RantMachine

I'm biased an opinionated. ...Sorry, what were we talking about? I did a year on my CBT and racked up 14,000 miles in that time, riding in every weather possible and on every type of road (motorways aside, obviously). Did one day of training before my Mod 1 and Mod 2 and passed both first time with a clean sheet - so naturally I think that riding a 125 for a while is the best way. Also I know someone who did an intensive course then bought a 1000cc sports bike right away, and he's an insufferable nob that really can't handle his bike very well

Fro - Sorry to hear that, at least they caught them and you aren't out of pocket! GoG - Damn, that's horrible, proper nightmare scenario. Do you have a backup on an external hard drive?

Come on you miserly gits! I'm ready for it, look what Santa has in his drybag...

I can't imagine that going down well

My other half and I are visiting Springfield (MO) next year, to visit her uncle Homer.

http://thesupernaughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/spit.gif

I keep bringing it back from the dead every week or two And damn, man... I'm sorry

MD of one of our sub-brands pays me a visit with a USB stick full of images and a list of associated requests - basically fabricating a load of fake sample images of products using stock photos he's sourced from our supplier and from Shutterstock. Okay, not too terrible yet... Start looking at the images, the first one has quite clearly been taken in China (the people in the foreground and the landscape and architecture in the background are a bit of a tipoff), and all of the people in the shot are very obviously nowhere near the age of his customer base. And I'm being asked to replace the person in the foreground with a picture of one of our staff (taken under completely different lighting and perspective, naturally) and replace the colours in about 1/3 of the remaining image. So much f**k it. I hate not having a proper Head of Marketing around who can slap stuff like this down before it gets this far.

Nikons are utter buggers for doing this, so I know your pain. The grip on my F5 kept coming loose and nothing would hold it. Superglue didn't do too bad a job, but resorting to that over and over again doesn't do the grip much good - goes a bit brittle, and if you get any on the front or edges they end up white and crusty. Double sided carpet tape is very effective, albeit a bit of a bugger to get in position without it sticking to the wrong thing first. Final option, there's a rather handy type of tape that we use at work but I forget the name - will check tomorrow if my brain functions properly It's double sided stuff, but it becomes far more sticky and reasonably flexible when heated - bonds to metal very effectively, that's what we use it for.

I've got... hang on, let me count for a minute. Three Nikon SLRs (including an all black press model FM2 with rapid advance and an F5), one Nikon DSLR, and half a dozen lenses and a couple of flashguns to go with them, a Fuji X100 with a ring flash (the only one I regularly use for personal stuff, the Nikon gear is all for work these days!), a Canon superzoom compact camera, a Canon bridge camera, a Samsung smart camera, some Bowens studio flashes, and a half-plate tailboard camera of unknown make. And then somewhere else I have a box with two Minolta SLRs and another half dozen lenses, a couple of Zenits with 50mm lenses, and some other bits and bobs that I forget. I'm not doing too bad, I've managed to cut down quite a bit And then at work, we've got an H3D50, a couple of Mamiyas, two large formats (including a speed graphic!), a D3s and a D800E with a bunch of lenses, and a dozen peli cases each containing a 5Dmk2, 24-70, 50, and 70-200. Oh, and about 80 Gemini 500 kits

Nice, good to know! My front isn't looking so great so I'll be changing them some time soonish. Need to sort out the front drum while I'm there, bit of a pain in the arse but certainly less hassle than the rebuild that the BMW's front brake needs.

Even coming from my side of things where my big bike is also a single, it's still a lot easier to keep such a basic little air cooled engine alive. You can dismantle the top end with the engine still in the bike if you really want, and I'm yet to find a task that can't be handled with the toolkit under the battery compartment - and I more or less dismantled the entire bike when I first got it, so there can't be many things left to encounter On the flip side, changing the spark plug on my BMW requires removing all the plastics and most of the airbox (would be easier if I had smaller hands, admittedly) and the toolkit is practically useless - doesn't even include the tools needed for an oil change or adjusting the chain! Yeah, it was the fun factor that led me to get it. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy riding a bigger bike, but I had a good long hard think about my favourite rides I've ever done and almost all of them were on my old Lexmoto. You don't take anything for granted on a little bike, and you have the think one hell of a lot more when you're riding it. And you can have fun getting accustomed to squeezing every last drop of performance out of it, which I find pretty satisfying, all without risking death or penalty points On the mixed tyres note - yeah, I know that it compromises on rear traction in the soft stuff. It's not a perfect solution by any means, just a balancing act. Helps reduce rear tyre wear on a longer trip such as Spain and back, but also less keeps the front end from getting a bit vague once you're off the beaten track. I wasn't necessarily meaning knobbly front and road tyre rear, more something like a dualsport rear, something analogous to Metzeler Tourance or Conti TKC70 that can handle the dirt a bit better but doesn't shred on tarmac like a knobbly will (if something like that is available in the right size, didn't bother looking ). Jack of all trades master of none sort of stuff, preferable to riding full knobbly on road or road tyres in mud and gravel. Some of the ADVrider lot recommended it highly when I've been talking about doing some stupid things on my F650 in the new year, seen it advocated on Horizons Unlimited too. I'll doubtless post a review of how it works out on the BMW whenever I get round to it

Seconding that, should be an impressive spectacle! A bit like this I'm hoping: http://pbr1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/mbx5tbasher/italytrippics044.jpg I've seen people carrying spare tires but never with the rims in them, that's pretty hardcore As a thought, you could stick a full on knobbly on the front and a more hard wearing road biased tire on the rear, that's a fairly popular way of getting around it. Planning on doing that to the BMW when I finally get around to ordering new tires Or another idea, you could always ship the off road rims to a forum member who lives near the lake district and collect them once you arrive so you aren't too overloaded on the way up there. So I'm guessing from what you said about avoiding spoked rims when buying the bike that you didn't have all this planned out when you first bought the YBR? Glad that getting a little bike has been working out so well for you, I've been having a great laugh on mine too. Amazing just how much you can fling the thing around when it's so light and low, real change from a big adventure bike.

The rims are the stock ones though, aren't they? Didn't they do some of the earlier YBRs with spoked rims? I'd be half tempted to get a set of those to avoid the risk of knackering the cast ones. Looking good all in all, though!

Aha, on the right track - fbcdn.net is Facebook, which is blocked on my work machine. That explains it.

I'm intrigued to see this, but for some reason my work computer always blocks your images. Only yours, nobody else - very odd! Will take a peek on my phone when I'm on break.

If a bloke standing beside you suddenly explodes then you don't really get much chance to do anything about it. Or if someone starts shooting, unless they're stood right beside you at the time and don't happen to shoot you first then once again you won't really get a chance to do anything. Running away from a man with a gun isn't cowardly, and an unarmed man in a gunfight isn't heroic - he's a corpse http://inyminy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/indiana-jones.gif (and that bloke had a sword - how are you gonna fare with a Tesco bag and an umbrella? )

I have to try soooooo hard to bite my lip in threads about photography Irresistible urge to go through and correct any little factual inaccuracies or go off on rants about all kinds of stuff But to keep it down to sage advice instead of grumbling... 1 - Always be proud of what you create, but also always push yourself to take an even better photo the next time! 2 - Remember that talented photographers are not made overnight, and even the best ones only let you see the handful of shots that they were happy with. Never be afraid to take the same photo over and over again from every angle and at every exposure until you polish it into the best it can be. Next time it won't take you as long and you'll likely get a better photo too, because you're building on your skills and developing your eye. 3- Photoshop is a crutch, don't fall into the trap of propping yourself up with it. A little crop and rotate is fine, but don't go nuts - build on your photography skills before you worry too much about post production. You'll be a better photographer for learning how to produce a great image straight out of the camera. And on the equipment front... I agree that sticking to a fixed focal length lens can be a good choice, although it's perhaps a little restrictive when still finding your way in photography. Better to have a cheap zoom that cover a large range and invest in a decent prime once you know what focal length you spend most of your time it. A spectacular composition captured with a rubbish lens will always look better than a bland one taken on a lens that cost three months wages. And of course, megapixels count for bugger all. Enjoy snapping on your SX160, use the flexibility to hone your composition and find what kind of photography speaks to you the most. Then grab an old Canon AE1 or Olympus OM10 from Oxfam for a tenner and use film to get to grips with exposure. More control over it than a Powershot SX will give you, but also the cost of processing it makes you think more about each shot Unless you're making a living from it, there is very little need to sink vast amounts of money on photography gear - and even then, 1/3 of professional photography is bodging things together

Nominating the idiot in a cage on my way to work - I'm doing about 55 along the road from Cambridge to Horningsea, just coming up to the village when some impatient peenarse who is still inside the speed limits of the village decides to overtake the car in front. Car in front starts to gather speed as he's now leaving the village, impatient dick continues to attempt to overtake and gathers more speed. I now have a car coming towards me in my lane at about 50mph, barely any distance between us, and because the silly peenarse has his beams AND his fog lights on, I'm too blinded to even see where the kerb is so that I can avoid hitting it while attempting to get as far out of his way as I can. Thankfully managed to guess it well enough.

I had some slight problems with mine, cleaned it out with some WD40 and thoroughly greased the hell out of everything - no problems since then!

Or just do what all sensible people should've been doing long before this kicked off and stay the f**k out of London

Of course, the best part is that the Grom is barely any smaller than my CG so I look that daft whenever I ride into town at the weekend

We also went today, and I have to say that I think I've been converted! Seemed quieter than the Friday was the last two years, and it being the last day gave us some extra leverage when bartering at the gear stalls. Went with my other half and one of my old housemates. I got a massive discount on the Oxford Montreal 2.0 jacket that I'd been wanting, 45% off - was about to get the tan/"desert" version until the woman at the stall said that it looked very Ewan McGregor so I quickly decided to get the orange and black one instead so I wouldn't look like one of the GS Accountant crowd. Crystal scored a helmet and some trousers, again with a massive discount. Final day if definitely a good day to go. Tom bought a rain cover because he gets paid far to much and so has far too many nice things already. I remembered that we had a thread recently where someone said it was nigh on impossible to flat foot some of the bigger adventure bikes, so naturally we got a snap of me standing over an Adventure R http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/2015-12-06%2012.42.34_zps5p8pudre.jpg (bonus: Crystal said that if she can get a cat, I can get an 1190 Adventure R. I suggested that I get her the cat for christmas and she get me the KTM, but apparently that's not going to be possible ) Also had a go on an F800GSA, thought it was a bit w**k. http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/2015-12-06%2012.48.55_zpsdgashuxz.jpg Don't get why the front of the bike is so damn bulky when the fuel tank is in the rear under the seat! Still love the MT-09, lovely think - think I prefer the new one with the retro styling, but I look bloody awful in that photo http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/2015-12-06%2014.16.40_zpsrd8ecurf.jpg Tom wasn't so impressed but he got in on the photo anyway. Some of the plastics on the variant he's sat on (can't remember what it was called) seemed really flimsy, not so cool. And of course, the appeal of getting an MSX shot was far too great. Also a chance for Crystal to get a "look at what I can flat-foot" shot. http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/2015-12-06%2013.21.30_zpsrcdka9ax.jpghttp://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/2015-12-06%2013.22.16_zps4zqca1um.jpg And of course, obligatory looking-like-prats-on-a-goldwing shot. http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/2015-12-06%2017.11.47_zpsqevg6ygp.jpg We spent 15 minutes trying to work out how to open the panniers before some bloke that owned one came up and showed us. We ran off quickly before he could start showing us his stamp collection or share tips on how to groom people on Habbo Hotel. Awesome day, all in all!

Anyone joining in this year? I missed out last time because of the BMW's clutch problems, determined to give it a go this time! Will be going at a snail's pace on the CG though, as the BMW is being pulled apart Here is the route: http://goo.gl/maps/9D2o3 Facebook page goes into more detail: https://www.facebook.com/camtoyrun/?fref=nf

Damn it, my Thanksgiving must have been broken! We ate the turkey but didn't get the free gun! I shall complain to the other half when I get home