Arwen

[mention]Gin[/mention] , I got mine fitted at the scottish bike show. Was a weird sensation getting your ears filled with foam, but it was all done in around 20 min and the plugs arrived about 4 weeks later. I wear mine a lot more than just on the bike now. I use them at work when working in the server /comms rooms. When we go see track racing and I'll wear them at airsoft as well, depending what gun I'm shooting with. I can easily wear them for 6+hrs so totally worth the money I think.

Depending on the time of year, but generally morning, or late evening if I'm given the choice. Afternoon during the summer is just to hot and sticky!

After about a year of using foam disposable ones I got a custom made silicon set. One of my best bike related purchases. Mine don't have filters, so I just wash them with some anti-bac hand wash and rinse them well.

The answer simple is, it depends. My 125's tyres are actually wider than my big bikes. However it is half the weight, so in exposed areas the wind can feel worse on the little bike. When it's cold and possibly icy, I feel safer on my little bike though. Party due to the tyres, but also because it is so much lighter it is less of a trial for me to keep upright in iffy situations.

Oh I love this!

I've been super impressed with the camera on Huawei phones. Both my brothers have them and they are stunning. Personally, I've been running stock android for years now, since the Nexus 4. I have an original Pixel phone since they day they were released (October 2016) and it is still plenty fast enough, and the screen is gorgeous. It's rugged too, I never keep my phones in a case, I've dropped this one down flights of stairs, shut it in a car door, dropped it in puddles and in a fish tank, dropped it loads of times onto the ground as I miss my jacket pocket on my bike jacket It's got some pretty nasty looking dents on the metal body, but everything works as it should still. Can't see me replacing it any time soon.

It took me ages to get used to cruise control in the car. Now at work we play a game of "How far along the A90 can you get before you need to cancel your cruise control" I'm not sure how I would feel about having it on a bike.Feels a bit out of control I find

I assume this newbiker has just found God mode

Please don't ride with your full beam on all time... it is totally annoying to everyone around you, and possibly dangerous for folk in front of you. I changed my indicators to DRL/ switchback LED's. Them, with a little weave side to side if I don't think the person noticed me has drastically cut down the near misses at junctions for me. And that is on my tiny MSX.

I'm a bit out the loop with phone just now. I would say try and get a phone with the newest OS in it however. Apps eventually stop being supported for older os's.

Why? Are your headlights torches from the £ shop or something? No, but filtering or simply being around loads of cars,vans, trucks and buses in darkness people are less likely to notice me as a bike. I'd rather spend a few months commuting by car than be stopped from riding bikes for the rest of my life as some driver squished me cause they simply thought I was a car that was further away...

It depends on how many "bad" habits you have picked up on your 2 years of riding. I sat MOD 2 after around 2 years on a 125 (MOD 1 I passed around 8 months after my cbt). In total I spent around 12-14hrs on the school bike, however I only paid for about 10, the rest were simply cause no-one else was using it and there was a space if I wanted to continue staying out for another hour or so! Most of my time on the bike was spent getting used to the physical size of it and the difference in gearing. I probably could have got away with half the hours I done with no real problem. I thankfully had not picked up any serious bad habits, mostly I apparently do too many shoulder checks on roundabouts!

Since ever I can remember I wanted to work with animals. Like everyone person wanted to work with animals,, I thought I'd like to be a vet. At 14 I spent a week in a vets practice for work experience. First afternoon there I "helped" amputate a cat's ears to stop the spread of cancer. I decided then I wanted to work with animals, not on them! I thought about police dog handling, but you need to be a police officer for decades before they even entertain giving you a dog. I thought about army dog handler, but my questioning nature and reluctantance to carry out requests without fully understanding why would not sit well in the forces. I then looked at guide dogs for the blind when I was 17. Spoke at length with them and they said as most people who get guide dogs are older, it would probably be wise to wait untill I am 30+ to apply... So I went into IT. My love for animals remains, but I keep pets and that is it. When I was 23, one of my colleagues went blind very quickly. She managed to get a guide dog, which was fantastic for her. we worked in a school so the dog came for many visits to make sure it would not react to the chaos of a secondary school. My colleague knew of my previous wish to be a guide dog trainer and mentioned this to her assessor. Who then enlightened me to the fact more and more teenagers and young people are getting guide dogs now and they are crying out for younger trainers! Oh well.... There is still time for me to change professions I guess

if it is just the one link like that then you can try working it loose by spraying lots of cleaner and thin lube at it. Give it a bit of a wiggle and they sometimes come free, once it moves properly take it for a good run and recheck.

This happened to me when I bought my grom (from a totally different dealer). Honda HQ ended up sending me a book after I complained to them (there was lots of other shenanigans too). Within a year the dealership was no more.

Yea I love that site. Seems you get around 30min extra light just now than me

DVLA have apparently changed the log books to ommit previous owners information now. There is no excuse for you not having the log book... https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-5900993/GDPR-cause-spike-number-clocked-cars-road.html (Sorry, can't find an acutall DVLA site regarding this, just their main GDPR one.) If it is a service book, then the company you bought it from can simply remove the previous owners information from the book and give you it. If they are willing to let people look at the log book, then they are already not complying with GDPR as showing someone private/personal information belonging to someone else is also not allowed.

Yup, that's the exact reason I made that cut off. Too many close calls for my comfort in my first year of riding. Second year I got to mid December, and decided enough was enough. Car is getting used when it is that dark at commuting times.

My cut off for commuting is when it is not pitch dark in the mornings and the evenings when I leave. This week has finally seen not complete darkness at 5pm, so tomorrow may be a bike day

Link? My garage is rather cold and I suspect why my chains turn horrible quickly... I only use the pressure washer to spray snow foam on my bikes (from a distance) They actually get washed by the hose.

Lol ouch!!

Snow covered vehicles driving really annoys me now. I've seen way to many accidents and near misses for it now too. I have one of these, (only mine was from Aldi and a little different) It takes all of 5min to complete clear the car, even on the worse days. No excuse in my book. As for the state of some folks driving… well there is always bad driving on the road. Coupled with folk who won't take advice/think they know best/ think all the electronic things in their cars work magic then it leave a lot to be desired.... You don't need any fancy gizmos or specific tyres (although snow tyres do help) to drive in snow. It's simply a skill that needs learned.

As bender says, you shouldn't use the torque wrench to loosen bolts. It can throw the calibration off apparently. My other socket wrenches and spanners are around the same length though. At most, a tap with a rubber mallet on the end will loosen it. For more stubborn bolts/nuts then squirt some stuff that I can't remember the name of in to the threads and leave it for 10min. Then they come off.

I'd say yes... Only because the rear axle on my BMW is torqued to 100nm and I managed that by hand (both loosening and tightening.) And I am a self confessed weakling My torque wrench is around 35cm long.

Halfords professional tools are pretty solid for a good price. Never pay full price for them though, every few months their sets will be on offer. Multiple 10mm spanners seem to be a requirement for many bikes... Long sockets in select sizes (depending on bike) Extension bar for those hard to remove things. A good torque wrench - find out how to use it properly, and don't mis-use it for you'll break it. Vinyl gloves, cause working with greasy, oily hands gets boring quickly. Swarfega - for when you inevitably do get oil and grease on your hands, this removes it best. Not sure if Yamaha's use JIS screws, Honda certainly do. If you like DIY, and do not mind spending a good amount of money on screwdrivers. A set of JIS screwdrivers are well worth the investment if you have Japanese bikes.