A hidden gem in the Peak District? 🛣

There are many hidden gems in the peak district and most of them are signposted but this one is a road that I find exciting no matter which direction I ride it. What is the road I am talking about? Its the B5056.

I’ve had this road on my radar for over a year and its my “go to” road for fun as it supplies a good amount of twisty road action and elevation changes. I am splitting the road into two sections, Stage 1 and Stage 2, as the A5012 cuts straight through the middle of the B5056.

Stage 1: B5056 from Fenny Bentley to Grangemill

Pros

• Low traffic

• Not too technical

• Can be ridden gently or spirited

• Peak District scenery

Cons

• Dirty road surface near quarry

• HGVs/day trippers/tractors

• Few overtaking spots
  
  

 Stage 2: B5056 from Grangemill to A6

Pros

• Little traffic

• Cleaner road surface

• Flowing bends – more technical

• Can be ridden gently or spirited

• Fewer HGVs

Cons

• Few overtaking spots

• Low lying manhole covers – suspension testers/back breakers

• Day trippers/tractors

• Narrower road (Fewer HGVs 👍)

Conclusion

The B5056 is a great road to add to a trip around the Peak District if you’re looking for a road that will test your tyres or take in the unique scenery of the Peak District. This road has a good mixture of technical bends that can be read well and some that can be misleading. Stage 1 is steadier but has more HGVs due to the quarry at Grangemill. Stage 2 is entertaining from Winster Ore House (see picture below) to the A6. Be careful of the low lying manhole covers in the wooded part of Stage 2 as they can take your fillings out. The road is brilliant in both directions. I have ridden the B5056 many times and find Stage 2 of the road more enjoyable due to the densely packed bends close to Winster. 

 

Winster Ore House

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Ride Safe & Eat Cake

Lardy 🧈

A5004 Long Hill Road. A new favourite? 🏍

A lovely day in the peak district

It was a sunny start to a Sunday in October 2020, with another possible lockdown looming and 1 week till the 620mile service was due on the 390. I decided to put some much needed miles on the bike. I initially thought about going to Matlock Bath but decided to head in a different direction than I usually take, this decision took me towards the spa town of Buxton and I made my choice to ride the A5004 Long Hill road from Buxton to Whaley Bridge as I haven’t ridden it in over 7 years.

With some amazement I managed to get a clear run from Buxton to just outside of Whaley Bridge and back again without traffic. I did have cyclists to contend with but they were mostly well behaved. The route is made up of many fantastic bends and straights taking in the scenery of Goyt Valley, (which sounds like an insult) with the only let down being some questionable tarmac on a few bends. The elevation change on the road is around 230m(754ft) and I did notice this in the tighter corners because you pick up speed easily. 

 Riding the road down hill will have you grinning and gritting your teeth at the same time. Entering some corners can be exciting but the blind corners will have you wincing as there is only a barrier between you and a massive drop. On the uphill you just have to worry about on-coming traffic cutting the corners and worrying less about going over the edge and falling into Goyt Valley, this is because the road hugs the hills to the left side. I found the uphill a steadier pace as the bike didn’t want to run away in the corners. There are plenty of areas along the route where you can stop for a rest or turn around, just be mindful that some of theses are gravelled.

It might only be 7.8miles long but the A5004 is a real thrill ride. Get on it early, go in both directions as many times as you want and watch out for cyclists. A brilliant road if you’re in and around the Peak District. This might be in contention for my new favourite road, I think I’ll have to return to the A5004 and ride it again. What a problem to have!

The A5004 forms part of a triangle which includes the A537 Cat & Fiddle and B5470 “Highwayman” roads. I will be reviewing those roads in the future as a series so look out for that.

 Here is the route

 

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Ride safe & Eat cake

Lardy 🧈

KTM 390 Duke. One month of ownership, hows it been?

 

Its been a month? Wow time does fly when the world is looking worse for wear. Amongst all the panic and frustration going on, a ride on my 390 Duke has given me a small respite from the doom and gloom we’re surrounded with. The weather has been very well behaved in the UK over the past few weekends. Which is very odd for September but this has meant that I can get out on the road and enjoy the bit of freedom.

Just before purchasing the bike I got made redundant from my job but in a stroke of luck I walked straight into another and with the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing I thought I’d done pretty good for myself. I started my new job on the Monday after I got the bike so managed to take the 390 to work in the first week but Friday morning came around and I noticed the brake light didn’t work when holding in the front brake leaver. “Is this a sign of things to come…?” I thought but it turned out that a cable had come loose. So I made my first modification to the bike by wrapping the cable in question and the cable next to it together with insulation tape to stop them from coming out, I thought it looked like something that was done at the factory when I finished.

That same weekend I went for a big long ride early in the morning, to beat the traffic heading into the peak district and to get back in time for the FIM EWC 24hrs of Le Mans. I was about 2 miles from home when the oil light flashed on and then went off after two seconds “that’s strange” I thought “this should have plenty of oil in it”. This was not the case. My first action was to throw it at the dealership. If my bike was a 1290 Superduke I’d be jumping up and down in anger. Selling someone an expensive unicycle with no oil in it, great customer service! But topping up oil is an easy fix, buy oil and put it in, simple. So that's what I did.

I think what annoyed me was the 390 was put through a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) like all new vehicles and someone ticked a box to say “yes, we’ve checked there's oil in it”, when in fact they hadn’t. Showing main dealers can be cowboys when no ones looking! I also got given a Spanish owners manual in my bike pack. How a bike that was probably destined for Spain ended up in North Staffordshire, is anyone's guess so my only real grumble about the bike isn’t the bike, its everything else that lead up to me receiving the 390.

Aside from my moaning, loose cables and hardly any oil in the sump, hows the first month been? I’m really enjoying the 390. Having done 400+ miles now I’m starting to get used to what the bike is like, I still can’t decide if 30mph is a 3^rd or 4^th gear job. And the 620mi (1000km) service cannot come sooner as I could do with the extra rpm for getting out of corners, overtaking tractors and doing 70mph. The service isn’t till mid October so I’m limiting myself to weekend riding so I can munch the miles in large quantities. I just hope the weather here doesn’t reflect the mood of the country.

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Ride safe & eat cake

Lardy🧈

The Cheekiest A-Road in the Peak District? 🏍

How does a 2.6mile piece of road get to be classed as an A-road? I thought A-roads were classed as trunk roads, big hulking roads that got swathes of people from the midlands to the seaside and back before motorways were a common thing. This piece of road network infrastructure I’m talking about is the A5270 just outside of Buxton in the Peak District.

As you can see in the picture above, this A-road is tiny (hence why I am calling it cheeky) but why label the road as an A-road? The road was unclassified for many years but in the 1980’s it got the A-road status to move traffic between the A515 and A6. So motorists didn’t have to battle through the back lanes of Cowdale and Flagg. I suppose you can call it a bypass. And what a bypass it is! Elevation changes, cambered corners and flowing bends. Sounds like the ideal road to ride on a motorbike but there are a few issues; HGVs, farm vehicles, day trippers and the compulsory 50mph Derbyshire speed limit. Those issues aside the road is really fun even at 50mph, one sharp bend is like riding a roller coaster, its great fun but get on the road early if you can.

I decided to add this road to my route on an early Saturday morning jaunt into the Peak District. The weather was brilliant for late August. I got to the A5270 from the A6 side just after 9:00am, so there was not that much traffic. The road starts with steady bends and an uphill section that's more fun going down the other way because the bend at the top of the hill is blind. Once at the top of the hill you can take in the scenery of the Peak District then start descending through steady curves to the fun part of the road.

To my surprise the truck I was following turned off, just at the most interesting section of the road, the start of four tightening bends, all within 0.3miles.

The first bend rounds to the left and slightly up hill which levels off into a right hand bend that's tighter than it looks (watch out for emerging vans from the side road). After, the road leads into a gentle left that tightens and drops down hill into a right hander at the bottom of the hill, again tightening. This last corner has positive camber so holding a line is easy to do, hence why I am calling it the roller coaster corner, as its close to being a 90 degree bend that shoots you up hill into a nice gentle left bend bringing you toward the last section of the road and the junction onto the A515.

View into "Roller Coaster Corner"

This road can take almost 5 mins to ride but that won't do for me. So I turned around, went back in the opposite direction to do it all again, then did the same at the A6 end, turned around and had another go. The tourists at the only bus stop on the road must of taken this as normal behaviour in the Peak District for motorcyclists. I did consider waving but thought better of it. 😆

After I had my fill of the A5270 twists and turns I decided to head towards home, as in my excitement to get out on my new 390 Duke I forgot to have breakfast, so food was calling and the EWC from Le Mans was starting also.

A great morning out on a great little road. What a find!

Does anyone else find a road/route they like and just keep riding up and down it? I’ve seen motorcyclists in Japan doing this on their mountain passes, riding sections of the road up and down, then moving to another section and doing the same. I never hear people talk about doing it in the UK, perhaps its seen as boring or unproductive. I’ve found it enjoyable, plus you get to know the road better! I think I’m going to do the same on other roads from now on.

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Ride safe & eat cake

Lardy🧈

 

KTM 390 Duke – 125cc on steroids! 🏍

So after waiting for what felt like an eternity for the SWM Gran Milano 440, I moved onto looking for another motorbike, and to cut a long story about getting made redundant short, I found a new job and a bike pretty much in the same time frame. 

 

My new bike is the KTM 390 Duke. This bike didn’t come up on my radar due to me thinking that it would be well outside of my budget. How wrong was I! It was not much more than the SWM and came loaded with tech that's not on most high end bikes, like a TFT screen. It seemed the right bike for what I wanted. Light and powerful but not excessive.

Moody weather on the B5013

I have now had the bike for over a week and I am really impressed with it. It has the handling of a 125cc which makes this bike really agile around town in traffic, and out in the hills it shows that it can handle corners without hesitation. This might have something to do with the 390 Duke sharing the same frame and suspension as the 125 Duke. I took the 390 out to the B5013 the first day I had it to test how good it would be on one of my favourite roads, and I was very impressed. The light handling mixed with the power of 44hp makes the 390 Duke a wild ride.

I can see why the 390 Duke is marketed as “The Corner Rocket”. I also took the 390 out into the Peak District to see how well it would handle the ups, downs and bends of the Derbyshire Dales. When I returned from my journey I couldn't believe how far over on the tyres I had got. I’m surprising myself with how well I’m getting on with this bike and how comfortable I feel when I ride it. I think once the 600mile service has been done I’ll be able to really test the bike in the corners without having to keep one eye on the rev counter, due to the bike being in its "running in" stage, and the rev counter flashing at 6,500rpm to remind you to change up or slow down. Once the 600mile service is done, I'll give more detail on how the bike is with a full rev range.

A funny side to this bike is the under seat storage. There isn't much but it does come with a toolkit. And you'll manage to fit a small wedge of cheese in amongst the wires. Dovedale Blue is the cheese if anyone is wondering. 🧀

Cheese smuggling in action.

If you want an in depth review there are plenty on the internet but my small conclusion is; if you're after a bike thats practical around town and fun at the weekend, consider the KTM 390 Duke. Its not as expensive as you think and its got a lot more tech on it than its closest rivals. And at 44hp its got the legs to keep up with people on bigger bikes, you'll get them in the corners! Oh and the seat isnt too bad either.

Dont forget i'm on Twitter and Instagram. I hope to be posting more on these channels soon.

Ride safe & eat cake

Lardy 🧈

 

So Where's Lardy's Motorbike? 🙈

So where’s the bike? Its still where it was when I said I'd have it. At the dealership. Its a complex issue, paperwork, the DVLA, importers going into liquidation and “that” pandemic thing lurking around the fringes causing everything to grind to a halt. I’m not upset with eveything going on with SWM but it was May 2020 that I said I was interested in the bike, so for it now to be August, I think I have waited long enough. Its also the other side of summer and after being told by the dealer that I might not see the SWM till the end of the year my decision was made to look for something else.

You may think that the hunt for a new motorbike would have to start all over again due to me choosing the SWM, a bike that fit my criteria at the time. To be honest I had a feeling that the SWM would not get sorted as quickly as I was lead to believe. During this past month I had already looked at other alternatives. I was considering a Honda NC750S and a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 but after sitting on them in a showroom, which was not the issue here, manoeuvring the bikes off the bike was where the problems came out. I really can’t manoeuvre bikes comfortably when the kerb weight is 207kg+ to start with.

I also have to take weight into account when carrying a pillion. Lets do some maths. If I was to take the future misses out on a journey that's:

207kg for the bike (kerb weight)
plus 50-55kg for the pillion
equals 257-262kg,
and that's if the kerb weight starts at the low end of what I can’t manoeuvre.

This is why I am looking for a light weight motorbike, so when the other half comes out with me the total weight is not much more than 200kg (with full tank of fuel). On top of that, I want something that's got a decent amount of power as well. I don't want much do I? 🙄

All this aside, I may have found a motorcycle that fits this “newish” criteria, a bike that my future wife mentioned to me but I dismissed it as I thought it was going to be far too expensive, how wrong was I! I am not going to say what it is, as I have been told it could take up to 4 weeks before I get the bike. Yes, a pandemic, high demand for the motorbike and a manufacturer promotion means there are none available in my area at the moment. I was lucky enough to test ride the bike and was blown away with how it handled, lets just say its a 125cc frame with a bigger engine in. And no, its not a Honda CB300R.

Keep an eye on Twitter as I will post photos on there when I receive the new bike. I now also have Instagram. So you can follow me on there if you prefer more photos and less talking 😆

Ride safe & eat cake

Lardy 🧈

No Bike? What Happens Now?

Its now been over a month since I sold the SV. The saying is correct “You’ll miss it, when its gone”. Its true, not having a motorbike in my life made me feel like something was missing. After putting it off for as long as I could, I started looking for a new bike.

I made it clear to myself that the next bike was going to be under 600cc. I’m not the fastest rider and I’ve always had a soft spot for small capacity engines. I enjoyed my MZ ETZ 125 Saxon Sportstar and a Honda CBF125 when I was younger. I’ve also admired the cafe racer style since those 125cc days as well. Getting a Suzuki GS500E with clip-on style handlebars and bar end mirrors was a massive achievement for me back in 2011. It was the closest to a cafe racer I could get. So with small capacity and cafe racer on my mind off to the internet I went.

After trawling the internet and watching as many bike reviews as possible I shortlisted a Kawasaki Z400, Yamaha MT-03 and Honda CB300R. The reviews for these bikes were the usual “Great for A2 licenses or experienced riders looking for something a bit more practical”. OK, so suitable for everyone then? Don’t get me wrong there are good review websites out there but this was the message I was getting from most of them and they didn’t tell me much more. So grab a hat, put them all in, and pick one? This nearly happened but then I randomly came across a bike I’d never heard of but the criteria for what I wanted was right there, small capacity and cafe racer styling. This bike was the SWM Gran Milano 440.

SWM Gran Milano 440 😀

Sexy right. No matter which angle you look at the bike, it looks good. And I have never seen a bike pull off copper gold like this bike. The Italians know how to design respectable looking motorbikes. After looking at the bike for far to long I showed the bike to the future wife and her reaction was;
“Oh, that’s nice. I prefer that to the Honda. I like the colour as well”. And that was my decision made for which motorbike to test ride. I found an SWM dealership 35 minutes away, on one of my favourite roads, the B5013. I took that as a sign and booked a test ride straight away.

The Test Ride

I loved every minute of it! Pulling out of the dealership and getting up to 50-60mph (80-96kph) was surreal as the bike didn’t want to rip my arms off, like the SV1000 did on numerous occasions, and hitting the first bend came up faster than expected but I pointed the bike in the direction I wanted it to go and it went round without any hesitation. It made me realise how much wrestling I had to do on the SV. The Gran Milano felt effortless, it handled like a 125cc with nearly 4 times the power on tap. I felt I was over correcting a lot but I put that down to getting use to the bike.

It took a few corners to get a feel of what gear the bike liked being in going through the bends. I think I was over cautious to be honest and was always selecting what felt like the wrong gear. After a couple more bends, an up hill straight and a frantic wave to a passing motorcyclist, I pulled in at one of the car parks next to Blithfield reservoir to the delight of the bird watchers. After a fight with finding neutral, and some nasty stares, I turned the bike around and left the Bill Oddy crowd behind. This was a quick test ride but my mind was already made up about this bike.

The ride back was much better, I was more comfortable with the gears and even got to overtake a car. Admittedly the overtake was downhill but the Gran Milano leaped up and flew passed with a lovely bark coming from the pipes. What I have failed to mention is the massive grin on my face I had through all bends and straights on this test ride. When you’re shouting “I’m ******* loving this!” into your helmet mid-corner you know the bike as sold itself to you.

Within minutes of getting off the bike I signed on the dotted line for the bike to be mine. Some paperwork needs to be sorted with the DVLA, and with the COVID-19 issue currently going on that is not happening very quickly, so the waiting game starts. Once I have the keys i'll be sure to post a blog about the first ride as an owner. Stay tuned.

Keep an eye out on Twitter as I am hoping to up my game on that platform with more content. Once I get the bike 😆

Ride Safe & Eat Cake! 🍰

Lardy 🧈

Time to move on

There comes a time when you have to accept that you're are not happy. This came to me during the start of 2020. Three members of my extended family passed away, my gran was diagnosed with cancer behind the knee (its an odd place but only my gran could get something there) that has resulted with an amputation of the leg, a far from perfect environment at my workplace and bloody CO-VID 19, which has lead to the postponement of my wedding. During all this a big question was hanging over my head, “Have I really enjoyed riding the SV1000 for the seven years I’ve had it?”.

The answer was simple, “No, not really” I had to be honest with myself, my motorcycle road craft still feels like it was when I bought the bike in 2013. For the record, I did buy some ebooks on motorcycle road-craft to help combat the issue. I started to feel some improvement and really enjoyed the rides I went out on but I still felt something of an issue deep down. I say issue but it was more like “issues”. In the few years since becoming a home owner, the bike was living at my parents house, which is 15mins from my home, this made going out for a ride feel like a chore due to sitting in traffic every time, and manoeuvring the bike was a painful because of the twice dislocated left shoulder I have. All these problems built up and came out whilst enjoying a beer and music in the garden one afternoon with the misses.
“I want a smaller bike. I’ve had enough of the SV”

“Thought so, you’ve never enjoyed that since you’ve had it” she said.

And that was it, decision made, the SV was going.

The big surprise came when I told my dad I wanted to sell the SV1000. Not the fact I was selling the SV, it was him making me an offer! It was reasonable, plus he’s fixed the SV1000 so many times when it came to number plate holders (won’t miss that problem!), so I accepted it. That was easier than I thought it was going to be, both of us got what we wanted, he got that second bike he’s been wanting and I sold a bike that I’ve never really been comfortable with. Dads a bit taller and bigger than me, also rides a Bandit 1200 which is heavier, so I see him having the SV as the last dance on a supersport bike before my mother tells him its time for a cruiser, which I think he’s looking forward to really.

The SV was defiantly a head turner of a motorbike, with two blue flame exhausts, not everyone was looking at it with delight. It was a talking point to many motorcyclist as to how rare the naked versions of the bike are and how good it looked with the tail-tidy. One of the fondest memories was bringing the bike back 170+ miles from Hampshire and a guy and his misses on a streetfightered Bandit 1200 came across two lanes of traffic and left the group they were riding with just to point at the bike and give the thumbs up.

So this is the end of the SV chapter. I see this as me getting older, maturing as a rider and wanting a new adventure. So what happens now I have no motorbike? "A change is better than a rest" is the saying, lets do it!  

Safe riding and cake eating. Not at the same time though!

Lardy