Hattoji, Okayama Back Roads (RT90) on a Transalp XL750

Hattoji, Okayama Back Roads (RT90) on a Transalp XL750

okay well here we are at the glorious Hattori International Villa and I’m just about to go down to the shops and I thought I’d record a little bit of video going out of this place Look at all these disgusting cars getting in the way These lads they don’t ride their bikes They just put their toy bikes on the back of their vans or on a trailer and say that they’re going for a ride All they do is sit in traffic go to a playground take their toy bikes out of their vans and play in the mountains for an hour or so then come back They call that riding Okay so this is the first time I’ve used my FOD Sports communication device with my Insta 360 X3 That’s it Stay there please Mr Truck So I can give you a bit of commentary as we go down this glorious access road Definitely the way to come to Hattori Do not follow the uh navigation device cuz it will take you a horrible goat track at a friend one year Gabby and Brad Gabby I think it was hit a deer coming up that goat track cuz she’d followed the navigation or something Not sure what she’d done but uh yeah here’s a deer coming up that little track Look at this glorious road Also testing the new Hyper Pro springs I’ve put in the front and back And certainly there’s less bounce in the rear but you know you can’t expect just a spring to sort out all the bounce You know it’s all about the damping really And there’s nothing I can do about the damping Or at least nothing I’m going to do about the damping This is because I don’t know It’s just too much trouble And I think what I’ve done is enough I’m not riding circuits But I do have to be careful in the corners still Ooh Oh that was a bit bumpy because the stock suspension would have bottomed out completely there I think however the front has really improved Definitely at slow speed you don’t feel nearly as many of the bumps Oo I love these bends Uh-oh You’re kidding me Is that rain oh it’s not going to rain is it oh I don’t believe it Soon as I get out bloody rain starts Unreal I’ve got a quick shifter but to be honest I can’t really get on it on with it tend to just do the shifts myself Just feel you know don’t really feel in [Music] control Doesn’t seem to do the shifts in exactly the way I want all the time So it’s one of those things that works really well at certain times but not all the time So at the end of the day you’ve got to do your own thing Anyway well that was the access road We’re now on Route 90 heading into Kamigodi which is where the uh supermarket is Woo this is a lovely road Oh the spots of rain are getting heavier This isn’t good A what a nightmare See at these higher revs the quick shifter works quite well but I find it quite difficult as well I instinctively let off the throttle which you shouldn’t do You got to let the computer do it It does work nicely I I just I don’t know I just can’t get along with it Yeah that was a quick shift That’s a quick shift So you know shifting down is quite nice sometimes but not all the time Can’t really rely on it Now this town we’re going to Kamigi is where the local supermarket is and they’ve also got a pretty good burger joint and I’m hoping for a nice burger for lunch This weather’s looking a bit iffy Okay see you later Mr Forester Oo now that bump there with the old suspension Oh boy that would have freaked me out But this Oh a lot better Still not 100% confidence inspiring Oh you feel it bit bouncy [Music] there Woohoo Yeah the quick shifter works a lot better at speed or at high revs I should say Not necessarily at speed but at high revs Oh scrape my boot [Music] there Yeah I’ve got these Guyana Dhaka boots and um they’re good boots bit on the stiff side and um one of the buckles become a bit loose Popped open three times on the way up here last night So I’m not very uh impressed with that I don’t know Sounds like I’m complaining all the time doesn’t it i think um another thing with the front suspension the front springs of course it’s a heavier weight oil so the damping has been increased there The uh the front springs have cured a lot of the diving The old ones used to dive a lot Now it’s pretty good Heavy braking It doesn’t dive nearly as much Also when you fit those springs you have to drop the stansions in the yolk by uh well they say 10 mm Now I wasn’t sure whether that was an additional 10 mm from what it already had or 10 mm in total It was already sticking out about 3 mm So I did it 10 ml in [Music] total Anyway that’s all for now That’s the uh lovely part of the road We’re just coming into the town now So I’ll say see you later Thanks for watching Well at a after a little interlude at a I don’t know flower growing park I don’t know what he said it was but uh invited me in to have a look at the flowers that haven’t bloomed because of the weather being so chilly recently Unusually chilly for the time of year Anyway after that little interlude I’m uh back on the road and I’m actually going up the goat track the aforementioned goat track Um I haven’t done the whole of the goat track but um I thought well let’s go and have a look how bad it is You know I don’t think it’s so terribly bad except when you’re coming down here at night and there are deer on the road Or if you’re one of those guys who likes to put his toy bike in the back of his van you try and come down here in your big van It can be yeah quite an eye [Music] opener Anyway we’re not too far from Gi Villa Yeah it doesn’t seem so bad here this road but trust me it uh gets a lot narrower and steeper and tighter bends There’s quite a network of dirt roads up in these hills This is why the guys bring their toy bikes to the to play here Strictly speaking they shouldn’t really be up in the hiking trails but I think that’s where they like to out Well this road is so far a lot better than I remember it In fact it’s quite fun Ah hang on a minute Don’t recognize this Bit further that further out than I expected Oh yes it’s going to get narrower once I turn off this road I’m going to find it get very it gets very narrow and twisty Still I quite like that kind of road Here we [Music] go Ooh what a switch back Oh and dirty as expected Yes coming up here in a high ace van is no fun I think if it were me I’d be turning around [Music] Oh look at these switchbacks Woo no guard rail Bit scary Hope I don’t meet a high ace van come the other way Fully loaded with three bikes in it Oo [Music] [Music] Oh that’s quite fun I quite like that little road Quite like that little There’s a fixer uppper Loads of those kind of houses sitting vacant People think “Oh my god look at that I can get a house for next to nothing And sure you’ll get the house for next to nothing but it’ll cost you a hell of a lot of money to fix it up And most of the time people dump all their in there cuz they don’t want to take it with them and end up you have to pay a fortune to get rid of all this junk So not the immediate gift you might think Well here we are back on the access road and back to Hattori Hattori Villa Oh what a wonderful village this is What a [Music] view And here’s our holiday home What a wonderful place I do love coming here All the cars bloody well spoil it though Especially this one parked right in front of the view Oh dear What can you do eh what can you do tell you what though I’m going to take my parking [Music] space Thank you very much That’ll do me Okay signing out viewers Thanks for watching

A ride from Hattoji Villa into the local town of Kamigori then later returning via a back lane riding a 2023 Transalp and talking about recent upgrades to the bike, ranting about van drivers with their toy bikes, and enjoying some twisty dirty roads.