07:15 sounds terrible for me (graveyard shift on Friday) but I should be able to make it. Hope to bring Dave (a colleague) along, considering you BMW snobs don't take offence by having to ride in the companion of a HD  

Bjorn,

No problem at all. Will bring my metal detector collector.

If time is terrible you could head to Pallasgreen for leaving there at 9am rather than miss out. I know its hard to get some out of bed in the mornings......

Olaf.

Ringfad wrote:,,,,,,,, and as Comberjohn has pulled out his stone,,,,,,,,,

You might want to rephrase that, we don't want him going blind 

Yeah, thought it was a dubious choice of words myself.

88 wrote:

Ringfad wrote:,,,,,,,, and as Comberjohn has pulled out his stone BRICK ,,,,,,,,,

You might want to rephrase that, we don't want him going blind 

Fixed it for you then....

Yeah, this crowd may contain stones all right   But for sure, better be brick-equipped than stoned....

HD , the most efficient way to turn perfectly good fuel into noise...
or so I was told .... ( i didn't say it)

As of today I think we have 21 down for Saturday.......including 4 K1s- 1 red/yellow 1 black, 1 blue/yellow and last not sure but think also red/yellow. We could be on for a world record with this gathering........some good photos coming.

On a more serious note we have to look at how we stay together or work the route as 21 is a good number to hold together with just one leader.

Will [88] made one up but might be an idea if also someone else took it in on their Satnav. I am sure we won't get lost, country is too small for that but might help.

If you use the drop off system then one leader and one tail end Charlie are enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrXsOof8HdE

Mike

Mike D

Any chance you could catch the ferry over with BAE? We will ply you with good food!!

Olaf.

That will be a great turn up if you get 21 riders out together. Good luck with keeping them all together. We had about 10 travelling from the same starting point to the same finish point (notice I didn't say travelling in a group) on our way south to the recent Snowy Mountains trip and (in the nicest possible way) it's like herding cats. I was one of the offenders having led a few trusting souls who were behind me down a different route unintentionally for part of the trip.

mike d's method would work if the group is regimented enough but I suspect the Irish are a lot like the Krew and the individual flair tends to come out. Quite a lot of us enjoy the Forum rides precisely because they are not like conventional club rides with rules etc.

Looking forward to sharing some of that black stuff with a couple of other Krew members on Thursday.

Cheers

Unfortunately not.

We have an all day event in our village hall watching rugby.  Although I admit to not knowing what's going on in the game, I will be helping to run the bar. (We do not have a pub in the village so we have a licence for our hall).

Mike

Minimal rules really. It's a lot safer than a long snake of bikes, with some riders possibly being pushed outside of their comfort zone and/or riding too close to someone whose ability you know nothing about.

Mike

Gaz80 summed it up perfectly. Kats is right. The Irish are not known for being regimented or being told what do. Our Norn Iron trip last time I fell by the wayside along with Ringfad and we ended up on a long detour that included tea at his parents house and a lovely coastal drive to an art gallery. Think we turned up for dinner a few hours after the others.

Not sure you will find a village here without a pub. Below is an Irishman helping to run the bar dry.

.....

Hi Olaf could you send me more details where ye are  going for a spin or camping, my Mrs is climbing on Saturday so I could meet up somewhere with ye on Sunday

Hi guys

 I know all this is tongue in cheek but some of the brotherhood are also into classic motorcycles and are paid up members of the IVVMCC. the important thing to remember is that we are out there never mind the weather because of our love for  motorcycles no matter what make or year or style we just like bikes. so chill out and Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.

Cheers
Pat.

88 wrote:Ok Chaps, Suggested route for the Run.....

11.00 am Departing Kilmartins Centra in Athlone (Sit down Café inside and McDonalds next door for Brunch if needed). 2.5 - 3 hours spin with stops we'd be in Stradbally for mid afternoon and easy breakout to motorways for run home.

Nothing is set in stone!

Just putting this up again as its back about Post 31. Thanks Will.

Estimated time at Stradbally Fayre about 3pm.

Sadly JerhH and Theo wont be joining us.

Olaf

I'm just about to go for a spin on the bike with wifey, down the Glengarrif, through the Pass of Keimaneigh, and it's a CRACKING day outside
 

Not a cloud in the sky and that bright, warm, hazy sunshine that you get at this time of year.  10 degrees outside, but that just means another layer.

Looks like Comberjohn has delivered again for tomorrow.

Yes, looking good.
I'm just about to head off towards Athlone. Going to take a few pics on the way down and have booked a b&b for tonight.
Handle bar muffs are going back on, though.

I've had to do the Sprag clutch and the oil water pump seals in order to get the K75 going and make sure I had a bike for the day. ( I'm not rushing the work on the K1100 fairing repair, the cosmetics on that bike are too goofor a rush job).

Just been for a lovely we spin in the spring sunshine to check all is well and it is.  Woo Hoo 

- Looking forward to it immensely. 

Be careful with early frost those of you who have a stupid o'clock start. Main roads are dry so should be no problems if you wrap up well. 

Eccentrics and friends leaving Pallasgreen this morning.

Later on in the Day - we did get 4 K1's together and a lot more ...



Bring an English man to Ireland .... best caption competition

Guys,
had a blast - 18 bikes in March - not a bad turnout at all.

And we even allowed R's, Honda's, and Harleys to partake - multi-denominational or what!

Kudos to David who did the 350 cold miles on a naked harley. Obviously he bought the optional brass monkey-balls (TM).

Sitting at home after a hot shower, hot whiskey, and hot moussaka.

It don't get much better than this!

Corkboy.

Hi All,

Great to see you today and hope you all arrived home safely.

Regards

Trapper

Hi Guys

Great day out although it turned very cold as the evening went on, Simon and myself headed home via Blessington, some great photos, good to see so many bikes out at this time of the year.
hope born again eccentric gets home safe, that's some trip.

Cheers

Pat

Nice pics, well snapped Avenger GT!

Well that was a fun day, if a tad nippy.

We Met at the McCafe as planned and after consuming warming coffees and renewing old friendships together with welcoming the guests we wandered outside where there was a virtual Swap meet (Dai...thanks for that little bit of unobtainium  ).

Our HD riding buddy had packed for all out of town emergencies....



About half way on the Slieve bloom mountains....


Stradbally on arrival


The Run took us through 140kms of nice roads, the latter part the R430, south of Abbeyleix favored a more "spirited" style of riding and I enjoyed sharing one of my favorite stretches of road with the newer Krew members! It was just what was needed for spring cleaning the old cobwebs. The K75 ran very nicely after the sprag clutch and water pump repairs and service.
 
After a good spot of lunch and great company Reg and I headed back NW through the midlands making, what the Police manual refers to as "Rapid progress through the countryside" we parted at the Athlone bypass just 50 mins after departing Stradbally and went our separate ways in lovely evening sunshine. Roll on the next one!

Great photos 88

The k75 is looking good.

Pat

You guys are quicker at posting than me....but then again I've only been home an hour! Great to see everybody and meet some new people.

Excellent "day" out - left home at 20:21 on Fri 18 Mar and got back home at 03:21 On Sun 20 Mar which makes it a 31 hour day. Managed to grab about 3 hours sleep on outbound ferry crossing and about 2.5 hours on the way home. Well worth the effort.

Total journey 727 miles - not too shabby for a "day trip". Dry roads throughout but temperatures dipping down to -1.5 deg C on return home which kept me alert.

Pics later, when I've had some sleep..

One lovely sleep later and fully refreshed ....a few more views of the event.

OK, so it was 2 days past the actual St Patrick's day, but apart from John's bike, I reckon that the country openly celebrating St Pats day the least in the world was Ireland.


A line up of K's and friends


...and from the other way. One red made it out of the shed too - Reg finished his rebuild at midnight before the run - good effort and his K1100 looking fantastic


View from a tree!


The Irish Eccentric Skroll - and a few eccentrics too




In Ireland there are M roads, N roads, R roads, farm tracks and now we find something new - K roads. The white line painter surely only had bikes in mind when he optimistically marked up this road.



At Stradbally Fayre - possibly becoming the cultural home of the Irish Eccentrics. The staff certainly do us proud and feed us well. Met up with My interloping K100LT squeezed between the quartet of K1s...delusions of grandure


The elite together


A great day out.

A video greeting from Ireland.

Those of a nervous disposition, look away now.

And now, a few pics.
BTW heard that they're thinking of re-naming Stradbally Fayre to St Clabberts(Jurassic Park) because of our frequent visits.



Had to slip one of my long legged beauty in as the rest were too busy licking K1 silencers!



Ah, the mid life crises beckons.



An example of cat herding.



Yep, definitely moving now.



I tell ya, it was the best bike Honda ever made.



And you all thought you had tank range problems.

Well done to you all! Great turnout and glad to hear you enjoyed your afternoon at Stradbally Fayre. Certainly brings back very pleasant memories of my meet up there with some of the Eccentrics last year.

Cheers

Ringfad wrote:
Bring an English man to Ireland .... best caption competition

He's still in his tree....More Guinness needed to get him out of his tree! 

super pics guys ....

thanks for sharing your get together with us

well done born again, for popping over, Had a great day 400+km, and managed to get 1 k11 rs reperesented. special thanks to 88 for herding us around great backroads....and especially for getting me back to Galway in record time:)

Looking forward to another....

Well, eventually back in the fold.

Can only say it was a great day, over 370 miles on mine by the end of the day and home for about 8.30pm, feeling great and felt nicely warm and snug, having left at about 6.45am that same morning.

I know some were a little cool, but long experience of two wheels had me well wrapped to the point of being just right.

First stop was a little over a mile, met with Corkboy for 7am.

Next stop a further 7 miles on where we met Bjorn and the rest of the local meet up for 7.15am. Unfortunately Pat OD didn't make it at that point so we set off at 7.30 keeping our pace reasonable in consideration of a naked bike rider among us. By the end of the day he really proved his mettle, short tank range but fully prepared with a spare can of gas and a beer for us if we had to go fetch more. Real proof though that its not just Ks but a frame of mind that counts. Dave on that Harley is some stalwart, it was a cool enough day at the start and he must have hit the 350 miles.

On the way to Pallasgreen at Tipperary I stopped at the roundabout to say I wanted to get gas but for the others to carry on. Before I got to say anything another K pulled up outside us......Born Again Eccentric on his way from the ferry. Timed to perfection. I had figured we might meet up on that section of road so it was good. We stopped at a gas station about a mile up from there. As we were getting ready to leave this chap pulled up on a nice red Triumph. I decided to turn on the forecourt and headed over to say a quick hello........it was a nice early fifties ZE Dublin registration and it was clearly a well maintained but a regularly used bike. He also revealed he was a K owner too. Very small world.

Next stop Pallasgreen for meet up with CluainSi. It was great to finally meet AvengerGT and a little discussion with him revealed the existence of a canine friend he would like to have travel with him. A sidecar was mentioned but he had already tried that option and it doesn't work for him on our nice twisties. The seeds of a trailer thought might be sown since we revealed having a towbar in our possession, stored away with the lardons.

CluainSi led us on to our meet point at Athlone with one brief stop along the way. There we were met by Comberjohn, Ringfad, Curley and some more new faces. A good chat, a very generous distribution of goodies from Dai kindly brought down by Comberjohn [many thanks for the clock Dai, was totally unexpected], time to welcome new Eccentrics.

88 then took us to Stradbally Fayre with some stops along the way, including Comberjohn taking the opportunity to record a video for the Krew, BAE going tree climbing, others watering the local plant life. Then further on bringing us to Stradbally from the Carlow side which to me is one of the nicest runs in the country as you come down the hill into Stradbally. On a traffic clear road it is awesome for putting a K down a little.

Parked outside Stradbally Fayre was a nicer Kluster of K1s, the owners nicely settled inside. We now had 18 bikes parked outside, a very mixed but fun group. More photos, a K1 gathering with the Irish sKroll and eventually all heading off in very different directions. Reg had a need to get back home for family occasion, so 88 and himself were home in double quick time. Born Again Eccentric headed off in a different direction but we kept in touch to make sure he was on that ferry home. You have to do that with an Englishman, especially when he is inclined to climb trees in strange places. On a more serious note it was great he came over and I hope its only the first of a few visits over the year. I really enjoyed the Kamping with BAE last year, excellent fishing and Kulinary skills too, always welcome in a group.

Anyway, after that three of us headed back for Cork going by Waterford as it shortens Bjorn's road home. A stop for petrol at Lemybrien produced a nice whirring from my K when I tried to restart. Having only done the Sidecar Paul fuel cap hole a few weeks earlier I now figured I might have to do the 88KE sprag clutch hole as well. But its worked fine since so some preventive action might help.

Home at 8,30, a few sneezes and bed.....thinking Comberjohn delivered the required weather yet again...

Next morning, disaster. A monthly breakfast meet up down here, an Easter Egg run afterwards all in my plans for the day, woke up with temperature gone mad, head pounding, chest full of phlegm, aching all over, there was no question of even getting out of the bed. Amazing what can happen in one night. A Friday afternoon meeting had me in contact with someone who had this bug, obviously passed on. Which explains why I haven't posted anything until now. But I wanted to say thanks to all, was a great day, was great to have some new faces and hope they will join us again.

JediGril couldn't join us on the day. A few days before I had sent an email just to let her know. The reply broke a lot of hearts... 'My life has changed somewhat, I am getting married next month'. We of course wish her the best. Anyway she will be back on 17th April and one of our tasks is to get her K back on the road. An invite over for some Polish food and a floor space for a sleeping bag or whatever is going to produce some interesting results but will definitely get her K back on the road.

That's all from me for now [Comberjohn breathes sigh of relief]. I think the next Eccentric Adventure is in the hands of BAE. I guess a few surprises from down under.

"Born Again Eccentric headed off in a different direction but we kept in touch to make sure he was on that ferry home.  You have to do that with an Englishman, especially when he is inclined to climb trees in strange places. On a more serious note it was great he came over and I hope its only the first of a few visits over the year. I really enjoyed the Kamping with BAE last year, excellent fishing and Kulinary skills too, always welcome in a group."

Just trying to live up the the "eccentric" name, but you're right Olaf, it's always wise to keep an eye on us and make sure that we are not abusing your hospitality and do actually go home again. Of course, trees are there for climbing, if only to get a different camera angle and it wasn't a very big tree! What do they say - if you haven't grown up by the time you're 50, you don't have to! Happy days.

As for Will's comment - it doesn't take many Guinness's to get me out of my tree these days and it is exactly why longer trips and Kamping are required. The only down side of the whole St Pat's visit was that I didn't even get a sniff of Guinness, but it doesn't really mix with riding lots and sleeping little and my time on the ferry was totally invested in sleeping. Probably safer that way!

"Real proof though that its not just Ks but a frame of mind that counts". 
+1 on that, it really doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you ride and enjoy the kompany. 

I never cease to be impressed by the effort that the Irish Eccentrics go to, regularly getting a good number of members and their friends to travel from all directions for a meet up. Deeply envious, we don't seem to be able to do the same with forum members over here on the mainland. Hopefully, I will be back over again sometime soon to exploit some more hospitality and some more riding, fishing and kamping.

"temperature gone mad, head pounding, chest full of phlegm, aching all over, there was no question of even getting out of the bed. Amazing what can happen in one night. A Friday afternoon meeting had me in contact with someone who had this bug, obviously passed on". 

I was sorry to hear that Olaf, but glad you didn't pass it on to me (or hopefully anyone else at the gathering), the only thing I caught over the weekend was a flare up of K-pox - I caught myself searching for K1s on eBay yesterday :cyclops:

Next stop though, a rather larger and somewhat warmer "island" and a chance to meet with some of another very sociable Krew.

Deeply envious, we don't seem to be able to do the same with forum members over here on the mainland.

Sorry I don't understand I thought you were part of lizzies archapelego just of the west coast of Europe

BAE we weren't 'excorting you' off the island to be rid of a visitor. We knew the temptations to stay are very great and just want to make sure you won't have trouble getting another exit visa. In truth I knew it was a very long day for you having done those kind of trips many times. I think nothing of parking a bike up and finding a nice grassy slope to sleep on if tiredness overcomes me, with bike gear on there is no fear of being cold. With the top box on I can sleep on the bike.

For historic reasons lots of the inhabitants on that other island are ex Eccentrics anyway which of course explains the warmth of the welcome and the similar behaviours.

RicK G wrote:Deeply envious, we don't seem to be able to do the same with forum members over here on the mainland.

Sorry I don't understand I thought you were part of lizzies archapelego just of the west coast of Europe

Rick - mainland is always a relative term. In this case "mainland" in the UK is the overpopulated bit that is mostly made up of England, Wales and southern Scotland. It's easy to define by looking at several post office parcel or courier services which specifically exclude Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Isle of Man and such like in their "UK mainland" delivery rates. 

The Republic of Ireland (Eire), of course, is a separate country in it's own right and is merely attached to a part of "Lizzie's archipelago" by dint of some ancient geological rock forming process that stuck the two bits together before mankind pitched up and realised that they were obviously completely separate countries because one was measured in miles and the other in kilometres.

Back on piste...I envy the appetite that the Irish Eccentrics (from both North and South) have for riding many miles for social gatherings and ride outs. Just does not seem to happen this side of the Irish sea.

That's all because we enjoy our visitors. If you ask me its all a load of old Blarney.