Bikers for Beating Bowel Cancer: About the bike!

Welcome to Bikers for Beating Bowel Cancer

Thursday 9 September: 10.00pm. Well, we're finally here ready (almost!) to hit the road. Panniers are packed, 6.00am alarm set and a set of google maps laminated to protect against rain (anything standing still enough for long enough is now at serious risk of getting coated in plastic!). And the bike is gleaming - it's never looked this good...

The weather forecast looks fair and at 7.30am our four day two-wheeled mini tour will begin. Richard will be riding, navigating and generally being Officer Commanding and Clare will basically just hope not to fall off and/or fall asleep. Our Big British Ride will touch on the home nations of England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland then back through England, in four days. We'll keep you posted with blogs and tweets (below and to the right) so stay with us!

A huge thank you to everyone for helping us to raise funds and awareness for Beating Bowel Cancer through our Big British Ride - in memory of a lovely lady who meant so much to so many people, Kath Maynard (aka The Mothership).

Have a quick look at the links to the right below about the bike, the route, a bit more about bowel cancer (with a lovely pic of mother at our wedding and (of course!) the link to click if you would still like to make a donation.

So what would mother think? We like to think she'd approve ....

Thank you and see you soon ! Richard, Clare and Russell (Father).

We are riding a 1998 Yamaha XJ900 Diversion. The bike is completely standard – the only slight modification is a stainless steel front exhaust system (the original rotted away) connected to the original silencers. To take the strain off my wrist, I have also fitted a Motrax cruise aid, which allows the throttle to be held open with the palm of the hand, instead of always having to grip the twistgrip.

The bike is fitted with hard luggage – panniers and top box, and we will be using an Oxford tank bag.

I have fitted a Garmin Nuvi GPS (£60, Amazon). This is a car sat-nav which I have adapted for bike use by fitting a Hama sat-nav holder to the handlebars and wired in a 12v power supply from the bike’s battery.

The Diversion is a shaft-drive four cylinder aircooled touring bike. The engine produces 90hp and the official top speed in 127mph.

The fuel tank holds 24 litres, and average consumption is 41mpg, so we reckon on getting about 150mph between fuel stops. ‘Official’ range is 215 miles but I’ve never risked it!

Oh and one final detail – it weighs 260kg when it topples over and crunches your ankle tendons.

We have owned the bike for three years and this is our longest trip to date, having previously toured the D-Day Beaches of Normandy. It is also my regular transport to work.

We will be using a Scala Rider Teamset wireless intercom, with a cheapo Lidl unit as back-up if the Bluetooth system fails.