Destination Biarritz
1000 miles on a just-finished custom is a challenge. New boy Ben Lindley climbs aboard Bike’s Yamaha Yard Built XSR700 for its maiden voyage. So that’s Rotherham to Biarritz…
IT'S JUNE AND I’m on the doorstep of custom bike builder Down & Out’s Rotherham HQ. Today is a big day for them, Bike magazine and Yamaha because today is the day Down & Out bosses Carl and Shaun unveil our latest custom project. Today is also the day we fire it up and ride this shop-fresh custom bike 1000 miles to Biarritz in the south of France… Wind back the clock two months: Bike receive a call from Yamaha. As part of their custom Yard Built project eight countries across Europe are building a bike each and debuting them at the now legendary Wheels and Waves festival, Biarritz. Yamaha want Bike to join with fast rising stars of the UK custom bike scene Down & Out to represent the United Kingdom. Today is the culmination of that project and the resolution of its ups, and downs (see Bike, June, July and Aug). Right from the drawing board this bike has been built to ride. Distances. We also have a strong suspicion that most of the Wheels and Waves Yard Builts will arrive in the south of France lovingly strapped into the backs of vans. Nobody actually rides their custom bikes, do they? And so it is with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that I watch as the doors to Down & Out’s HQ swing open for the big reveal… Leaving Down & Out’s Rotherham base it’s immediately clear the character of the stock XSR has survived its transformation, best summed up as urban, utilitarian adventure. To my surprise the stiffer than stock Öhlins rear shock provides better road holding and sits less with hard acceleration. It’s far from the muscle-
clenchingly experience I was expecting. Because less of the bike’s power is lost in the suspension movement it’s even easier to lift the front end than it is with the unmolested factory version. Give it the slightest whiff of a crest and the front rises with an almost digital immediacy. And that’s in second gear, too. We’ve got the whole day to make it to the Portsmouth-le Havre ferry and northern England’s midday motorways quickly give way to the M25’s crushing rush hour. The wide LSL handlebars and firm suspension means furious filtering is readily available. Shaun and Carl are either side of me riding an XSR900 and an XV950. The plan is to swap bikes throughout the trip so we can all get a feel for how things have changed and developed. Commuting chaos finally gives way to the calm of the beautiful South Downs National Park. This is proper riding thanks to roads that twist and leap between hills that bunch up towards the coast. We pull up to The Kings Arms, which cuddles into a kink on the A286 just south of Fernhurst. The XSR dazzles in the late afternoon sun and we stand back and take a breath for the first today. What began as a quick pit stop turns into a visit to the Indian restaurant next door. It’s called Banyan. Try their £7 Swordfish Tikka. Our unexpected Tikka refuel has put us behind schedule and it’s now a race to the ferry, taking in one of the longest left handers in the country. The sun’s dying on us. The views are pretty and this
road south of Cocking would be a corker, if it were daylight. We scythe past silent fields and slip through sleepy villages. I’m now on the XV950 and watching the XSR700 in front of me. It looks damn good in the gloaming: flat and wide bars, knobblies, Transformer-style headlight. It all looks good on the move. Night, ferry terminal, queues, straps, bar, cabin. And what a stuffy cabin. We three squeeze in and settle down for the night. Six hours later we are dockside in Le Havre and up for the big push to the glamour of Biarritz. I need to shove my required-by-law highvis somewhere, so I turn to the hard panniers. Carl cable tied them shut, worried they might vibrate open on the move. Stuff that, these things are here to be used. The high-vis jacket fits neatly inside. We barrel off towards Honfleur and then west along the coast on the D513. This is a good introduction to the weird road rules and high hedgerows of Normandy – make sure you get to grips with the priority from the right rule if you’re ever riding here. The road flicks and slides along the hillocky coastline, grand chateaus regularly punctuating the spectacle that is the French coast and rural interior. Stony-faced sceptics back at the Bike office had warned that every custom rides worse than the original machine, but our XSR is a blast in the bends. Those knobbly Continental TKC 80s in standard 180 and 120 sizes had been a particular bone of contention. In practice and cranked over the tread does shift and in an unsettling way, but the truth is you soon get used to it. The grip is most definitely there for fast road riding. But what do the Down & Out boys think of the bike? Carl swaps the XV950 cruiser for the custom XSR and immediately pulls a decent enough wheelie. He’s enjoying himself and admits, ‘I’m really surprised. I rode it round our parking lot and thought the engine was gutless.’ Shaun chimes in. ‘I think the 700’s a better-looking bike than the 900. I also prefer the power on
the you 700.can reallyThe nine have just some feels fun too on.’ harsh and fast for me. This is a bike S20-shod Further bigger south brother.and the 700’s There’s keepinga stunnerup wellof a withroad in its the Bridgestone Normandie-maineChênedouit and Lignières-orgères.Regional Nature It’s Park bumpy– the D51 and betweensingle track in places, but its small scale suits our XSR better than it does the 900 triple. We stop for a steak tartare at Le Lido in the pretty town of Bagnoles-de-l’orne. Its town centre surrounds a well-manicured lake which shimmers in the afternoon sun. Back on the bikes and the steak tartare has put us behind schedule so we hit the A28 and A10 and munch up some miles. We overnight in Cognac, but not before a taxi ride to the Garden Ice Café for late night food. Its kitchen stays open until 1am. Be wary of the strong but delicious Affligem Belgian blonde they have on tap: it’s just shy of seven per cent and that can hurt the morning after. Today’s is Wheels and Waves day and we have to be there, on display with the other Yard Builts by 3pm. We’re making quick work of the A63, but the knobblies let down the XSR700 above 100mph. The bars wobble slightly at that speed, probably made worse by a combination of geometry and speed taking weight off the front tyre. There’s no crosswind – the treetops flashing past are all still. I try out some cack-handed direction changes, nothing untoward happens. Finally Biarritz appears on the signposts and Rotherham, all of a sudden, feels like it’s a long way away – culturally and geographically. Soon we are lost in a maze of peg-scraping roundabouts. The festival itself is a sprawling street of tents south of the town centre. It’s a blaze of colourful helmets, ratty
‘Most of the other Yard Builts arrive in vans and are shammied for the show. Not ours’
two-strokesandthis mad what inner sounds belching sanctum,like smoke, competitionwhile crowds hundredDJS. cheeringSelect more bikesat spill the are into wall allowedtheof death, into surroundingcan’t help but streets.be impressed. Whether or not you walk the custom line, you We’ve got a grey band for the XSR that allows us to ride straight in. As we predicted most of the other Yard Builts arrive in vans and are meticulously shammied for the show. Not ours. It stands out in a field of well-buffed sumps, the dust and dirt a proud illustration of 1000 miles travelled. And, now we are here, what do Carl and Shaun think about the XSR? Does it really measure up to the urban utilitarian adventure billing? Carl thinks so: ‘I wouldn’t change a thing,’ he says. ‘I like riding it the way it is.’ Shaun is more critical. ‘I’m six foot something and the mirror position is horrendous. My knees hit them every time I turn the bars. But when the baggage comes off I actually prefer the seating position on the 700 to the 900.’ I’d change a few things, too. The underslung mirrors are difficult to locate in a hurry as they partly hide under my arms. Lifesavers are mandatory, even on motorways. Replacing the flat mirrors with slightly convex items would improve things significantly. For constant use the microswitch switchgear proves frustrating. I’d be looking for a more usable solution for my next big adventure. Surprisingly, I decide I would keep the knobblies given the choice. The feel isn’t too compromised for everything but extreme lean and 100mph cruising. Even Randy Mamola likes them. ‘Those tyres look awesome,’ he says as he strolls by. You’ve got to be happy with that.