When on a tour you decide to visit some gorgeous historical place or just want a rest in a good restaurant you always end-up with your helmet on the arm! Which is never that comfy! Not even mentioning the glances you get from people ready to scream because they think you are going to rob the bank (see the “Are bikers that scary” note).

Most bikes come with a sort of solution to hang one helmet to a metallic loop hidden somewhere under the saddle. But that element is only made for one helmet. Where does the second go? Most of the time, and we have seen it many, many times, on the ground, locked with the U lock or chain. Which seems a good idea…if you except dogs walking around and always curious to drop…a drop in a new place! This really happens!

A nice little trick is to get a bicycle cable lock and attach it the motorcycle frame or rear handles or any static piece! Those locks are long enough to get at least to helmets (you aren’t supposed to be more than two on a bike, aren’t you?) and can stay in place all the time.

It is cheap and efficient!

I could have called this note "do designers ever test what they design!"

Here is a little trick I have applied to my R1200RT (works the same on the K1200LT).
It could happen that you hit the outside of a mirror during your ride or while moving the bike around.
A very smart guy at BMW came out with a fantastic idea!
- "Why don't we find a solution to avoid the mirror exploding or getting broken when it gets hit?",
- "Wow! replies the project team, lets do it!"
Here is the solution: the mirror clicks out of the casing to avoid damage when hit!...only issue is that....they aren't attached to anything!
Which means your miror doesn't get broken because you hit it BUT because that smart system let it crash to the floor (don't even look at the spare part price)!

The solution: use a plastic collar to link the mirror to the casing! It will still get out of the way but will no more crash!
The collar must cost ....approx....0.10 Euros which is of course a HUGE over cost on a more than 16.000 Euros bike!

C’était à Ibiza, l’été 1991 (ça ne nous rajeunit pas tout ça !). Deux jeunes étudiantes en délire parties pour faire une fête de tous les diables. Un soir, on décide de partir faire un tour dans le centre ville, histoire d’avoir autre chose à raconter à notre retour que les boîtes de nuit.

On prend donc un taxi et nous voici à déambuler dans les ruelles. Beaucoup de monde : des femmes toutes plus élégantes et sexy les unes que les autres, des jeunes hommes beaux à croquer (!), des travestis bien voyants qui distribuent des tracts pour le club le plus branché de l’île… l’endroit est pittoresque et original !

Et si on rentrait à présent ? Mais comme pour tout étudiant qui se respecte, le porte monnaie est bien léger et le taxi reste cher. Nous allons faire de l’auto-stop !

Presque une heure pour arriver à la sélection finale : celui-là a une sale tête, je n’ai pas confiance. Et là, ils sont trop nombreux ! Et celui-là ? Il a l’air sympa, mais on le voit arriver avec ses gros sabots : il s’imagine déjà qu’il va conclure !

Finalement le choix se porte sur deux jeunes hommes : un (très séduisant du reste) conduit une Renault 4 qui a quelques heures de vol, et l’autre pilote une moto de petite cylindrée ; en plus, il a un casque, ce qui laisse entrevoir qu’il est sérieux…mon amie opte pour le garçon charmant et moi je mets le casque que me tend son copain. Quel gentleman ! Il me file son casque alors qu’il pourrait se rompre le cou si nous faisions une chute. La galanterie est si rare de nos jours…

Oui, mais le temps se gâte après quelques kilomètres, quand le charmant garçon se sent obligé de profiter du short court que je porte et se met à me caresser la cuisse. Mais il ne va pas bien ??!!! Super gênant comme situation. Et je ne peux rien faire ! La moto file assez vite, je ne peux donc pas sauter en route. De plus, on est au milieu de l’île, et je ne vois pas comment je pourrai rentrer à l’appart… sans parler de mon amie qui ne saurait où je suis (pas de portable).

Bon, restons calme ! Si je lui explique gentiment, il va certainement comprendre… et se calmer. Tu parles ! Maintenant il se la joue « mâle en période des amours » ! Et je te lance des fleurs, et tu es très belle, et nous pourrions nous revoir. S’ensuit le baise-main… tant que cela reste gentillet de la sorte, tout va bien. Mais là où ça se complique c’est quand il décide de sucer un de mes doigts. Beurk ! Mais il est dégoûtant ce type !!!

Heureusement que j’ai pu me débarrasser de l’énergumène assez facilement arrivée à destination. Et dire que mon amie, elle, a passé un excellent moment en compagnie de l’hidalgo craquant. C’était bien ma veine ! La prochaine fois, pas de moto-stop !

As promised here is a note about riding in a group. This is based on our experience and does of course not represent the ultimate solution as each group will have to adapt to the set of bikers it is made of.

A group starts with two, sounds pretty logical and can go up to…many more (see the more than 1.000 bikers attending the group ride at the BMW biker meeting or the HOG rides! The rules apply as well for groups of friends on a Sunday ride as to groups managed by professionals like Unicorn Adventures Ltd.

The first thing to keep in mind is …testosterone! And that need to always be the one ahead of the others! If you need to race there are many tracks all over Europe where this can be done, but it is best to avoid it on open roads as we share them with car, camping cars, trucks etc…not even mentioning those driven by a person on the mobile phone ;) .

One of the things making group riding such a pleasure is the diversity of people, bikes and experiences you can find in the group! But that positive point is also the most challenging one to manage! As you will need to find the rhythm which will work for all. The main idea is to get in front of the group ONE (not more…remember the testosterone issue) experienced biker, well aware of the itinerary, then comes the set of less experienced riders and less powerful bikes up to the most experienced/powerful. To close the group the rear guard is made of one very experienced biker.
Make sure all members know the itinerary and define regular stop points or places you will wait for the group in case of red lights or bio-brakes (it should be possible for anyone to get a break without thinking they will get lost as the head of the group, riding with the speed of light will never stop….real experience here ;) .

If the group is big split it in sub groups of 5 to 7 bikes, make sure meeting points have been set properly in order to get the group together from time to time.

The group members should ride in a quincunx figure (one on the right, one on the left etc…). This allows to ride in the most safest way as breaking distances are kept and visibility is maximum. Just make sure the group gets in one line when ever necessary (like a car overtaking! Yes it may happen ;) . Never race after a rider way faster than you! But learn from one a “bit faster”!

When overtaking is necessary always leave space between you and the bike in front of you! As that one may have calculated the available space between two cars for her/his bike but not for yours (real life experience again!).

Don’t hesitate to use your mirrors in a group to make sure the guy behind you follows and does it with pleasure (watch the amount of flies on the teeth)! If it looks like s/he is trying to keep up and will end up on the ground be nice, slow down!

Last but not least! At the end of the group ride get all together for a nice drink…but not before!

Another good place to find info on group riding can be found on motorcyclebloggers.com.

Diving into our archives we discovered a good manual : Brilliant riding – The Manual, The definitive guide to a fast and beautiful ride. Edited by “Bike” magazine in July 2002.
This little (A5 format) manual has all one needs to know about riding properly:

• Breaking hard: with all the “excellent” car drivers on the road this is a must!
• Reading the road: the best book ever! But not the one you can read in bed!
• Steering: sort of an important topic! How does it work? Do you remember the gyroscopic effect? At what speed does it start?
• Changing gear: try to do that nicely with a passenger and without getting the usual “tonk!” of her/his helmet hitting yours!
• Using the throttle: it is not just about “on”, “off”! But about efficiency.
• Overtaking: ahaaa an important topic for us as we cannot stand to be slowed down by anything slower than a jet fighter! Lets us the testosterone in the smart way!
• Relax: isn’t motorcycling all about that? The guy who once on a TV show came out with “riding a motorcycle is the lazy man’s Zen” was right!
• Clutch Control: pretty close to the gear changing topic, but also useful when the road gets tricky.
• Sitting comfortably: not all bikes are super duper comfy GTs! And even then you better get a good position to enjoy your ride.
• Riding at night: that time of the day where your lights go to the side of the road right when it turns sharply the other way!
• Scraping the pegs: not every ones cup of tea, but gives a feeling of success when achieved (not talking about Harley’s or their Japanese –and soon to come Chinese- imitations with which just looking at the bike scraps the pegs, no talking about bikes made for max angulations).
• Group riding: our favourite chapter! Don’t miss our soon to come article on that topic!
• Engine breaking: this is of course linked to the type of engine you have ;)
• Vanishing point: will you ever get there?
• U Turns: necessary when you get lost
• Fast roundabouts: when there is no truck fuel on the road (be careful they always dump it on the outside of the lane) this is nice.
• Riding pillion: what a passenger should know before getting on a motorcycle.
• Town riding: avoid being hurt in the jungle!
• Riding in the wet: this should not be necessary on our tours but you never know.
• Crash avoidance: the manual puts it clearly “fight or flight”!
• Tyre pressures: never to be forgotten, that small surface of rubber is all we have between us and the road!
• Getting noticed: even though bikers have a strange image we still need to make sure car drivers see us.
• Taking a pillion: once your passenger knows everything just make sure you keep her/him happy.
• Wheelies: the title says it all!

Each chapter gets the important points to know on one page and a nice illustrative picture on the other one.

As you can see from the list some items are more important than others, depending on your style and objectives.
For example: the group riding section is an important one when you join a guided tour, and we will have an article on that topic soon on blog!

Not that easy to be a passenger…

How do you get on? Do you grab your man’s biceps and get your legs around his tool ? Or do you tightly hold his waist while you get the tip of your foot on the right spot to end up astride on his big engine?

I guess it all depends of your size! If you are 1,62m and weight 50kg, I would say it is easy to get on the beast without having anything move ! An easy climb ! Pfff.

Now if you are bit like me 1m81, 68kg, 90, 50, 90… ooops sory ! getting carried away !!! If to that you add a high motorcycle with all the possible luggage and cases it is another story!

I remember that day we left on a vacation to Corsica. The objective was: a week of motorcycling and camping. Imagine the scene: a R1200RT, two side cases, one top case, one pilot (good looking one: lets be nice it is the start of the year) and one passenger (my very own self) 5 months in pregnancy! All that doesn’t leave a lot of space for manoeuvring!

At the precise moment I had to get on the bike I got faced with the fundamental question: how the hell am I getting on there without looking ridiculous or ending on the ground? Tightly squeezed in my leather pants, that I could anyway no more close, I try a first “leg throw” between the pilot and the top case! No success! Chris try again , you can make it !

Plan B. I grab tightly my man, see what I mean? Foot on the peg, body lift, nice vertical balance to avoid that ugly side move the bike is starting, second leg over the seat and landing on the seat! As much back as possible to avoid any discomfort to the pilot! Again no success: he starts complaining because the bike + us + the luggage reaches more than 450 Kg and if I go on getting on the bike like that we would all end up on the ground faster than I could imagine and blablabla…! This is going to be a funny vacation!

A few hours later after a (too short) stop here comes again the time I have to get on the bike! Damn! Ok this time I will forget the peg and will throw one leg over the seat without touching anything! Ooops! Just scratched the top of the side case (no worries, he didn’t notice)! I am ending jumping on the foot still on the ground to get the whole body in perfect line with the bike. Hahaha! The style isn’t that great and I wouldn’t get a 10 at the Olympics but I am sure my man won’t say a word this time! Yeah sure! “If you hold my arm like that you hurt me! And the bike + us + the luggage reaches more than 450 Kg and if I go on getting on the bike like that we would all end up on the ground faster than I could imagine and blablabla…!

Are they all like that? Any one has a solution?

Not that easy to be a passenger…

A short note to remind you that you can find a lot of information about motorcycle tour in southern Europe (Corsica, Italy, Andorra, Provence, French Riviera, Alps, Camargue, Mediterranean Coast) under the various sections of our blog:

Motorcycle tours passion in southern Europe
Your best rides and travel adventures

As well as information about Unicorn Adventures, the company:

• Unicorn Adventures the company
• Unicorn Adventures news

Nothing to do with big bikes! Just a note about some nice or funny bikes.

We are glad to see that other people like the Unicorn (see a note to come soon about whe we decided to use that logo for our company)! Especialy main players in the motorcycle industry like Honda!

For the Idian market they developped that cute little one called the Unicorn! Not the kind of motorcycle we will offer on the tours as it may be a bit challenging to go touring with it.

Regarding indian motorcycle production the one that makes the most sense from a historical and style background would definitely be the Royal Enfield Bullet.

Well I am not going to play the Women’s Lib activist, but enough’s enough!

I am fed up seeing all those babes exposed on any bike or car image. It is the same in the car/bike shows where one can either see nice Barbie Dolls (but any one can understand that looking intelligent while presenting a piece of heavy metal is a challenge) or breast enhanced babes whose attitude is not the most refined. What about the calendars (not the Pirelli one of course) at the repair shop mainly exhibiting the latest Hustler babe of the month while you try to pay for the gas! And last but not least the trucker’s cabin! The top of fine art!

Same thing in the car/bike magazines, web sites: you will always find a girl very lightly dressed (can that still be called “being dressed”?) with a “take me!” face expecting the most reasonable pilot to burn out on the spot!

Where on earth does this stupid tradition come from? Yes tell me: why does the male biker/car driver need a semi or fully naked babe to enjoy the beauty of a bike?

Pas facile d’être passagère…

Vous montez de quelle façon, vous ? Vous agrippez le biceps de votre partenaire et enlacez son engin de votre jambe ? Ou encore, vous maintenez fermement sa taille tout en appuyant le bout de votre pied au bon endroit pour vous retrouver à califourchon ?

Tout doit dépendre de votre gabarit, je suppose. Avec 1,62m et 50kg toute mouillée, je dirais qu’il n’y a aucun mérite à se hisser sur la bête sans que rien ne frémisse. Une ascension sans effort. Pfff.

En revanche, un gabarit comme le mien, 1,81, 68kg, 90, 50, 90… oups s’cusez ! Je m’égare !!! Vous ajoutez à cela une moto assez haute avec tout ce qu’il faut de choses encombrantes dessus… c’est une autre paire de manches !

Je me souviens d’un départ en vacances en Corse. Au programme, une semaine de ride et camping. Imaginez le tableau : une R1200RT, les deux valises latérales, le top case, le pilote (svelte. Allez, on est gentil en ce début d’année !) et une passagère (en l’occurrence, moi, je, personnellement) de surcroît enceinte de cinq mois. Forcément, ça laisse encore mois de marge de manœuvre.

Au moment de partir, l’appréhension me saisit. Comment vais-je m’y prendre sans paraître ridicule ou pire, me casser la figure ? Moulée de près dans mon super pantalon de cuir que je n’arrive même plus à fermer, je tente un lancer de jambe entre pilote et top case. Sans succès. Chris, essaie encore, tu peux y arriver !

Plan B. Je saisis mon homme bien serré, voyez ? Et je mets franchement mon pied sur le cale-pied, me mets debout, tente une immobilisation immédiate pour garder l’équilibre car cette foutue monture se dandine (!), passe la jambe de l’autre côté et me laisse choir sur l’arrière de la selle pour ne pas gêner mon pilote adoré en prenant trop de place. Mais là encore c’est l’échec total : cet ingrat se met à faire des remarques désobligeantes sur le fait que la moto + les bagages plus nous, on arrive à 450kg, que si en plus je monte de cette manière, on risque de se retrouver par terre en un rien de temps, bla bla bla. Ca promet pour le reste des vacances… !

Quelques heures plus tard, après un (trop) bref arrêt, le moment du « je me hisse sur la moto » est imminent. Damned ! Bon cette fois, je vais oublier le cale-pied et lancer ma jambe en prenant soin de ne rien faire bouger ! Mince ! J’effleure le haut d’une valise (pas grave, il n’a rien vu !) et me retrouve sur un pied à sautiller afin que tout le reste du corps soit dans l’axe de la moto. J’ai du manquer de style, certes, mais je suis certaine que mon homme ne mouftera pas cette fois. Tu parles ! « Mais si tu m’agrippes le bras de cette manière tu me fais mal. En plus, on risque de pencher dangereusement, la moto + les bagages plus nous, on arrive à 450kg, et si en plus tu montes de cette manière, on risque de se retrouver par terre en un rien de temps, bla bla bla.

Autant de mauvaise foi me défrise sous le casque… quelqu’un aurait une solution ???

Pas facile d’être passagère…

The latest R1200RT comes standard with a system to get the BMW tank bag on the …tank! For those having already such a bag working with another attachment system the best solution is to dump the existing bag and buy the BMW one.

Still linking the old Bagster bag I used on all my previous bikes thanks to the smart tank mat solution I wasn’t going to give it up and pay 250 Euros for a brand new one when my 90Euros one is bigger, has a map pouch and still works perfectly.

A friend decided to find a solution and came up with a smart idea.

Using two raisers and a synthetic material board he found a way to use the BMW attachments.
The board hooks on the rear (close to the saddle) hinges, rotates towards the front where it gets locked in place by two sliders and screws. Once fixed the tank bag is clipped in place as with the old-fashioned tank mat.
This solution allows to unclip the bag by its rear end when necessary (e.g. gas station).

That simple solution costs approximately: 2 screws, 4 steel tabs, 1 board (synthetic material or aluminium) and a bit of paint…5 Euros, the tank bag: 90 Euros; my smile: priceless!

I know most of you will be very unhappy with what comes but well I had to present to you our job!

We are very unlucky people as I have once noticed! Was standing on the side of the road, in the shadow in Corsica I had a chat with a Belgian guy who was wondering what the Unicorn Adventures Motorcycle Tours stickers on the bike meant.

Had to tell him that I was developing a new tour in Corsica for a motorcycle tour operator and that the job was to ride on the most curvy roads with the nicest sceneries in Corsica and southern Europe, find the best tour to share it with our customers. I had also to tell him that another part of the job was to find lovely hotels, which we visit with their managers who express all their passion about their hotel.

After a little while talking to that guy I started to think: yes we have a very “bad” job! Riding the bike in the sun, taking care of our customers, sharing our passion and using our expertise to create new tours!

I think I need to get a new office job (to be honest that is where we spend most of the time! To help our customers select their tours and manage the company)!