Cheers all! I looked at getting a gs dakar but then I got a grip and realised that yamaha Pi**es all over BMW..... hehe. Nah, i had a seat on a xt-x at the scottish MC show last month and thought ' just what im looking for' so with a bit of online searching i found one that suited me....the xt-r.

I work for the mighty calmac ferry service so i thought i would spend this summer getting transported out to the islands and do some touring with my one man tent-"the slug" on the back of the bike. Looking forward to it. The bike is bog standard but im hoping to make it my own by adding a tail tidy, scottish number plate etc etc. i'll not fiddle about too much with performance mods though. However i would love a nice, new pair of cans! Something to save for perhaps.

It's funny with local roads you get used to and don't consider them to be anything special but i guess im lucky where i live just now.....the xt handles the pot-holes well anyway! I was brought up near skye.....now they know how to make a good bike road! The trip up to sligachan campsite is a cracker!

Anyway, thanks alot for the welcome guys. It's nice to think im not the only geezer in the country who has an xt, because ive not actually seen many of them around here! Looking forward to a great summer and bumping into riders at the Ace green welly cafe, Tyndrum!

Ciao

__________________