RantMachine

Appreciated, just need a bike thst can go that far without blowing up first

Sounds like the argument is still going to me

Something something opinions something something ar*eholes something something stink.

I had thought about booking a room, but stuff this "six miles down the road" lark! I need to be in staggering distance

No, not impersonating the police (that would be illegal), but you have to wonder about the choice of the word "POLITE" - its a bit of a random word to have written on your back... If i was about safety, they would have something more appropriate written on their backs such as "SLOW DOWN" or "THINK BIKE", but they dont... they pick seemingly random word. So is this a coincidence that at a glance, their seemingly random, unrelated word just happens to look like the word "POLICE"? no of course not! Wearing a "POLITE" jacket is not about safety, its a deliberate attempt to mislead other road users into mistaking the wearer for the police. A valid point, but the original design didn't catch on for some reason...

Thanks again Yep, I know I'm never stuck for help when I need it thanks to the wonderful folks of TMBF - and I feel particularly lucky to live slap bang in the middle of East Anglia where there are so many of us! Now if only I could stop being stubborn about it

Like the last owner did, you mean? Meant to be getting a moderate pay rise in January, if that actually happens (not holding my breath) that'll give me the extra money I need to get something more reliable on finance. The constant repairs keep me from saving for anything right now, and it's my only means of transport so my hands are tied.

I'd be intrigued to see what the Police would think if you went one further and made a full "POLITE" Pan European...? Looking at you, Phil - just need some lettering stickers and some neon paint

Always with the angle grinder, Bob Cheers for making me laugh, I really needed that right now. Really appreciate the offer, but I don't want you to have to go out of your way for such a little thing - I'm thinking that tomorrow evening is down the pan either way, gonna have to do tonight's jobs tomorrow either way, so another trip to Halfords for the 1/2" version isn't the end of the world. But thanks again for forcing me to crack a smile

Maybe I should just accept that piss poor wages, Cambridge living costs, piss all mechanical knowledge, and biking just don't mesh well

Ok, so maybe my frustration is a little misdirected. Deep breath, don't get pissed off at garage yet. Remain pissed off about terminally ill bike. Sadly I'm kinda limited to buying little bits here and there as I don't really earn enough to buy tools in bulk! Just the bare minimum that I can get away with. Hell, the constant steam of faults has meant that I haven't actually managed to get myself out of the £1500 debt I racked up by having to move house at short notice and then that first shedload of servicing the bike needed.

Not got one. My tool collection is expanding gradually as the bike gradually dies. Plus I think the thing I'm most pissed about is that once again I've been f**ked about by people I paid good money to look after my bike for me. That and the fact that I barely get to ride the damn thing.

FUUUUUCK IIIIIIIIT f**k IT f**k IT f**king f**k f**k f**k IT ALL TO HELL AND BACK Drained the oil reservoir a couple of nights ago but couldn't drain the sump - Cambridge Motorcycles fitted a new sump plug earlier this year because a previous owner had knackered the old one. Very kindly, they fitted one that requires a 10mm hex bit - making this the only item on my entire bike that doesn't require a torx bit. So, naturally I had to cycle to Halfords in the rain tonight to get one. Bearing in mind that the sump plug is supposed to be torqued up to 40nm, I bought a 3/8" drive bit, to fit my 8-60nm wrench. Got home and tried to open it up... they're torqued it past 60nm, so it's not coming off with this wrench. Completely wasted an evening, and now I've got to cycle back to Halfords again tomorrow to get the 1/2" drive version. And pray that they didn't f**k the thing when they overtightened it. So: * Wednesday evening wasted * Thursday evening plans out the window * Freezing cold and wet and my not-so-great knee is killing from the cycling * One day further behind on getting back on the road I swear to god, it'll take a miracle for me to ever let someone else touch my damn bike ever again. I'm honestly so very close to just packing it in and going back to cycling everywhere, it's just driving me utterly nuts. Every damn week there's something new and I'm going off the deep end and buying this bike was meant to be the one good thing that happened to me this year but I swear to god some days it's the reason I'm falling apart at the f**king SEAMS and if I could go back and never buy the f**king thing then I wouldn't think twice any more

+1 to that, I barely ever have to resort to my heated grips because my guards cut down windchill so much. And I do a lot of motorway miles and a lot of early morning/late night riding, so I'm certainly a prime candidate for cold hands! You don't even realise how much of a difference they make until you take your hands out from behind them and it suddenly gets blown backwards If you're not convinced, there's a cheap alternative you can give a try before investing in a proper set: http://i.imgur.com/jVKKYc7.jpg Just need to stick something vaguely rigid to the inside to reinforce them - a strip of metal from the offcuts bin at Homebase bent to shape and a drop or two of superglue ought to do it

I'm thinking about starting a thread about my thumper, with a title along the lines of "Trigger's Broom" Although I think if I had a running total of repair costs in front of me I'd probably cry... Spent something in the region of £250 on parts and £100 on tools and other equipment this month - slightly worse month than usual, but not too big a surprise sadly. Shoulda bought that ZZR...

It does a good few miles, but I'd travel on it a whole lot more if the damn thing would stop going wrong! Had been planning to ride to Austria in the summer but really couldn't trust it to get me there. Might do it next year instead but will have to see how the recovery process goes. Lovely bike indeed, a pleasure to ride and I recommend it highly, but mine has not been well looked after I think you're thinking of Rotax, who made the engine - no particularly nasty surprises hiding inside of it, I believe (aside from a series of badly bodged repairs, in the case of mine).

Depends how old we're talking - mine is only 14 but undeniably worn beyond its years, like certain forum members

I refer of course to my bike, not the awesome 2007 Type O Negative Album So in short, it's barfed a load of coolant into the oil. Obvious culprit would be the water pump seals, as this is a notorious problem for the F650 with owners experiencing it at varying mileage but ultimately always experiencing it sooner or later, unless they preempt it by replacing the dodgy seals with more reliable ones before they have a chance to fail. Of course I was of the impression that this had already happened to mine and been rectified before it came to me, but maybe someone just fixed it with glue, tape, and an ill-advised spot weld like several other parts of the bike And of course if that isn't it, it could turn out to be the head gasket. So I'm thinking rip the damn thing apart and change both to be safe. And this is where I get to thinking... there are probably a whole load of other nasty gremlins waiting to come out of the woodwork. After all, in the nine months I've owned the bike there have only been three days on which there wasn't something wrong with it... So then I have my choice. I could try to replace the head gasket and pump seals ASAP and get it back on the road, or I could spend that time sticking the bike that shall not be named back together and ride that as a winter hack while I go over the BMW with a fine toothed comb with an aim to have it back on the road when the weather improves. If I were a little more competant with working on my bike, it'd be a no-brainer - but as it is I'm a little concerned that I'd never manage to put the BMW back together again properly And of course it means riding the deathtrap for another winter. What do you guys think?

Hahahaha appreciated Bob Although I don't think it'd be my bike that I'd want to use it on...

Working on the assumption that it's probably the water pump seals, it's known to be a worryingly common problem... I'll spill the guts over the garage floor and see what state they're in. Fingers crossed they're just ruined and that's all the problem, but... well, it's never the easy one, is it?

Oh hey there coolant, whatcha up to? Having fun relaxing IN THE f**king OIL TANK AAAAAAAAARGH f**k it, I don't think I'm actually putting enough miles on my bike to identify as a biker. From here on I'm a hapless enthusiast motorbike mechanic, or something like that...

Well now I'm not actually 100% convinced this counts as a 'f**k it', because this sort of thing happens so often that I'm pretty used to it now... Not even 4 days after putting the damn thing back together, I'm faced with an unusable bike once again; overheating this time. Will try and troubleshoot it tonight, god only knows what has gone wrong this time... Did it at the weekend and I thought that maybe the fan was fecking up, seeing as I'd been stuck at lots of traffic lights on the way into town. When it did it again on a cross country ride at night time... FUUUUUUUUUUUCK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

I can one up that, this summer I had to go to hospital to have part of a fly removed from my eye using a needle and a microscope Got embedded on the inside of my upper eyelid and was scratching my eye every time I blinked. Great fun!

Well, here are the main arguments I tend to hear: The £600 helmet will last a lot longer, parts on the £60 helmet will simply wear out in a fairly short span of time. The £60 helmet will weigh a lot more (cheaper materials) The £60 helmet will be a lot bulkier (something about having one shell size that gets used for a wide range of sizes and just varying the thickness of the internals) And also less effort or r&d may have gone into the £60 helmet, so things like the ventilation may be a bit cack handed If you look at something like this http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/ you can see that there isn't always a direct correlation between price and safety; for example Spada helmets (my brand of choice, cos I'm cheap ) do really well, whereas the rather expensive Harley Davidson helmets might actually make you less safe than wearing no helmet at all! As far as the arguments against cheaper (but highly rated) helmets go, let me summarise my experiences of my old Spada RP700 lid: Longevity: Yes, it did start to fall apart. 6 months in the little rubber seal along the bottom of the visor had peeled off, letting in a fair bit of wind noise. At 12 months the top one went, making the problem worse and also letting in the very occasional bit of rain. The vent in the chin broke at about 16 months, and would no longer stay shut without the support of a bit of tape. And the lining on the right side of my chin split at around 10 months, so I had to stitch that back together before it got too bad. Weight: Noticeable, but you get used to it and it isn't really that terrible. Strong necks run in my family, though - so compare a few for yourself Size: VERY noticeable, but again I can't comment completely fairly because I'm not a small man and I certainly don't have a small head even before you stick a helmet on it! Does seem larger than the average lid though. Were the compromises apparent? Yes. Would I buy Spada again? Yes, that's who made my new lid At the end of the day, for me it comes down to this - as long as they both do really well in crash tests, it doesn't matter if I buy a lid that costs a few hours wages or half as much as my bike, one good smack later and both have to go in the bin. Got a year and a half out of my RP700, so as long as I have at least one decent thump to the head in the next 13.5 years then I've saved myself a few quid - and I'm sure it's going to happen sooner or later Plus it's a lot cheaper to have different helmets for different occasions when they're under the hundred pound mark.

Mine did a great job of staying waterproof all through the winter, it wasn't until March that they started to let the rain in. Considering how much I ride, I wasn't massively disappointed. And yeah, mine have now gone the way of getting soaked for several days and stinking afterwards. If I'm riding for more than a day, I wear my cruiser boots - they don't keep the rain out any better, but they dry out in an hour or two