Bank Holiday Dales Run

We had a lazy morning today so only set out late, so just decided to have a trip up to the Creamery at Hawes.

So we headed over to Clitheroe by our usual roads. The from Clitheroe we followed our usual route to Settle via the minor backs roads of Sawley and Wigglesworth. We passed through Settle and joined the B6479 and passed through Horton in Ribblesdale before turning right at Ribblehead Viaduct. We then followed the stunning B6255 to Hawes as usual. We then parked up at the Creamery and headed inside to get some lunch. We then saw the length of the queue for the cafe and the restaurant also looked full, so we decided to leave.

We headed back through Hawes to have a look whether the Penny Garth Cafe was also busy. Which it was so we decided to head back to Settle and see if the small tearoom just outside Horton in Ribblesdale was open. We soon arrived back at Horton in Ribblesdale and thankfully the tearoom was open so we decided to stop and try it out. It was a bit like sitting in your granny’s front room, but the coffee and food was nice. We even bought some nice handmade biscuits, to take back with us as well.

We left the tearoom and headed back home via our usual roads through Settle, Wigglesworth, Sawley, and Sabden.

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MOT Time Again

It’s that time of year again so I took the day off to take the VFR and the ZX-9R for an MOT today. I went to Two Wheels in Middleton that Helen had found, rather than going over to Pems Garage in Rochdale as usual. Mainly because of convenience and location, Helen also said that they were good as well.

I took the VFR first and after the caliper rebuild the brakes felt fine. I arrived and was ushered straight in. It’s slightly bizarre having to manoeuvre the bike through a tight shop doorway though. Anyway the VFR passed no problems and the brakes passed the test easily, but I did note the reading to compare against the ZX-9R.

I then brought the ZX-9R over for its MOT test. After a brief discussion with the guys I decided to leave the illegal exhaust on the bike. The ZX-9R passed with flying colours and he didn’t even make a comment about the exhaust. I noted the brake test results of the ZX-9R and concluded that the ZX-9R had superior front brakes to the VFR, but not surprisingly the VFR absolutely trumped the ZX-9R on rear braking. That test pretty much spells out that to effectively brake on the VFR you need to apply both front and rear brakes.

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