Fozzie

It's in there... it just didn't last long before I was out of sight / fozz too small on cam lol I was working on keeping you in sight, which is about as good as it gets with a touring 600 chasing a 1000cc sportsbike Was the best bit for me in the end, was using you to gauge corners as you had to get there to figure them out, whereas I could watch what sort of angle of attack you were taking and trying and claw back some ground. But whatever I gained, you doubled the separation each time you got the taps back open Don't know if you saw, but another group of bikers came between us and our group in that bit. They were right behind me, new gixxer a S1000 and a couple of sports tourers. We put quite a bit of distance between us and them in that stint and got a big smile and a shake of the head from the old chap on the S1000. Gave a good boost to the biking mojo! I'll bring the Drift camera next time and mount it on the helmet, see what footage I can get. If we can get into some very tight twisties I get the best shots there so I'm doing a recce of some roads near me, and will holla when I see a route worth doing.

Nah you want to keep it long enough someone rams you and creates a no-fault incident, then buy an MT09 with the injury pay out A theft really hurts insurance, but a non-theft accident barely affects anything. I know this from unfortunately having both inside a year

http://www.ridermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/web-Redverz-Series-II-Expedition-Tent.jpg Chain it all up, get a bike tent as above, maybe put a cheap alarm unit on the bike that sounds off with movement and can be removed from the bike and left at home. Then a little battery powered light dimly lights the inside of the tent at night, that way if a thief gets into the back garden or even just looks, they think the risk isn't worth it as someone is living in the back garden within a few feet of the bike they want to steal. A little flashing red light on the bike that is visible will also make them think there is an alarm, and they might not be so keen to try it.

We are actually parked on a slope, so combine the fact he's already tall with being on that side just makes him look like he's godzilla sized At least we have a picture to show people who mess with forum members... Scrote - "We can beat you up" Us - "We'll set *this* guy on you"

Front brake is binding on a bit due to lack of use Does it free up and remain that way after daily use? If it keeps doing that after being allowed to cool down, then there is probably rubbish behind the seals in the brake caliper and it needs a refresh. Quite easy to do on one of these as there's only 2 pistons on the front brake caliper.

New Dunlop Sportsmart 2s this week hopefully! Front tyre is nackered anyway and felt square as a lego block, so may as well do both. With some warmer weather I'm going to head to Rykas cafe and do some of the roads heading down towards Brighton and back up towards Sevenoaks. There's a good loop of road down there. Will give you chaps a heads up after I've dummy run it and got my bike "summer ready". It needs the tyres doing, and some better brake pads, and possibly a power commander to smooth out the snatchy fuelling. But after that, if I can find a good mix of twisty A-roads, and good B-roads theres a good mix for 600s and 1000s to play to their best strengths. And variety is the spice of life

I'm wondering if with bigger groups there can be a different marking system, one for a fast group and one for a steady going group. Can work it out at some point Only reason was, that first bit where I was chasing you was brilliant fun. I was at the redline in most gears, trying to make up lost ground in the bends. The only thing was I came up on some cars a bit too late to overtake as you had, and opportunities dried up. Then once I was a marker, working my way up the group sometimes felt a bit bad as the best opportunity would be with a bend in sight ahead and I was worried I'd unsettle someone! Was stuck with a number of others behind a premier inn truck for ages! God that was annoying. In the end I got by and it was fun after that as I got about 10 minutes of on the limiter, ear to ear on the tyre riding before I came up and caught up to someone. Got real worried the next marker would have thought we'd be lost and moved on! Was a good jaunt, even if I could only do half. Back tyre is full of tyre weld, and Moo's knee was in agony and we had to stop on the M25 for a break. Will look at what's closer and see if I can piece a route together so you're not always doing it Phil

I use USB cameras to catch idiots. Looks like a USB stick but has a little camera on it. Best thing to do is attach it somewhere it won't be seen but can observe the lockers. Do not tell anyone about it. The camera catches motion and records for 2 minutes. Leave money in your pocket until it vanishes one day, then check the tape for that day and see who it was.

Replace the copper crush washers that go in with the banjo bolts. Strip and rebuild the brake master cylinder. Report back

I like to shop quietly on my own, I'll look up and almost signal for when I want the sales person to come over as when I'm in the shop, I've usually done research and don't need much further info. In most I'm left alone, but I've noticed if I appear and I'm not scruffy, like a decent pair of jeans and a nice shirt I tend to get people swooping in to lure me towards more expensive products. If I take moo, a male assistant will be over in seconds being all friendly. It's a useful tactic if I want to get good service at least So I think you are weighed up on looks. If you have a young daughter Joeman, chances are he thought "bored dad on a day off just browsing". Same way when I'm in gym kit for instance they just see "kid probably owns a ped and has no money". People judge, but it's fun if you can use it to your own devices.

Blandit exhausts are made of cheese at the collector. If the silencer came off I wouldn't be surprised if a chunk of the collector came with it I'd replace the lot!

He called welsh people a name so I said a popular American line "Dems fighting words" in Welsh. The world is a bit mad, but without instability we'd have no character

People in glass houses What have the sheep loving cousins done now out of curiosity?

Mae'r rhai yn ymladd geiriau

Not mount, but certainly I'd expect it to be called a support. It creates a triangle, or on BMW's a parallelogram which is a stronger structure easy to build onto a bike. And with the caliper mount usually on the inside of the swingarm on the axle it does seem to make sense. Mainly as where the axle passes through spacers it has added protection from flex, as well as where it passes through the wheel and wheel bearings. It would be a weak point without a support as the caliper would weigh down on it, and with the braking force directly above making the wheel want to move upwards on this point it seems to fit in my mind that you'd get additional flex there. So I think you're right in it being a caliper support, but I think it also stops the braking forces from being able to do anything to the axle. You find torque arms on a lot of cars, which are usually used for the same reason, and they're even on the massive gas/diesel generators some of our on land sites use at work. After I was told what I was told about the FZR, figured it was the same throughout bikes!

I know it doesn't affect suspension travel, but when I rebuilt an old FZR600 the mechanic I was helping said it holds the caliper, and also as the caliper mount is on the axle it adds more support to the swingarm and stops the axle trying to rise or squat with the torsional affect on the axle during acceleration/deceleration and that's why it's called torque arm? Otherwise wouldn't it be called "caliper mount" like all bikes without them?

Isn't the torque arm attached to the rear brake caliper mount? The torque arm is firstly there to help eliminate brake dive or in the back wheels case, stop it moving up increasing the tendency to skid. And also stabilise the bike under hard acceleration and deceleration. They've mostly been done away with as suspension is now more advanced and can do the job itself. When you undo it, all you really do is make the bike more floppy when ridden. The best thing to do is follow the haynes, loosen the chain right off AFTER you loosen the torque arm. Then reset the chain and then torque up the arm again so it's right. See what the result is. I wouldn't have thought it would throw off the alignment but you never know! Sounds like you have a bit of a duff chain!

Sounds like a cam chain tensioner related issue to me! When they wear out they can provide less tension at certain parts of the rev range as they don't respond properly any more. What is the mileage on the bike?

Clarkson isn't going to Sky. Losing his edge is something 1 million petitioners would perhaps disagree with And while the fee is cheap, one of the chief directors is Danny Cohen... A man who prior to the Saville inquiry tried to get a program on air that glorified his service to television. He got caught basically trying to cover up the whispers of Savilles growing victim count. Then claimed ignorance... With that pillar of darkness at the top I can't say I'm happy I pay for him to be there... As for the whole Clarkson thing, he had a dust up after work had concluded. I've witnessed a couple of office dust ups and they usually go no further when one or both deals with it. Even I've had a dust up with an employee outside of work years ago, he was drunk, didn't like I got chosen for an aspect of my work and he went for me. Did I care? Not really as it was just a dust up. This inquiry was an instant decision, look at the report, we knew those points 2 or 3 days after the suspension. The BBC just had to be seen to be "thinking about it" to reduce the backlash.

Someone challenged me over this saying "so do you think it's acceptable to punch someone in the office". Couldn't help but say... When you have a culture that pays to watch fighting on TV, and then has football players and rugby players that often have fights on the pitch over a sodding ball, and motorsport personalities who beat each other senseless when they crash and blame each other, on top of a society that often cheers when a mate or celebrity beats up someone they don't like I really don't think anyone can challenge me over my view when everyone else seems to turn a blind eye to most of it. Clarkson will go to Sky, Hammond and May will follow as the pay will be better. All will be right eventually.

Chaps Just been talking with Moo, and decided if the weather is ok, or even just mildly crap, I'll come along and see if my zest for biking comes back. Phil, I believe you'll have had a PM off moo. Trying to work out how is best to do this as minimising her time on the back of a bike will mean she can have more fun on the actual ride out. So she may get a train close to a meet up point and we get her from there. Would it be cool if I met up with you Phil? I don't have satnav and prefer to travel in a small group anyway! Much less boring Pillion duties may still have to be split, I know from Moo bobs bike seems to give her knee some relief and it is supposedly a lot more comfortable than most other bikes she has been on so during a break, she may need to swap bikes. Plan is in motion

I may do, can do the meet and greet part but probably not the ride up. I still like bikes and fixing them... Just riding them I find fairly boring! Moo can only do a max of an hour or so on the back of the bike due to a knee problem flaring up when she keeps it bent in the pillion position for too long. So, can likely meet up with people on route and head there. But the ride up to Haverhill will possibly be a bit much, unless she gets the train there first, which would be a faff!

It's going to be a "see how I feel on the night" sort of thing but I may come along. Losing enthusiasm is a mild term for what has gone on, I more feel like "if that bike wasn't useful for taking me to work I'd sell it". Lot of things really, was taught on roads in the north and had Wales on my doorstep, then moved down to London where even the better surrounding roads are fairly boring by comparison. Then I've had bikes nicked, damaged, crashed into etc and now riding them, even quickly doesn't get much of a response from me. Wiping off chicken strips is now "just something I can do". So I think to sum up, I'm just bored of biking and the thefts/crashes haven't helped! But I like seeing peeps so may ride along for the meet up

The 2008 gang are sooooo much better Glad you're well

Ahh obviously you mean motorbike boots... Now it's obvious you obviously meant the obvious use of velcro and zips on the boots rather than on your shoes obviously. Is the mother all sorted now with her pc?