Mississippi Bullfrog

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.

Go to see it and use the fact that one very similar if not identical sold recently for far less. Far enough to buy and sell things if you can make something in the process, but it's also fair enough for you to use the same as a means of haggling.

Be warned, I mended an old fashioned clip on parking light from the early 70's, then rewired it, then fitted a new connection......then ended up totally rebuilding a period car to attach it to. These things can escalate rather quickly.

Personally I'd paint it yellow and fit a couple of LEDs in the eyes. It you want to go the whole hog then fit a motion activate barking device as well.

If it is to be left outside then even yacht varnish will only last a short time. It then needs rubbing down which will be a pain given the carving involved. I'd either use a wood oil and apply a few times a year. It depends how much direct sun it gets. Or use what has replaced yacht varnish in wooden boats and give it a coating of clear epoxy. You can buy epoxy for wooden boats from a boat chandlers or online. It will last much longer than varnish. Personally I'd go with wood oil and be prepared to recoat it regularly. It's not huge so it won't take long. A possible third option which I am experimenting with so can't promise how long lasting it is - is beeswax. I've been polishing wood with it over the past few weeks and the finish it produces is lovely. It ought to be very weather resistant but I'd suggest it would benefit from regular applications.

Have any of these lots of people actually done either of these suggestions? And if so did it work? Bear in mind that if you do something like this your insurance will want to know about it. It's usually cheaper and more effective to keep it standard and trade it towards a used Japanese 125. For city riding they're better suited than a 50cc machine.

Just when you thought this place couldn't get any weirder.....

I find it the easiest system I've found so far to add waypoints. Once you've set the destination you then tap the route anywhere and it opens a waypoint marker. You then drag that to where you want it to be and it plots a route via the waypoint. You can zoom in or out to be as specific as you want. My favourite route between home and the Ponderosa goes by a very out of the way route because there are a couple of really nice roads I like to ride. It took just two additional way points for the app to find that route and then you can save it for future use. You can also track routes you've ridden and if you find a road you like that can be saved as well. It's very intuitive to use which I find is a sign someone has thought this out.

I won't try to do a video of the Beeline as there's plenty on YouTube already which show how it works. I have tried various navigation systems, sat nav, various phone apps and different phone holders. I've never really got on with any of them on a bike. I use a dedicated sat nav in the cars and all systems have their strengths and weaknesses. What I like about the Beeline: Its simplicity. In route mode you get an arrow telling you which way to go. A dot that tells you which direction your next turn is. The distance to your next turn that counts down as the turn approaches. A scale that shows how much of your journey is completed. For junctions or roundabouts you get a symbol that gives you notice - eg for a roundabout you get a symbol with a number, the number is the exit you want. As you approach a turn the arrow and dot should coincide if you're going the right way. If you take a wrong turn the arrow turns black and you either ride back to where you went wrong, or press a button to recalculate the route. In compass mode the arrow just points to where your destination is. You then just ride down any road you like and head in the general direction of where you want to end up. You don't get speed warnings, estimated arrival time or a detailed map. For me I find these don't work using sat nav on a bike. I just find it too much to take in. I like the very simple information you take in at a glance. I have it set to avoid motorways so I haven't tried it with multiple lane junctions. I bought the kit with an additonal bar mount so I have a mount on each bike and just swap the unit between them. The mounts are nice quality, as soon as you open the box you know someone takes pride in this product. The display unit is linked to your phone which runs the Beeline app. I understand this is based on Google maps so you've got up to date maps all the time. The app allows you to set how you want to navigate - route or compass mode. You pick a destination, then you can add waypoints to tailor the route. If you want you can have the phone duplicating the display unit, or you can use the phone as a display unit in a car for example. The display is very adaptive to light conditions, it keeps a constant level of visibility as you go under bridges, in bright sunlight, or at night. You can do the obvious things like set it for km or miles, avoid tolls, motorways or ferries. The Beeline Moto was developed from a version made for cycling so the Moto version can be set to do both motorbike and bicycle routes. I do a lot of off road riding on a pedal bike and the routes it works out are the best I've found of any cycle navigation system. As a bit of a bonus the display clips into the cycle mounts I use for my Garmin cycle sat nav (which is useless). Cost is £149 for the black version. Or £199 for either of the versions with a bit of coloured trim around the edge. There are a variety of mounts. It comes with a universal band held mount and a stick on mount. There is a bundle deal which adds an additional mount of your choice - as said I went for the bar mount which is a nice bit of kit. It won't be for everyone. If you like your dedicated sat nav with all the information on a coloured screen this will seem a bit strange. But it is very intuitive and easy to ride with. The one minor niggle is that where two juctions come very close together it doesn't tell you in advance. That's where your sat nav with a visible map will be better. But usually those kind of junctions are in built up areas where you can easily just take the next turn to get back on route, and using a dedicated sat nav I've had dud information about directions at times so no system is 100% accurate. Overall for motorcycling I like the Beeline's simplicity, clarity, option to go freestyle and explore whilst still heading in the general direction. The display works for me and doesn't clutter the handlebars. The app is very easy to use and in terms of selecting routes the best I've found yet. The battery life is reckoned to be about 30 hours so there's no wiring involved.