Hells Nerds Motorcycle Club
Home of the Hells Nerds Motorcycle Club
You may recognise Swiss cameraman and film maker Claudio from the Long Way Round/Down/Up motorbiking series. I really enjoyed this interview he did with Adventure Rider. Claudio seems like such an unassuming, modest guy. And of course he has some amazing stories.
Enjoy.
I found this link via another documentary film maker @UchujinPhoto who is planning to join Hells Nerds as soon as he gets a motorbike. Oh, and a bike licence. Let’s hope it takes fewer attempts than Claudio needed ;-).
Welcome Christian Hambly. The newest member of the Hells Nerds. Meeting at a Hotel Chocolate outlet store to officially launch the UK Chapter, we grabbed coffee, a sack of bargain chocolate and I handed Christian his membership patch.
It’s easy to join. You just need to be officially invited on a ride out and if you want in, that’s pretty much it. (We might have to consider some epic initiation if things get busy.)
We then took a short ride north to MotoEdit a Motorbike workshop where I plan drop the bike in for some mods.
During the current pandemic it’s great to feel a part of something. Anything. Especially an activity that gets you out on your bike, physically distant from friends, but also together.
As a subculturalist I love how Hells Nerds can scratch the two itches of being nerdy and craving motorcycle adventures. Although on this occasion as I also took some radio tech with me, HAM Radio was also covered. Not sure why amateur radio is not listed on Wikipedia as a subculture. If it was I’d get to tick off 13 separate subcultural interests.
Christian aka Freelance Geek is nerdy every day. It’s his job. In fact he has kindly set up this website for the Hells Nerds MC and I’ve knocked up this temporary logo which is blatantly modified from an aircraft engine manufacturer who briefly made motorbikes in the 20’s.
I’ve got some rough ideas for a more legit logo but if I can confirm this is no longer licensed I might modify it a little more and make it ours.
This website is a work in progress and will evolve as we add more stories of the Hells Nerds in action. Both in the UK and where the club was born, in the US. So check back as things develop.
Once again, welcome to Christian. The newest member of The Hells Nerds, an international and steadily expanding club.
Get in touch if you would like to join.
Was that title a little too abstract?
After watching the first four episodes of Long Way Up on Apple TV my main takeaway (outside of everything I talked about in my newsletter review) was that I need a winter jacket for my motorbike. I really liked what Ewan McGregor was wearing. But £700? Really? Does it come with a second hand DT125 and a flight to Turkey? No.
Luckily I found an almost identical jacket called the Spada Staffy.
Here it is being shown off with my best catalogue pose.
The cherry on the cake is that there are new ones on Ebay going for £97. Half price! Double stitched, thermal lining, body armour, rain channel and storm flaps are just some of the features. First time out in it on the bike and chucked it down. Luckily the jacket passed the test. I stayed warm and dry even without the thermal liner. It’s rare that I’m this chuffed with a purchase. I do have a shorter Belstaff summer jacket. Love it. Plus it only ripped a bit when I fell off on the Devil’s highway. But when a very similar jacket costs £600 less then I think Belstaff need to take a look at their pricing.
[Update: I dropped my Triumph Tiger the other day. Sorry I mean I had to ‘lay it down’. Fast. Rider error. The elbow pads protected me from any bruising and the arm cloth has a scuff but no tears. YOu do know I’m doing this intensive testing just for you right?]
I thought i’d share my recent experiments testing the Rode Pro Lav into the GoPro Hero 7 Black.
This 14min video (you don’t have to watch it all) is comprised of a few clips pieced together as I test this set up for the first time. I’m hoping to use some kind of system like this on future motorbike trips.
My YouTube channel is not set for monetisation so if you see any adverts it’s not my doing. Thanks for watching.
So I did it. I bought a new (secondhand) bike. Feels risky.
Only time will tell if it becomes something I regret. So far so good.
If past experience is anything to go by, the amount of adventure to be had on a motorbike tour may be tied to how manageable your bike is.
Strapping stuff to a bike and taking off was something introduced to me at an early age. The ride to my high school was a 16 mile round trip. I felt like a pushbike could take me anywhere.
And it did. As a kid, the family holiday involved a tour of Normandy and Brittany on pushbikes. Everyday a painful adventure and almost enough to put me off cycling for ever.
My first motorbike meant pain-free instant freedom. Found in the back of my friend’s dad’s garage it was a derestricted 70’s Suzuki AP50 in Baja blue. It belonged to his dad and if you fed it enough oil it would do just over 50 mph. It was meant to tide me over while I got my car licence but instead it gave me the bug.
Motorbike riders could go places cars couldn’t. And they all nodded as they passed each other. Just having a bike allowed you entry to this club. Even the regional biker gang The Outlaws would stop to chat.“That was my first bike”smiled one guy with a tattooed face and handlebars taller than him.
It felt like I belonged to something bigger than me. Not The Outlaws. They were a scary bunch. I mean bikers in general.
A kid I’d beaten in a street race offered to buy my Suzuki for more than I’d paid. The deal was done in a carpark. I later heard that the engine had seized the following day. He’d forgot to feed it oil.
I bought my second bike from a back-patched biker at a party. A not entirely pain free all black Honda CM125 custom. It had leather hanging from the handle bars. With leather tassels also hiding the L-plate I felt confident getting in some motorway miles.
It was such a comfy ride that I once suddenly woke up on the bike having dreamt I’d hit a brick wall built across the motorway. It was 4am on the way home from Rock City. And I was on the motorway. That was the last time I ever fell asleep on a bike.
Later, after a car cut my bike and nearly me in half, I would find out it was two stolen bikes welded together. The police took the bits away. I still have my scratched leather jacket and the memory of the speeding drivers face as I momentarily entered his car through the side window.
After a short break where I mostly drove a Peugeot 205, I had a Kawasaki Z400, a Suzuki Bandit 400 import, a Yamaha XJR1300, an LML Star Delux (Vespa clone) and a BMW F650 GS. Following this was the bike I’ve had the longest, a 2008 Triumph Scrambler.
In Southeast Asia I rode a Honda Dream C100. India I rode a Rajdoot (Yamaha RD350) and briefly borrowed a BMW R90. In Turkey a Yamaha DT 125 and in New Zealand VT750s. Then for the last few years in the US I have rode a lovely Triumph T120.
The most fun and adventure I’ve had has always been on smaller more manageable bikes. Smaller physically not just engine size but the two are often the same. The 90, the 125, the 250, the 350 and weirdly the T120.
A pushbike can go anywhere but you need the time. A powered vehicle can get you into and out of places faster. Something in between these two would be the perfect choice. As Austin Vince said “What you want is a bicycle with the power of a BMW GS1200”.
So why have I just bought the Triumph Tiger?
A few reasons. But mainly because out of all the bikes I rode the last couple of weeks this was the best allrounder. It might be we become a one car family soon and I’d happily ride the Tiger any distance all year round.
I feel the Royal Enfield Himalayan would be the most fun for long distance touring, but I’d need at least a month. No, the Tiger is the bike for these narrow windows of time. These moments I have to snatch between being a stay at home dad and all the things I do for money.
Whether it be a quick trip across country at the weekend or a fast first leg to get out and explore some corner of Europe… I feel the Tiger can handle it.
It’s got a smaller engine than my Scrambler and physically bigger than I like. But I can still just about pick it up should I drop it. And I likely will.
When I popped into the Triumph garage where I’d initially borrowed an 800 for a test ride, they seemed disappointed. I foolishly thought they’d be pleased to see me returning on a Triumph. After all the bikes I’d tried I had stayed ‘on brand.’
But they had pushed me towards this years 1200cc. This appears to be what the industry thinks is the perfect size for an adventure bike. And here I was, full circle, but now on a second hand fully equipped Tiger 800.
I have no idea how me and the bike will get on over the next few thousand miles. All I know is that I did not succumb to the offers of ‘unbeatable finance’. I bought my bike cash at a decent price with money I’d saved up for the tax man.
Some might think this a reckless or potentially hazardous action.
Isn’t that one definition of adventure?
Crashed my bike.
I thought i’d cross a bloated ford. Legs in the air I committed to it like it was a big puddle and I was on a pushbike.
But it was a little deeper than a puddle. And really slippy. I hit the deck and got a helmet full of water.
The last time I properly crashed a motorbike was two years ago on the Devil’s Highway (Issue 094 of my newsletter ‘Born To Be Mild 10th November 2017).
Maybe the Triumph knew I was planning to get another bike. We have been together now for nine years. Nine years tomorrow. And yet i’ve never named it/her/him. I aim to name my next bike.
Our next car will be electric and I wanted the same for my next bike. But there is no affordable electric bike that suits my needs. Not yet. I’d really like this.
But it’s £21,000.
I think the price will come down in a couple of years but when you can get a Royal Enfield Himalayan for £4000 you’d have to have a lot of spare cash to make the leap to electric. The Himalayan will do 80mpg. I went to see one this week and plan to test drive soon.
I’ll not buy new though. There are plenty of decent bikes looking for new homes.
Anyway.
I need to get to fixing the break pedal after the altercation with the ford. I’m very thankful I didn’t break myself.
Although while running errands for a relative this week I did find out that I can carry crutches on the back of the bike. Hopefully this skill will not come in handy again.
