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Dear all, Welcome to the third edition of the Unicorn Adventures Newsletter! Enjoy your reading! If you need more information about a topic drop us a line : contact@unicornadventures.com Have fun,
drive safely! Unicorn
Adventures Ltd Team |
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1. Events
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4.Cultural drops
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2. Unicorn Adventures tour tips
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5. The Ladies news |
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3. Bike test
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6. The techie tricks and tips |
| Meet the 21st century technology, enjoy our new Blog and Video |
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A new representative in Ireland
Unicorn Adventures Ltd is glad to let you know that as of January 2006 Tony O'Reilly will be our representative in the Republic of Ireland! You can contact him on:
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How should one dress for the tours?
The Unicorn Adventures Ltd tours take place from mid April till end of October in the south of Europe. As such the weather should be fairly good and warm. But aside the usual motorcycle gears what should one take for the rest times?
Most of the
tours experience the sea side or the mountains where, in both cases,
it can get chilly in the evening.
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At 2800m on the Alpine Passes Road (c) Unicorn Adventures Ltd . But it is also useful to take a swimsuit as most hotels have a swimming pool or are close to the sea! For those of you who
will rent (for free) the equipment you will get a jacket and trousers
adapted to the season and tour. Either some warm one or one with venting,
this does not take aside the safety features! |
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Who
should I contact? There are different ways to get hold of a Unicorn Adventures representative!
The main email address is contact@unicornadventures.com newsletter@unicornadventures.com. To publish on the blog use: blog@unicornadventures.com.
For those with booking requirements use booking@unicornadventures.com. And of course for the Republic of
Ireland and Northern Ireland contact Tony: tonyoreilly@unicornadventures.com
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For 25 years the GS rode the world, lets test the R1200GS
R1200GS (c) BMW |
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Compared to the former R1150GS it is not just an improvement but a fully new bike! Its new heart: a 1200cc flat twin (of course!!) gets 15 more Hp compared to the 1150 and finally plays with the 100 Hp figure. More power but at more rpms! This, to us, means that you have a more aggressive riding on the 1200 compared to the 1150. On the road it makes your life more funny (even though riding a 1150GS was never dull!), off-road it may be a bit of an annoyance as you will have less track at low rpm.
But as a GS most of the time only gets
on the road it is not a problem! The fact that as standard you get
alloy wheels compared to the 1150's spokes supports the more "road"
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And thanks to the Paralever ® (rear mono-swing arm developed by BMW) and Duolever ® (front arm guided suspension developed by BMW) the bike sticks to the road whatever shape it's in!
As usual on a BMW you can adjust the saddle height as well as the wind shield (manually) to your size; well don't get me wrong this is still a very high beast! But on the lower saddle position a 1m70 person gets easily both feet on the ground when there is a need to stop! As this bike is meant to get you to the end of the world, or at least the other side of it and back, the tank could have been bigger ("only" 20L) but you can still load it with luggage like no one thanks to the aluminium top box and panniers.
Did BMW improve the GS? Yes definitely!
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Xmas
in Provence
In the past, seems the tradition started around the 19th century, the tradition at Xmas was to present to the guests 13 desserts (the Messia and the 12 apostles) once back from the mass.
The four dry fuits part of those 13 desserts are called the "beggars" as their colour is the one of the religious "beggars" orders: the nuts for the "Augustins", the figs for the "Franciscains", almonds for the "Carmes" and dry raisins for the "Dominicains" . (www.web-provence.com/histoire-13-desserts.htm).
Nowadays this tradition has left its religious side to get to a more commercial side but still it is important to get the 13 desserts on the table at the same time. Make sure you have the 4 "beggars" as well as two types of nougat (white and black) and a "pompe à huile" (typical Provence bred/pastry). Complement those with fresh and crystallized fruits and candies. Read more on www.web-provence.com/histoire-13-desserts.htm Come enjoy the Provence and its many traditions during our "A ride
in Provence and Camargue" tour! |
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(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz,) The Battle of Austerlitz took place on 2 December 1805 and was part of the Napoleonic Wars against the Third Coalition. "A French army of approximately 68,000 troops under Napoleon's command decisively defeated a joint Russo-Austrian army of over 89,000 troops, commanded by Russian General Kutuzov and Austrian General von Weyrother. 50 flags were taken from the Austro-Russians and were displayed at the church of Saint Louis des Invalides in Paris. The bronze of the 180 captured cannons was used to build the Column of Vendôme in the Place Vendôme. Napoleon's command post was a small hill, where an orientation table showing the positions of the different armies has been installed. A few dozen square metres around the orientation site have been declared French territory." "The French suffered 9,000 casualties and the Russo-Austrian
army lost about 25,000 men, killed, wounded or captured. Eventually,
the Russians withdrew from Austria, and the Austrians signed the Treaty
of Pressburg (26 December 1805), which ended the Holy Roman Empire,
and recognised the sovereignty of France over Italy. The
battle became one of the most famous of all battles on account of
its strategy and communications." |
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Afterwards,
Napoleon gave one of his most famous speeches. We won't publish
it in full but only the final part: "Soldiers, when all that is necessary
to assure the happiness and prosperity of your fatherland has been
accomplished, I shall bring you back to France. There, you will be
object of my most tender care. My people shall greet your return with
joy, and it will be enough for you to say "I was at the Battle of
Austerlitz," that the reply shall be, "Here is a brave man".
The painting presents Napoléon at the Battle of Austerlitz, by François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard
In Unicorn Adventure words this becomes "Friends, once you will have experienced the pleasure of riding a motorcycle on our tours, we shall drive you back to the tour end point. During the tour you will be the object of our best care. Your friends shall greet your return with joy and envy, and it will be enough for you to say "I was on a Unicorn Adventures Ltd Tour", that the reply should be "Tell us more".
Some of our tours follow part of Napoleon's tracks, like the "Napoleon Road" tour, or the "Corsica" tour.
Have
a look at the tour presentations on www.unicornadventures.com
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Luggage management Women passenger's luggage management! This is for sure the worst nightmare for our beloved pilots! Did you ever notice how early, prior to the start of the journey, they start warning you about the fact the space on the bike is veryyyy limited? That they don't think your latest fancy jean is going to make the trip? That your vanity is a bit to bulky to even be considered?
But most funny is happens when the day of departure comes and packing start: the one needing twice more space that the other one is …the beloved rider I was talking about earlier. Indeed if you consider that for a ride in Corsica, for example, a woman will need a couple of bath suits and some underwear (those aren't that big aren't they?), some pareos, some tee-shirts/shirts a couple of jeans and of course the usual essential vanity content and a pair of beach slippers; you don't even fill-up a side pannier!
Whilst Mister comes with his running stuff, fins, mask, tee shirts, jeans, another pair of shoes for the beach, underwear, socks for the bike boots, socks for running, socks for the night in the tent, a big book (no, he won't read a magazine like you); you end up with one and a half pannier and the tank bag, and the little available space between you and the top-case fully packed! Of course just taking a tooth-brush makes him think he is smarter compared to your additional hair brush and cream tubes. They are so lucky to have us! |
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We are going-on with our "clean the bike" tips and tricks. Our purpose is not to promote any product but when we discover one, we like to share it with you. We all have some chromium or shiny metal parts on our bikes that need a good cleaning to give the perfect "look" to our beloved bike. You can clean them with water and soap but there will never be that shiny effect you expect. We are using for some years Nev'r Dull from Eagle One. It is a "magic wadding polish". You apply the wet wad on your metallic surface, let it dry (gives a white coat effect) and then polish with a dry cloth (make sure it is absolutely clean or you may get some ugly scratches)…it shines! For some tough dirt you will have
to work a bit harder the wad but it will let go (we tested it on tar
"dried and fried" on the exhaust pipes!). |