Greetings from the Netherlands

[Tzigane]

Hey everyone! My name is Patrick.

I used to have a GTR1000 a few years a go, I wasn't very technical, and the bike was in bad shape to begin with. I rode it some 12k km before I had to get rid of it. After that I've had a BMW R65 and a XJ900F. My girlfriend is quite tall, long legs, so she didn't sit comfortably on the XJ. the GTR brought us from the Netherlands to Norway in good shape during a very nice camping trip back then, so I settled for another GTR.

I had to replace the petcock soon after I bought it, and the battery was almost dead. All works well after replacement. The only thing I have to check are the  in the steering-head bearings. The bike is softly wobbling from left to right at certain speeds while riding straight, and a bit in corners, I suspect it's set too tight.

Aside from that, great bike! It's my only means of transportation, aside from public transport, so I'll be using it a lot, and hopefull make a trip to Italy next summer.

A further personal note:

I'm a biology teacher and wedding photographer (www.masque-obscura.nl), I love playing boardgames and the Chinese game of Go. I play jazz manouche and balkanmusic on guitar and violin, love Belgian beer and Italian food.

And of course, riding motorbikes.



Cheers!

[VirginiaJim]

Welcome from the US!

[B.D.F.]

Hello Patrick, welcome to the forum!

I had a good friend in The Netherlands and spent a little time there- beautiful country. The area was in the extreme northeast, Arcen, and I found the entire outdoor wooded area reminded me very much of where I live, which is the northeastern part of the US. In fact, I think if I woke up in the woods there, I would wonder how far I had to walk to get home :-)  There is also a fantastic WWII museum not to far from that city and it is the best museum of that era that I have ever seen; not only is it quite large and extremely well stocked with artifacts from several countries (mostly German and American, with a good representation of English as well) but every single exhibit in the place was in absolutely pristine condition.

On the other hand, you folks seem quite stern about ignorant Americans running down bicyclists.... I did not actually do that of course but I was warned about it so many times that I really started to think it was considered a pretty serious offense. 

Beautiful roads in the area to ride a motorcycle on. Enjoy the new bike!

Brian

Hey everyone! My name is Patrick.

I used to have a GTR1000 a few years a go, I wasn't very technical, and the bike was in bad shape to begin with. I rode it some 12k km before I had to get rid of it. After that I've had a BMW R65 and a XJ900F. My girlfriend is quite tall, long legs, so she didn't sit comfortably on the XJ. the GTR brought us from the Netherlands to Norway in good shape during a very nice camping trip back then, so I settled for another GTR.

I had to replace the petcock soon after I bought it, and the battery was almost dead. All works well after replacement. The only thing I have to check are the  in the steering-head bearings. The bike is softly wobbling from left to right at certain speeds while riding straight, and a bit in corners, I suspect it's set too tight.

Aside from that, great bike! It's my only means of transportation, aside from public transport, so I'll be using it a lot, and hopefull make a trip to Italy next summer.

A further personal note:

I'm a biology teacher and wedding photographer (www.masque-obscura.nl), I love playing boardgames and the Chinese game of Go. I play jazz manouche and balkanmusic on guitar and violin, love Belgian beer and Italian food.

And of course, riding motorbikes.



Cheers!

[Tzigane]

Thanks Brian! 

Arcen, that would be in the southeast of the Netherlands. It's quite pretty there. Unfortunately where I live, it's concrete buildings all around, a stinking city and too much people per square meter. I plan to move elsewhere where there's more to see for a biology teacher.

Haha, yeah, there is a certain social construct concerning bicycling and traffic rules that people will get after they've spent some time cycling here. Tourists and visitors therefore often move about in an unpredictable manner, even though (or because) they adhere to the rules.

The roads around here are unfortunately also full of speed bumps and ridiculously low speed limits, together with a government that is actively discouraging owning and riding a motorcyle. :/

Ah well, Germany and Belgium are great countries to ride around in, and there are a few pretty routes left around here. 

[jirod]

Patrick, welcome to the forum.

[tweeter55]

Welkom op het forum Patrick.

[Gsun]

You need some hills to climb with that bike! Not far to Switzerland and Italy.... I lived near Haarlem many years back. Loved the beach at Zandvoort. Welkom !

[Little Joe]

Patrick,

Welcome to the forum.  I was stationed (USAF) 1987 in the small town of Woensdrecht at the air base for just a year.  Back then I rode a 95 Honda Magna 700cc. I remember riding over wet cobblestones and putting down both feet just to make sure I didn't fall over.  I was pulled over only once by the cops, they just wanted to see my motorcycle. We lived in Roosendaal and our favorite trip was to Bergen op Zoom for pizza with peas on it.  I sold my bike to another America and never did get to hit the autobahn in Germany.  That would have been fun.
Welkom op het forum!
Little Joe

[Rony6ble]

Welcome neighbor.

I was born in Germany (Dusseldorf) but raised in Chile, move to Mexico (10+ years) and married +3 kids and living in Arizona now.
I would love to ride in and through Europe for a week.

[Tzigane]

Thanks for the welcomes!

The GTR hasn't been fully cooperative lately. So far I did the following things:

- new petcock installed, the other one was leaking
- new battery, the old one turned out to be quite dry (and dead)
- adjusted steering head bearings, it was set too tight which in turn revealed a wobble when I brake at higher speeds (80-100 km/h and up)
- installed new front tire to try and remedy this
- replaced rear blinker

Soon I will replace the braking disks, one of them is slightly warped. Also, clean the brake calipers and install new O-rings, and replace the front fork oil.

Luckily the seller was very cooperative. He sent me the new disks + pads, and will reimburse half of the workplace costs. (I do most of the work in a do-it-yourself bike workshop, owned by a very skillful mechanic who helps out if needed)

I haven't driven more than 500km yet... then again, the weather is crap here too (cold, icy, very wet)