Mississippi Bullfrog

That's not good, but to be fair I can't see many companies offering warranty support on a six year old bike. The cost of investigation into why a camshaft failed would be extensive and they would need to know a lot of history.

Belting bikes. I had one and loved it. The 2004 will be carb, the later fuel injection ones have a line round the bottom edge of the tank. They are easy to ride, handle brilliantly on our appalling roads, are dead simple to maintain and reliable. They are as good as possible in factory spec so don't go for messing about with aftermarket exhausts looking for more power. In fact check it is all original. Some aftermarket exhausts can make them guzzle oil. Only one real mod that is worth doing. Like many 125s they are overgeared. The engine doesn't have the torque to hold 6th gear in any kind of headwind or gradient. You end up taking it to the limit in 5th, going into 6th, then gradually losing speed until you have to drop back into 5th again. So what most people do is to replace the front sprocket with one that is 1 tooth less. That puts the gears into a much better place. It will then hold 6th at above 60mph but hits the rev limiter at 68mph. On the original gearing which in theory gives you a higher max speed they lose momentum at about 55mph. The standard chain is a bit on the weak side but on a 2004 machine that will have been changed. Some people go up a size but I found just buying a good quality chain in the original spec was fine. There used to be a VanVan forum but I think it closed down a while back. There is a 200cc version but it is actually no faster than the 125 as it has 5 gears rather than 6.

Reminds me of a guy who used to work in Littlewoods in Liverpool. He had a 1.3 Marina which was his pride and joy. One day he was driving down the dock road when a wagon went into the back of it. The policeman taking the details asked him. Policeman - "What make is your car?" My mate -"Morris Marina 1.3" Policeman - "Is it a coupe?" My mate - "No, it's a saloon." Policeman - "Well it's a coupe now son."

It's not in the UK and I don't think the car is a Bentley, more like a Chrysler which they do have. As to luck or skill? Pure luck and I reckon he's used up a lifetime's worth just there. I'd bet a fiver that's a bentley Correction...was a Bentley.

What on earth happened there? I initially thought the cop car was chasing the bike but it seems to have been ahead at the moment of impact. Looking again, is that actually a cop car? I don't see any lights on it. Maybe it was just two idiots racing.

This reminds me of a story told by a guy I worked for in a garage years ago. I'm sure it's a shaggy dog story told in various forms but it was good at the time. He said that when he did his motorcycle test it was in the days when the examiner would step out in front of you. (As indeed happened on my test.) The guy took him to an area, told him to ride round the block and he would jump out in front of him - at which point he was required to demonstrate his emergency stop. So he went round the block. No-one jumped out. He thought the examiner was being tricky and hoping to catch him unawares. He went round again. And again, and again. At one point he was stopped by the police and diverted down another road which gave him some anxiety, but he kept going round the same route as much as he could figuring the examiner would figure out what was going on. Eventually he ran out of petrol and had to walk back to the test centre. When he got there they told him the examiner had heard him coming, jumped out, only it was the wrong motorbike and he'd been run over. That was why the police diverted the traffic whilst the examiner was loaded into an ambulance.

May I recommend a product made for power boat engines that makes normal carb cleaner look like gnat's wee. Quicksilver Powertune is sold by boat chandler's or online. It will dissolve solidified residues that ordinary carb cleaner just runs away from calling for its mummy. Every carb I've got that has been left to gum up has come up clean using this stuff. Other marine engine firms do similar products. I think my current can is from Johnson's. It's not cheap but it's good.

Focusing on the important bits of this thread, with regards to Fastbob's forthcoming coming of age party, will there be cake, dancing, singing in the streets, and other forms of unbridled debauchery? I think something ought to happen.

Have a conversation with your local trading standards. I've always found them helpful in this kind of situation.

Have a look at the Olfi camera. A lot cheaper than a Gopro. Not as many fancy features but how often do you need them?

I remember the guy who taught me to ride saying always be looking for your escape route. He drummed it into everyone. Many collisions happen when people use the brakes more than the steering. It's a natural panic reaction which causes humans to freeze rather than think. His point was to make a habit of always thinking where do I go if this goes pear shaped. It changes how you view the road and your options. It has made particularly aware of those situations where there isn't an obvious escape route which means I enter those scenarios a lot slower.

I used to use the rear quite a bit in heavy traffic when I lived in the city centre, but only gently to settle the bike in tight situations. The only time I tickle it now is on gravel tracks where I don't want the front to let go. Some of the farm tracks are not brilliant for two wheels.

There are two minor errors here. The purchase and branding of children is generally frowned upon. But the probability that this refers to not buying second hand lids is sound. The other error is of course that the discerning biker would only ever invest in a Triumph. People will tell you otherwise. They are wrong. They are entitled to be wrong. It is after all a free world. But they are wrong nevertheless.

That will probably get the sparkplug out. Surely that's the special tool for unsticking Mini starter motors?

If it was staged that second rider could earn a few bucks moonlighting as a stuntman.

Fingers crossed for you. They've blitzed our area recently which to be honest needed doing because we live at the bottom of a hill on a rural road in a 30mph zone. Our drive is on a blind bend and people regularly come round it doing well over 50 and are surprised when a bike emerges from a hidden exit. When words have been had its always a case of them thinking it's a national speed limit because it's a rural road. Having had a van on the hill several times over the past week they have now erected police speed check signs, but only going up the hill, not down it.

Having a garage is good. Can't add much to what has been said other than a lot of people don't find their ideal bike first time round. When you're new to bikes you can't know what will be right for you so my advice would be not to over think your first bike. Go for something you like but preferably Japanese and older. That way you won't be heartbroken when you drop it, which we all do. You can trade it in due course and not lose anything. Plus I think older Japanese bikes from before 2010 are slightly better build quality than newer stuff.

I agree with the view to keep the same tyre front and back. But I'd replace the rear to be honest. And agree with raising the pressure.

Dead man walking.

Wow, that does look better.

Every time we've had random tripping it's been a fridge or a freezer causing a surge when they cut in. Can't help with a solution though as in our last place the sparks wired a separate spur for the fridge with a different breaker on it.

Reminds me of the saying that thy sins shall find thee out. So his mate got rumbled and it turns out he is trying the same trick himself.

Was there a stage when nearly the world's capacitors came from a single factory and all of them were rubbish? I seem to remember going through PSUs on a regular basis and that was the reason given.

Have you got a copy of one of my favourite books? - Fifty sheds of grey. It's about sheds. There is another book by the same name. That one is not about sheds.