RantMachine

Love it

Totally

Daaaang, you get all the luck! I had 1 through 4, but not the proper island - just a somewhat sloppy attempt at the crummy Blue Peter one. I was tempted for a while to change my BMW's name to Captain Scarlet, on account of how often it died and I brought it back to life...

If you're riding on roads with that many loose stones, maybe you shock jam some dualsport tyres onto it instead I remember reading once about someone sticking Shinko 705's on an R1, maybe you could get some of those in the right size...

Woohoo, the king is back! And with some real crackers :lol:

This is why I was recommending Gumtree! eBay is a joke these days, not worth the bother. The only thing it's good for is getting hold of dirt cheap Chinese plastics or levers

I've been nagging my brother to get this online for ages, because I think it's amazing - he gave me a printed copy for Christmas but hasn't been able to share it online until now because of the terms of his contract with the newspaper that printed it originally. https://nevercomedowncomix.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/nothing-is-normal-in-presevo/ Regardless of your current opinions on the matter, I strongly recommend giving it a read. It gives a whole world of insight (and emotional connection) into the global refugee crisis, no matter what you might think you already know.

Wait, what? 49k miles counts as low now? Wish I'd known when I sold my BMW

Well first of all, breathe a sigh of relief that your bike is air cooled because at least you know it isn't coolant in the oil Have you been using it for a lot of short commuting or other short rides over the winter? Chances are you've had some moisture work its way in, and it hasn't burnt off because the engine has never warmed up enough or remained hot for long enough. Fresh oil, keep an eye on it, try and get the odd longer ride in every now and then, and if it happens again then maybe check if water could be working its way in somewhere. But, no worries about that just yet. Chances are that if water could get in (beyond mere condensation) then you'd have a whole other problem with oil getting out

Tell you what, I'll have a think and try to work out some kind of handicap system that allows for use of already-owned bikes... No promises, but I'll see what I can do

Also, you should post in the 125cc Idiot Challenge thread. Something along the lines of "YES I WILL JOIN IN"

Maybe. http://retrothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/marmitebiscuits.jpg

I feel like Shorty should post in this thread, his signature would be incredibly appropriate

Fingers crossed! And failing that I'll start turning up on doorsteps

As long as they are secure enough that they won't come loose under normal riding, and once you're on the rough stuff can't come flying UP to meet you on a harsh landing or if you smack into something, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Needs a bit of a kick up the arse, I think! The initial hype died down and I still have very few names for people who are "in". I'll have to stick a link in my signature as a reminder and start sending PMs to hassle people Not much joy on insurance sponsorship yet, but still working on it... I need to write up a proper proposal to approach some other providers. Insert excuses about "busy trying to buy a house" here. Oh, and it would be easier to write up a proposal that was appealing to potential sponsors IF I HAD MORE PEOPLE CONFIRMING THAT THEY INTEND TO TAKE PART

...but only when nobody else was watching

My old Chinese bike was the same! For your odo, just remember that that the distance in miles is just under 2/3 of the reading in kilometers. And with regards to servicing, make sure to check whether the service schedule in the owner's manual is measured in miles or kilometres! But on the front of the speedo itself, it's probably not that accurate anyway... 125 speedos tend to exaggerate a bit, and Chinese ones even moreso. If you want an accurate reading, get one of those dirt cheap zip-up mobile phone holders for your handlebars (something like £5 or £10 I think) and download the app "GPS Speed Free", gives you a GPS speedo reading that's one hell of a lot more accurate than the one built into the bike!

I'm planning to get a set for my KLX in the near future, will be interesting to see how many knocks they can take

I was waiting for that Doesn't sound too bad, I reckon! Well, not too bad when you also have a working bike to ride when you need to work off some frustration Looking forward to your future posts about it!

I've always found that crashing your bike is a good way of learning its limits so that you don't exceed them in the future

Ancient thread alert I sing without the music, helps me improve my karaoke game ready for the rally

This is why I use Firefox and Adblock. I never see adverts when in the interweb. Doesn't prevent you being tracked, just means you don't see the adverts. Since the internet is basically funded by advertising, we are going to start seeing more and more sites that detect adblockers and prevent us from going further. The idea being that If they can't show you adverts (which fun their site), you don't get to see their website. Which is fair enough, really! Bit of an arms race though; ads got too intrusive, adblockers came along. Now adblockers get brushed aside, and the ads will grow ever more obtrusive in their efforts to be the one that you click, and so something else will be introduced to bypass them. Or people will just boycott websites that have particularly annoying ads, and people might actually have to start producing BETTER ads not just LOUDER AND MORE IRRITATING ones

Aaaaand my other half has booked us a trip to Edinburgh that weekend, so I'm out Doomed to never go to a start/end of season meet!

I'll be interested to hear your feedback!