The best laid plans...

Stolen from the poem 'to a mouse' or the better known novel, 'of mice and men' the quote:

'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]'

Translated, this line reveals a hard fact of life. No matter how much you can plan something or prepare yourself for it, something will always go wrong - expect the unexpected. On several occasions over the past few years, this has been so relevant to my biking life.

Since we returned from our 50cc Fairbourne road trip in August 2010, I have done nothing else but plan, research and organise future adventures. I have priced up fuel costs, estimated mileage and discovered interesting places to stay. It pains me to say it but... I haven't done half of the things that I've planned to do.

A very wet trip to Woolacombe

Something always comes up and throws a spanner in the works, for instance our 2011 Woolacombe trip was plagued with delays, people dropping out and awful weather. So it ended up being a very wet four days as opposed to the sunny week we had planned together. My France trip in 2012 was originally planned as a tour of Europe - exploring France, Italy, Germany and Belgium but due to money and people still on CBTs, this plan was scrapped and I visited family in the Charente on my own instead.

Last year we decided to drop our ambitions and plan a cheaper trip - so it would be more doable for everybody. Scotland was in our sights; legal wild camping, beautiful scenery and relatively close to us. It sounded perfect and more importantly, cheap. However, in what seemed no time at all, people were dropping out and this was yet another flop.

This is the main reason why I'm reluctant to reveal upcoming trips that I'm planning because (from past experience) they'll most likely be delayed, changed or perhaps just scrapped altogether.

However, pessimism aside, I have two trips planned within the next 3 months. If everything goes to plan I shall be leaving for Scotland on the 23rd of August, spending nine days out in the highlands. Hopefully I will be accompanied by a couple of members from S.L.A.P and other YouTube Vloggers that I have met before.

The next trip is a big 'maybe' but I'm really pushing to execute it. My 21st Birthday is two weeks into January and I thought; what better way to spend it than on an epic motorcycle adventure? So over the past few months I have been planning a 2500 mile overland trip of Morocco. We will be riding to Portsmouth and catching the ferry to Bilbao in northern Spain. After riding through Spain, we'll board the ferry to Morocco and the rest of the adventure will unfold...

The atlas mountains in Morocco

... but that's not the best part - we're doing it on 125s.

I'm determined to do them. I'm positive that there will be no more flops. I'm pushing harder than ever to make these trips happen and have came to realise that it's okay to do things on your own and not to be put off if others can't make it.

So in six months time, I may have some interesting stories to tell...

Let's hope that these laid plans unfold.

Why I picked the Fz6

If you have read my previous blog post: 'Thoughts on my next bike' then you may be wondering why I bought my Yamaha Fz6n. A Fazer wasn't mentioned at all - I was originally looking at bikes such as the 650 Vstrom or the Xt660r. I didn't consider the naked 600 an option at all.

However, in my specification I stated that I would like a bike with better fuel economy, superior comfort and practical, hard luggage. For some reason I totally bypassed bikes like Fazers, Bandits and Hornets. How many middleweight nakeds do you see with hard luggage doing road trips? Loads.

The Fz6 ticks all of my boxes... kind of.

The new beast - Yamaha Fz6n

First of all, there is an obvious change in comfort. Compared to my old Sv which had fairly low bars but (more importantly) very high foot pegs, this Fazer feels like I'm sat in an armchair. My 6"1 frame fits comfortably into the roomy saddle. My wrists are no longer aching as the raised bars give me hours of riding with minimal complaints. But the foot pegs make the biggest difference, my flamingo legs are no longer touching my elbows, they are much more relaxed without compromising much ground clearance - although my foot peg has hit the floor once or twice.

Although my bike isn't currently fitted with any hard luggage it quite easily can be. Top boxes are the easiest and cheapest form of luggage for my 2005 model Fz6n. Being a pre-07 model, the pillion foot pegs are welded to the subframe as opposed to being bolted on like later models - this restricts the ability to add on panniers. This is a fairly big deal as the underseat exhausts prevent most soft throw-overs from being used - they'd just melt. Luckily, I have obtained a pair of semi-rigid panniers that fit fine, without coming into contact with the silencers. My trip later in the year is to tour Scotland, nine days wild camping. So by using an upcoming Wales weekend trip in July as a trial run, I will test out my throw overs and see whether buying a top box would be necessary.

Finally, fuel economy. Standard Fz6s average at around 45mpg but with the aid of the power commander fitted to my bike, it's hitting over 50mpg - and that's not bad considering I don't take it that steady. This is about the same, if not better than the Sv's fuel consumption. So there's nothing to complain about, but it's nothing to rave about either.

How well will it cope for a long haul? Only one way to find out...

Compared to the Sv, it is better in every way; it is more economical, comfier and has over twenty extra horsepower. So it fits the bill alright but is still yet to be tested on a road trip, this weekend to Wales will be the test to see how it performs.

Yet the biggest reason I picked this particular Fz6 is because... it was a bloody good bargain! And we all love a good deal, don't we?

Let's just hope I've made the right decision.