RantMachine

Nice work, congrats! Important question time... what sort of bike are you gonna get?

Ooh err, true that! Although I don't want to have to ride all the way to the rally feeling like someone is trying to shove a plank between my arse cheeks

I've seen this recommended in the past and am strongly considering giving it a go! Considering it's ~10% of the price of a new seat, it seems worth a shot

I gave up on them after the third one that just sat there in a heap and started to smell funny... The "assembly required" bit was bad enough (my suturing is a rather haphazard), but I guess they're "batteries not included" too? Maybe I just picked the wrong website

Double check what extent of cover they offer, though - often those deals give you the absolute bare minimum of cover! I've heard people say good things about tyre slime for tubed tyres, but they only do so much... if the inner tube splits rather than just being punctured it makes one hell of a mess inside the tyre! Replacing your inner tubes with heavy duty ones (the Michelin ones for off-road use get particularly good write ups) is potentially a better investment. Or do both! Recovery is all well and good, but it's nicer to be able to keep riding

True that! I used to think I spent a lot on photographic kit, but my motorbike spending blows that away effortlessly

Not saying we won't let them stay, or that other countries will force our expats to go, because that really only could be wild speculation. But, if everyone is allowed to stay they still have to have visas just the same as all the non-EU nationals working in the UK at the moment. All that legal and diplomatic paperwork takes a long old time even when the numbers are relatively small, up-scale it for the vast surge in demand that will hit if we leave the EU, and a lot of people will have to bugger off to their home country until the visa comes through, In one of my earlier posts I listed the exact numbers, but what it boils down to is that every year our country only manages to process a tiny fraction of the number of visas or leave to remain applications that would be filed overnight. And yes, standard procedure if someone doesn't have a valid visa and is waiting for one to be issued is to send them home until it's ready - I know a few people from across the Atlantic who have had to go home for 6 months while they waited for a new visa to be approved. Even if we granted an amnesty for everyone already here, Indefinite Leave to Remain takes something like 12 months per person, and that's with current levels of demand. I don't care to get mixed up in debating all the numbers that people spout in reference to trade agreements or foreign investments we might or might not lose, or any of that other stuff that is really just speculation from one side or the other. Some arguments in there will be stronger than others, but it's still mostly just maybes. My genuine concern about how an "out" vote will impact on our economy is how it will devastate our workforce, and these concerns are based on hard facts about how our immigration system works. And that stuff is never going to change overnight!

Ditto - but I've already planned my journey home via Tesco to buy more.

None of that covers the massive issue of rights to remain or work, though - which still stands to mess up anything up to 2 million jobs in the UK and 1 million on the mainland

http://juicebubble.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Alcohol-is-a-solution-black.png

I know that you know I know, know worries

I said they were the arguments people use, I never said they were factually correct

Oh right, yeah... http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/1270x714+10+0/resize/800x450!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/32efb4101e725e53bd67e7f1dcb72c92/202248295/KTM-BikeBoat.jpg Maybe not.

Why bother with the crossing when you can BUILD YOUR BIKE INTO A BOAT?!?!?!! http://www.motorradonline.de/sixcms/media.php/11/thumbnails/bikeboat1024.jpg.4549616.jpg

The BMW had five gears, never stopped me going for 6th. The CG has four, and I frequently look for 5th. And the KLX has six... yep, found myself trying to stick it in 7th a few times yesterday

I don't commute by bike on a Monday to Thursday (except on special occasions), but I have Friday Rideday and I don't miss that unless the bike has blown up Friday Rideday is also important because none of my local shops sell decent spirits and I'm too lazy to walk across town to the big supermarket

Everyone will tell you (repeatedly) that you'll get bored of riding in crap weather... Personally I think it's a mindset thing. I gave the whole Fairweather Rider thing a try last year and for me it was boring as hell But I can see why it appeals for some, certainly lets you focus more on your riding technique without all the extra variables at play, and it's better for the condition of the bike, and safer in some regards, but for the longer rides that I enjoy it all felt pretty arbitrary and dull. Crossing the country on a sunny day on my BMW wasn't much different to doing the journey on a train (Hence my choice of new bike; I like making things hard for myself My ride back from the dealership yesterday was in some pretty horrible weather, but I loved everything about it save for the numb hands - I'll admit that heated grip or hand guards are a must in crap weather if you don't have a massive fairing)

That would be absolutely beautiful. Add in a clause that if they fail too many pre-vote tests, they get booted out and replaced. Then you've got a perfect system

Firstly, let me take a moment to applaud you for your opening statement - I wish more people would think this way, not just about this vote but about voting in general. Admitting you don't know enough takes a lot more strength of character than just rocking up and voting without understanding the implications of what you just did. Distilling it down to one argument for each side might be tricky, but I can give you a short handful of bulletpoints each way (without the full explanations to go with them). I won't include the counter arguments (because there are loads of them and they just make it a pain to summarise, you can read the whole thread if you want them!), and I certainly won't be raising everything, just a few key ones: STAYING IN - Millions of jobs are linked to our EU membership - Some of Britain's biggest trading partners are in the EU (speculation that they might break of these partnerships or make them less favourable if we leave) - It's easier than ever for us to work and travel abroad - It's easier to fight international crime (European Arrest Warrant) - Leaving might harm our influence in the world LEAVING - Border control back in our hands - Save large amounts of money currently spent on membership fees - Many EU Institutions are seen as lacking democracy, leaving would free us from their control - Other countries successfully go it alone - Get rid of any threat to Britain's military freedom

Nah, non-Chinese bikes are fair game now; we changed the rules around a bit since the first post and split off the rules to a separate thread. I've edited the first post in this thread, so as to avoid future confusion. Up-to-date rules are here: http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/viewtopi ... 11&t=59602

Ditto. I've had decent pillions who are bikers themselves and barely noticed they were even there (had to do the occasional check in the mirror!), but I've also had a frequent pillion in the past who didn't weigh much at all but was like a sack of very unpredictable potatoes when sitting on the back of the bike. ANGRY unpredictable potatoes, that complain when you accelerate or decelerate too hard and punch you in the back or shoulder when you make an aggressive overtake. Yeeeeeah, punching the rider is real smart.

NOTD on a scooter, I went out for a short run around the city to warm the engine up before adjusting the carb and the silly sod kept trying to undertake me then pull in in front every time we were stationary, only to be overtaken by me and left standing as soon as the lights changed... and then he'd catch up at the next red and do it again

Not giving Gumtree a shot, Fro? At least you don't have to worry about a bidding war on there. Significantly more worthwhile to do and HPI, though I'm still hot on the tail of some sponsorship on the insurance side of things, in hopes that it'll make this a bit more accessible for folks Need to get more people on board! I'm sure it'll be easier to get sponsors interested if we can make the event a bit bigger! I reckon 6 to 10 people for the first time would be perfect, could do it again with more people in the future if it goes well

I think we're doing pretty well, couple of passionate arguments in play but nobody has had a tantrum and said "NO BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID" yet

I got a clean sheet on my test, but would've dropped a few marks if I hadn't managed to lose my examiner twice - once right before a bit of overly aggressive filtering, and once right before I missed a reduced speed school zone