ChrisBiggsUK

Update; Fitted one plug, kept another as a spare and the final eight have now all sold on eBay netting me a tidy profit. Biking isn't just fun. It is profitable!

So what we have established here is that horses are terribly dangerous and that bikes are perfectly safe and that @RideWithStyles brother is a anomaly in an otherwise perfectly smooth dataset. This isn't just a biking forum. This is a science forum!

I came off my bike once (on my CBT). No damage to myself and only a scratch on the bike. Got thrown off a massive Shire Horse once too. Several broken bones. I'll stick with bikes. Safer.

I may very well do that.

And there we have it. Legit bargain confirmed!

Update; I've had an initial reply from NGK, which I have subsequently replied to. I now await another reply from them.

My 2006 Honda CG125 was £1500, with just a smidge over 5000 miles on the clock. That was money I was more than happy to pay for a proven, reliable, simple to maintain and repair and extremely efficient and forgiving (and at the time pretty much pristine physical condition though it does have a scuff on the front mudguard now where I came off on my cbt, and a couple of other mystery scuffs which I have no idea the cause of) bike. While I did initially have my eye on some Chinese bikes, I'm really glad that the dealers pulled a fast one on me and made me buy the Honda. How did they pull a fast one? I think I have mentioned it before, but here goes again; I went in to book my CBT and while there, I spotted the CG right at the desk and mentioned that I had seen it on Auto Trader and liked the look of it. Anyway, after booking the CBT I said I wanted to buy a jacket while I was there, and tried on a couple, and while trying the last one on asked if there was a chair for me to sit down on so I could see how it fit while sitting. 'I can do you one better. Why don't you sit on the bike?' came the reply. Well, I sat on the CG, jacket on, and bought it there and then. While yes, after the fact it turned out that this near 20 year old bike still had its original near 20 year old tyres, had the original 20 year old battery in it, had never had its oil changed and had a dodgy starter motor, these were all things that one would expect from a near 20 year old bike and (barring the tyres of course) were easily repaired by myself with a minimum of skill and cost. For a 20 year old bike, issues such as I encountered are pretty much the norm. In my case, simple to repair, simple to replace, how-to videos aplenty and with them producing the CG for decades (and still do in parts of the world) parts in abundance, I'm very happy with my purchase. Would the same be the case for a Chinese bike? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the quality of them will improve over time as their industry matures, but the state of some of the used Chinese bikes are abysmal. Rust, damage, wear and tear beyond what would be expected after a year or two. Generally really poor offerings. Now, this could be down to how their prior owners treated them, but given how many Chinese bikes are in that state after only a year or two, it does give me pause. I'm not going to say 'never' to a Chinese bike, indeed I do have my eye on one or two, but for the foreseeable future? I think I'll stick with tried and true, well established and proven bikes and brands. Chinese brands may get there in the end, but right now? For me? I'll stick with simple, reliable, no messing Honda.

I've taken the full box down to a little mechanic I know, and they have said that as far as they can tell, looking them over themselves and comparing them with ones they have themselves from official suppliers, that they are genuine. Someone clearly made a mistake in listing them at £3.99 for ten. Either it was supposed to be £3.99 each, or £39.99 for the box of ten. Either way, I'm happy. Have also, out of curiosity, and as mentioned by @Davidtav, just popped a message off to NGK UK via their website asking if they would be interested in taking a look at one to see if they are legit. I'm quite certain they are, but would be interesting to see what NGK themselves say.

I had a thorough look at all 10 when they arrived, and they all seem to be legit based on what the internet tells me to look out for as far as fakes go, even down to the tiny little dimple on top of the terminal. Someone at Amazon clearly priced these up wrong, probably putting the decimal point in the wrong place, but at 39p per spark plug I'm not going to complain.

Box of ten spark plugs, £3.99. Not £3.99 each, £3.99 for the whole lot from Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000BYDAG6?ref_=pe_27063361_487360311_302_E_DDE_dt_1) of all places with free delivery. Yes, Amazon bad, but thats enough spark plugs to last me until the universe ends. £3.99 to do me until the end of eternity? That'll do pig. That'll do.

And so, it has happened to me. Came to go for a ride this morning only to find that my rear tyre was completely flat with a very slender nail in it. Boo hiss! I have ordered a repair kit that was recommended by multiple people as well as MCN (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ISFJVSG?ref_=pe_112168041_1111392281_t_fed_asin_title) and have ordered a compressor to re-inflate the tyre too. Both should be here tomorrow. Location of the nail is just off centre of the tyre so I should, in theory, be good to plug the hole and go about my business as normal. Only thing that is slightly concerning me is that the tyre is pretty much completely flat so I'm worried that the seal between the tyre (which is tubeless) and the rim may have broken, if that makes sense. I doubt it will have, but even still, the worry is there. Tomorrow, when the kit and the compressor arrive, do I just take the nail out, jab the hole with the pokey stick, stick the sticky stick in the hole and then reinflate the tyre or should I try to reinflate the tyre (gently) with the nail still in situ, and then do the repair with a partially inflated tyre? The latter seems to make more sense to me as if I try to partially inflate the tyre I should know whether or not the seal on the tyre (or whatever it is called) between the tyre and the rim has broken or whether that is still intact and if still intact then the repair is simple as opposed to the sealy thing being broken which will be outside of my current skillset to fix, again if that makes sense? I've watched multiple videos on how to do the repair itself, but none of them seem to be from a completely flat tyre. Hence my crude attempts to sound things out here. I'm all discombobulated as I cannot get out to ride! This is a most disagreeable state of affairs.

Survived the Wirral Egg Run! Though I started off the run with a large group from Wallasey motorcycles, I was quickly separated from them due to suddenly becoming very brave and weaving in and out of traffic, filtering, and managing to be very lucky with some traffic lights. Good job I knew the route off the top of my head anyway after inadvertently running it almost every day for the past few months. Didn't need to know it though as it was very much a case of 'follow the bike in front of you'. Though I was quite neglectful when it comes to taking pictures, several were taken of me and when they are uploaded elsewhere I'll cheekily steal them and pop them up here. Considering doing the Bishop of Chester's charity ride in a couple of weeks time. Will have to see how family commitments play out but given that I survived this one (and enjoyed it which is the most important bit) there is now nothing stopping me doing others. Oh. I also sat on a very nice, very shiny, very comfortable Harley. Was chatting to a chap at the pre-ride meetup and mentioned that somewhere down the line, that was the type of bike I wanted as from what I understand they are very comfortable to ride, especially given my middle aged frame. The chap asked whether I had ever sat on one, and when I said that I hadn't, he invited me to sit on his and try it on for size. It was so comfortable! Was like sitting in a well worn leather armchair. Although I was mostly sure that style of bike was the one for me before hand, I'm now convinced. A petrol powered leather armchair is the future for me! And now; Rest. A great day!

Spent all day today at the mother in laws while the new garage door was fitted. Which was a chore. Sorry, I mean to say, it was 'lovely' being sat there all day. Tomorrow, few plans. Go for a ride, then give the bike a thorough clean before... Wirral Egg Run on Sunday morning! Proper excited! Terrified too. Mostly terrified. Not of the ride itself, I know the route off the top of my head and have inadvertently been riding it almost every day for the past couple of months as it seemed, to me, a perfectly acceptable ride taking in multiple road types, speed limit variations, hills, roundabouts, you name it. Seemed a good route to take to practice on, and didn't realise until recently that it was the actual egg run route. So not terrified of that. The riding with however many hundreds? thousands? bazillions!?!??!? of other bikers though... That bit has me feeling a bit overwhelmed. Luckily I'm riding down to the starting point with a nice bunch of people, and having a fat bacon sandwich with them before hand, and should (mostly) be sticking with them the whole route, so in theory the 'riding with other people for the first time' jitters should be to a minimum but even still; Many bricks will be being pooped. Positively giddy with trepidation is probably an accurate descriptor.

Yes, I'm very childish. I was *SO* close to stopping dead on 8008.5 but alas, in order to stop in a safe spot, I had to go over. Roll on 800813.5! If the bike gets there, that is. Who am I kidding? It's a CG125. Of course it will!

So there I was, happily stopped at a set of four way temporary traffic lights in place for some roadworks. I'm sat there, as is a car on a side road also controlled by the roadworks. After catching eachothers eyes while looking round, we both carry on minding our own business, happily sat on red, when all of a sudden, as if from out of nowhere, a bus comes hurtling behind me, swerves right in front of me, seemingly ignoring both me and the lights, only to then realise the levels of dipshittery he had just done and coming to an abrupt halt half way across the four way junction, just as a car was coming toward him. I sighed and shook my head. The car driver caught my eye, sighed, shook his head, and gesticulated most feverishly at the bus driver (I think he was mimicking shaking a can of coke. He clearly hopes that the bus drivers next fizzy drink of choice explodes on him). Broad daylight. I can only imagine that I, being awesome, was emitting some sort of radiant light of overwhelming awesomeness that temporarily blinded and stunned the bus driver, thus making him not see the big bright red light, not see me on account of my blinding awesomeness, and have to come to a sudden halt across a junction, with a bus load of passengers, while he took stock of his senses and got a grip of himself after being in my awesome, blinding presence. That was totally what happened to him. Either that or he was being a dick. I like to see the best in people so I'm going with the former rather than the latter. So. How was your day?

As long as someone is on two wheels, I don't really care what they choose to ride. We all choose a bike we like and hop on it to feel the wind in our ever receding hairlines, the adrenaline coursing through our ever expanding (sideways) bodies and the vibrations of the engine rattling every one of our increasingly aching bones. Two wheels good. Four wheels bad. I think Orwell said that.

Around the tail end of Easter I'll be moving on from CBT to getting my A1. I could go straight on to doing the bigger bike license, but my reasons for keeping with A1 are sensible (to me) and practical. The practical first; I simply don't have anywhere at the current property we own to keep a bigger bike. Yes, it could take up the space that my current bike resides in, but realistically I would need more space to keep a bigger bike which we just don't have at the moment. This will not be an issue a few years down the line when (and I don't mean this to come across the way it will come across, so forgive me) the mother in law passes on and we sell our current house and buy out others shares in her house. Her house has a nice big garage and workshop detached from the main house which will be perfect for keeping a bigger bike in (she has also asked me to source getting a new door fitted, and I've gone for one which is very secure as I'm planning ahead for when we eventually take ownership of the property, though I know that sounds bad). As such, on a practical level, though I could go straight on to big bikes, it just isn't really practical. But Chris! You don't need to buy a new bike when you pass! You can keep your plucky little CG and just buy your big bike in a few years time when things have settled down! And here comes the sensible bit; While yes, I could do the big license now, by the time things have settled down, hopefully many years from now, although I will technically be able to ride a big bike, I won't know *how* to ride a big bike anymore, if that makes sense? While yes, the basics are the same, a massive beast of a bike is a whole different beast compared to my plucky and agile CG. Hence, though I will be *able* to ride a big bike, I won't remember *how* to, and so, to my thinking, I may as well just get my A1, hold on to that for a few years and then, somewhere down the line, top it up to a full bike bike license. As you can probably tell, a lot of thought and reasoning has gone in to my choice of how I'm moving forward. I am, perhaps, too sensible for my own good. So, you're certainly not alone in just doing an A1 and then moving on to full A at some point down the line. I'm right there with you, albeit in different circumstances.

How dare you post a sensible comment on the internet!

Wasps are the chavs of the insect world.

I've had a couple of near misses with bees. Bumblebees are pretty harmless. I mean, not if they actually sting me, but the likelihood of one of those doped out over-sized flying spicy sugar puffs is low compared to, say, a honey bee. Honey bees are just slightly more civilised wasps. Funnily enough, one of our Dogs has a tendency to bring me bees he has valiantly 'protected' me from. He will bring them in, spit them out at my feet and then just sit there wagging his tail with a gormless grin on his face. The other Dog however ignores all flying things except for butterflies. For some reason he has an absurd hatred for butterflies and will try to kill any butterfly he sees. Bees? Nope. Wasps? Nope. Houseflies. Nope. Moths? Nope. Butterflies? They are clearly an existential threat and must be destroyed on sight. If science ever develops a way of us talking to Dogs, I want to know exactly what it is that vexes him so about Butterflies.

That bumblebee totally wanted to kill me to death in the face and it failed to do so due to my quick thinking. So no. No points for the stupid, fat, fluffy bumblebee of doom!

I'm quite allergic to bees. This is not normally an issue, but around this time of year, when bumblebees start emerging and encroaching upon our fair homes, I must be ever vigilant lest I find myself suddenly trapped in a room with a bee. Which just happened! I didn't panic though. Instead, I took advantage of my new motorcycling hobby and threw my jacket and gloves on, donned my helmet, visor down, and carried on reading my book in the conservatory in peace while the idiotic bumblebee bumbled around for several minutes, constantly missing the wide open windows and wide open door, instead flying head first into frosted windows, before finally leaving the conservatory and bumbling on its merry way and leaving me none the worse for wear. Motorcycling is great! I'm now impervious to bees!

I need this on a T-Shirt.

WD-40, a hammer, some duct tape and a 10mm socket and it'll be fixed up in no time.

Funnily enough, with insurance, I got an e-mail from sportsbikeshop saying they were now doing insurance quotes. Alrighty! thinks I, and so and goes and puts in the same details I put in to the meerkat place and boom. Cheapest quote from any of the providers they came up with was quadruple what I'm paying now! Insurance is one of those things that if you actually figure it out, you will cause the entire universe to implode. I'm eagerly looking forward to September when my insurance comes back up for renewal with Bennetts so I can see whether/how much by, they drop the price I'm currently paying. I just wish there was something that could be done within the industry to bring insurance premiums down across the board for new riders. I'm fine with paying the extortionate 'new rider' penalty. Others, however, aren't in a position to do so and yeah, it really puts people off.