About Me
Hi, my name is Graham Bush, but referred to as "GB" by my friends and colleagues. I've been riding bikes since I was 15years old, owning and riding brands from Japan, America, and Europe. I didn't discover off road or adventure bike riding until my late forties with my first BMW R1200GS. I sold my beloved Buell X1 to a guy from Holland and picked up the GS the following Sunday from a good friend who happened to be my daughters God parent. At this time I had no intention of riding my new 225kg+ bike off road, but an encounter with an adventure bike forum led me to meeting my now late friend Mark who had a 1150gGS. Following another old guy on a GS across fields and rivers opened up a whole new world of motorcycling to me.
This led to me selling the R1200GS and getting a lighter and more dirt orientated F800GS, this turned out to be the wrong move for me. As much as I modified and altered the 800 I just could not gel with it, the vibration and power delivery just did not suit me. I swapped it for another R1200GS and I immediately felt at home again.
All was well until December the 19th 2013, on my daily commute to work, while filtering a Transit van swerved out in front of me and took me out. This resulted in a time in hospital and more unfortunately my shoulder and upper humerus being removed and replaced with plastic and titanium.
This has left me with limited movement in my right arm, I still have full feeling in my hand and fingers but can only lift my arm up sideways to about 50 degrees and 90 degrees forwards. The damage to the bike was minimal compared to me and with help from my mates I put it back together. After 16 weeks off I returned to work, some 10 weeks ahead of what the hospital said. A month later I was back on the GS. I did do one trip to the Peak District the following September and on the road the GS was fine but I struggled to push or handle the bike at slow speeds. I persevered for a few months but I knew I needed a lighter bike, especially if I wanted to continue to ride off road.
So I made a choice to downsize to another BMW, this time a XChallenge, it was an ex BMW schools bike I picked up from Wales.
I liked the XChallenge, but if the truth be known I missed the horse power, especially on the street.
I looked at other bikes but there was nothing that caught my eye.......that was until I saw pictures of the new Husqvarna 701at the end of 2015. I was mesmerized by it, I rang my nearest dealer and asked if he had one in and he said not yet, any day now, the weeks passed nothing, then I finally got the call they had a demo in. The following weekend I went to try one and that was that, I had to have it, sold the XChallenge and picked up the 701 on January the 2nd 2016. I had it for 10 months and 11000miles then by pure chance whilst I was having it remapped the first of the new 2017 models turned up while I was there, it looked much the same barring more white panelling, but more importantly it was supposed to have more power and virtually no vibrations. As much as we all want more power it was the lack of vibration that attracted me to the new model. To cut a long story short I got the credit card out and done the deal and rode the first 701 in the UK home. I'm a regular inmate on ADVrider and I just beat a Dutch friend to have the first 17 model on the forum.
This led to me selling the R1200GS and getting a lighter and more dirt orientated F800GS, this turned out to be the wrong move for me. As much as I modified and altered the 800 I just could not gel with it, the vibration and power delivery just did not suit me. I swapped it for another R1200GS and I immediately felt at home again.
All was well until December the 19th 2013, on my daily commute to work, while filtering a Transit van swerved out in front of me and took me out. This resulted in a time in hospital and more unfortunately my shoulder and upper humerus being removed and replaced with plastic and titanium.
This has left me with limited movement in my right arm, I still have full feeling in my hand and fingers but can only lift my arm up sideways to about 50 degrees and 90 degrees forwards. The damage to the bike was minimal compared to me and with help from my mates I put it back together. After 16 weeks off I returned to work, some 10 weeks ahead of what the hospital said. A month later I was back on the GS. I did do one trip to the Peak District the following September and on the road the GS was fine but I struggled to push or handle the bike at slow speeds. I persevered for a few months but I knew I needed a lighter bike, especially if I wanted to continue to ride off road.
So I made a choice to downsize to another BMW, this time a XChallenge, it was an ex BMW schools bike I picked up from Wales.
I liked the XChallenge, but if the truth be known I missed the horse power, especially on the street.
I looked at other bikes but there was nothing that caught my eye.......that was until I saw pictures of the new Husqvarna 701at the end of 2015. I was mesmerized by it, I rang my nearest dealer and asked if he had one in and he said not yet, any day now, the weeks passed nothing, then I finally got the call they had a demo in. The following weekend I went to try one and that was that, I had to have it, sold the XChallenge and picked up the 701 on January the 2nd 2016. I had it for 10 months and 11000miles then by pure chance whilst I was having it remapped the first of the new 2017 models turned up while I was there, it looked much the same barring more white panelling, but more importantly it was supposed to have more power and virtually no vibrations. As much as we all want more power it was the lack of vibration that attracted me to the new model. To cut a long story short I got the credit card out and done the deal and rode the first 701 in the UK home. I'm a regular inmate on ADVrider and I just beat a Dutch friend to have the first 17 model on the forum.