Look, I'm a lazy bastard, and rather than create a ride report, and reviews of all of the above seperately, I'll just bung th lot into this and hope google searches land on it whenever anybody needs anything.

I am just back from France on the K1100LT, two up. This is the first big spin on the K.  Impressions?  It's the dogs dangly-bits.  It is the best bike I have ever had for two up touring.  The engine is a monster, and the sweet spot is just at 4000 RPM, 106 kph.  We would stop every hour or so, but the hour just flew by. You are sitting in a pocket of air with the elecric screen raised, and it is completely hassle free.  106kph is ideal for the passenger as anything above that started to get a bit buffety for her.

As you may remember, Irene couldn't get on with the Corbin seat, so we went to the BMW original comfort seat.  I couldn't get on with that as I kept sliding forwards and hitting my knees off the fairing.  So I brought them both to Jim Savage in Bishopstown ((021) 4545913) and said - make the front of that (BMW) the same as that (Corbin).
While I was there I saw another saddle he had completed, and it was superb. So I had no worries.  I picked it up a couple of days later and he had done a fabulous job.  The seat was recovered (which has to be done after alterations - the original cover cannot be used) and the foam had been adjusted exactly as I wanted.  €100 well spent.

I had bought the Scala Q1 to help Irene back to touring, and I can report that it is better than expected.  I had fitted both units into our helmets and, behind the K1100LT screen, we can chat away. Irene will point out sights that I miss, the clarity is crystal, and it is duplex.  It pairs with the zumo flawlessly and that cuts in when giving directions (all customisable via a PC - priority of comms, etc.)  The unit also pairs with my iphones so I can take calls and listen, in full AD2P stereo to music.  I can also stream the music to Irenes set if I want.  It was so good that one day, when my battery ran out (from listening to music), I really missed it. I'd definitly recommend if you are either doing two up touring, or want to alleviate a boring motorway spin.

The zumo was a bit of a leap of faith. It aint cheap (about €430 on the interweb).  But I wanted something that I could plan journies with, not a point an go like a car gps.  Again, I was pleasently suprised with the unit.  It does all the normal stuff, but now had two types of waypoints.  "Waypoints" that you definitly want to go do, and will not skip, and "via" points that it uses to keep you on the roads you want to go to, but will ignore if you go past them (useful if you ever had an old unit that would always bring you into the centre of whatever town you had maked as a point on your route, but didn't necessarily want to stop in).  Loads of other stuff as well - including tyre pressure monitors that I have bought but havent fitted - but they work well in testing.

It is also handy to change routes on the fly. Say you are bimbling along on the main road, but want/need fuel.  Simly tap to find fuel (chose along your route or in the vicinity), select to add to the active route, and it will bring you there and back to your original route without fuss.  We found some lovely villages this way, that had fuel stations, or cafes, or whatever you choose.

It takes a bit of getting used to, when you had a quest (remember them!), but any difficulties I had were down to lack of understanding/misinterpretation on my part. Once I figured out what it wanted to do -it made sense. Again, I'd recommend it if you are in the market for a gps.

There you go - three products in one review.

Oh, and finally, the Brittany Pont Aven Ferry - so good I think we will be making a weeks jaunt to France an annual event.