bonio

Ooo. Now I'm curious. A thick skin will be 100% necessary. I actually saw one the other day. Hmm, where was it? Ah yes I wuz in London. There was a 1290 Duke parked up outside Peter Jones and a couple of blocks further up a VT85 went past. First one I've seen. Made for a good visit. As for the kafkaesque merry-go-round, I'm now booked in to get a second AZ jab at the end of the month . When I spoke to the doc about it, though, he said, "I'll put on your notes that you need AZ, not Pfizer. But the important thing is that you know this." What he meant is that when I get there, I'm the one who has to stop the nurse giving me Pfizer and try to persuade her that I should be having AZ instead. We shall see.

Congrats @Gerontious. It's a nice feeling. When I grow up I hope to have Ohlins on my mobility scooter, cos Ohlins mean faster bends.

I'm impressed. I didn't even understand it.

Hahaha. Add to those Harley's new adv bike. And Guzzi's. And on the other hand who's coming out with a new line of tourers? Even new sports tourers are few and far between. I blame Ewan and his sidekick.

Evening.

Spent all my cheques on the current one! But really, an MV adv bike? Seriously?

Here are a couple, just outside London https://www.roadtrip.uk/yamaha-motorcycle-hire/ybr125/ https://www.superbikerental.co.uk/motorbike-hire-london.php And one more for luck, but in Norfolk https://www.scoots-hire.com

I read the whole lot. Really interesting and I learned a lot. If I were you, I'd do disc lock on the rear + a good chain and lock. But I've had a bike nicked in London, and even with insurance I was out of pocket by a long way.

Can't remember what you had before the MT10, but a V twin is going to feel very rough after that and the GSXR. I've never ridden a KTM - they're all too tall for me - but they're not known for being smooth. Worst vibes I had was from the S1000XR. Some people get on fine with theirs, others hate it. I loved it apart from the vibes - it wasn't ever going to be a ride-me-all-day bike.

You can't rely on anyone else hearing you or anything else. You have to drive and ride as if the people around you are deaf. In fact, some of them might be.

I'd spent the best part of three years looking for a bike that on one day was comfortable enough to travel miles and miles, and the next day would ride like a real sports bike, and I came close to believing it just didn't exist. I was really taken by the Ninja 1000 - a really lovely bike - and was almost fully persuaded by the Multistrada 950S - a truly wonderful bike. But a cheeky comment from @goat got me going to the MV dealer for a test ride. I was bewitched, and a few months later I had one sat in the garage. That was over a year ago. So, has it lived up to expectations? It doesn't provide the sofa-like plushness of an R1200GS, but the upright riding position means I can do 300+ mile days very comfortably. I've fitted a Puig screen to reduce the wind noise, which I find makes for a more relaxing ride. I've fitted a low seat, reducing the seat height from 870mm to 845mm by sacrificing a little comfort. But to be honest, the low seat is fine, even after several days of all-day riding; as they say: where there's no sense, there's no feeling. If I wanted to ride all days on motorways, I'd have wished for a full-on tourer. But I like riding roads with bends, and it's here that the bike comes alive. It might have only 110 bhp, but it's a little monster, pulling heartily at low revs, delivering abundant, smooth, mid-range power which surges to a peak with a scream and wail a bit before limiter comes in at 13,000 revs. A quickshifter - up and down - helps keep the acceleration on through the gear shifts. It's sprightly, easily turned, leans without effort and keeps a line as precise as a diamond cutter's. It can be just about as engaging and exciting to ride as you want (and occasionally a bit more). And it will do all this with full luggage, on wet roads and as well as dry. Oh, and it looks awesome. As for reliability, I've guess I've been lucky so far: despite riding it through a lot of Scottish rain, I've had no problems so far, except a fork seal that leaks a bit. They're going to fix it under warranty at the next service. I've got the base model 2019 MY, with luggage and heated grips fitted as extras. I've added crash bungs, Puig screen with spoiler, a tail bag and a Tutoro chain oiler. Given no centre stand, the oiler was really useful when touring.

So after a year of trying different ones out, I've finally come up with a solution that works for me. 1. Use the phone, not a sat nav. A sat nav needs permanent wiring, but I can simply plug the phone into a USB port. And it will give hours of navigation even if I want to run it just on the battery. Additional pluses are: no more downloading routes to the unit (and seeing them all change when I do), and one fewer thing to faff about. 2. Put the phone in a waterproof case I've got a waterproof universal phone case from ultimateaddons. I've tested in very wet Scottish rain and it perfect. There's a bit of glare from the cover, but not too bad. 3. Use MRA I've bought 3 years of MRA Navigation for £36. I can create routes on the laptop using MRA's mapping app (which about as easy to use as google maps), and they appear automatically on the phone, unchanged. No downloading, no sending to device. Routes are literally A to Z, plus all the letters in between, meaning you can have up to 24 waypoints - usually more than enough. If I wanted, I could pay more and have the option of using HERE maps rather than openstreetmap, but so far I've not found any reason to. When navigating, the map is clear, with easy-to-follow directions. Voice commands are clear and timely. You can set up the route to carry on automatically to the next waypoint if you miss one out - great when you go wrong or when a road is closed. Other apps I've tried that didn't do it for me: Sygic would take my route from the laptop, and it would appear on the phone as a mess of crazy diversions that defied any logic. I found it unworkable. TomTom had a list of random Suffolk lanes that it refused to let me go down. They were all narrow lanes, so I guess it decide to avoid routing people down them, as they weren't very suitable for large cars. There was no way round this; so I couldn't use it for local days out. Google maps insists on making you press "Continue" at every waypoint, and won't drop a waypoints if you miss it. Waze is great for A to B, but doesn't handle waypoints and doesn't work offline. I tried a couple of others, "Map Factor Navigation" and "NavMii"; they both had a confusing UI and I couldn't get them to do what I wanted. I've tried Calimoto and Tourstart, but neither had the convenience of MRA when it came to planning routes. Didn't try CoPilot GPS, as I couln't get a trial licence.

Oh no. You said you rode it to the dealer. Pretty much rules out Guzzi.

Guzzi V85TT!

@goat crazy to think you shipped your bike over there. Lemme guess, #2 is AZ? Notaclue about #1 and #3. #4 is possibly Narrfolk.

I s'pose the dealers can't help you out? Have you tried Lings in Harleston, in Norfolk?

Ouch, that's beautiful.

No, not stupid. Quite a lot of people have done what you're doing. It's a great to get a licence and start riding.

I had a K2! Grown men ogling? All I got was young kids saying things like, "how fast does it go, mister? - giv it some revs." But I loved it just the same.

I really like Alston. Cracking roads in all directions. Great scenery too - your picture is perfect.

Disclaimer polished off.

If it started after getting new tyres fitted then very likely it's not sealed on the rim correctly. I'd get it refitted.

Breakdown services are being more particular now about you being present when they pick a bike up. One of the lads I was with in Scotland had to leave his bike by the side of the road in the Borders; RAC wouldn't touch it until he could get back there and hand the bike over to them.

Very nice bike you've got there. Tbh you're best off phoning up the garages and speaking to them directly. I'd have thought it's going to have to be a local place, as no-one's going to want to travel miles just to pick the bike up. There might be people here who can give you ideas of places to try - but as I'm about 400 miles east of Bodmin, I'm not much help here. Jyväskylä? Blimey that takes me back; not been there in 40 years . I spent the summer of '79 out east, in Outukumpu.

Yup. A143, riding east in the dark. There's a house out in the middle of nowhere with a security light. Every time I see it I flinch and think it's an oncoming vehicle, and the road must have a bend to the right. But it always turns out to be a house by the side of the road with a security light.