Go with Stokes - time for a motorcycle adventure
Poland on a Honda Superdream sidecar outfit
We had a visit from another adventurer on Wednesday at Wemoto. This time it was Mr David Stokes aboard his beautiful blue Honda Superdream sidecar outfit. Now David is a pukka adventurer who has criss crossed the globe on various adventures, most of which have been on motorcycles and all of which have involved tea. David dropped into Wemoto on Wednesday to pick up some parts for his bike and tell us about his latest trip which is due to start on April 24th and will take him to Poland via Denmark and Sweden. While he was here we asked him a few questions about his previous trips, his current trip, life the universe and everything and he kindly agreed to come back and tell us the rest of the story and his adventures when he gets back.
Q Why Poland for this trip?
A I have been to Poland before and really liked it, it is a beautiful country and I had made a mental note to return some day. The people are lovely and just want to help but most importantly I know the words for tea – herbata, please – prosze, thank you – dziekuje and I can count to three in Polish so what could possibly go wrong! Plus I am going via Denmark and Sweden which should be really fun.
Q Did you already have the bike and sidecar?
A No I got it for a round the world trip which I am also planning – the Poland trip, although it is going to be great in its own right, is something of a dry run for the big trip to iron out any wrinkles with bike, sidecar, camping etc.... Yes I am going to be partly camping and partly staying in hostels or hotels. I have an airbed, a pop up tent, a cooker and most importantly a teapot, so I am fully equipped for camping. However this will only happen if it is good weather, i.e not raining or cold as the journey is supposed to be enjoyable not an endurance test.
Q How much preparation have you had to do – when did you start?
A Well I started preparing really about 6 months ago and honestly for me half the pleasure of the trip is the anticipation and doing the preparation.
Here’s what I have done to the bike and sidecar:
Firstly I took the seat out of the sidecar and threw it away along with the existing sidelight. I rewired it and installed a 50 amp car battery in the sidecar with a pair of old jump leads cannibalised and turned into cables leading to where the battery had once lived in the bike. There are battery isolators fitted to a wooden panel at the back of the sidecar. The battery gets topped up at camspites at night to be on the safe side.
The sidecar needs to be carrying at least the weight of a person for the balance and stability of the whole outfit, so it is fitted out with lots of useful heavy stuff like a water tank with 10 litres of water in it, the battery, the tool kit and all the camping equipment – who needs a boot! And it all balances beautifully on its Austin 7 tyres with their square tread which is better for the not-leany sidecar. The sidecar has a lamp from Aylesford autojumble and the bike is fitted out with a steering damper, a sat nav and soon will have a tyrepal wireless or bluetooth read out on the handlebars to monitor the tyre pressures. In fact all mod cons!
Q How long will it take and how long will you be riding for each day?
A Well I am setting off from Harwich on April the 24th so nearly ready for the off now and I have to be back towards the end of May for my Dad’s birthday.
I don’t just ride flat out all day – it’s much more fun to go at a speed which means I can enjoy everything I see along the way. I just get up not too early in the morning, have my essential cup of tea then I ride until about 4pm when I start looking for somewhere nice to stop for the night if I haven’t booked anything in advance. I never ride at night ever since I got rear ended in a caravan at night in Morocco on the way to the Dakar rally – needless to say I didn’t make it!
Q So what trips do you have planned next?
A Well that’s all pending – I have to kiss a lot of frogs first! I would really like to go to India on a Royal Enfield and I intend to go round the world on my Superdream sidecar outfit...hopefully it will all happen, watch this space...
Q What was your first trip and where have you been since?
A I rode to Marrakesh on a 2 stroke Sym scooter in 2007 – it was fun – have a look at my website for photos of that great bike ‘on location’! I have done lots of trips since – Syria and Jordan, Armenia which actually ended up being Bulgaria due to a broken clutch but led to 2 lovely weeks in Split, and Tunisia - all the details are on my website ‘
Go with Stokes!’ - readers of a certain age will get the reference there!
Q A bit desert island Discs here but what is the one luxury from home you couldn’t do without?
A Tea, completely essential I couldn’t survive without it – I have a kettle, a teapot, a nice mug and Dairystix of milk so even if I can’t get tea where I stop, I can always make my own - couldn’t do without it!
Q And finally, what is the best thing about your trips?
A definitely meeting all the people along the way – I haven’t met anyone I didn’t like, other bikers, other Brits, Scandinavians, Eastern Europeans – everyone,all of them are nice.
So there you have it anything is possible with a smart car, a Sym, a Royal Enfield, a Honda Superdream sidecar outfit – the world’s your oyster! We wish David the very best of luck for his next and all subsequent trips and he will report back from his next one so that we can hear how he got on – meanwhile keep on keeping on David!
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