Marmalade43

I've got 5 pairs of binatone 550/650 pmr446 radios. Quite clear, even if the quoted range is optimistic. I've bought a throat mic for the one I use as they pick up less noise. Oh says it's very clear, even when riding.

My helmets I change at 9 months because after 40,000 miles the visor td are usually scarred, the flips wear etc and cleaning them out gets pointless.

Someone asking for a value for money lid isn't asking for £400 recommendations. Fine for someone who only rides when the sun shines and buys a new one evry 5 years but for me, a £100 caberg flip is fine, i replace it every 9 months or so, fits well, has every thing i need and has a 5* rating.

Useless stats for you. Of the last 1800 dot matrix printers listed on ebay only a third sold, 160 of these were in an auction and 3/4 of those went for less than £35, more than half of them went for a tenner or less, a quarter of the 160 went for a quid or less. Having said that, the model you have, none have been sold recently but microline do seem to be of more worth than average. The last microline branded ones that sold, half went for under £20 For sale prices are pointless, completed listings is where it's at, I could list an empty coke can for £50, doesn't mean that's what it's worth. Sorry, I was bored.

Box, I got mine at J&S in Bristol, I think it cost me £40 I'd say £40 is just slightly better value for money than the gold plated £470 shoei

If your pic relates to your bike, it has a helmet hook under the pillion seat, same as gsxr, pan euro and i imagine many other bikes.

the covers are at aldi 220cm long and meant to fit all bikes, i looked on ebay and the xl ones are 235cm+ so i ordered one online to replace one of mine, £9 delivered, you can get them for as little as £4.40

I always use caberg flip lids and put mine into top box along with my oh, full face.

I've used both spare sets of batteries in mine and i've only had it a few months, my oxford disc lock alarm has not had new batteries in over a year.

Older hacks you see around often won't get an oil filter for the last few years of their life and rusting through will cause them to fail if they don't block up first. Obviously an annual oil and filter change should be the longest a filter should be fitted but for some, £20 for a change is far too much expense. I know plenty of people like this. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sjXTwkRWoT4/TKB8z5FVPBI/AAAAAAAAAz8/DWAmGINazt4/s320/P1110744.JPG

I'm south, up for a meet somewhere for a coffee. Always the A338 burger van near Salisbury if all else fails.

I can't see any top box affecting filtering, mine will take 2 helmets. Just use the helmet lock on the bike, 2nd hand helmets are pretty much worthless, even more so if they cut the strap to get it off the bike. I've never lost a lid or heard of anyone who has. When i'm out of the UK and parked up having a wander, I usually leave it on the bars and so far not lost one, I wouldn't leave it loose in the UK because of the chance of someone wandering off with it 'for a laugh'

I have one of those alarm padlocks. The batteries have a short life and make bugger all noise after rain because they fill up with water. I did buy some jeans from there toddy for £30

I went through 3 tomtom mounts in 18 months and one warranty case replacement with the rider 2 so bought the garmin. If the warranty was 3 years I'd live with it but at £60 a go and cases or the parts to fix it not available, the tomtom isn't something I can afford to use daily.

What was that, 3 hours? The q1 I currently use will last over 2 full days, the older rounded version, the rider fm lasted 5 days on before going flat. I still charge mine every night. £99 each from fowlers bristol, cheapest I've seen them. Do you have a link to the ones you bought?

In reality, for a lack of faffing around with waterproof phone mounts and chargers etc, it leaves 2 overpriced sat navs, the rider which is pretty good in itself but if you go got the charging / active dock, it'll be rattling at cease to charge after about 20,000 miles. If going more than 4 hrs a day you'll need it charged and the added hassle of charging every night if not using the active mount. This leaves a garmin zumo. The mounts last much longer and come with a charging mount as standard but will still wear out at 60,000 miles. I find it gets sluggish and more errors when you save poi's and favourites and needs resetting to factory every now and then to sort it. The garmin wins over updates, lifetime map updates for about £60 and tomtom charge a shed load every 3 months. I just don't bother with updates on the rider. If you are on a bike daily, you really will appreciate a proper bike sat nav 2 seconds to clip it on the mount rather than plugging in cables, buying replacement cables when yours breaks, phone going flat, trying to keep it dry etc. Just a shame waterproof bike specific navs are such a rip off.

After having 8 of these bikes in the last 7 years, I've found them amazingly reliable, comfortable and reasonably economical to run. Truly a pleasure to ride, the fairing keeps the worst of the weather off of you and helps stop you getting so tired. 28l tank will keep you going for up to around 300 miles and will drag you up to 137mph (top speed of my current model) They are mighty heavy beasts at standstill but get it rolling and it'll outrun many bikes and you can ground it out at speed on tight turns, brakes are great but remember that you have a 300kg+ beast to stop. Most of mine have made it over 100,000 miles, one retired at 86,000 in Portugal resulting in a bodge repair to get it back to blighty. A couple of them have had the engine block crack at around 120,000 miles leaving me with useless but perfectly running engines that hold no water. Problems I've found with these bikes. The starter relay controls ALL the electrics, the fuse melts, the contacts melt and suddenly you have no power at all, nothing. A new relay is a 10 min change but at £60 they are not cheap. I've found that keeping it clean and replacing the fuse regularly before it melts will avoid failure. Front wheel bearings. They have a lot to deal with and i've had 2 sets fail. Nowadays i replace them every 30,000 miles or so at about £8 a pair from a bearing stockist rather than a bike parts stockist and all is good. Callipers pick up loads of crap and should be cleaned regularly, I strip and clean mine when i do the pads every few months. they bind badly if not kept clean. Alternators can be an issue. prior to around 'P' reg bikes will have a dynamo and reg, the regs can fail but it's not hugely common. More problems come with the newer models with a 40A alternator mounted on the nearside rear of the bottom of engine. They corrode, especially on little used bike, rust causes it all to expand, crack and fall apart. Not only is a new alternator £500, the seat, tank, rear wheel & swing arm needs to be removed to get it out in any kind of realsitic order. Refurbs are possible but only if your unit is complete and unbroken, this is rare. Steering lock. they can seize if not kept lubricated, removal, lots of wd40 and persuasion will sort it if it does. Rear bevel, whenever rear wheel is removed, splines should be checked, cleaned and greased, if it wears and fails, you lose all drive suddenly, repair isn't too much hassle for someone handy with the spanners but the part from honda is £600+, second hand ones can be rare/expensive. Swing arms are prone to corrosion ans apart from safety, they fail the mot. If buying one, check it, especially in front of the rear wheel. All of these issues are from multiple high mileage ownerships. I would highly recommend these to anyone needing to cover miles, do touring, use for a holiday etc My current one is on 98,000 miles. In the last 50,000 miles, other than the usual brakes, tyres, servicing etc it has had one complete set of brake seals and pistons, 2 sets of front wheel bearings and the ignition switch removed to free off the steering lock and that is it. my previous one had at 113,000, rear bevel and spider, cush rubbers, 94,000 starter relay 2 sets of wheel bearings in 70,000 miles When you look at many bikes/owners that never reach 50k, you could well never need a repair on one of these bikes outside of normal servicing.

I tried to get life insurance but gave it up as a bad job. 42yo European motorcycle courier who's had a stroke. Not a huge surprise but the blank 'no, not a chance' replies were not expected.

Fiesta van. http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac17/Marmalade43/places/880FA15F-E786-4AF8-A013-16940D29DF55_zps64wcjq8y.jpg

Riding other than in accordance of the terms of insurance is a civil matter between you and the insurance company. Minimum cover of third party risks cannot be removed by anyone other than by the insurance provider with 7 days written notice. so whatever you do, if you have paid for insurance, you legally have insurance

I keep this file on my phone as there are so many different combinations of key presses on these things I forget. It is a pdf I made for the scala rider Q1. Not perfect but plenty usable. I made the file and it is clean, no nasties in it and it is hosted by me. Click here to download 2.34mb pdf

If you take the cam cover off, is there not any of the broken bit you can clamp on to and remove? If not, cover everything in rags to collect bits and drill a fine hole in the broken piece, put in a small stud/broken screw extractor and wind it out, just then needs a new bolt.

Safer to unplug wires from brake light switch and bridge them with a paper clip, nail, fuse, anything and ride with brake light permanently on.

Priorite a droite (priority to the right). It's mainly a French thing. There are signs to warn you beforehand. This is part of the reason people have so much trouble with the roundabout at the arc de triomphe because you have to give way to traffic joining the roundabout. But yes. I do as many miles over in euro as I do here. http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac17/Marmalade43/paris/Img_2793-2_zps08a3d160.jpg

I tend not to do much shopping, i'd just fill my house up with stuff. I might have a nosy around when I'm next out there as it's been brought up, possibly by the end of the week if all goes to plan, which it usually doesn't.