Smokin Joe

Compared to the wild west of Fishguard the streets in Swansea are paved with gold, yet if I needed a job right now I'd be starting something on Monday. As you say Bex, it's there if you are prepared to adapt.

i take it you never had new tyres fitted? as they always fit new valves Neither of the local places I take the car do and on the bike I've always said don't bother with the valve. Maybe I've been lucky or maybe valves are reliable enough not to bother. This post has probably guaranteed me a leaking valve now

There's no need for a healthy young man to be out of work. If no employers want you why not try and employ yourself, millions of us do. There are plenty of elderly people who'll pay to have their gardens tended, people want their cars valeted and their windows cleaned. When I went out of work nine years ago I got a job shoving catalogues through letter boxes, it was hard going to start with, out in all weathers but I stuck at it and built up a round that earns me a living wage. There are always firms looking for leaflet distributors or canvassers and many other such opportunities if you are prepared to look. If you are content to sit round waiting for the Job Centre to drop a cushy little local job in your lap you'll be waiting a long time. Use your initiative, you've probably had a far better education than I ever did. I'm sixty now and if I can do it there's no reason you can't.

Lol, it was fine as long as you lean't over to the right when riding with no hands, although it was the buckled front wheel that was the bigger danger I suppose it concentrated the mind somewhat

Neither would I

What, you mean you go to work for NOTHING? Believe me, if the DWP found out you were doing that they wouldn't buy it and you'd be right in the dung. As for benefits, no one objects to those who are genuinely unemployed of sick receiving them, that's what they are there for. It's the very sizeable minority who claim benefits as a lifestyle choice who get people's back's up.

I occasionally have to recruit and train people, Jesus what a nightmare. The job doesn't pay a fortune, but you can make a living wage out of it. The amount of sheer dross you get from Job Centres has to be seen to be believed, people on long term benefits who have no intention of doing any more than just enough ensure those benefits aren't stopped is staggering. They either don't turn up at all, turn up and deliberately screw any attempt at an interview to get rejected or feign enough incompetence in the first week to be sacked. The current system of automatically giving free housing and full benefits to single mothers also provides us with an army of young wasters who bang out kids in the knowledge it will enable them to sit on their backsides for a good few decades while they gobble up our taxes.

I've never had valves replaced, car or bike. Never had one fail either (touch wood).

It does the job, but it will fly off and cover the back wheel in oil. Specific chain lubes are made to cling to the chain. They are so cheap it really isn't worth sodding about with anything else.

The two stroke oil is used to lubricate the engine, there is no separate lubrication system. The only oil needed to be changed is the gearbox oil and there is no filter to worry about. Your mate should have a look on Youtube, there are bound to be scores of instructional videos showing how to do just that.

That's not really a lubricant, more a sort of souped up WD40. I wouldn't use it, go for a proper chain lube. They're not expensive.

Thanks for that, the whole thing finally becomes clear. Makes me glad I was able to do the couple of times round the block test!

Now, I can't be bothered wading through all that Civil Service speak on these links, but can someone clear something up for me? If a 17 year old (or someone of any age) were to pass the test on a 125 would he or she then be able to ride a bike of any capacity after a given period of time, or do the various classes have to be tested before they let you loose on them? BTW, I'm very skeptical about the benefits of tougher testing. 20 years as an ADI during a period when the driving test changed out of all recognition convinced me that teaching and testing inexperienced drivers to a standard above a certain level has had unintended consequences of a negative nature.

How about a Lumberjack?

To be able to tell a frame is bent while sitting on the bike it would have to be bowed like a banana, and as Tango said it would take a massive wallop to do that, destroying a lot of other things in the process. I'd go for forks if anything is out of line. How does the bike ride?

A few years back one of the American mags (Cycle, I think) did some extensive long term testing and research into car and motorcycle specific oils and came to the conclusion that the only difference was the price.

I use Wilkinsons semi synthetic at £14 for five litres. Back in the day I knew a London despatch rider who used to use Winfield car oil (That was the name Woolworths used for own brand products) and he ran a GT550 up to 250,000 miles without problems.

I'd like to see a few rule changes in rugby. They should allow the forward pass, which would make the game flow a little more. And perhaps use a round ball which would be easier to control. Then stop players from using their hands, it would make the game more skilful if they had to control the ball with only their feet. And it's ridiculously easy to score at the moment with players allowed to carry the ball over the touchline or kick it through those high posts, so why not just have smaller goals which the ball must go into for a point. They could have nets at the back so there would be no doubt as to whether the ball went in or not. And I'm sure everyone would agree that cutting the number of players to 11 a side would make the game a lot faster too.

No-one can advise you on helmet choice because fit and comfort is everything. The best helmet in the world will be a liability if it doesn't fit properly and everyone's head has a different shape. The only way is to try them on and see which one suits you.

Ah, the joy of scalding hot oil running down your hand and up your sleeve. Great for removing unwanted tattoos.

That's what I paid for mine on ebay, no problems.

New battery. Batteries don't like being left flat for too long, sometimes you get away with it others you don't and they die.

Now funny enough it does look like coolant, though the level isn't dropping and temperature is ok. I didn't realise the system had an overflow tube. I did overfill it last week but syphoned the excess out straight away.

Last two rides I've done I've had a little pool of water dripping from underneath the bike (GPZ500). It's coming from a vent tube that exits by the centre stand, definately not the fuel tank breather or the crankcase breather so I suspect it's from the newish battery. It stops as soon as I switch off. It is just water and nowt else, any ideas?

Good thinking, I'll give that a whirl tomorrow.