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May 2012
May 28, 2012
Yesterday in the train from Amsterdam, my wife saw an add in a motorcycle magazine about
testriding a Suzuki V-Strom 650 at Motostore Barendrecht.
This bike is on my list of all-road bikes I would like to try, so this morning I called and this
afternoon, we went to Barendrecht to test the V-Strom.
To my surprise, they also had another bike from my list, the Yamaha ZT660Z Ténéré
ready for testing so I could ride that bike too  .
I tested the Suzuki V-Strom and the Yamaha Ténéré.
Unfortunately the ride was behind someone who showed the way. I would rather ride alone
so I can try the bike the way I want but it was nice anyway. Both bikes are
very easy to ride and have enough power for my riding style. The Suzuki is a little heavier
but with the two cylinder V-twin engine it is very smooth. The Yamaha is lighter, even
easier to handle but the single cylinder engine produces more vibrations and feels less powerfull.
For me, the windshields on both bikes are to small but I think the Yamaha windshield is
slightly better. on both bikes, I wopuld like a bigger windshield.
In general the comfort is better on the Suzuki. That is important for longer trips.
I really enjoyed riding these bikes and both are good bikes with their own character.
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May 27, 2012
On mothersday, our daughter gave us two tickets for Madame Tussaud in Amsterdam. To avoid
the parking problems, we went there by train and left home before seven AM to get to the station.
We were in the queue when the museum opened at ten. The Madame Tussaud wax figures museum
was much nicer then we expected and we had a good time looking at all the wax figures of celebrities
and sports stars.
After our visit to Madame Tussaud, we did a canalboat tour and we also walked a lot on the nice
streets in the center of Amsterdam. We visited a hash-shop (we didn't buy anything
), we admired the nice houses on the side of the canals
and had a coffee on a terrace in the sun.
On a bridge over a canal.
I think that foreigners who only visit Amsterdam, get a very strange impression of the
Netherlands. The streets in the center are full with coffee shop (where they don't sell coffee)
mushroom shops, sexshops, souvenir shops and then there is the red light district. The streets are
dirty with a lot of litter on the streets BUT, it is an interesting city with a lot of interesting, nice people,
museums, galeries, nice café's and restaurants and an overall good athmosphere. We enjoyed our
visit and plan to do it again soon.
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May 26, 2012
The weather is so nice that I could not resist to ride today. I had to get on the bike
and to my (happy) surprise, my wife agreed to come with me..
At a local BMW shop, to look at nice old bikes.
First we went to "De Knalpot" in Rilland. A BMW shop with a lot of nice old (and new)
Beemers. Then we went to Motoport in Goes. Because it was very hot we first had a cold
soda and then checked out all the nice bikes.
On our way home we bought some strawberry's on the side of the road, fresh from
the fields.
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May 25, 2012
Yesterday I got a leaflet from Motoport Goes with an invitation to testride a Triumph.
I called them and asked if it was possible to ride a Tiger 800 and yes, they had a demo-bike
available.
This morning I went to Goes and I had about half an hour to test-ride the Triumph Tiger 800.
The Triumph Tiger 800.
After test-riding the BMW's R1150GS, R1200GS, F650GS and F800GS twins, the Benelli
TRE K 1130 and my own F650GS single, I found this bike, behind my old F650GS, the easiest to ride.
It was very smooth and easy to steer, shift gears and brake and it has more than enough power.
For off-road use, the handlebars are 5 cm (2 inch) too low which makes it harder to stand on the pegs
while riding a dirtroad (on the more off-road, 800XC the risers are higher then on the 800)
On backroads the comfort is excellent. On the highway, riding 130 km/h, the small windscreen creates
too much noise around my head. Maybe a taller windscreen will solve that.
The disadvantage of this three cilinder engine compared to the BMW single is the better fuel
consumption of the BMW.
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May 24, 2012
Tonight my wife and I went to a comic- and musical-show by Hans Liberg in theatre "De Maagd"
in Bergen op Zoom. We went there because Joeri Pronk, the son of friends of us, plays the
bass in the band.
Hans Liberg and his band in "De Maagd".
Musically it was very good but in terms of humor, I found it a bit disappointing after all the praising
comments I had heard.
We had a very nice and entertaining evening anyway..
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May 21, 2012
While I was working in my garage, my daughter and granddaughter walked by.
My granddaughter wanted to sit on granddaddy's bike and how could I refuse.....
Little girls on big bikes.....
She liked it but was a little frustrated that her arms were to short to reach both
handlebars at once.
The small picture is a picture of my daughter, when she was abaout the same age.
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May 12, 2012
This Saturday afternoon, my wife, our oldest son and his wife, went to the theater to visit
the show "Van Berini tot Solex" by Marjolein Meijers with Walter and Onno Kuipers.
Marjolein Meijers, 'Van Berini tot Solex'.
They played Irish music, Cajun, Americana and their own music with very nice lyrics. It was obvious they
enjoyed playing their music and it was nice to see how easy they played their different instruments.
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May 6, 2012
With some RAM-Mount parts and some parts I bought from a photo-shop, I constructed
a cameramount on the Honda CB400T. Today was testing day. The first test was with an
old Trust 2Mp camera and when that worked, I mounted my Nikon S3000 compact camera
and shot some video from a ride from Wouw to Willemstad.
The Nikon on the Honda.
Next time I'll test with a DSLR to get 720p quality video and then I must remember to clean
the windscreen. You can watch the video on Youtube.
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May 5, 2012
After the rain in the morning, it was almost dry in the afternoon so I went for a short ride
on the CB400T. From "American Legend",
a bikeshop in Belgium, I went to
Motorservice Ossendrecht but they were closed for holidays.
Honda CB400T on the Brabantse Wal.
Then I took the long way home through Huijbergen en Heijmolen. I had only a little bit
of rain and enjoyed the ride.
The CB400T is doing great for a 34 year old bike !!
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