Fozzie

I love the 21st for this reason as well! Although I spend the first half of the year loving the longer days coming in, and then once June 21st passes I actually feel a little dread. Even though you still have 4 months of good light levels, by the end of July when you first notice it isn't staying as bright in the evenings anymore, a little part of me is like:

This year I've bought my girlfriend a Fujifilm polaroid camera, the retro looking one. It has a built in timer so rather than rely on the minuscule selfie mirror on it, I got her a tripod so she can line up a shot and take it with her/family in it. Also got her a bunch of bath stuff, and chocolate. For me, I think from the shape of the box she's gotten me a digital torque wrench. I've got 2 of the click type ones but always fancied the digital. Parents are getting me a bore-scope inspection camera, I've got dad a proper battery charger, and mum a dremel as she's into making stained glass ornaments. Both brother and sister basically just wanted money and chocolate, and they're both buying me bits for my blackbird. So a good haul hopefully!

Harry definitely had great taste in bikes, as ZXR400's have been quite rare to find in good condition for a few years now. As a first big bike he really did it properly in my books, as I love the old howling 400cc 4-cylinders. Top man, and sad he had his life cut so short.

I was absolutely stunned, firstly by Mercedes pitting strategy. With that lead, all they had to do was mirror Verstappen's strategy, as they had the faster car (or at least the faster driver). Then I was stunned by the safety car rules by Masi, he needs sacking for what happened there. Imagine in football, the rules for penalties were changed as they were being taken, and that is what you had here. They only cleared the cars between Lewis and Max, as they knew the time required to do it for all the cars would have meant the race finished under a safety car to get the pack in order. So I understand why Mercedes are going to the courts over this, the rules were simply not followed, and the change to them altered the outcome of the race. However this wasn't the only race where this happened, and I am far from a Lewis fan, more a FIA critic. You had two great drivers this season, completely undermined by the FIA, in my opinion

I see E10 has become the new "which oil" debate! I used to work in the industry and I've learnt to avoid getting too much into these discussions now E10 has a shorter shelf life due to the oxidative nature of ethanol. In a sealed container the rating is 3 months for E10 and 6 months for E5. This is based on an ambient temperature of 20 degrees, with higher temperatures being detrimental. Keep in mind that ratings are typically built around a worst case value, and that the fuel doesn't degrade 100% once the 3/6 month period lapses, meaning many engines will run fine on fuel past this time. But as people don't know the exact point that trouble will start, it drives a lot of skepticism, as ultimately however you look at it, E10 is an inferior fuel to E5. But onto the topic at hand, I'm doing up my blackbird with the intention of selling it come spring, so it will be valve checks, replace all fluids and rebuild the combined brake system (which was beyond saving on my last one and had to be cut out for a conventional setup). I'm also setting out to buy something cheap that I can cut up and build something (maybe a scrambler), so will likely be an old cat C ER5 that I don't feel too bad welding bits to. Next year I'm also planning on picking up more bikes, however they will all be old and things I can work on as I don't much like anything remotely modern at the moment, other than things like little single cylinder bikes and big twins.

My garage is in a long line of 25. It’s in a partially gated car park (gate only on one end). I think in 2 years I’ve only seen off people trying car doors and garage doors twice. A concealed lock might be your best bet, one where it’s mounted inside the garage door, with a small hole that can be covered in the bottom corner of the door. Sounds like you only need light, so you could have a small system with a little 15-22ah battery you carry in a rucksack to/from. Avoid 12v only systems if you do, as the volt drops even over small cable distances tend to be big, to the point the losses of a small 300w inverter become inconsequential unless you use thick gauge cable. Also, don’t use fluorescent bulbs on an inverter. Most will start fine, but the ballasts can destroy the inverters internal circuitry. Keep to LED

He's got a big court date for April next year against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Basically she made claims he was physically abusive, and took out restraining orders, as well as creating some very damning articles for magazines/the press. It just later turned out that she'd neglected to mention that she severed the end of his finger throwing a bottle at him, left a dump in his bed, and are multiple recordings of her belittling/goading him, and their own employees back Depp as being often provoked into huge rows. So her presentation as this poor sole victim did fall apart. But it's probably why he's popping up in peoples advertising feeds... Someone's got to pay for his laywers

I got so sick of the social media ads on social media and youtube that I started baffling the algorithm, and shutting off the targeted ads. Mid-20s, I was bombarded with life insurance ads, holiday packages, and occasionally baby stuff. I never searched up insurance ads or baby stuff, so I think it was driven by a link to my ex, as when I cut contact it stopped dead, and switched to gambling over night, and then investment opportunities like it was some kind of default for my age group. So I started messing with it, and pretty soon I was getting adverts for all sorts, kids toys, speed boats, and some stuff in Russian. Then I went a little too far and started getting those "Just stop" adverts where a guy solemnly describes how he was looking at dangerous stuff online, and it strongly implies extremist right wing sort of stuff. After that I stopped When I hit 30, it all became hair transplant ads, and treatments. Now I'm 31 and it's onto erectile dysfunction! Waiting to see if 32 brings "Have you been injured by a cheap hair transplant or erectile drugs from dubious places online? You maybe entitled to compensation"

It depends how far you want to go. Secrecy is the best policy, I have a garage defender on mine, which sits centrally in front of the garage door, preventing it from opening. Others in the row (about 25 garages total) have a mixture of defenses, including another that has a garage defender, some have multiple bolt locks on them. So I'd suggest going with something like the defender, as they are good and you see them often, so it doesn't stand out as someone taking too many extra precautions. It lacking power is something that can be remedied, either relatively cheaply or with great expense. I want to do a video on my setup, as I have a 130Ah leisure battery that powers a 300W inverter to run lights and one small thing. All my power tools are battery powered. I used to use a small 33Ah battery that I carried with me when I had to do work, and charged it back in the flat. But now I have a 2.2kW Honda generator, with an exhaust pipe extender routed through the wall into a custom made baffle box that blends into the back wall. Looks almost like a bird box. The generator has a built in fan, so I'm in the process of building a sound proof box that has sections that fold for access, and other sections with axial mounted fans that run when it does. It will then power a control board when live, where it automatically begins charging the battery, and disconnects the inverter. When off, the board losing power puts it back into battery mode. It's quiet as is, especially if you just put headphones in. And I have a carbon monoxide alarm rigged up to start flashing if the exhaust develops a leak. I'm currently doing temperature tests, by loading the generator for long periods of time beyond what I'll ever use and seeing what temperature it reaches. When I put the insulated sound box on it, I will continue to monitor the temperature and hopefully if my calcs are right it will actually run slightly cooler. So if you need any technical help that from the outside looks unsuspecting, and can all be removed with no signs it was ever there. Just give me a shout as I've been through the pain of it already

I'd hope Verstappens ego was too big to let him try to win by wipeout. However, his overtake at any cost style driving would have the desired effect. Happy that it has come down to the wire though in Abu Dhabi, I actually saw the first ever F1 race there back in November 2009. Jenson took his victory that year with the Brawn GP car, with the team later bought out by Mercedes. The track favours the current Mercedes car with the number of fast sweeping bends and long straight giving an advantage over the red bull. But we'll see what happens!

Good morning, haven't been on here for a couple of weeks as I've had a busy schedule. Was in Istanbul with WiFi that was so slow it was probably MB per hour rather than second. Watched through the entire Long Way Round, Down, and Up series. Depressed myself when I realised I'm now the age they were when they did their first trip

What I love about this story is you had the solution in your hand, brake cleaner! Seriously, spray it on spiders, it acts quicker than a Russian nerve poison, and drops them. No need to set it on fire!

They've allegedly changed to a different underwriter. Not that it makes a difference as I'll never go with them again. As they did screw me over big time. I was with them for 5 years while living in London, and doing 25k miles a year, I got into some scrapes. No fault head on collision when I was 19 when an old man jumped a red light, two bikes stolen, a woman who pulled out on me when I hit a dip in the road and she thought I'd flashed her, and a post van that merged into my lane without seeing me, forcing me onto the wrong side of the road, and then slammed on and went into an instant U-turn as he was staring at a GPS, which sent me cartwheeling down the road. I remember seeing this list on my insurance documents, but when I claimed on the second stolen bike, they claimed I'd not told them about the first. While it was listed on 2 years of insurance documents with them along with everything else, it dropped off in the third year and I didn't spot it when I scanned over the document. They launched an investigation that went badly for them, as my phone recording was pulled up and when asked if I had any claims, I replied "none you don't currently know about", obviously referring to my previous policies with them. They didn't back down, basically saying they couldn't rule out I'd see they'd made the mistake and chose to keep it quiet for a better renewal premium. And while they did back down, they stung me for £2000 to pay off the remainder of the policy, with the price adjusted to reflect the additional claims. *****.

Surprised I never saw this, I've rebuilt an engine from one. A few things I noted as I tore it down and put it back together. The valve clearances go out very quickly, and I once loosened one a tad too much and it made a bit of a racket, but there was still a tick alongside this. The exhaust can be the cause of the tick. When I took the exhaust off, I noticed that the sealing surface was badly corroded. When I put it on there was a pronounced tick and I ignored it, however it soon developed into a death rattle like sound, but only when the engine was hot. A liberal dose of firegum on the exhaust, and it went silent.

The main issue is the timing belt, it's an enclosed wet belt that is lubricated by an oil bath style system. The theory was it would never need to be replaced as the engine would expire first, however they've found that the belt does degrade over time. Worse so on cars that are poorly serviced, which also tend to have lower oil levels, with higher contaminants slowing up the flow of that oil, allowing the belt to heat and degrade more quickly. There have been cases where the belt degrades, a fibrous material is released, and as it is using the cars oil system to lubricate, it can jam up the galleys. Ford suggest a replacement at 150,000 miles, or 10 years, and it requires a lot of specialist tools as it's a job that was never originally designed in to the operation and maintenance of the vehicle. So I can see why a lot of shops turn them away. I think other than that there was an issue with a failing coolant hose, which was rectified with a recall. I'm told by someone in the industry that the little 1 litre turbos from the German and Japanese markets are very solid. The worst at the moment are the more luxury brands like Merc A-classes and BMW's, some of their lower capacity engines seem to chew through timing chains like no tomorrow.

I think it was Ford who brought 1 litre engines back into fashion with a turbo model. The Fiesta that came out about 10 years back had 125BHP on tap apparently, and the engine was also used in the much heavier Focus. A friend at work has had the Focus for years as a family car, it has over 100k on it and still going well. The latest generation of Fiestas put out 140BHP, and I've not heard of any going bang. The VAG group have recently gone the same way. So that Skoda engine is also likely the same version that is installed in the Up GTI, which outputs 113BHP in top spec. So I'd expect the 95BHP version to be less strung and more durable as a result. I believe Suzuki also do a 111BHP turbo 1 litre in the Swift, but they've discontinued this to pursue hybrid models. As an alternative, I recently helped my girlfriend buy a car, and I haggled a good deal on Mazda 2, with the 1.5 skyactiv engine. There is a 115 BHP version (weirdly popular output looking at the others), but we have the 90BHP version. You have to rev it more, but it's quiet, goes well and being a Mazda is likely to be very bulletproof.

When I was in London, I tried to give one of my bikes full service history in a vague attempt to hold its value (which dropped sharply as I was doing 25k miles a year, with daily commuting). I fell out with a garage when they cracked the sump, and when they tried to get out of it I walked around the back where I found a mechanic using an airgun for absolutely everything. Was a tense encounter, as while I was calm, but being firm on what had happened, they were really kicking off. Later, I fell out with their sister company when they didn't fit a cam chain tensioner properly. It was part of a service, and to get to the bit you have to displace the throttle bodies. I think the mechanic tried to do it without displacing the throttle bodies, and one of the bolts holding the tensioner in wasn't in properly. Engine sounded like it developed a very sudden, harsh rattle like it was about to go pop. I then had to take it apart myself and check that the timing chain hadn't jumped teeth on the sprocket. Fortunately it hadn't.

The Kawasaki Z650 is basically the old ER in a new name, and it does run lean when it's in eco mode. It does this to save fuel, so if you cruise at 70mph it will blue up those pipes over time as the exhaust temp will increase. Nothing to worry about, all part of the normal operation of the bike to meet EU emission rules. Doesn't seem to have impacted reliability.

Sounds pretty awful all round. And I know it's the least of problems right now, but hope it doesn't put you out of pocket with Christmas coming up.

Happens a lot on these threads now It used to be "Hi guys! Which 125 should I buy?" followed by radio silence. Some would turn up 6 months later having bought the Chinese bike we all told them not to buy. Seeing as the 125 market is pretty dead, I guess this has just replaced it.

I've designed the control system for a gas fired generator set for a company in London. It's a district heating job, this unit just shy of 1MW of power is going to supply power and heat to 12 blocks of flats around it. It will run whenever there is heat demand, and is located in an underground plantroom. It has an SCR (urea exhaust dosing system to eliminate NOx emissions). The client is a funny one, they go from radio silence to demanding answers for various queries, and its become apparent there's a contractor they are using who are meant to be arranging the install, but are a bit clueless. I've recently noticed something, the engine is housed in a container with a ventilation system plumbed into it. But the exhaust pipe leading to the SCR, and then onto the building exterior is external to this, along with the main breaker panel, auxiliary power panel, and overall control panel. It's a tight plantroom, and even though the pipework is lagged, it will still be 50-60 degrees touch temperature. I asked them "You're ventilating the engine bay, but what about the plantroom? I can't see any temperature control system in place and you've got a exhaust pipe that won't be perfectly lagged that gets up to 400 degrees..." And all hell has broken loose. Client is basically screaming that we should have warned them. We've reminded them that they told us that all calculations had been completed for cable runs, and heat calcs for the room, we are only worried about the engine bay. So next week is going to be fun as I've just finished by sending some Friday afternoon bombs.

Is this Poplar services at junction 20? Near to the M56. It's quite a hot spot for poorly behaving bikers, same with the M60 at Stockport. I notice these areas being the worst for bikers flying through traffic like they can hit a reset button if it goes wrong. The thing I find funny though, is when you follow someone doing those big arcing weaves as they go through traffic due to cars being in staggered positions in their lanes. I've followed little bikes swerving around like they were always close to hitting a car, while I gently adjust a few feet left/right to clear the same thing they used a hard lean angle for. I'm riding mostly straight, and they're swinging their bikes arse like it's Saturday night.

Too much oil can put pressure on the engine components, as it literally can't get out of the way quick enough. This might explain why the clutch feels like the lever is pulsing, as its pushing the mechanism. I'd drain the oil and start again, as mentioned above use an oil specified for use with motorbikes if you haven't already. Oil is oil, but the additives used between the two products vary and can cause clutch slip on bikes if certain car specific variants are used.

As long as it's not early morning stuff, that's a pretty good arrangement! My latest neighbours have cottoned on to what I do for a living, everywhere I live I end up next to someone elderly, in fact in my last house, I quickly found out the elderly woman that lived next door was the mid-wife who delivered me! Small world! But I've always offered to help with things around the house so they don't get taken advantage of. Like electricians charging £120 to swap an oven lightbulb that took me 5 minutes. Now I'm in a block of 6 flats, and I have an elderly woman below me that I've helped with all sorts, but she's told the others in the building I can change light fittings, diagnose problems with cars and so on. So I now get a knock on the door every week, often to sort out laptops or computer issues because they assume electrical engineers can work on anything with wires poking out of it Wouldn't call it annoying, but a strange arrangement has definitely formed without any consent from me. I now get cooked meals and freshly baked cakes left at my doorstep, most of which I just give to my girlfriend.

When I was about 16, my dad had a BMW K1200S, we lived opposite a neighbour who set his house alarm off at around 6:30am at least once a week when he woke up. He was a teacher, and a cyclist, and he perfectly fit the stereotype of being really patronising, so you can imagine what he was like when asked to sort out the alarm situation. My dad let the bike idle on a couple of weekends when checking it over before a big run, 5-10 minutes, and one weekend we saw this guy glaring over, the second on Sunday at about 11:30am he comes storming over. And the exchange is just burned in my memory forever. Julian: Don't you think it's inappropriate to be running that up all the time, and early in a morning? Dad: *stares at him deadpan for a few seconds* And when was the last time I ran it up? Julian: (smugly) Last weekend Dad: Right, so we've established what you mean by "all the time"... Julian: Well it's not very considerate is it? Dad: And your alarm going off usually 4 or 5 hours earlier than this is fine is it? Julian: *huffs and starting to walk away* Well the difference is it doesn't make the road sound like a council estate Dad: Well it's a good thing you're not bigoted. What made it so funny, is the guy was difficult with his other neighbours, very "holier than thou", and a teacher, so to get so quickly trounced on his technical point, and then called a bigot was just ear porn