The Hitcher

You've got a Pulsar?, that's awesome, I always loved them and the Celica GT Fours, most fun I ever had in a car was a TVR Tuscan, wish I'd held onto that!, tripled in value now . I sure do, 1992 reg worth around 18k now so nearly 3x wat I paid......and for sale if your would like to be the proud owner of an original pocket rocket I'd love one but got a sensible diesel Audi these days! .

I'd probably go for the ZX10R out of the two, would you consider anything else or does it have to be one of them?, if you would, I'd really urge you to try an RSV4, one of the sweetest handling,nicest to ride and brutally quick 1000s out there.

If rumours are to be believed there is a new bike coming out from Honda next year that I’d chop the Ducati in for in a heartbeat. Sounds like a really crap experience you had with your Ibiza!, I’m always a bit jealous of people that get the newer hot hatches when their young now, spoilt for choice!, I remember getting an early 306 XSI when I was 20 and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread but it was a bit rubbish really. Would have loved it if things like Ibizas or Corsa VXRs were around back then, in fact scratch that I’d love a go in a Corsa VXR now and I’m 36 . Still I see all these "hot hatches" but are they really that "hot" I'll stick to my Nissan pulsar GTIR that's what you call a hot hatch. 0-60 in just over 4.5 seconds and iv had 155 and still had abit more to give but now being 27 yrs old I treat it with some sympathy as I know what the car is capable of and dont have anything to prove You've got a Pulsar?, that's awesome, I always loved them and the Celica GT Fours, most fun I ever had in a car was a TVR Tuscan, wish I'd held onto that!, tripled in value now .

It’s more just been safety recalls and issues that they have recalled all of them for, to be fair to it, it’s never broken down (although it has cut out and needed restarting a few times) it’s more the teething issues that seem to come with getting a first gen new model of Ducati really, hopefully it’s fine from now on though, it may well be going next year though. Never driven an Ibiza Cupra but I had a 2015 Leon as a rental- I think it was a Cupra, it was the 180 BHP diesel so not the full on petrol one but what a fun car to drive!, I really enjoyed it. Fair enough, well hopefully it doesn't need anymore recalls, how come your thinking it will have to go next year? Yea it was no doubt a fun car to drive but after having a new engine after 8 months die to excessive oil consumption but found to be the oil seals in the turbo and rings on cylinder 3 were cream crackered I effectively parked it in the guys showroom and handed him back the keys stating I want nothing more to do with the car and I want paying anymore towards the finance and would be going to get legal advice......the manager was extremely apologetic after the years worth of fobbing off he had given me for a year If rumours are to be believed there is a new bike coming out from Honda next year that I’d chop the Ducati in for in a heartbeat. Sounds like a really crap experience you had with your Ibiza!, I’m always a bit jealous of people that get the newer hot hatches when their young now, spoilt for choice!, I remember getting an early 306 XSI when I was 20 and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread but it was a bit rubbish really. Would have loved it if things like Ibizas or Corsa VXRs were around back then, in fact scratch that I’d love a go in a Corsa VXR now and I’m 36 .

Not helping myself as I bought a new helmet today That looks really nice .

Did you but abit of a Friday afternoon bike? I had that with a seat ibiza cupra in 2010, needed oil shares to keep it in engine oil so gave it back after a year of sometimes daily topping up of oil......but it was a tip top car there was nothing wrong with it It’s more just been safety recalls and issues that they have recalled all of them for, to be fair to it, it’s never broken down (although it has cut out and needed restarting a few times) it’s more the teething issues that seem to come with getting a first gen new model of Ducati really, hopefully it’s fine from now on though, it may well be going next year though. Never driven an Ibiza Cupra but I had a 2015 Leon as a rental- I think it was a Cupra, it was the 180 BHP diesel so not the full on petrol one but what a fun car to drive!, I really enjoyed it.

The anti wheelie description for the Kawasaki the OP owns is as Ive described.. a side effect of the Traction control.. called Kawasaki TRaction Control or KTRC. nowhere near as sophsiticated as what you have on your bike. which itself is an enhanced form of Traction Control and about controlled wheelies. anyway.. this is the description of the 'anti wheelie' on the 2015 Kwak. The system on the Panigale and others will have as mentioned further sensors and software which allows the front wheel to leave the ground in a controlled manner. or rather, with an incremental decrease of control. as you get 'sportier'. so on the Panigale you have traction control that is not entirely dependent on matching wheel speed at the front and rear... which is very very clever. Yeah, the Kwak system reads like it acts in a very similar way to the system that was on an early S1000RR I had, which was a bit disconcerting at times as if you accelerated hard and the wheel came up it would shut power and slam the front down only for it to come up again and do the same, having it on it’s least intrusive setting helped for sure but didn’t stop that happening completely, the system on the Panigale feels very different and far smoother, in that the TC and anti wheelie systems are separated and if you accelerated hard with anti wheelie at a high setting you won’t feel it cutting power and it won’t start to wheelie, it will just accelerate as fast as is possible without the front coming up, having it on a lower setting allows controlled lift under acceleration, like you say it is a very clever system, however the KTRC system like the one on the BMW is very good, I imagine it’s latest incarnation would be more advanced also.

A friend has named mine total recall-it’s had so many of them it’s probably a different bike by now!.

I'm not very familiar with the Traction Control and Anti Wheelie systems on Kawasakis, are they seperate or all in one like the early S1000RR was with Rain,Sport,Race mode etc?. On my bike they're sepearate, with 8 different settings for each, so you could have traction control set at very intrusive at level 8, and anti wheelie very low at 1 or 2, then you have seperate settings for ABS too, it's a bit confusing to be honest!, I tend to run TC at level 4 on the road and anti wheelie at 2, the Aprilia system was the same, you could adjust them seperately. Also like Joe said the systems are pretty advanced with gyroscopes, lean sensors etc.

Yeah I've had a few early blades and r1's... They are too much for me tbh. Don't get me wrong I love litre bikes too, but yeah the modern ones are complete (but very fun) overkill on the road, I quite like the more revvy have to work the bike harder ness of 600s, the ZX6 and R6 are my favourites .

Looks great in that colour, despite having a litre bike I really love riding 600s they’re really fun and just as fast in the real world .

You mean more cycle lanes which involve the narrowing of roads, which cyclists don’t use and stay on the road anyway, the narrowing of which results in not being able to overtake them, no thanks. To be fair I get why they don’t use them, they’re not swept, you get punctures and they’re often not flat, don’t see the point in putting any more like that in. Separate cycle that are well maintained would be the best answer but unfortunately never likely to happen.

I really agree with this, the idea that there is some kind of instant kinship between people based on what mode of transport you use is nuts, like you say the whole ‘biker community’ thing is weird.

Thats like putting champagne in a Lambrini girl. That is one of the funniest things I’ve read on here . I don’t think putting super unleaded in most hikes does much to be honest, bikes don’t tend to be able advance/retard their ignition like cars so are usually fine on 95, saying that I still usually put V Power in the Panigale mainly because it’s cleaner plus you don’t want to put lambrini in a champagne girl .

Worst kind..... I have a relatively wide taste in music. But at heart I'm an ageing indie kid. Both my kids are musical and have quite differing tastes. Music to me should be inclusive and not exclusive. Just cos you read the NME for 30 year straight doesn't mean your opinion of good taste is any better than the bloke who listens to kiss fm. I’m the same, I have a pretty wide taste in music, I admit I’m personally not a fan of some modern pop music but live and let live, to each their own. U2 is one of the big bands I just don’t like at all but I’d not try and force that opinion on anyone else, and they’re obviously doing something right.

That second bike is one cool looking thing . Were Vincents the thing to have back in the day?, I remember getting told at length by my dad how he got a black shadow only for his dad to make him take it back!. Either he didn't want him to die or he saw the hire purchase agreement . I’ve got no idea, probably the former though!, I remember my dad telling me about what an awesome bike it was at great length, can’t help wondering what he’d make of my current bike if he were around today.

No... its easy enough to buy one new in 1000cc or 1200cc If you have the cash and the patience to wait while its hand built. 17648934998_77d8a5cc93_z.jpg One sold at Auction for about £30,000 not all that long ago. Its not unique.. you could have a brand new Brough if you're so inclined. (not made in Nottingham though) 1.jpg That second bike is one cool looking thing . Were Vincents the thing to have back in the day?, I remember getting told at length by my dad how he got a black shadow only for his dad to make him take it back!.

Ouch!, sorry to hear this, I hope you’re not in too much pain that nail looks nasty, wishing you a quick recovery and don’t worry too much about the bike, you’ll be able to get the bits for that easily enough, main thing is that you’re ok.

There is so much good and varying advice about what to do after an off, all of it here is good. I had a nasty high side in the mid 2000s the Fireblade I was riding at the time spat me off in a roundabout- it hurt a lot!, shattered my collarbone into 5 pieces and needed it plated(stupidly I picked the bike up after then thought my arm doesn’t feel right!). I found the best way to get over the psychological side of getting back on the bike was to get on it as soon as I felt strong enough and absolutely ring it’s neck, not always the best approach but it worked for me!, although, to this day I won’t use Bridgestone tyres!.

How old are you?, that isn’t that bad of a price for an R6, I’m paying £820 for my bike, although renewal is due soon! .

I got given a Motorola G5 as a cheap phone for work, couldn’t get on with it at all, found it really fiddly and awkward and asked them if I could just put the sim in an old phone of my own instead, I think a lot of it is just what you’re used to though, I found switching from Blackberry OS to Apple odd when I changed a few years ago but am so used to iOS now that Android seems harder to use, last Android phone I had was a Galaxy S2, so ages ago.

That’s good , getting the next generation into biking.

Look nice to me , GSXR 750s are great bikes, I’ve not had much experience on one but have ridden a friends K4 600 a fair bit-everything is the same on them except a bit less power and I thought it was a great bike to ride still nimble and modern feeling. Also the whole ‘Blade on classic insurance thing, might just have been my experience with the ones I rode but I found pre 929/954 Fireblades (any one older than 2000MY) complete pigs to ride, they’re heavy, don’t handle well and arnt particularly enjoyable to ride, I’d take that K4 GSXR over one any day, or if you want a bike for classic insurance get yourself an original R1, better than similar era Fireblades by miles!.

The thing is, if she wants to ride a motorbike, at some point she will, better that she is taught with them safely by her dad imo. My mum was hugely anti motorbike, they’re dangerous etc, and she tried getting both me, and my brother before me to become interested in horse riding instead, we both managed 1 lesson, probably because a.) boys just arnt very interested in horse riding (ok I know this one doesn’t really help in your case ) b.) riding a horse is really dangerous and neither of us felt safe doing so. Sadly my mum is no longer with us but her anti motorbike stance didn’t work on either of us!.

A lot of owners had the same problem early last year with my bike. Either the insurer refused to offer a quote outright, or the quotes given were significantly higher.. more often than not triple the usual amount for the new bike compared with the standard. and all because it was a new model with zero history or any kind of risk assessment. Sometimes it can pay to play a waiting game when a new model is released, not just because of insurance but also, i believe, its often best to allow other new owners to be the guinea pigs if any major fault appears and the bike is recalled. I had the exact same thing happen with my bike this time last year!, it’s a new model so all the bike insurers were rubbish!, either no quote or I think one of the worst was £1500 TPO!, managed to get it sorted for a sensible price and my renewals seem ok too. Having the same thing with the recalls though!, it’s got to go in at the weekend for the 3rd set of recall issues and a service, I really should have known better buying a new model of Ducati!, it was a heart over head moment but other than the recalls and the insane amount of heat it kicks out, the bike has been awesome.