Motorcycling in Denmark? Yes -we are going to do it!! There are no hills or corners here… Or at least we think this is how it will be. First in morning it was raining a bit. We had the rainsuits on until the halfway… After 2 hours we reached “Tørskind Grusgrav” -it’s a sculpture park with massive pieces of art made of iron, concrete and wood.
I was here before 19 years ago and still I think these are amazing works!
Quite soon after this we started climbing to the 3rd highest mountain of Denmark! There are no steep uphills, no hairpin corners, no views to the mountains… Maybe you just noticed that there was a low uphill while you were riding… and there it was! Quite nice place to climb to the tower and see the countryside all around you (The tower of “Ejer Bavnehøj” is only 13 meters high)
Then later in the afternoon we had one ferry (again!). This it was over the fjord that goes through all Northern Denmark and makes the northern part of this country kind of island!
We arrived to our hotel in Fredrikshavn quite early so we had some time to walk around the beautiful city and eat the dinner.
The route for the day 16 was like this:
motorcycle
Mostly they’re selling too short chains!! If anyone of you is thinking about buying new chains? And looking anything but the originals. Here’s a warning!
It seems that there is wrong information about the length of the XR’s chains! Quite many marketplace is selling 118-links chains and the XR has 128-links!! I was very lucky to find D.I.D. 525 chains that has 128 links but they are maybe too weak (X-ring).
As far as I know there’s not too many aftermarket chains that are long- and strong enough -I would prefer XW-rings not the X-ring.
With motorcycle
This was a dream come true finally for me! I’ve been to Åland few times with a car (last time was 17 years ago!) but now I got there with my motorcycle. This is the 4 days trip to Åland (Swedish)/ Aland (English)/ Ahvenanmaa (Finnish).
Åland is here and to get there with a motorcycle you need to take a ferry from Stockholm, Helsinki or Turku… Or a small ferry from Korppoo (Galtby) or from Kustavi (Vuosnainen). If you use these ferries the idea is to spend the night in some small islands before you go to the main island -and that’s what we did.
But before we took the boat from Korppoo we spent the night there in Faffas. They had a very nice cabin near the sea!
And then 10am it was time for a boat (ferry). This trip (to Föglö island) takes 4 hours!
In Föglö we had lot of time to get to know the island. It’s not very big! There’s actually only 1 road that goes through the island.
But there is also a very beautiful church and quite interesting hiking path in this island. Our accomodation in Föglö was Degerby Mat & Cafe.
Next morning the ferry to the main island left the Föglö at 9am. This was 30min trip.
And the first route was a detour from the mainroad to some villages in Högskär.
Then we rode to the southside of the “capitol of Åland” (Mariehamn), this was a beautiful road through islands.
After this road we rode to the eastside of the main island. First we had this very nice road with some nice bends and then we visited the fire station museum (but it was closed).
Then sun was shining so brightly and weather was too hot (about +13 celsius) so I had to go swimming! Did it here. Water was maybe +8… (You can also see a picture of me going swimming here!) We took a short break in Käringsund.
Then we visited Sålis Batteri, this is some fortifications that Russians built even they should not do it. Åland was a demilitarized already 50-60 years before!
From the east parts of the main island we moved to north with this road.
In the north we visited the Getaberget (and the tower), Havsvidden (with some nice views too) -this place had a great road!
And finally visited the Stallhagen Brewery and I bought 2 bottles of beer.
This was the first day on the main island of Åland, we spent the night is Strandnäs Hotel.
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Next morning I took a short tour in Mariehamn (This city has about 11500 inhabitants).
Then we started the ride of the day. First we rode to north (again) because there was still few places to visit. First there was Road of Tjudö -this is maybe the best road (for motorcycling) in Åland! It’s definately worth riding!
Then we rode to one small harbour again. This was Hamnsundet with small cafeteria (not yet open).
After this we took the most famous cafeteria in the island (Uffe På Berget). The altitude in the top of the tower is more than 50 meters above sealevel!
And then we went to the castle! There is only 1 middleage castle in Åland, it’s called Kastelholma.
This took about 1 hour to walk through the museum and there was some very interesting stories about the people who lived here (or were prisoners). After castle we rode this road: Road of Sund. This was with 2km’s of gravel.
And for the last place we visited Bomarsund fortress. This has very interesting story which ends with Ålands demilitarization in 1856 (In Treaty of Paris).
Then we took the ferry to Kumlinge island at 5pm and we stay the night in Kumlinge Stugor. Next morning we visited Kumlinge church, Kumlinge mountain (Vårholmsböte) and rode the best motorcycle road in Kumlinge…
The ferry took us to Brändö islands (4-5 islands in group) and there you have to ride through these beautiful landscapes of the archipelago sea. What a road this is!
Our trip in Åland ended about 3pm when the ferry arrived in Vuosnainen in the north side of Turku. (But there is still 1 more ferry after this!).
You can ride the most beautiful places in the main island of Åland in 1 day. But I really recommend that you take your time at least in Kastelholma castle and in Bomarsund fortress. So it should be at least 2 days. And if you have the possibility to visit the small islands too… Then you’ll really know what is it all about! ********* (Gotta go there again some day!)
This could be a first “big” bike for quite many riders in the future! It’s low and small, the riding position is very natural even for a big rider like me. And it’s very easy to ride!
It has 2 cylinder engine that gives some “vibes” around 4k rpm. It’s actually more like a tickle through the seat and when the seat is quite hard you really can feel it!
First thing I would change with this bike is the seat. It’s not very comfortable.
Honda makes the bikes feel like very good quality. I can imagine that if you buy this bike you can easily ride many many kilometers with it!
Throttle and engine responses slowly. There’s not too much power. But if you think about the possible first bike it’s only a good thing!
The biggest surprise is that even it’s a very small bike it didn’t feel small at all when I was sitting on it. So it can be a bike also for a tall guy like me. Suspension was working nicely with my weight on it (120kg’s).
Yesterday it was local Ducati dealers season start with the possibility to take a ride with new models of 2017. I was interested mainly about this new Desert Sled and its OffRoad possibilities.
But the bike is big! When you sit on it, you’ll not feel it could be an easy ride in a difficult surface. It is also very heavy bike! It’s over 200kg with gasoline in the tank. And with roadsize tyres it could not be enjoyable ride in a rocky or very soft (soil & mud) surface!
Riding in the streets with it the experience is much more nice! The engine has nice power from the low rpm and the suspension is nicely stiff even with the heavy guy like me.
The same suspension feels too tight in the offroad and it has no settings to change.
The bike has tyres that gives you an idea that it would be a nice ride in unpaved roads. And it could be like that as long as the road is in good condition. The worse the surface of the road gets more uncomfortable this bike is (I think). The whole bike is more like a show off to your friends and other riders -so that they could think you’re somekind of real adventure rider. But you’re not.
Engine is soft and it has no soul. Where’s the spirit of Ducati V2???
RallyRaid products makes nice additional tanks for KTM 690 Enduro. I bought one for my bike last autumn but it took too long for me install this to my bike. Now I finally did it!
At first I removed the rear fairing… As you can see my bike is totally dirty!
Then I needed to empty the fueltank, so I needed to lift the airfilter box a little bit up so I could detach the fuelpipe.
Then using the bikes own fuelpump I removed the fuel. I had too much gasoline in my tank (about 8 litres!)
When the tank is empty I could start to remove the fuelpump from the bottom of the tank.
I only needed to take the pump out from the tank, remove the wires and then I could add this fuel connector adapter to the bottom of the fuelpump.
Then I needed to drill the holes to rear fairing (18mm) and start install the rear rack. This rack has the new bolts that will go throught the holes in the fairing for the proper installation.
After the rack is installed it’s time for the additional tank itself.
I was lucky with my miniblinkers that I installed last autumn. They are in perfect position and I didn’t have to change anything!
My bike is missing the passenger footrests so I needed to make an contemporary ironbar to keep the the tank still.
Here the bike is ready:
But still very dirty… So finally I washed the bike!
And finally I got the chance to test my bags I bought last autumn. These are from Poland (check: http://www.xcountry.pl). I will also try these in real action and I will make tours that will take many days!
I can’t wait to hit the gravelroads and tracks!
I bought this KTM about year ago. I have almost zero experience of changing tyres but now I’m going to learn this! Just because these enduro-bikes eats the tyres so quickly I need to change them even 2-3 times per year. First I needed to get my bike back to the garage:
I have MB Sprinter as my working car and I can easily fit my bike in there!
Front rim was removed in about 10 minutes!
And rear was removed 5 minutes later.
I’ve seen it done many times so maby I could say that I have quite a lot of experience! But I didn’t do it myself ever! This was now my first time! Tomorrow I will have new tyres in my bike and the trails are calling again!
Soon all the snow will be gone! And I haven’t done almost anything to my KTM yet. Ok, yesterday I did install the protection shield by touratech under the engine, but it was easy installation!
Then today I was at the garage again and desided to take a short ride even there’s some ice and snow on the road! I rode about 5-600 meters and took one short video of the sounds. Remember it has the LeoVince silencer now!
Before the season really starts I still need to install the extra tank. After that the bike is ready for all the adventures to come… in the season 2017!
Most of you probably think: “What the hell… or Who the hell is Ulla Kulju?” Well here’s the whole story told by herself:
I was paralyzed in 2002 in the age of 15 in a snowboarding accident in Ylläs, Finland. I went through surgery and the doctors fixed my broken back with titanium. I decided at a very early stage that my accident won´t stop me for chasing my dreams. 6 months after my accident I went back to the slopes with monoski. On the same year I won gold medal in Finnish Championships in Slalom. Next year I raced against able bodied females in giant slalom and slalom, I came third in Finnish Championships. During my four years of alpine skiing in the Finnish Alpine Ski Team my highest achievement was European Cup silver in Giant Slalom and European Cup Bronze in Slalom.
At 2003 and 2005 I was nominated as an athlete of the year in Finland. I was also awarded as the most positive person in Northern Finland on the year 2005.
2006 I built few showcars and was awarded with 2nd place in young builder of the year and 2nd place in Hot Wheels 2006 show with most beautiful non-american car.
2007 I started sailing with multihulls. I had a Hobie Cat 21 Formula Catamaran and with it I raced around Finland. My greatest achievements in sailing were 4th place in British Championships with Challenger trimaran, 1st place in Ruotsinsalmi race with Hobie Cat 21F and 2nd place in Throne of Gulf of Botnia with Inferno 28 boat.
2008 I started Paragliding. I was the first paralyzed female in Finland to paraglide and get the licenses for it.
2010 I graduated as an Boat Manufacturing Engineer and as a Boat Designer from the Kymenlaakso university of Applied Sciences. After graduation I worked as a Mechanical Designer for Weldmec in Porvoo, where I designed aluminium work boats and oil recovery machinery for the oil catastrophy of Gulf of Mexico. 2011 I worked as a Project Manager and Mechanical Designer for Telemerkki, in Jokela. There I designed command bridges for warships and controlpanels for hospitals, my last project in Telemerkki was the command bridge for Viking Line Grace ocean liner. 2012 to 2014 I was an entrepeneur in the tattoo industry. I had my own tattoo parlor in centrum of Helsinki. 2014 I got a Design Engineer job from Etteplan Design Center where I design elevators and elevator machinery for Kone Oy.
I have two kids, Miko (8years) and Helka (2yrs).
After my accident in 2002 my only concern was that I will never get the change of riding a motorcycle. Or that´s what I thought. on May 2014 I desided to design and build my own adapted Honda CBR-F 600 1993 for me to use even though I am in a wheelchair. I designed and fabricated stabilizers for my Honda and switched the transmission to work with buttons on the handlebar. A year later in June 2015 I got the Honda fully road legal and approved for my use in the traffic. But that wasn´t enough for me.. I wanted and desired more. I desided to chase my dream of racing with motorcycles. I rode few track days with my CBR and fell in love with the feeling of riding fast. After that racing has been my passion, it´s something I want and need to do. It´s just amazing! I got invited to UK to meet Talan Skeels-Piggings who races with motorcycles and is paralyzed from the waist down. I got an amazing opportunity to have a track day in Silverstone. It was beoynd my dreams! It was something so great and fantastic! I also got advices from Andy Ibbot and I was more sure than ever that this is something that I want to do with all my heart. With the help of Andy´s training I got my speed up and my technique right. When I got back from UK, I began to find sponsors and companies to support me financially. Hard work paid off in october 2015 when I got my Yamaha YZF-R6 racebike with the help of my main sponsor 3M Finland (for the season 2016).
This text is borrowed from her facebook.
(Photo also from her facebook-page!)
And now the latest news is that she’s been invited to participate in the handicap RR World Championchips 2017 which are held in Le Mans 19-21 of May. Good Luck Ulla!
I could do some demonstration of the bikes (and I probably will do later) but here are all the new interesting bikes for season 2017, shown to us by 44teeth.com (with BaronVonGrumble and his face! -You don’t see that too often!)
GoZa Mite 