Arwen

I found a W800 and love the look of it! Unfortuatly it was to wide/high. It is higher than my F700, and felt just as heavy

Thought I'd update this. I still have the F700, as I've bascially not been able to ride any bike other than my MSX for about 8 months due to muscle damage. However yesterday felt I was up to it, so took the baby BMW out for a spin. The G310r was on my origonal list of bikes to buy, but the frst wave of them was plague with issues. I enjoyed the test ride, however I'm not clammoring to buy one. Moody pitures on a drizzely/foggy day. Pro's: It's a nippy little thing. Certainly feels like a more powerful MSX. Nimble around the city and quick to pull away from a stop/rolling start. Feels suprisinly planted at 70MPH, and is reasonably quick to get there. Engine braking is not too anchor like, which would be great for riders like me who do not like the diving forward that some bikes do under engine braking. The dash is lovely and bright, well layed out and modern looking. It is very light feeling when manually moving it around. The seat is rather comfortable. You feel like you are sitting in the bike rather than on it. "Issues": Lots of vibrations through the tank during most of the rev range. This isn't a problem when there is no wind. However if it's windy an you hold onto the tank with your knees, the vibrations course through you... Mid 70ies mpg according to the dash, I would have excepted more from a modern 300cc engine. My F700 gets around 65mpg. Possibly due to this bike only have 50 miles on the clock, but it kept jumping out of 1st and into neutral. I ended up having to put pressure on the gear leaver at a stop so it would stay in gear for me puling away. Small persons problems: Seat height with the standard seat is still on the verge of too tall for me. On a lot of oddly cambered junctions I ended up having to do the motocross rider standing at a stop pose with one leg over the seat but my foot no where near the pegs/leavers. No adjsutable leavers as standard. This suprised me as I thogouht all BMW's had them. I have child sized hands so the span was quite a stretch for me. I'm going to visit Harley Davidson, Ducati and Triumph through in Glasgow next week. Looking at the Ducati Scrambler (again), Triumph Street triple (again) and the Harley Street Rod.

Damn I wish I knew about that. My 4 days was waaaay overkill. I had been riding my 125 for nearly 2 years to be fair. Thankfully I had not picked up too many bad habits so the hours on the bike was mostly just getting used to the bigger bike.

You don't need to book a 3-4 course to pass the full/A2 test if you are confident. Most schools will have a price per hour/2 hours. Mine was £30 per session. I had around 4 sessions (£120) and booked in for test. What you are describing to do is illegal and I hope you/they get pulled for it. There are already way too many uninsured folk on the road. Don't add to it.

I've never done it. But chain it to something (light post) as close to the front door of the hotel as possible. Hotel front doors usually have cameras… Secluded bits of car park normally do not.

I've got a F700GS Rallye.

Have you ever known anyone to claim on that warrenty @Gerontious ? I know of two people who had to, one with boots and the other with gloves. Both times the shop they bought them from ended up shelling out for replacments as Rukka were not compliant with the returns. They even sent the boots back saying they were fine. When they shop tested them by running the toes under the tap, water leaked in... A warrenty is only as good as the company that backs it.

Have a look at the Halvarsson gear. Great gear, excellent waterproofing, outlast liners are magical and not bulky. Most modles available in a vast array of sizes. All for a very reasonable cost. I don't really look at any other brand now for bike stuff.

It completly depends on the condition of the bikes. Both mine I bought new (I know... whoops) so having two bikes is no hassle for me. I just jump on which ever I fancy when I want to go out. I do service them both myself, so I tend to do one in spring and the other in autum. They both get a wash and chain cleaned at the same time as I already have the stuff out to do that work. The MSX forever needs it's chain adjusted so the BMW is a welcome sight as it barely needs it adjusted at all Having two older bikes may take up more work. But so long as you always have one on the road there is no need to rush the job on the other one. I've now deciphered that it's the BMW that is causing me to badly damage my intercostal muscles, so it is hardly getting used now. However the MSX was my commuter and pootling around town bike. The BMW was for further afield jaunts, worked out rather nice. The MSX costs me pretty much nothing to keep - it's free with my insurance on the BMW, and takes up no more room in the garage than a push bike. So there is no real point in me getting rid of it, never mind the fact I love it!

That price sounds ok to me for a good condition ex-demo but make sure they have done, or throw in for free, the first service too. That can cost another £150-200 easy. For comparison, I got 15% off my MSX without much haggling and that was buying it new.

My MSX does exactuly that when I change the spark plug and the gap is not right. Now I don't bother checking the manual. If the bike was running fine before I started servicing it, I simply match the gap in the plug I removed I thought I had properly broken it when I first serviced it and it just spluttered and died when I pressed the button. That's when I learned how to use feeler gauges

Certainly not the case when I was test riding big bikes 2 summers ago. BMW's insurance states one of their guys had to come out with me, but all the rest were perfectly happy to throw me the keys and suggest test routes too me. The Ducati scrambler is a good call for a fellow shortie. I tested one a few months ago (a 15 plate full throttle) and it fitted me well. (I'm 5'4 with 28" inseam…)

I'd not be buying a bike without a test ride. The guy clearly doesn't want to sell to you if that is what he is saying. So I'd take my business and hard earned money elsewhere.

As has been said, most dealers are absolutely fine with working to your time scales. I've been trying to test ride bikes since the start of the summer, as lighter replacement for my F700. They have all been very accommodating, and not pushy at all. I make it clear to them that I am looking for the "right bike", not just "a bike". So it is not a spur of the moment decision I will make. Even though they are not push, they are very helpful and encourage me to try all sort of bikes they have in.

You will be able to flat foot most mid sized bikes with your inseam. As for monsters... have you sat on one of them recently? I'm around 5'4" and most of them fit me perfectly. So you may feel a bit cramped on them. I'd definitely recommend going for a refresher course. You will probably ride a 60hp+ bike on that, so a mid ranged monster (if you still want that) straight off would not be too much change from that.

I oddly love this! I totally understand this quote though. It's pretty much what I say when folk ask me why I still ride my Grom.

I'm taking no risk of electrocuting myself. Piercings of not Got a couple of electricians coming round to quote for the work tomorrow. Hopefully it's not as extortionate as I fear !

That's what I'm scared of happing if I do it [mention]Six30[/mention] I don't trust my ability when it comes to electricity. Yesterday we removed this: So this afternoons job for me is to remove all the tile adhesive from the wall and smooth it down, ready for painting!

Interesting, it would never have crossed my mind that I would need a building warrant for a lot of electrical work in the house... It's my own fear of electricity that would make me get someone else to do it

Only buy helmets from reputable dealers and you should never come across a problem like that.

I'm pretty much teetotal these day (various reasons, some medical) however since I first past my driving test I have never touched alcohol if I wanted to drive within 12hrs. And if I was out all night, the following day I pretty much would right off as a no driving day. I do feel perfectly able after a pint, but I know that scientifically my reaction times will be reduced. But as has been said, it's one thing to change the law. It is a whole other ball game to enforce it. And if laws are unenforceable, when why have them in the first place?

Thanks for all the sealant tips! Yea [mention]xMachina[/mention] , I figured the transformers are the "problem" with the led bulbs. I have no idea where they are in this house though Could be fun, or a nightmare to track them down.

We have bought our first house, hooray! Now time for diy... I know this is a bike forum, but loads of you are really knowledgeable about these things, so I thought I would ask. Our whole house is lit by GU5.3 spot lights. There is a mix of old halogen bulbs and LED bulbs throughout the house. Some don't work and others flicker and buzz. I'm going on the hunt to find the transforms for the lights in the house at the weekend, however I think I would like to change them all for GU10 fittings, as there is a much bigger selection of LED bulbs in that fitment. Has anyone ever done this conversion? Because it is electrics I am inclined to pay a real electrician to do the work for me, especially as it is around 50 light fittings. I'm really not sure what is involved or how much I should expect to pay. Any ideas? Another job that needs done is resealing various bits in the kitchen and bathrooms. Am I best scraping/picking the old sealant off, or do those sealant remover solutions actually work better?

If you are not running the bike in the shed then it shouldn't smell that much of petrol. Do you have a leak somewhere?

We need a picture of him too... For the same reasons