at Trowel Services, I pulled into the services and Martin was there on his Blade with some other 1400 owners so we tagged along with the 1400 owners the rest of the way to the Vic. Afterwards Martin on the Blade and myself along with another 1400 owner Rob decided we would all ride to Matlock, Derbyshire.

Bridlington & Skegness - 24th 25th August 2007
My first good ride out since returning from Spain, with the British weather being worst summer on record we haven't had chance to get out on the bike. on the way home I decided to have a steady ride back both days and set the sat nav to keeping off the motorways as every man and his dog would stuck on motorways for the bank holiday break, I got the idea of doing this from Robbie Coltrane's TV show " 'B' road Britain", Boy did it bring back some childhood memories travelling holiday and not on the motorways back in the 70's in the back of my dad's Ford Anglia van. The reality of it is that a lot of the little towns and villages are run down and some parts derelict because know one knows about the little places anymore because of motorways and Dual carriageways bypassing them.

Spain, Andorra & France - 21 June- 7 July 2007
My biggest trip ever of 2231.7miles! I have given this trip 3 pages of its own due to the amount of info and pics, Click Here to look.

Calais, France - 27th-29th May 2007
I always enjoy going to Calais, (France) on the bike, I buy a cheap channel tunnel ticket a couple of days beforehand, at off peak periods it can be as little as �11 each way. Getting to Calais is a 220 mile trip from were I live in Derbyshire, I had been quite a few times before on the Bandit I owned in 2004 and on my old K2 1400 in 2005 and 2006 as well as numerous times in the car over the years with the kids, so It's now like my second home, I go mainly for one stretch of road going from Calais to Boulogne called the D940, an excellent Road with stunning coastal views, we stop at one of our usual hotel in Coquelles on the outskirts of Calais, a few minutes from the channel tunnel terminal. May was a poor month, it rained, rained and rained even more! this trip was no exception, the first day hammered it down with rain, sunday morning was nice and sunny but towards dinner thick black clouds appeared. we sat on the coast in the sun and watching a thunder storm in the English channel. The afternoon rained until evening, Monday morning was time for us to come home, weather was glorious and red hot. we boarded the channel tunnel and when we arrived in England it was raining and cold, we could not believe the difference, it rained on and off all the way home. This was our last trip on the bike due to the weather until our trip to Spain.

My GSX1400 FE outside the Etap Hotel Coquelles Calais France

My GSX1400 on the coast on the D940 just below Coquelles, France

White Cliffs of Dover (Kent)- 15th April 2007
With April 2007 being the hottest on record for virtually the whole month, it was a shame to miss out on July temperatures so early in the year, I made the most of it. Dover for me is a 460 mile round trip, my longest trip in a day. I did it with my wife riding pillion (as always) we got up early one Sunday morning around 5:30 am, (lesson 1- Don't get up early like this with the intension of doing a long days ride) Initially I was going to do a day trip to Calais, unfortunately I left booking til the hour we were due setting off on the bike and the prices were sky high �50 each way, had I booked the night before it would have been �22 return. So a trip to Dover it was to be. I did this day trip as well last year but I did it this year to get a few miles on the clock on my new FE. Its all motorway for me so not a bad run. Both times I've been there has been a fair amount of sea fog so made visibility not good at all looking out to sea and the Ferry docks/harbour. On our way down we saw a old 1978 XS400 from Germany and the guy loaded up a full size suit case on the rear seat.

Wales - 7th 8th April 2007
I regularly go to south Wales to visit relatives not too far from Cardiff close to the heads of the valleys, I've never gone through mid and north Wales, so in April I decided to have a weekend in Wales starting in the south and heading through the Brecon beacons on the A470, A good road, with plenty of views running north to south of Wales. After the Brecon's we went up to the stunning Snowdonia national park and to the Coast of Barmouth then carrying on through Snowdonia. heading over to Wrexham and back home.

April Fools Day meet @ The Vic, Coalville, Leicester - 1st April 2007
One of the Largest gatherings of GSX1400's in one place. On Sunday 1st April 2007 the GSX1400.org owners club had organised a meet for the start of the new bike season, it was hit and miss as to what the weather was going to be like but as luck had it, it didn't turn out too bad, a bit a breeze, quite blustery at times but it didn't put the .org members off, throughout the day someone had counted 28 14's if I remember right! Here's a couple of pictures I took. The Meet took place at The Vic Bikers Pub in Coalville, junction 22 off the M1.

Matlock Bath, Derbyshire 1st April 2007
Called at Matlock after Coalville meet. Matlock, One of original biker hang outs, Every week on Sunday's Matlock Bath turns in a town full of bikers, it has been a long standing tradition for bikers visiting Matlock on Sunday's since the year dot. A picturesque spa town in the peak district on the banks of the river Derwent. Living in Derbyshire myself it is fairly local to me, although it does attract bikers from all over the country, the Home of the annual Rock & Blues Custom Show, Pentrich is also just minutes away. The photo's were taken on 1st April 2007 this is early on in the biker season and as you can see it is busy.