Hello all.
It’s been a while since I’ve been on here.
I’m currently in the planning stages of a charity bike run.
3 small motorcycles (80-100cc) North Walsham in Norfolk to Inverness and back within 48hrs. Our charity of choice is the Big C.
Now, our target average speed is 45mph and if we can avoid the major motorways we will but still need to keep on half decent roads. As a rough outline we are currently running local roads to Kings Lynn, then the A17, A1,A68,A720,M8,M9,M90,A9. Now, I’m reasonably confident that, that route will suffice and serve for a decent run. Having said that, I haven’t been North of Edinburgh for 10yrs. (In fairness, I haven’t been North of Stafford for the last 5yrs!!! )
So, there we are. Do you have any thoughts on this route? Any help would be welcome, cynical keyboard warriors can crack on.
Remember and take some pics and post them up for us
A68 north of Galashields is a good road, few speed cameras, and camera vans sometimes park up in the laybys.
A720 (Edinburgh city bypass) can be a glorified car park at times, but shouldn’t effect you on a bike
From Edinburgh up to Perth M8/M9/M90… Boring motorways
A9 Perth to Inverness, average speed cameras all the way, beautiful scenery, watch out for deer, pheasants and rabbits… most of the big deer I see are out at night but have seen the odd stag running around in the day light. Crazy overtaking is common, and trucks that don’t pull in to let traffic past.
Thanks Bob. We have a been given the use of a Sprinter by Orwell Trucks Norwich. So, the aim is to give us some rear protection on the motorways and fast roads, but also the man in the passenger seat will hopefully keep our Facebook event page up to date with progress and photos, hopefully the odd video so that we can be tracked as the journey goes on. So, when the deed is done, I should be able to make a decent report up. It’s a rough estimate that it’s going to be around 13-14hrs riding each way, plus breaks. Hopefully we’ll be a little swifter. It’s a bit bonkers really, but then so is the indiscriminate disease.
I organised and took part in a charity motorbike ride - The Makro Challenge quite a few years ago. We visited every MAKRO store in the UK (Not Ireland) in 72 hours. If I remember correctly it was around 2700 miles - maybe nearer 3000. We used large capacity bikes and all route planning and calculations showed it was do-able.
We started in Scotland and ended in Manchester. By the third store it was quite obvious it wasn’t do-able within legal speed limits and we really had to push the boundaries a ‘little’ to keep anywhere near the schedule we needed. It was a good job they were big bikes! Even on bikes traffic was an issue. Fuel stops took longer and longer as we got tired and the weather turned against us with torrential rain in places which really slows you down.
We made it but I have never been so exhausted.
I also did a 1000 mile in 24 hour ride for Royal British Legion a few years back. Again I was on a large capacity bike and again it surprised me how quick we actually needed to go. If I remember correctly we did something like 1230 miles in 21 1/2 hours.
So all I’m saying is watch out on the planning. My experience is that no matter how I calculated and what average speeds I used it is surprising how much faster I had to go. On the Makro one some of the stints were literally on the throttle stop wherever we could - and they were BIG bikes. So work on your average speed and make it a realistic ‘low’ speed. The problem with the small bikes is you’ve not got any reserves of speed.
Hi Rob,
Route looks ok to me but I think timing will be critical since you’ve only got 48hrs.
The A1 has major roadworks between Leeming Bar and Scotch Corner with average cameras and as Bob has mentioned the Edinburgh City Bypass(A720) Can be like a giant car park at rush hour also a lot of work going on at the Forth road bridge so it would probably be a good idea to try and pass these areas off peak.
Also keep an eye on the weather forecast, the high and exposed areas of the A68 and the A9 can be brutal if the weather takes a bad turn even in the summer
Best of luck and hope everything goes well
Iain
As others have said, on small bikes you are going to seriously struggle to maintain a 45mph average, especially once you factor in fuel stops and the fact that some of your route is going to be on speed restricted roads. e.g. The ACU National Road Rally is planned assuming a riding average of 30mph over 600 miles or so, and participants on small machines genuinely struggle with this average (some riders of much larger bikes also find it a challenge).
Thanks for your advice guys. To be honest I took my average speed from how long I think it would take me loaded at 44t. I’m pretty sure I can do it in a lorry at 13hrs driving. The bikes should cruise on decent roads at about 50-55. But obviously I’d like to run at lower speed. We have the back up vehicle and crew so I’m hoping refuelling will be done at very brief intervals away from filling stations (out of cans)
It’s a massive challenge but I figuared
If it was going to be straight forward and easy then it wasn’t worth doing. We are planning on leaving at day break and hopefully we will arrive by sunset.
Am I worried? Hell yes. But no amount of my own discomfort could ever compare to someone fighting this evil and cruel blight on our world.
Genuinely, thanks once again for your advice. Much appreciated. Rob
Might be worth contacting the IAM (institute of advanced motorists), the bike groups do marshalling for charity events. A group of smaller bikes would be safer with a group of high visibility larger bikes around you. Best of luck with the event !
