Mississippi Bullfrog

Congratulations. The Rebel is a nice bike and very capable. Honda build quality isn't quite what it used to be so consider investing in some ACF50 and spraying around the frame and parts where you are less likely to able to reach. I looked at those a while back and noticed some fine spider web corrosion markings around the head stock and frame bits where damp can sit. Otherwise it's tyres, oil level, chain, lights as the most frequent checks. Then stick to routine servicing as per the manual. Personally I change the oil more frequently because I'm old school and don't believe in extended oil changes. The oil still lubricates but it loses it's detergents over time and that's what keep the engine internals clean. If it's a new bike check the valve clearance service, I seem to remember those need them checking very early on and it's expensive. Most new buyers haggle to get that included for free.

I bought the bikes a Beeline navigation unit. Been thinking about it for ages. Looking forward to trying it out.

I left mine in all the time. It fell out on a local motorway recently which was interesting. I’m not putting the replacement in until the autumn. I do find the visor clearer without it, but I’m guessing mine was suffering from surface degradation. I was very careful cleaning it but they seem to be quite soft and prone to very fine scratching.

Really? I always begin by opening a beer. Myeb that's why everything I build falls down.

I ride at all and any times. It's mainly depending whether I am riding for work, or fun. If it's for fun I tend to ride to the weather more than anything else. Otherwise I'm out in all weathers.

I want doesn't get.

That's lovely.

On another line of thought - the Suzuki VanVan is a simple bike that is often used for green laning. It was derived from a sand bike design with big fat tyres that make light work of rough surfaces. Dead easy to ride as well.

I get this quite regularly but mainly to do with my public role. The most annoying thing was people saying they'd sern me on the news when the BBC kept using material from when I worked as a press officer. The weirdest thing was a Mk 1 Escort I rebuilt back in day when they were worthless. Me and mate rebuilt it from the floorplan up and seam welded the whole thing. I later flogged it to our window cleaner and forgot about it. Years later a guy contacted me via Retro Rides linking me to the car which had been transformed into a rally machine. He'd traced me via the reg no and used Google to track me down. They wanted to check the details of the welding for certification or something along those lines. After that the car kind of haunted me for a while as I got linked to it and people assumed I was involved with it. Last I heard it got crashed and was laid up somewhere.

We have some little twerp who works on a local farm and gets there on a small bike - with virtually no exhaust baffling at all. 6.20am every single morning he climbs the hill outside our house giving it all the beans he can just to get up the hill. One day I'll be waiting for him. For the time being I just can't be bothered getting up that early.

This is very true, but I am poor and the sea is in Wales where I am not allowed to go. Plus sailing inland becomes more of a contact sport at times which adds to the excitement. Also the sea is full of strange men in big boats who don't get out of the way.

It's why I always run an estate rather than a van. Take out the back seat and you've got the same loading capacity but cheaper tax and less hassle at the local recycling center.

Keep it quiet now, there's a good chap. Wouldn't want to be startling the horses.

Does your phone not support WiFi calling In theory yes, but the internet is delivered by pigeon every third Wednesday and of late it’s had a poorly wing so things have been slow.

We don’t have a bus stop, or post office, or a shop, or a pub. We have rabbits and badgers and foxes though.

Where we live there is no mobile signal at all despite all the networks saying their computer shows good coverage. Half a mile up the hill is fine. Down at the bottom of the hill we’re limited to smoke signals.

Going off the weather forecast for Saturday I’m declaring the weekend officially cancelled.

You mean Robot Monster don’t you? That’s what’s really going on at moment.

That is an abomination.

I've tried iriduim plugs and I can't say I've noticed any difference - other than the price. I'm sure they do last longer but since plugs do fine between the usual service intervals I haven't found any benefit.

I think the point made was that with a camera you can prove it was that car/bike that was exceeding the speed limit. How does a microphone prove that the noise came from any particular vehicle? Unless there is only one vehicle within a considerable range, no aircraft in the sky, no thunder around, no birds sat on the microphone, no politicians within 50 miles radius - it would be impossible to evidence that the sound level came from any particular source. Noise recorded by camera is very difficult to definitively attribute to an identifiable location.

Well back when we were running the TOTY poll I suggested we should have a flounce of the year poll but none of you listened, which I found very offensive and upsetting. So

Judging by the photographs of some of the people crowding to beaches recently it would seem that every time one of them enters the sea the water displaced results in significant sea level rise. Maybe introducing more sharks around the coast would help reduce sea levels?

If it had evaporated in a garage you'd probably smell it. So I'd double check it hasn't seeped into your sump. If so, apologies for stating the obvious, but drain the oil and replace it.

Whereas the 1200 Triumph engine gets very twitchy at low rpm, so a lot of guys switch into rain mode round town to smooth things out. I've never found it a problem though. It has 6 gears but frankly when you'd use 6th is beyond me. You'd need to be doing 90+, which on a bike like that gets pretty uncomfortable. Round town you're definitely in either 1st or 2nd. No point going up to 3rd until you're above 40mph. The gearing is soooo long on it.