Coming to the end of the 2022 'season', how was your year in biking ?

[weeksy]

Do you feel you set out to manage all expectations ? What changed ? What happened ?

For me, 2022 and motorbikes as a bit of a wet fish in many ways.

It started with an MT07 in the garage which tried to throw it's swingarm apart
2022-03-21_12-22-48 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

After that it was just a matter of time before it went. There's been other instances of failures/issues reported on forums too.

I then swapped to the mighty 690SMC-R after one of our good forum mates RP1 was killed... we actually went in and signed the paperwork on the way home... It what he'd have done

2022-06-02_09-03-21 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It was then shortly taken to Donny for a trackday where it was great...

But that's mostly where my year in bikes went and ended.... i've barely touched bikes this year, so a bit of a wet fish for me.

[Ditchfinder]

At the some point at the start of the season I had two functioning bikes in one piece and they were both being ridden regularly when dry, mainly on the work commute with a few longer days out on sunny weekends round the Dales.

Our usual trips to France in May and August meant I missed quite a bit of the good biking weather, more plans were made to try and sort storage for a bike over there but have been put on the back burner given how hard it is to export bikes now.

The Triumph started playing up with misfiring issues which has led to a new CPS but while I had the tank off the transformation from half-faired to naked began and hasn't yet finished. I do have functioning electrics and a bike which runs (although still backfires as you roll off the throttle - probably a coil) now but I've still to find somewhere for the loom to fit as it's too big for the headlight bucket. Once the wiring is tidied up and I've sorted the backfire I'll see if it will make it through an MOT and then if successful start on the cosmetics - Although I'm struggling to locate a big enough size of tin of Turd Polish'

[Noggin]

Freaking awesome. Well, obviously not in real terms - haven't ridden as much, as hard, as far as I wanted to and have planned to every winter for the last five years!

BUT, I did have a working bike and once I physically could, I rode quite a lot (for the current situation with the arm!). Had to have a break for a few weeks as it just hurt too much, and that almost coincided with the insurance finishing and can't be renewed until I can get the bike registered.

However, the last week or so I've had access to a gurt 'Onda and have bloody loved it Slightly sad that the weather is forecast to snow this weekend as that will put a stop to most biking. But equally, we do need snow urgently for winter!! LOL

As ever, making big plans for next summer (Well, after June!) and just hoping madly that I make it through the winter with no further injuries and the removal of the metal on my knee goes smoothly so that this time, I will be fit and able to ride LOADS next year

[Skub]

It's been good enough. I managed around 8k miles of enjoyably going nowhere.

From the middle of September on,it's been rubbish.I missed the last of the decent weather due to catching the pox,so I've managed 1 short outings in October. Pretty poor. The weather has been mild,but just constant rain.

I had some jobs I had planned to do over the salty roads months,but I'm mostly caught up already and the Winter hasn't started.

I'm still enjoying the Zed 16k miles up now and I've more or less adjusted it to be what I want,so no plans to sell just yet,it's a lovely thing to ride.
I'll admit to looking at durty pics of Aprilia's Tuono V4 Factory,but in all honesty I don't think I could put up with it's 'character' gremlins,so I'll continue to admire from a distance!

[dern]

I've got no sense of biking season and will make as much use of whatever is available in terms of weather but acknowledge that some parts of the year can be pretty wank

Started off for me with the usual muddy mucking about of the drz and will probably be doing more of that in the coming months. Have a van now so don't have to ride through driving rain on knobblies to get to Salisbury plain so looking forward to exploring that some more.

Have done a fair bit of riding for the sake/fun of it. Started off with the KTM SM 950 but moved that on earlier in the year as I didn't really gel with it. Replaced it with the 1290 SD but haven't really gel'd with that yet either. Will see how I feel about it in spring and sell if I have clicked with it. Have bought an rsv1000r for sunny days so we'll see if that deal comes off and how I get on with that.

The project ZXR750 hasn't come on very fair. It's stripped down to the frame and now need to clean/polish the frame and put it all back together with some new bodywork... I just need to get on with it.

Done some longer uk trips up to Lancaster and Norfolk on the 1190 adv and despite having thoughts of changing it for a Niken mid-year it's firmly cemented itself as a keeper. Love that bike. I'm planning to do more miles on it over the coming years now the girls have gone to uni to do some more camping, sight seeing and photography.

Track stuff this year was a bit up and down. Bought a zx6r and found it had a massive oil leak when I got it home so took it back. Bought another zx6r the same weekend and have been getting that in order (std exhaust for noise tests, fixing the seat properly and fixing the misfire that meant I messed most of a day at Bedford mid-year). Missed Donny due to suspected covid. The rest of the track days were excellent. I'm not as fast as I want to be but I'm enjoying it none the less, it's just a confidence thing. The track day weekend at Pembrey with the forum was superb.

Yeah, a good year... that's not over yet

[Cousin Jack]

Not too shabby, considering.

I signed up for an epic tour across Europe, all the way down to Dubrovnik. I had reservations, mainly about the current bike, a CB500F, and spent some time regretting that I had swapped in the VFR for a tiddler. Then I went out and did a couple of 250 mile rides, with everything I could think of thrown in, M'way, fast roads, narrow lanes, hills, city centres, and I found that it coped pretty well. So I bought a set of luggage for it and set offf together with 12 other bikes, most of which were BMW 1250s, either GS or RT. And it coped, I enjoyed it, and it saved more than a few Sheckles in petrol since it averaged over 80 mpg over 4000 fairly hard miles.

Now trying to negotiate with SWMBO a trip for next year. On the baby Honda.

[Mr Moofo]

Mine was more adventurous than normal
Scrambler 1200 to Belgium in May - up to Ieper and around the various battlefields of WW1. Rained all the way there and all the way back - but the weather was kind when we were there. The Flemish 80 kph blanket limit meant the riding was as boring as ... But good to have a trip away again.

End of August was the Manx GP - delayed for 3 years. 5 hours ride up to Scouseland when without a hitch and not too much rain. Mate's elderly K1 BMW , which he had ridden up via Spain and Switzerland bedded to fry its battery 3 hours and about 2 miles away from the ferry terminal - so an interesting few hours wondering whether we could get back on the road with minimal tools. We did.

Manx GP organisation was a mess - rescheduling racing / rain meant the vast majority of punts less on the Monday having seen very little racing. The IOM was really quiet - with very few of the usual events being on.
It was, however, fun to crane the Diavel around the mountain as many times as possible - and kind of rekindled my love affair with it. I basically had to adjust my riding style to suit it, rather than the other way round ( so basically loads of revs like an IL4).

Ride back was uneventful - other than being on August Bank Holiday Monday. And riding back as tail end Charlie to the battery frying K1. But 1.5k miles racked up.

October meant few weeks trying to get the '96 Speedy not to run like a bag of spanners (pilot jets apparently) and replace the cam seal. And then upon seeing the state of the oil - actually pull my finger out and do an oil change!
I also find myself now beginning to use the bikes more regularly and transport - as roads around here seem to be continually being dug up.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Pretty good for me
Bought my Suzuki a year ago and I've done 6000 miles on it, really enjoyed riding it, only downer was having bad feet in the summer stopped me having the camping trip that I wanted to do on it.
Other bikes, I don't think I've touched my YPVS all year, it's currently an expensive shelf, my FZ750 has been started a few times but I haven't ridden it for a year, and finally my Kawasaki, I've sorted the clutch dragging issue, sorted the cornering clearance and have a fuel tank that doesn't leak, so it's good to go for next year when it becomes an historic vehicle, so it will probably do the rounds of the local bike shows next year, it may also do some track days, might as well blow the engine up now it's running as it should.

[rodbargee]

A NEW TO ME ZZR 1400 and a great trip to Spain, to be repeated again next year not nearly enough outings in the Uk though.

[Rockburner]

Mostly a non-event, but did manage one trip away on the bike: a few days in the Isle of Man, after the TT, with family, we scattered the Old Man's ashes in his favourite place. Apart from that not much more than a couple of trips to work and a couple of spins around the locality. Hoping for a lot more of that sort of thing next year!

Got a new garage/workshop now (that's actually DRY! Whoopee!) so will be getting the JAPton installed and will be tinkering with that I hope over the winter with a view to getting it on the road a few times at least each year from now on. I guess I'm going to need to start researching the classic trackdays and hillclimbs for it.

[Taipan]

Strange year really. Thought i'd get something a bit more up-to-date and opted for the acclaimed MT-07. Convinced myself it was the bike I wanted, but in truth, I never got on with it, despite my best efforts at talking myself into it, so it went.

An ill fated x-adv, which after 2 attempted thefts they got it on the 3rd.

Always loved the MT-10 but knew it would be too much for me. Decided to look at the MT-09, despite thinking similar about its power and my lack of talent. Didn't like the rear light on the gen 1 and didn't like the headlight on the gen 3. Then I saw the gen 2, which looked like e a mini MT-10 and one was bought online within minutes!

Totally epic bike and the best all round bike I've ever owned. My first triple as for some reason I never liked the exhaust note of them before? But, the CP3 is just a superb engine. It can be as tame as a moped or frighten me into the shakes and the sound of it through its exhaust is just epic!! I'd expected to sell it when I finally got my knee replaced, but I have no plans to let it go or replace it. I'm getting back on it one way or another...

[mangocrazy]

Considering how kind the weather has been in our part of the UK (for the most part) I've done considerably less miles than I would have liked, and one of the bikes (the Falco) hasn't turned a wheel apart from being moved around in the shed. It all started pretty well with a couple of early doors outings on the LC, one of which was just me and a mate on a KTM 1290 Adventure - bit of a mismatch in age, power and ability but good fun nonetheless. It certainly forced me to keep it in the power band...

Then I spent 5 weeks at the gaff in France, but as the Duke 690 accompanied me in the van that was all good. Got a few local rides in, exploring back roads and byways, as well as my favourite circular route that I regard as my personal French TT course. Even picked Mrs Mango up on the Duke from the airport when she flew in for the last week of the stay (I was house-bothering with a builder friend for the rest of the time).

Then when I got back from France it was all change to attend the Bearded Theory festival and only a few days after that finished I was booked in for a hernia operation in early June. That was the event that really put a crimp in my year from a bike-riding perspective, as I was effectively out of action until mid-July. When I was (just about) ready to ride again I hatched a plan to ride the VFR down to France, stay for a few days and then fly back, which with the benefit of hindsight was hugely overly ambitious. I had rushed to get the bike back on the road and this would later come back to bite me. I also completely shot myself in the foot by mistakenly taking my wife's passport to the ferry rather than my own...

My departure date, and the subsequent days when I would have been travelling through France, also coincided with the period of hottest ever temperatures in the UK (and similar in France), so a combination of my own stupidity (passport) and the bike's decision to completely stop working once I'd got home basically saved me from myself. I can't imagine that riding through France in the hottest week of the year having only just recovered from surgery on a bike that was getting ready to stop terminally would have ended anything other than badly.

The highlight of the year was probably getting the LC's carburation set up on Dave 'Muttsnuts' Whattam's dyno in early August. The result can only be described as transformational. The gaping hole in the power curve at 5200rpm was replaced with a gentle plateau before resuming upward progress and the difference this made to riding the bike (especially in traffic) was enormous. In a totally positive way. It also made 4hp more at the top end and Dave reckons the engine will improve further as the miles go by. I also fitted a set of Brembo calipers and matching Brembo master cylinder and that has similarly transformed the front brakes. So my personal award of 'most improved bike of 2022' goes to a 42 year old RD350LC...

On the negative side, I've been waiting since February for the paint guy (recommended by a friend) to finish off the hacked-about and accident-damaged front fairing for the Falco. I've never received any progress reports but all the while I see stuff he's doing for other people proudly displayed on his FB page. If it was my only bike I'd be climbing the walls by now.

Over the winter my main focus (apart from finishing off the Falco) will be to unearth the Ducati 888 from the back of the shed and prep it ready for sale. It's going to be a real wrench as I've owned it for 30 years, but I just never, ever use it. It used to be my track day bike in the '90s and early 2000s, but I hardly ever do TDs any more and if I did I'd be scared shitless about throwing it down the road and damaging irreplaceable parts. So regretfully I think it has to go...

[DefTrap]

2022 a bit of a dead loss for me, from the biking pov - probably my least satisfying year since i started way back in, er, '91(?).

The main problems -
- slight loss of mojo
- I don't commute and I have two cars, I don't -need- to ride anywhere
- still slightly suffering from a neck injury from last year
- it's been too effing hot. 35+ is just ridiculous for biking, I can't get my leathers on and out the front door quick enough before passing out.

I reckon I've done less than 1000 miles. I still really enjoy it though, once I've run out of excuses not to do it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

This year has been dominated by the Bonneville for me. I have ridden the CBR600 a bit, but that's been almost exclusively A-to-B riding, whereas the Bonnie I've ridden for the sake of it.

After more than 2 years and £6000 I reckon it's (touch wood) at the point where I could be reasonably confident of a) making it out of the garage and b) mostly making it home again. My progress has culminated in a couple of >100 mile days without issue. This year was the first year I got to just ride it.

There are of course still a million niggling issues, but it's nearly 54 years old now so that will never not be the case.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I started way back in, er, '91(?).

Noob

[Yorick]

I've done less than 1,000 miles on the GSXR.
But out on the Husky every week. Often twice a week.

[Skub]

2022 a bit of a dead loss for me, from the biking pov - probably my least satisfying year since i started way back in, er, '91(?).

The main problems -
- slight loss of mojo
- I don't commute and I have two cars, I don't -need- to ride anywhere
- still slightly suffering from a neck injury from last year
- it's been too effing hot. 35+ is just ridiculous for biking, I can't get my leathers on and out the front door quick enough before passing out.

I reckon I've done less than 1000 miles. I still really enjoy it though, once I've run out of excuses not to do it.

Perhaps sir needs a new serving suggestion?

My use of the ZX10R gradually diminished over a period of years,to the point I thought of just selling the bike altogether. Covid was the turning point for me. When I was told not to go out,suddenly I wanted to ride. Trading for a more upright bike fanned the smouldering embers into a full blown fire.

[Dodgy69]

Not bad...my greenlaning was short lived and bike sold but had some good days out, enjoyed my 2 nighters the other week and the trackdays have been great fun.

More of the same please landlord.

[DefTrap]

Perhaps sir needs a new serving suggestion?

Oh absolutely a different bike would probably encourage me out. This is only a relatively recent thing - during covid I had a blast round here early mornings on the normally tourist congested roads.

[Scud]

I’ve not ridden anywhere near as much as I’d liked to have done.
My group of mates I ride with have teenage children that seem to take up lots of their time now.
I have been out with some younger lads that I know but their ridding skills leave a fair bit to be desired - we all rode faster than our skill levels when we were younger, now I have the skills it scared me seeing their mistakes.
My son in law got his license so I did a fair few rides with him, he’s a pretty good rider and I’ve enjoyed riding with him.
Not done a trackday this year as my leathers seem to have shrunk and a can’t get a back protector in them with me