2025 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Chargeride]

The stepdaughter is quite a fan.
Meatloaf meets grunge.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The stepdaughter is quite a fan.
Meatloaf meets grunge.

Any Tenacious D fan knows what one can do with their

Now, seriously. My Vado SL with the pannier off, rear rack and Range Extender on weighs some 18.5 kg. It is the same as your usual inexpensive traditional bike.

 

[Chargeride]

This will require investigation.

 

[Chargeride]

Whats with Sparkys last post?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Whats with Sparkys last post?

It looks he said his last goodbyes. He was not healthy.

 

[DaveMatthews]

It looks he said his last goodbyes. He was not healthy.

Where's this? Dayum...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Where's this? Dayum...

Latest Profile's Posts on the main page.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Latest Profile's Posts on the main page.

Just found it... this sucks...

 

[Chargeride]

Cant reply to the post either

 

[Chargeride]

Im in Devon, hired a 2025 Nissan Qashqai, modern cars wtf.
You cant get in and turn the key to aux to wind down the windows, you have to depress the clutch and start the thing.
Everything is automatic, a bewildeing array of completely untuitive buttons, touch screens and unfathomable centre console settings.
It has an auto electric handbrake, so I meet my first hill and it just rolls back at the lights, slam the brakes, auto hold is flashing, press it.
Car rolls back again, guy behind is beeping, press it again and it works.
Duck that, Im using the the clutch to hold the thing from now on.
On the motorway when a truck passes, it cuts the power slightly and pulls the wheel away from the truck, Im not making this up.
Every time I start it I have to clear a sharing personal info with nissan prompt , the sat nav is completely incapable of understanding a single word I say..not a single one.
Instead of just opening the hatch I have to long press the fob and it starts beeping like a reversing van as it slowly powers up, same for closing.
It has the turbo powerband of a 70s two stroke motorcross bike, I nearly rear ended a car I was passing as it kicked in.
A huge screen in the middle and a screen dash with prompts on the dash like OK and Accept, some you clear with the stalks, some with the touch screen.

Im actually scared of the car, seriously.
It pulls you back into lane on these windy roads and vibrates your hands.

I get out to pay for gas, will it lock my mother in if I leave the keys or if I walk out of range?
'Dont lock me in' she says.
I just left the door open.

Everytime I get in it the seat hsd returned to full back and I cant reach the clutch to start it to power it forward.

I spent 10 mins with the manual trying to set a profile for me, with prompts for phone number and contacts access.

I will never ever buy a new car EV or gas.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Im in Devon, hired a 2025 Nissan Qashqai, modern cars wtf.
You cant get in and turn the key to aux to wind down the windows, you have to depress the clutch and start the thing.
Everything is automatic, a bewildeing array of completely untuitive buttons, touch screens and unfathomable centre console settings.
It has an auto electric handbrake, so I meet my first hill and it just rolls back at the lights, slam the brakes, auto hold is flashing, press it.
Car rolls back again, guy behind is beeping, press it again and it works.
Duck that, Im using the the clutch to hold the thing from now on.
On the motorway when a truck passes, it cuts the power slightly and pulls the wheel away from the truck, Im not making this up.
Every time I start it I have to clear a sharing personal info with nissan prompt , the sat nav is completely incapable of understanding a single word I say..not a single one.
Instead of just opening the hatch I have to long press the fob and it starts beeping like a reversing van as it slowly powers up, same for closing.
It has the turbo powerband of a 70s two stroke motorcross bike, I nearly rear ended a car I was passing as it kicked in.
A huge screen in the middle and a screen dash with prompts on the dash like OK and Accept, some you clear with the stalks, some with the touch screen.

Im actually scared of the car, seriously.
It pulls you back into lane on these windy roads and vibrates your hands.

I get out to pay for gas, will it lock my mother in if I leave the keys or if I walk out of range?
'Dont lock me in' she says.
I just left the door open.

Everytime I get in it the seat hsd returned to full back and I cant reach the clutch to start it to power it forward.

I spent 10 mins with the manual trying to set a profile for me, with prompts for phone number and contacts access.

I will never ever buy a new car EV or gas.

You seem to be a very conservative person, Chris.
As I own no car now, I rent cars from time to time, especially for the holiday trip, and it is often abroad. Driving in the UK or Ireland is no issue for me (although I damaged the passenger side mirror on our Ireland trip! The stone bridge was too narrow!)

The love the modern driving aids. For instance, the car I rented In Ireland required me carrying the electronic key in my pocket (never remove it from the pocket!) The car's door locked when we leaved the car, and the door got unlocked on my approach, with the START button ready to be pressed. The parking brake could activate automatically whenever appropriate.

A Ford Mondeo I rented for our Poland -> Czech Republic -> Austria -> Hungary -> Slovakia -> Poland trip had a kind of assist for the car staying stationary on an incline. Just push the gas pedal and the thing rides up. Once, I tried to deactivate the helper... Bear in mind I got my driving license on a funny Fiat 126p a.k.a. "Fart" which was as manual as possible. Deactivating the incline helper in Ford had almost ended in a catastrophe (I'm sure you deactivated the incline helper, Chris!)

"I'm in love with the modern world"
/The Modern Lovers, "Roadrunner"/

Just after @Brix had temporarily fixed the damaged mirror

 

[Chargeride]

I simply hate unecessary complexity and relying on computers to assume control at their wish.
It might be OK on a highly maintained and multiple failsafe Airbus, but on my own vehicle that will only be checked when it fails...nope.
The wheel pulling is ridiculous, OK youll get used to it but I actually thought I had blown a tyre, might heart was pounding.
I worked out it was reacting to the wind blast, it kinda feels like youve hit sand.
This at 60mph on the motorway.
You constantly cross whites lines here and its constantly pulling you off line.
cant seem to turn it off

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You constantly cross whites lines here and its constantly pulling you off line.

I would greatly appreciate such a feature on our Ireland's trip. My only issue was driving dangerously close to the road shoulder!

It might be OK on a highly maintained and multiple failsafe Airbus

The parallel is greatly correct. I appreciated various "flight directors" I found in the rental car. Likewise (since it was the left-handed traffic country), I was talking aloud, so my passenger could confirm my actions like the pilot monitoring. Like:

• "Right turn in 200 metres. It is the more difficult turn. Need to enter the opposite lane", or
• "A roundabout ahead. Check the traffic incoming from the right"

Regarding the satnav, it worked very well since I could understand the only working method for Ireland was entering a postal code (Eircode), such as F94 VY84.

An interesting experience about the satnav was entering Derry in Northern Ireland. Out of sudden, the speed limits changed from km/h to mph

 

[Chazmo]

I simply hate unecessary complexity and relying on computers to assume control at their wish.
It might be OK on a highly maintained and multiple failsafe Airbus, but on my own vehicle that will only be checked when it fails...nope.
The wheel pulling is ridiculous, OK youll get used to it but I actually thought I had blown a tyre, might heart was pounding.
I worked out it was reacting to the wind blast, it kinda feels like youve hit sand.
This at 60mph on the motorway.
You constantly cross whites lines here and its constantly pulling you off line.
cant seem to turn it off

Totally hear you. Some innovations are really crappy. Yeah the auto steering correction thing is an irritant and does feel as you described. I also find the beeping and flashing lights when signaling to change lanes with a car (currently) close does not at all understand how I drive either. I hope you do find a way to turn the nannies off.

 

[Chazmo]

I would greatly appreciate such a feature on our Ireland's trip. My only issue was driving dangerously close to the road shoulder!


The parallel is greatly correct. I appreciated various "flight directors" I found in the rental car. Likewise (since it was the left-handed traffic country), I was talking aloud, so my passenger could confirm my actions like the pilot monitoring. Like:

• "Right turn in 200 metres. It is the more difficult turn. Need to enter the opposite lane", or
• "A roundabout ahead. Check the traffic incoming from the right"

Regarding the satnav, it worked very well since I could understand the only working method for Ireland was entering a postal code (Eircode), such as F94 VY84.

View attachment 192735
An interesting experience about the satnav was entering Derry in Northern Ireland. Out of sudden, the speed limits changed from km/h to mph

Was that RideWithGPS, Stefan? And, was this a bike trip? If so, I was wondering what speed limits had to do with it (just curious).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Was that RideWithGPS, Stefan? And, was this a bike trip?

I have just drawn a short part of that car trip in RWGPS because car route planning is there There is an incredible tourist attraction in Ireland called Wild Atlantic Way that I can recommend to anyone spending a driving vacation in Ireland, especially in County Donegal (Irish "counties" are pretty big provinces).

However, I had an exciting e-bike ride in one of the most beautiful corners of Ireland, Malin Beg near to Slieve League. Please read the report here.
It was an exhilarating experience. Important to mention I had my own Wahoo together with me for the ride recording and navigation!

Note: pay attention to this road sign:

The directions to Wild Atlantic Way.

 

[peterh_nz]

don’t think this is a cherry

From your description and the photo it is probably a magnolia.

Cheers