Spent a few days around London, and then up to Benington to catch up with Richard and Susanna for the night. SR500 Club member Chris Smith drove down and we both spent a few hours putting the finishing touches to the XJ, which was still getting bids on eBay.
Had to kill a few days before Rob and Andrea were due to return to Benington, so jumped on the bike and headed north to meet Marcus, another English member of the SR500 Club at Saffron Walden. Stayed at a hotel in Cambridge which turned out to be the most expensive place I paid for on the whole trip; 65 GBP! Caught up with Marcus and had a few ales with him and his wife Barbara.
Back to London and grabbed a room at the Bridge Park Hotel, Hillside, near the Ace Cafe. Another room that you can touch all four walls without getting out of bed.
Made contact with Rob and Andrea and met them for breakfast at the Ace. We then rode together back to Benington, where I was to have my last night before flying home.
It was a shame not to have Dave with us, but he'd finished the Trans Siberia Rally in 13th place overall and was on his way back to Oz.Another great night at the Lordship and late in the evening Richard dragged out quite a few bottles from the cellar which we all sampled and sampled and sampled................
Next morning after farewells, Rob dropped me at Stevenage station before he and Andrea headed off for another week's riding in the UK. I spent the day in London and flew out to Melbourne via Korea that night.
My last view of the old girl in Richard's shed awaiting her new owner. The new owner was very pleased with the bike and the price that he paid for it.
Some facts and figures:
Bought a 1992 Yamaha XJ900F ( 26,225 miles on the clock) on eBay 900GBP plus 100GBP for delivery
Givi E34 Panniers and topbox, eBay for about 100GBP
The XJ needed 2 new discs and a speedo cable , about 110 GBP
I bought spares including cdi, ignitor, cables etc which I sold on ebay and got most of my $s back
Sold the bike on eBay for 685GBP
Travelled around 17,500 klm over 63 days through 20 countries ( if you count Isle of Man and Scotland) for a daily cost of around $135AUD when the Aussie Dollar was buying around 50 pence and 97 cents US.
Would I do it again?................ Tomorrow!
Same bike? Why not. The XJ never missed a beat. Well, once in Damascus it stalled and wouldn't start in the middle of a huge traffic jam... possibly bad fuel.
It cruised all day at at around 75-85 mph and when needed would hit the ton or more.
Didn't even get a puncture. The old Continental tyre on the front must have done 23,000 miles and still had legal tread. I guess there was so much weight on the rear that it was hardly making contact with the road!
Shaft drive was the thing that had us sold on the old Yammies. However, any decently maintained bike would do, even the good old SR500 would have got us around, it'd just take a bit longer.
What would I do differently? ..........................Not have a finish date.
