RantMachine

Holy f**k, the f**k it thread went nearly a week without a post and fell out of the active topics f**k it, why is one litre the most fork oil I can buy in a single container no matter where I look! And why do Halfrauds have such a crap selection!

I think that the Blair government did a stunning job of putting a huge portion of our generation off ever voting Labour.

Nice one Bob, gave the little twat a response he wasn't expecting by the sound of it!

Very nice, particularly like that colour scheme! And no matter what people say about them, I love those headlight units Underseat fuel tanks are bloody awesome! Wish there were more bikes out there with them. Although it's a little bit disconcerting the way the bike's centre of gravity shifts up when the tank is getting low

Bring a camping stove to work and use that to heat your food instead

Could make salads and bring them in? No microwave needed. Obviously the good kind with bits of meat or cheese, none of that rabbit food.

I'm currently trying to decide just how disillusioned I am. My party pissed me off a great deal in the last election (which probably tells you who I support/supported) so I'm not sold on voting for them again. The fact that my MP did actually get in but proceeded to vote against the rest of the party on a large number of major issues is also a source of displeasure. Might give my vote to someone else this year. Was going to vote Green in a "why not give them a chance" kind of way, until they publicised their transport policies Now I'm just stuck on what to do.

Jangle my keys?

Hmm, I already had plans to tackle obesity and voluntary unemployment in a single blow. It involves giant hamster wheels... Maybe we can use your idea as a way to tackle overcrowded prisons?

It's blunt and to the point, but it also asks so many questions...

Store as many tools and bikes as you like, a man's cave is his castle and what he does with it is no business of the state until such time as it is deemed to impact negatively on the caves of others! Although I'm considering including a bit in my manifesto about adding "ownership of good tools and adequate bike storage" to the bill of human rights.

I'm planning to stand as an independant candidate in 2020 (didn't get my act together quickly enough this time) on a platform of "We've ruined the place, let's all go and live in caves". I have some supporters already

I was thinking either some time around the day of the election, or whenever I stop getting new people responding.

Wow, I'm good at this Google lark It used to be here: http://www.thebikeinsurer.co.uk/motorbike-insight-tool/results/?manufacturer=all&region=1&yr=2013 It's now somewhere on here: https://www.twowheeldatacentre.co.uk/ (Along with loads of other statistics)

The statistics were released by one of the major insurers - can't remember which off hand. Irritatingly, it was one of those things that just pops up in your Facebook newsfeed one day, you read it there and then, and then damned if you can ever find the ruddy article again. All I remember off hand is that Cagiva bikes are most likely to be owned by unemployed people and BMW are most likely to be owned by people who have retired I'll have a search around and if I can find the site with a bit of blind Google searching I'll post it in this thread.

Cheers to everyone who has taken part so far!

Matt - that's a valid point. It's a tough one as I'm also partly interested in the economic factor, such as which type of voters ride the more high end brands, and which type ride Chinese, and so on, and if I say "preferred brand"... well, nobody is going to say Chinese, are they? Rennie - Wise move! Neither would I

I know, right? It's almost like I designed it with my own attention span in mind

So I was thinking the other day, I wonder if there's any kind of correlation between the bikes we choose to ride and the political parties we choose to vote for? Some hard wired aspect of our personalities that draws us in certain directions? I saw some interesting stuff a while back that showed average bike owner job and income according to which brand they ride, and thought it'd be fun to find out if the same is true of politics. I'll post the outcomes on here some time after the election (ie. when I remember to!) Survey is here, greatly appreciate anyone taking the time to answer all two of the questions! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJ87Y6T And let's not have a big old row on the forum, ok guys? Or maybe not even say a single word about it on here? I've made the questionnaire anonymous for a reason!

Welcome to the forum! I'll try to answer for you: 1. Higher! Anything up to 47bhp. This includes bigger bikes that have been fitted with a restrictor, but only ones that are 94bhp or below when unrestricted. Also there is a power-to-weight limit to be careful of (0.26bhp per kg). There are lots of websites that list bikes you can ride on an A2 license. These are fine on an A2 without even needing a restrictor: http://www.visordown.com/learners/guide-to-a2-permissible-bikes/22106.html And these are just a small selection of those that can be restricted and ridden on an A2: http://www.visordown.com/learners/top-10-a2-restrictable-motorcycles/26167.html 2. Depends slightly on what you want, but should be more than enough to get you something nice! Although, is that just for the bike or does insurance and your protective gear need to fit into that budget too? 3. Not a BMW F650GS or G650GS. That's all the advice I can give on that one Being serious though, an SV650 or ER6F or MT07 (all require a restrictor) are all popular choices and not without good reason. What sort of bike do you like?

I use WD40 chain cleaner, with half a milk carton underneath to catch drips and a bit of card tucked between the chain and the wheel to act as a chute for any that misses the chain so that it all goes into the carton. Then once the chain has had a good spray, you can use a brush (dipping it in the excess chain cleaner caught in the milk carton) on any nasty bits. Then dry the worst off with a dishcloth (doesn't leave fibers all over it like a towel can) and leave it for a bit to completely dry. Then blast it with WD40 chain lube, again using card to sheild the wheel. I hoard old ceral boxes for this; if you rip off one of the top flaps, the adjoining face, the adjoining bottom flap, and one of the sides, it stays fairly rigid but also fits nicely around the chain and swingarm. And any runoff catches in what's left of the bottom of the box, so no cleanup required.

Ditto

Nope, never heard of you

Awesome, I'll have to give it a look when I get home from work - the rotters in IT have blocked Youtube on our computers.

At the end of the day though, ABS isn't some kind of witchcraft that lets the bike achieve things it otherwise couldn't do - just stops you locking the brakes, and in the case of the cornering variety does so while taking your lean angle into account and redistributing braking force appropriately. So it stands to reason that as long as you don't slam the brakes on too hard, or distribute your braking force badly, you can still do the job yourself. Admittedly not quite as well, but at the end of the day if your bike doesn't have cornering ABS then it's better to have the option of doing a mediocre job without assistance than not using your brakes at all Of course, an ABS system is programmed to do it and will do it with pinpoint accuracy every time. But a rider would need to learn... which is why my stance is "it's a valuable skill to practise when you don't need it so you've got the hang of it ready for when you do".