Jeez, Tufty goes to Co Cork for a few days holiday and all war breaks out ......... now Tufty has told me that if you want to come on his ride out to Paris, you all have to learn to get along or he will get a very bristly tail and chatter his teeth at you in a very alarming way .......   End of North/South discussion.  Any further posts from either side will be deleted to get this thread back on track   So who's up for Paris?                                                                                                                                                                             

Depending on where I am geographically, myself and my bro will be up for this...   We have done Paris in 4 and 3 wheels but not yet 2.....   (and we are both squirrel-friendly and speak French!)                                                                                                                                                                             

have just caught up on this tomfoolery after being offline for a few days, good job really as i may have been inclined to stick my oar in and little good seldom comes of that, but anyway am trying to remember what i may have said about ferry travel? its not something i have done yet and would give it a go but not alone, my main prob with going to france is the worry of getting seperated from the group and getting lost!(and tufty may not be answering his phone!)

You just have to be careful around Paris, Julie...   It is very easy to get confused and you might end up going in-Seine..   *cough*   (feel free to delete this post, fraglette!)   As I understood it, you organise your own accommodation/ means of transport over to France but it would become a group ride at some point?                                                                                                                                                                             

Why would i want to delete it TeeCee?    Julie, dont worry you can ride down with me if you would like to come.   There is no reason if people live close or en route they cant make arrangements to ride together, its just with a lot of people riding in a group it can get too drawn out etc and people have different fuel ranges.  So a meeting point within France means we can all ride our own pace, take which ever means of sea crossing we want to and the do the ride into the show together.  There is another forum i visit which has a good large group ride out method that works well.   There is a group Leader, who no-one over takes, there is a Tail End Charlie, who is always at the back of the group and will never leave anyone behind.  The rest of the group work together as a team, the Leader will make a turn, the rider immediately behind will wait in a visible and safe place and mark the turn, they will only move from that spot when Tail End Charlie has caught up.  Everyone can then ride the pace they want to ride at, if there are faster riders they can move up (safely) through the group, but they end up waiting and marking the turn more often.  The fuel stops are scheduled for regular intervals.                                                                                                                                                                             

(cos it was a really bad joke fraglette.. I embarassed myself, I embarassed my family...)   I might have to fit an auxilary tank cos my little peanut one only gets me about 90 miles (if I am careful!).   Am actually quite excited about the prospect of this trip - every time I have been to France I have had a fantastic adventure...                                                                                                                                                                             

Just thinking ahead...   Does anybody know if you HAVE to have EU marked exhaust pipes when riding in France...?                                                                                                                                                                             

I used to have a peanut tank on my BMW. Now i have a transcontinetal tank. i am getting arround 250 miles to the tank b4 i hit the reserve. the comuter is telling me i am getting 10 - 11 miles / liter. not bad for a 1300cc V4                                                                                                                                                                             

*makes note to bring plastic pipe and ride near PP in the group*                                                                                                                                                                              

If you can keep up lol. if i find a nice straight bit of french motorway i will be winding ther up to the speed limit.                                                                                                                                                                              

Hi Julie u should have no problems in France the road signs are really good and as Fraglette said with turn markers no 1 should get lost. I find it works better to have 2 riders who know there way at the back so 1 can stop with any one who has a problem

Will you have the dream machine by then Julie?? cruising through France on your street triple                                                                                                                                                                             

that sounds like a damn fine idea, especially if you are a dab hand with the spanners!  I was involved with the rescue of an unfortunate Ducati rider on the ferry on the way back from Ireland.  These rumours of the 748 having a weak side stand are correct. But in no time, we had the fairing off the bike, padded a deck support, lashed the bike to the support and wedged the wheels, so it would stay upright, secured the fairing so it wouldnt roll around and get damaged, provided a plastic bag to put all the fairing fasteners and broken sidestand bits in and before we had even left Dublin port, we had spoken to every Ducati dealership on his route down to a wedding and found one that would be able to assist him.   On the way off the ferry, we removed the sidestand completely, put the fairing back on and i sweet talked a deck hand into providing a load of rubber padding so the guy could stop & lean the bike somewhere if he had to, without damaging the bike.   the advantages of being a girl, the crew were so happy to help a damsel in distress, shame is was a 6'1 bloke riding the Ducati                                                                                                                                                                               

Count Cassie & me in for the trip to Paris, I can speak un peu de francais (*feels smug at showing off*). If there's any get-together to discuss it, then let us know. Can I just say that (as a 'true' Northener) I don't hold with any North/South divide in the slightest.  My only regret is that I don't get down/up South as often as I like.  So long as peeps from the South don't call me a fekkin Geordie, then I'm happy                                                                                                                                                                              

Have had the most amusing time reading this thread,might i suggest a pinch of salt be taken with the dreaded N/S leg pulling,as i'm sure thats all it is.I've travelled the length and breadth of Britain and have found nice folk and tosspots wherever i go,anyway your ALL southerners where i come from. Now,when we invading France???                                                                                                                                                                              

PP you had me goin for a minute there when you mentioned the dream machine, thought you meant the cb250 lol, not sure it would make it to the end of the street!as for the trumpet, need to get a good play on one, might not actually like it!                                                                                                                                                                             

Hi folks Wel I've only just read this thread...reason being I didn't know who tufty was so didn't want to go in anything where I felt mout of it,,Anyways after reading the thread I wonder is it safe to go...makes me think of when we used to go tooled up with bike chains and go after the mods lol...........But seriously Frag and Phil   you haven't put what the trip entails....are you camping , are you staying in hotels...does everyone know they have to take triangles and spare bulbs etc etc I would appreciate you letting nme know these things and when and where the next meet is please as it sounds good to go back to europe. WB I've been to rallies down in devon and cornwall if that helps. lol   regards........Allen                                                                                                                                                                              

I have submitted the event to the events committe . just waitng for it to be approved.                                                                                                                                                                             

after watching your face light up when you sat on the white one in Milan you better like it. don't thing we could take a grumpy Julie, lol                                                                                                                                                                             

i`m not prone to sulking so you will be safe no matter what i up grade too, i am little miss optimistic you know!