bonio

To be fair, it's a fair exchange: 150 quid for three dinners some tat and a photographer. The rest of the money is what you raise for the charity... it would be really unfair if you were to get anything back in return for that!

Its the small stuff that makes a big difference. Led bulbs. Buy less. Travel less. Throw less food away. I'm crap at it.

It's a bit of a balanced thing. EV uses electricity from the grid, and electricity production in the UK pollutes (and is about to pour millions of tons of concrete over a marshy wilderness next to Britain's prime bird sanctuary in an AONB and SSI - but's that's another thing). Some people like to ease their consciences by getting a "green tariff" or buy from a "green producer", but it's all just marketeer's window-dressing on the bare fact that everyone who uses electricity from the grid does so at an average of around 1kg of CO2 for 5kWh (this was 2020, when the covid effect made our electricity a bit greener). The only way to improve on that is to use the electricity at times when you know the grid is running more green - but I don't how you can do that practically. So an EV still pollutes as it runs and, with the current generation mix, it pollutes a bit less its ICE equivalent. Until you take in manufacturing emissions, amortized over the lifetime of the vehicle (whatever the lifetime is for an EV) and at this point all bets are off: it's down to a matter of faith of whether you believe EV is less polluting than ICE or not, but I'm not sure anyone has any facts to offer. Until about four or five years ago, back when UK electricity was a lot less green, the balance was clearly weighted the other way: EV polluted more, mile for mile, than ICE - forget manufacture. Since then, improvements in generation and in EV design have started to swing things in favour of EV. I reckon it won't be that long before EV is clearly the better option. And as has been said, by then the major manufacturers will be putting out ranges of EV bikes as well as cars.

What the man said. Is the problem that the helmet's a tad too big, meaning that it sits lower down than it should?

Why not visit some dealers and take a couple of bikes out for a test ride to get the feel of riding them on your local roads?

Oh and get a quote from MCE for the current bike and licence. I can't recommend them as insurers, but they seem to be less fussy about who they take on than the others.

What's the bike? A lot could depend on the size of the engine. Most tests in the UK are on bikes around 650cc, and this is what insurers expect people with new licences to ride. I've also noticed that insurers are very wary about bikes over 1000cc. I'd been riding for a few years when I bought a 1200cc and insurance was hard to find (despite clean licence and 5 years NCB), and when I did get it, it was pricey. The next year I had no problems at all, because I'd already done a year on a bigger bike. My advice would be to use the comparison sites to get some quotes for different engine sizes, and see what comes up. Also try some older bikes too. That way they'll find out what's possible to insure. Then get some quotes for the current bike, but saying the licence is a year old, and see if they can get insurance for that. If all's well, they could perhaps buy a bike to ride for year and bide their time, and then sell it on once they can get insurance on their own bike.

The Tiger 800. It was a good enough bike, but when it was stolen I wasn't the least bit sad, and I've not missed it for a moment. I was just a good enough bike.

Happy birthday mate. Hope your having a good one.

Last shock I bought was a made-to-measure Nitron. I was great. Incomparably better than the one that came on the bike. I haven't a clue if how it would compare in real life with a Wilbers or Ohlins, but I since I was only comparing it with the OEM one, I was very, very happy.

As above, I'd prefer to stay cool in stuff that will stop my skin shredding off. Can't see any good in sounding off against people who've chosen to do differently though.

and - seeing this is Norway - most of your savings

Rode it. First time since the op. Over to Old Buckenham. Glorious ride home with everywhere glowing under the setting sun. Nice to be back on two wheels.

A lot bikes just won't go into first when they're stopped, or at least they'll only do with after a a lot of faff. Mine are all like that.

What you're doing sounds basically ok, except you need to flip down to 1st just before or as you come to a stop.

We used to live at 6500 ft. When we came back to Blighty, we'd run up and down the hills as if we were mountain goats.

@fullscreenaging lol. I hardly get it at all now since moving to Suffolk

The Alpine passes are a lot higher than those that cross the Pyrenees, so perhaps that's the difference. I've had altitude sickness a couple of times - that time on that volcano, and another up time at the top of Pikes Peak. It's not nice. One of the girls with us on the volcano got became so disorientated on the way up she nearly walked off the edge of cliff.

I've cancelled the Premier Inn and put in a request for a "bon d'achat" (sounds a good cat) from the Tunnel.

Hello @megawatt PDL chain lube. Does it live up to the manufacturer's claims? the PDL® GUARANTEE: Inject and start immediately. - PDL® lubricated chains are maintenance-free! - There is no need to re-tension or clean the chain!

I thought altitude sickness was something that goes away once you acclimatise? Only once got it bad up the top of a volcano. 12,500ft. The locals said to eat fruit and it would go away. Not saying it would work for you, but it worked for me.

Really sorry for them all

Nervous? Never. Well, perhaps on the second day of my DAS, when my instructor asked me why my hands were shaking. I looked and sure enough, I was trembling like a leaf in the wind, and I hadn't even realised it. But the more you ride, the more you build your confidence up, and the nerves disappear. I've never ridden a grom, but I'd expect you'd find a full sized bike a lot easier to learn on. Smaller bikes are less stable, and smaller wheels are harder to steer on.

He was after your Caramel bikkies mate. You did the right thing to scarper.

Great result - congrats.