The Hitcher

I might just do that, waiting until 2020 if the rumours are to be believed . What rumours? Or was that a joke about jap bikes not being unreliable?! Apparently there is a RVF1000RR in the works from Honda, if this is true I’d ditch the Panigale for it in a heartbeat, loved my RVF400 years ago!.

Personally I’d avoid the Freelander, X Trail, CRV or RAV4 all are decent from what I know about them.

Brutal mate. Get yourself a decent jap bike I might just do that, waiting until 2020 if the rumours are to be believed .

I’ve been quoted £300 for the annual service on my bike, if it wasn’t in warranty I’d go to an independent, thought I might as well get the service done at the same time as the endless list of recalls .

Really sad part is we had a 1971 2door I really don’t want to say how much that would be worth now, I had a couple of RR Classic 4 doors that I bought cheap in my early 20s for off roading and messing about in, had an ‘89 3.5 EFI which wasn’t completely rotten which I paid £750 for at the time, had only done 95k miles too!, after that I had a 300 TDI soft dash which was about £1400 IIRC, kicking myself about letting either of them go now!, oddly they were the most reliable of any Range Rovers I’ve owned, much later I had a mk3 version and after that a 2.7TD Sport, both were annoying,unreliable money pits, I’d still have another classic in a heartbeat though or an 80 series Landcruiser .

A 2 door 70s Range Rover would definitely be worth a mint now!, even shabby 80s and early 90s classics are going for a lot!. I’m only getting about 14MPG out of my current car, and It has to have super unleaded too , thankfully I don’t do many miles!.

I’d probably say go for a Rav 4 too, had a Landcruiser before and they’re brilliant cars but you won’t get one in budget. You’re kind of asking for a car that will do a lot for the budget-towing,MPG and 4x4 wise. MK3 Mitsubishi Shogun would be a good shout- good towing wise and a capable 4x4 but won’t get above 23-28 MPG in diesel form. If you could extend budget a bit I’d probably pick a V6 TDI VW Touareg, MK1 Touaregs and Cayennes are VERY capable 4x4s they also drive very well on the road and more importantly don’t constantly break like Land/Range Rovers do-speaking from years of experience with the green oval-I’d never have another one. However if you really do like them I’d probably go for an early mk3 Range Rover in petrol form but good luck getting anywhere close to 30 MPG, they are cheap as chips now though!.

And it feels way more natural to change in 1up 5down I was doing some work on my RVF 400 years ago and me and my friend accidentally put it back in race shift, once I'd worked out what we'd done I kept it like that for a week then changed it back, if I'd have gotten used to it I think it would be ok, can see why people who race or do a lot of track days prefer it.

I’ve got a real desire to get a VOX AC30 at the moment, not sure if it’s the right amp to pair with a Strat or not.

Damn!, what a pain, really hope you manage to get all sorted at minimal cost.

The RCV road bike must be pretty epic, another favourite of mine is the Yamaha R7 (for the newer riders no I didn’t make a typo and mean to say R6) loved the R7 WSB bike back in the day with Nori Haga almost beating the dominant V Twin Ducati’s of the era on it!.

Is it the VG Stratocaster they did a few years ago?, the different guitar sounds idea sounds really cool, but always wondered if it actually worked well?. Also your son has the perfect guitar already, can't go wrong with a Strat,or a Tele,or a Les Paul Aye. I don't fully understand myself. Something along the lines of a different sound? He got some brass for Xmas and I think it's burning a hole in his pocket. But. There's worse things he could spend his money on I suppose To be fair to him it's best to have one of each , I got rid of my Telecaster a while ago though, it just wasn't a good one, saving for a Telecaster Plus at the moment .

Hi..I've got 2 guitars for sale...one is an Epiphone Les Paul...10yr old sunburst in showroom condition..just been restrung with ernie ball slinkys..and a Fender Strat..G5 made by Roland with active Roland accoustic pick up... Is it the VG Stratocaster they did a few years ago?, the different guitar sounds idea sounds really cool, but always wondered if it actually worked well?. Also your son has the perfect guitar already, can't go wrong with a Strat,or a Tele,or a Les Paul

I suppose that is where tribute bands come in. The first one I saw was The Australian Doors in a pub in Edinburgh in the early 1990s. I thought the sound and how they dressed up was amazing. I have seen a few since then, some who also dressed up, like ABBA Arrival who played at this years Christmas Night Out my wife and I went to with friends. Others did not, but were still good to listen to, such as Mac Floyd and Pearl Vs Jam. The effort and musicianship the tributes do, I think makes them worthwhile seeing. Some of the tribute acts look really good and they put a lot of effort and dedication in . The Doors are another band I’d loved to have seen live!, oh and Joy Division, although I have seen New Order so I suppose I got to see most of them!.

I saw a pie chart about which types of vechicles cause what percentage of pollution according to TFL, motorbikes registered as either 0 or 1 % but very very low, it’s silly bikes are being charged for the ULEZ at all. Worst offenders for Nox pollution are pre Euro 6 diesels, I don’t think there are any diesel bikes .

I saw James Brown and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Hyde Park in 2004, thought James Brown was a bit of an odd warm up act choice for them but am so glad I got to see him live, although in the twilight of his career, RHCP were good that night too . Black Keys were good live too. Best gig was Radiohead at Madison Square Garden, not only did I get to go to NYC anyway but they were amazing. Reading this thread is one of those rare occasions that I wish I was older, some of you have seen some amazing artists that sadly it’s not possible to see today . Would love to have seen Led Zep, Cream, Hendrix and many others back in the day!.

My boyfriends brother did a similar thing with his, he left the disc lock on it and came right off I did the same thing as your boyfriends brother, unfortunately in front of lots of people on an S1000RR, threw myself under the bike and saved it getting any damage and my brother pulled it off me, was so embarrassing though! . I hope you find out who put the bottle in your tyre, that just isn’t funny. Bikerdad, can’t believe what a knob that guy is doing that to your pushbike, glad he got what he deserved.

To be fair, if you did hurt one of them I doubt they’d go to the police, they probably would come back with more people and hurt you, or even worse. If it was me, like Bender said I’d probably still get involved even though I should know better, I’d just not want to let some little bast*rd steal my bike either. This is an area where I think the US has the right idea, someone comes on your property to steal, you can shoot them dead.

Yup...born again wus here. I'll ride the CBF through anything but the Bobber stays in the garage until the roads dry out. Too scaredy cat to take it out at the moment. Riding in the winter is a whole different world but stick at it as it's makes you a better rider. And on a hot summer day you can laugh at all the power rangers showing off their enormous skills 'cos you certainly won't see them on the roads at this time of year. And I do have the end of a brake lever on my desk to remind me I am not invincible. I’ve ridden through winters before when it was my only mode of transport, now riding a bike is more just for fun on weekends and doing track days so I’m in the fair weather rider camp too, I think us power rangers are probably too worried about dropping such expensive bits of kit that need to run very sticky tyres which are hopeless in the cold or wet to be fair .

You’ll get through it, sadly you’re doing it at one of the most unpleasant times of year to ride a bike, the road conditions aren’t great, you’re more than likely cold,wet and miserable through the entire ride with the examiner too, it’s all great thinking about all the things you need to do on your test etc, but it’s got to be hard to concentrate when all you can really think about is how cold your hands are!. You can definately do it though!, maybe book a test for end of Feb/beginning of March when the weather starts to get a bit better?.

Mine was a J reg one, went all the way to Cambridge to get it a couple of weeks before I was 16 in early 1999 and going up in the van to get it, remember being so excited when I’d done my CBT and having that independence and I thought the bike was awesome too!. As soon as I was 17 I moved up to an RS125 which was another level it felt SO quick!, good times . I went from a DT50 to Aprilia AF1. Good times indeed. That’s a very similar start to biking, what did you move on to after the AF1?, I did my test and went for an RVF400 after the RS125, another bike I really wish I still had!.

You started on a DT50 as well? . Yep, my first DT50 was when I was 10 years old. It was the old twin rear shock model. Far too big for me, chopped a chunk of foam out of the seat. Great bike wish I still had it, it's collectable now! Mine was a J reg one, went all the way to Cambridge to get it a couple of weeks before I was 16 in early 1999 and going up in the van to get it, remember being so excited when I’d done my CBT and having that independence and I thought the bike was awesome too!. As soon as I was 17 I moved up to an RS125 which was another level it felt SO quick!, good times .

Die Hard is a Christmas must, for some reason I’ve always associated Star Wars with the Christmas holidays a bit, I think because they always used to show the original films over the Christmas holidays when I was younger.

I feel slightly better about only doing 2000 on mine now.

You started on a DT50 as well? .