IndigoJo

If you want something with a bit more oomph than the CB125F, you could look at the NX500 (or any Honda 500) or the GB350S. That's Honda's take on the Enfield 350cc/20hp bike -- about twice the power of the CB125F, fuel economy about 100mpg which is twice what a 650cc sports bike will give you. Look on Auto Trader as well; that has ads from dealerships in the area, not just personal ads.

Can't help but notice that the people who said it was great and left a 5-star review said it was a nice place to look round with a lovely selection of bikes. The people who left one-star reviews (some of whom said they wished no-stars was an option) were those who had bought bikes, or tried to. (This was the Milton Keynes outlet.)

Trading Standards are impossible to get hold of in most places now. Their funding has been cut to the bone over the past 15 years and often will only take complaints from business, not members of the public. Not sure VOSA still exists; I think it became DVSA but I have been able to get through to them to report problems with HGV operators who tried to get me to drive dodgy wagons.

It's not really about whether the locals are lovely or not or like the Brits or not (or just don't mind our money). In Iran the government are thugs who take innocent tourists hostage. In other countries many people are prejudiced and in some places there are terrorists and/or bandits. In Iran, the terrorists and bandits are the government.

Apparently the deal the show is under is in its final year, so they're negotiating terms for future conferences and there may or may not be any.

My guess is that as they were British citizens and not Spanish, it is the British government's responsibility (and definitely not the EU's unless they also have an EU member state's passport). If they were Spanish, the problem would likely not have arisen.

Did anyone go to the bike show this weekend? I found it a bit disappointing in terms of which marques were there and to what extent. Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph and Royal Enfield were out in force and had pretty much all their models available for a sit-on. KTM had a few models out but most if not all were roped off. Honda had a stand but quite a few models missing (I'd have liked to try out an NX500) and Yamaha represented only by Capital Moto and only a few (mostly top end) models. Voge were nowhere to be found and that was a disappointment after seeing all the rave reviews. Honda had an early GoldWing at their stand. Having never seen one before (seen plenty of modern ones), it was quite a surprise to look at - nothing like today's GoldWing, just a big 70s naked bike. I wonder how much it went for. 50 or so years old so it's ULEZ exempt.

I remember reading that in the early days of Taiwan's separation from China, you could not watch birds with binoculars in the countryside because the activity was assumed to be spying. Not sure if Iran is quite that extreme but its regime certainly is paranoid and thuggish. That said, they have good relations with some European countries and this may include the Netherlands, which is why the Itchy Boots lady was able get out safely. It certainly doesn't include the UK.

A British couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman, travelling across the world by motorbike have been arrested in Iran: British couple held in Iran named as family urge safe return https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626p6pz7xlo I've seen a couple of YouTube bikers travel through Iran (Itchy Boots most recently), but if you're British you're liable to be arrested on trumped-up charges and held hostage.

I found that social-only premiums are much better once I pass (even if the pass is a day old), and much lower for a CB500X than for any 125. As in under £500. So that's something. Won't be my daily commute certainly not for the first year or so, but not quite such an expensive hobby as riding a 125. If it's something really low powered like an Enfield Meteor (Go Compare doesn't know about the Honda GB yet), the cost for commuting is easily affordable.

That's what I thought when I saw the premiums. Forget it. At best it'll be a way of getting out and seeing the countryside, which I do quite a lot by car. An expensive hobby basically. For commuting it's out of the question.

Yes; all the quotes were £300 or so more than 3PFT.

Just did a bit of extra tinkering with the quote, removing commuting and subsituting some more obscure bikes as I've heard that they tend to get better premiums, even if they're more powerful. I substituted a CB125R for an F; the lowest premium for 3PFT for social & commuting was £30 less but the others were generally more. Removing commuting did take about £100 off the 3PFT quotes. But substituting a 15hp Yamaha, which surely must be a more desirable bike for any thief because it looks cool (maybe it's my age!) knocks a good £200 off the 3PFT quote. It's much more expensive new, and secondhand they're all more than £3K. Maybe as there are fewer of them around and they aren't a standard, they aren't 'needed' for parts? Third-party only is about £550 for that bike. That's affordable.

I'm 48.

Is there anyone who will offer insurance for less than a grand for a new rider on a CB125F in the Kingston area (SW London)? I've been trying to get quotes and can't get a 3PFT offer for under a grand and 3rd party offers start at £750. I also found that if I asked about a rider with a year's experience and no-claims, the quotes were the same, meaning that the cost could be more than that of the bike (if secondhand) over two years. I just can't afford that, it's money down the drain pure and simple unless the bike is paying for itself which it won't be.

What's the advantage of 8 cylinders on a motorbike engine? I only see V8s on heavy haulage trucks these days (only by Scania at that) and they're 16 litres.

Yeah I was wondering about that. My local J&S sold me some boots, can't remember the name, but their sizes went from 10 straight to 13 and I couldn't get my feet into the 10. They also don't do cash refunds if you buy in store.

Has anyone got experience of Rebelhorn boots? I saw them featured on a YouTube channel and they look quite neat and not too pricey, but the only shop that sells them in the UK is in Bristol and that's nowhere near me. Are they true to size? (I'm a men's UK 10.) Do they last?

Morbidelli? Might sell well in Italy and China, but I don't think that name will do it any favours here.

There are some schools (Universal MCT for example) that offer both introductory sessions and one-to-one CBT. The latter costs £450, which is more than double the cost of a normal CBT, but you're getting a teacher to yourself so you won't be accused of holding anyone else up and if you specify manual, they're likely to supply a teacher who knows how to teach manual. It's more than double the cost, but for quadruple the teacher attention. (The UMCT one-to-ones are in Edgware.) If you do the intro session, you might be able to make CBT a formality as you'll know the moves before you go.

I'm always astonished when I see videos from Australia or the US calling a 400cc bike a "beginner bike". In parts of Australia the NX500 (or its CB predecessor) is learner legal. The training rules here seem designed to benefit trainers, with all the stages and multiple tests per stage, rather than riders.

Round here (London) there are whole boroughs with 20mph speed limits, except for some dual carriageways and other arterial roads. You can do whole 10-mile journeys in London on such roads now. In Wales it's whole towns and small cities (nowhere close to the size of London).

Do you know why they gave up RE? It's quite popular given all the buzz about their new models.

Another two bite the dust: P&H in Crawley: Being converted into SuperBike Factory South. https://www.facebook.com/superbikefactory/posts/pfbid0317MGFD1RPFDYJVG3MLLVC3zMUQUZfo7E3JitpgPCv2bGtXYuntVjxREMk9hQ5mVjl Colchester Kawasaki (also sells Enfield, BSA and various Chinese brands): closing at the end of the year. GlobalMoto are selling the site (which they own outright) to invest in other areas of the business including opening new stores. https://www.facebook.com/colkawasaki/posts/pfbid02FWGBFprcCfsb6moz5hZUvezxLy1RQ7awvXKhfTxGjhSuVE95EkBC4dGy2zVhWhHRl

I've been a truck driver for years and the automatic manual transmission (AMT) is a standard now on pretty much anything above 7.5 tonnes (ie. anything recognisably a truck rather than a van). What distinguishes them from the auto gearboxes on cars is that just putting them in drive won't make it move forward; you have to use the gas pedal to get clutch bite (the clutch itself is automatic). They were dreadful when first introduced in the late 2000s (e.g, the mode switch just not working, gear changes that were just wrong and slowed you down suddenly for no good reason) but have got a lot better and very few new trucks are manual now. Lately AMTs and DCTs (Volvo trucks have had these for years) - or at least the terminology - have been showing up on motorbikes. Do these work the same way? Are they the same things just adapted for bikes or a different machine altogether? Anyone here who's used both?