RantMachine

Did you actually look at the pair I recommended...? I'm yet to see them on sale for more than £90 and they have abrasion resistant bits on the palms as well as padding on the knuckles.

Dangit, I miss Southend for another year

Enduro-style gear doesn't tend to contain much leather, it's mostly textile. Could give some endure gloves a look? Without reading too carefully I think Alpinestars WR-V would tick the right boxes. Goretex too, as a nice bonus.

Today I nominate myself. Keep trying to open doors or pick things up with my left arm, forgetting that my shoulder is currently a tad buggered. Might cable tie my wrist to my belt tomorrow

Hahahaha, love it Would've been so good if you had the chance to give him a telling off!

Buggers just turned across my lane as if I wasn't even there, even tried to blame it on me! Had a witness for the whole thing though, and he was f**king OUTRAGED about her driving. Nice when someone has your back. Just going to meet the insurer's recovery agent back where I had to leave the bike. Looking like I'm totally fine (crash bars FTW) but will get a GP to check me over. My other half took a bash to the knee which A&E checked out and no major upset yet but waiting to see how it behaves over the next few days. I hate playing waiting games of any sort, insurance claims suck

Nope, BMW is still garaged - this was the one that I spent a few weeks fixing up, the one that actually worked

Nob of the day goes to the person who just turned across me at a junction and crushed the front end of my bike. bast*rd. That decides it, I'm done with two wheels for now.

This is going to be good...

Just to check something; when you're saying that the clutch still isn't engaging, how are you testing this? Had some tricky to diagnose clutch problems of my own just before Christmas, hopefully some of my experiences might be of help.

I tend to intentionally take longer routes so long as they put me on roads with higher speed limits or no speed cameras...

Such is the magical world of YouTube comments! Personally I've taken a twisted satisfaction in the pissy comments some people make on my videos; it's sort of fun knowing that I had fun doing something and pissed off a dickhead at the same time

I had a GP send me away several times in a row across the course of a week when I came complaining of absolutely debilitating abdominal pains - he kept saying it was just bad indigestion and it would go away! In the end I went to hospital of my own accord, and what do you know? Part of me had died and become gangrenous The good folks at the hospital said I would've had to lose a whole lot of intestine if I had come to them much later! Aaaand this is why I don't trust GPs

Well, he usually appears from nowhere whenever someone mentions him, so give it a few posts and I reckon he'll show up. Either it's ESP, or he regularly Googles "TMBF Zod" to look for new posts

Something I've noticed... I ride the same commute every day, at the same time. I pass various bikes going in the opposite direction; on the way to work I pass an XT660R, a Panigale, an unknown red sports bike who is usually filtering like a nutter and I don't get time to see what bike he's on, a Sportster, and what I think is a Bonneville America. On the way home I pass a Gixxer, the Panigale (clearly works the same hours as me), a K1200GT, and an R6. Those are the regulars. When I was riding my BMW we all nodded to one another - even the other BMW guy started nodding back after a week or so. Since my BMW broke down again and I've gone back to riding my cruiser-style 125 (and wearing my plain black lid instead of the white enduro style one), they've all stopped nodding back - except for the two guys on cruisers. I'm just as nod happy as ever, of course. Says a thing or two about prejudice among bikers!

Should've asked - are you at the same place every time, or does it vary? And is it in any particular part of the country? And what kind of allowance do you have for evening entertainment and/or food?

I sometimes bring a camera and go out taking piccies, or play endless amounts of Loco Roco on my PSP Or on the rare occasion I have a private commission on the go, I bring my laptop and work on that. Although a lot of the time I go out for a drink with our regional staff so we have a better rapport for the remainder of the trip. Or I go there on my bike, because I have that luxury and the company pay so darn much for petrol that I'd be insane not to

Happens constantly when entering Cambridge from the A10, always some clever dickhead who guns it down the lane for the Science Park then tries to cut into the City Centre lane just before the lights. Even more irritating when you actually want to enter the Science Park (whose lane has a separate set of lights that go green at a completely different time) and you can't because there's a bellend in front who is waiting for the light in the City Centre lane to change so he has a chance to cut it. w**kers.

Meant to be designing a logo for something that is far beyond my comprehension. All efforts to ask for a simple explanation have been met with multiple paragraphs of what I can only assume seems simple to the people asking me to design it but is still way over my head. Meant to have the first proof done by tomorrow. f**k it.

Look on the bright side guys, it'll all pay off when... Oh wait, nope, should have kept it hush and spent it on a bike

Stuff that, save a few quid: Rear Sprocket Front Sprocket Chain Under £45 for the lot! What can possibly go wrong?

Oops! Got a charger kicking about?

I could well be wrong, but aren't there laws saying that your decision to continue working there without actively contesting the contract can be seen as fair grounds for assumption that you agree to it, which in turn can actually be legally binding? Of course that could be a law from another country that I'm thinking of I always think it's a bit crap that my current contract dictates that I have to give a months notice for every year I've worked, but also says they are only obliged to give a weeks notice if they decide to terminate my contract! One of my colleagues has been here 16 years, she's stuffed when it comes time to leave

Finished fixing my 125 already, clearly everyone should give Honda a miss and buy Chinese

After the first 8000 miles my confidence had reach the level of feeling pretty indestructible, then I binned it at a decent speed on the way to work Then over the next 1000 miles it came back again, but with a healthy respect for the road surface and the harm it can cause. Then I skidded out on a patch of diesel, and it went again, but not quite as much. Back again after a couple of hundred miles, and to be honest probably better than ever because I now had a little bit of first hand experience of worst case scenarios. Helps me stay calm, in a weird sort of way. By the time I'd done a total of 13,000 miles I felt pretty damn confident and utterly aced my Mod1 and Mod2. Clean sheet, which made me feel my confidence was justified. Then I got my BMW, which constantly fails me in new and creative ways, and on many occasions has been ridden home from work in less-than-roadworthy condition. Now I'm not sure if my confidence in my riding has dwindled, or just in riding that particular bike, but I know my riding has suffered and I don't chuck it around like I used to. What I'm trying to say is, I think it's more about the experiences you accumulate, rather than how long you ride for or how many miles.