Mississippi Bullfrog

For me the really bad bit is when you're filtering in heavy traffic and you get to a bit where the gap is just too narrow, then some cyclist slips through and spanks your arse on the way past.

If you can take a deep breath and then hold it for ten seconds without coughing you haven’t got it. It buggers up the lungs so makes holding a lungful of air impossible without coughing. Reminds me, we're out of bog roll so I'll have to wear a face mask and buy a copy of the Daily Mail

Southport can be a bit breezy, I remember the 24 sailing race a couple of years ago when many boats were destroyed by wind. My parents live on the seafront just down from there and the wind is often very strong. Bikes in high winds can be tricky, especially lighter ones. The only thing you can do is to keep your speed down, avoid clothing that flaps, watch out for gaps in hedges or buildings where sudden gusts can catch you out, and avoid large vehicles because their wake in high wind can be brutal.

I forgot to mention two things. One is that I sail and my optician told me never to wear contacts if water can get into your eye. Apparently it can cause an infection which is very destructive to eye tissue. Whether road spray can do the same I don't know. But it's worth bearing in mind if riding in the wet wearing contacts. The other is that some years ago, before I had a flip front helmet, I had to open the visor to remove my glasses before I could take the helmet off. Riding home in heavy snow I kept wiping the visor not realising that ice was building up on the visor hinge points. When I got home I walked into the house and the visor instantly misted up. But it was frozen shut. So I couldn't see and I couldn't take the helmet off. My wife found me in the shower wearing a crash helmet and my leathers trying to melt the ice. It took a bit of explaining.

If one of the wires was an ignition live some go to earth with the ignition off. So the damage caused to an electrical component wouldn't be reversed just by putting everything back to standard. Everything might be back to standard but there could be something you've fried in the meantime. It is a very confusing description though so not enough information to make any useful suggestions.

Everyone will have different preferences. I have tried both and ended up sticking with glass and a flip front helmet. My reasons are that I don't really get on with contacts very well and I had an experience of grit getting into one whilst riding. Glasses are less convenient, but for me more comfortable and if I ride with my visor open I've still got some eye protection. I think most people prefer contacts though and if you're comfortable wearing them I can see why. They just make my eyes dry - and that after 10 years of trying them. If you do end up wearing glasses then a flip front helmet makes all the difference.

Hmmm, I live just down the road from the Northwich J&S. It's a bit too tempting really. Today was a good day ...... mostly. First time the roads round here have dried out. Then I hit a huge patch of mud by a gateway into a field. It was all a bit interesting for a while.

I blame Lewis Hamilton for setting a bad example. I have never once seen him indicate when changing lanes or coming in for new tyres. Hooligan.

It should be easy enough to see if the wheel is damaged. Unless there's anything obvious with the wheel itself my guess is that the tyre structure has been damaged. It happend to my daughter in her car last week. The tyre was a write off. She reported the pothole which was filled in within 24 hours. The snag is they only seem to cough up if it can be shown they knew about the pothole before you hit it. if it's been reported and they haven't repaired it you've got a good chance of claiming. If not they will say they didn't know about it until you reported it. That's what happened to my daugher. To rub salt into the wound one of her colleagues said she'd hit the same pothole a week previously but hadn't reported it.

I shall start a petition to ban indicators. Because most school run mums seem to think that sticking on the indicator gives them a divine right to change lanes, turn across traffic, stop in dangerous places, just because they have indicated. You don't need to look, you don't need to check, just indicate and go for it. If anyone else is there it's their fault because I indicated. It's no wonder they need to drive tanks to keep their little darlings safe.

It won't last! True - it's just started to rain again.

I went out on my bike today - and when I got home........ IT DID NOT NEED TO BE WASHED!!!!! First time since last September I have got home on a clean bike.

I also enjoy riding at a more relaxed pace on occasions. There's no rule to say you have to ride everywhere flat out. Sure it's fun when you're in the mood and the roads are clean. But there's something deeply refreshing in a chilled ride when you're not in a hurry. Plus it makes the ride last longer. There are times I just don't want to reach my destination, so making it last is good.

I am not a sparks but if that is a metal fronted switch is not meant to be earthed? Without an earth connection any electrical leakage that makes the front plate live won't trip the circuit breaker or blow the fuse if there's no earth. I only ask because it happened to me, in Liverpool as it happens. Mind you the joker who had wired the place up had also bypassed the fuse box so when a real live sparks did come to look at it he got rather a shock. Literally.

That all sounds ok. I guess you just have to see how it goes. I have one of those compact lithium starter packs that I carry if I'm ever suspicious of a battery.

No alarm or tracker on the bike so that wasn't an issue. So why did he take it out of the bike, it makes no sense. charging it, makes no sense. Even using an optimate type of maintainer makes no sense. If the battery has nothing draining it. Then it doesn't need charging at any point during a winter lay-up or even a 6 month SORN. As for it catching fire... My guess is he got a recommendation for a charger from the same plonker who told him he needed one. An expensive lesson on the perils of advice from the clueless. He took it out because it was pretty flat, when he bought the bike it hadn't been used for ages. And it was a lithium specific charger. He's used lithiums for years in other applications so he knows what he's doing. He happens to use lithiums in model aircraft like me so more years experience than most people using them in motorcycles. They are very good, but on the rare occasions they go wrong it's worth bearing mind what can happen. Personally I never charge a lithium battery anywhere near anything flammable. I use a strong metal enclosure well away from anything else. Never had a problem.....yet.

No alarm or tracker on the bike so that wasn't an issue.

A friend who has been off bikes for a long time just bought himself a new bike. He hasn't been riding it due to the weather. So he took the battery out to keep it charged which meant removing the fairing to get at the battery. Unfortunately the battery has gone and caught fire in his shed, the bike wasn't in the shed at the time but the fairing was and that's been destroyed. It was a lithium battery connected to a dedicated lithium charger. No idea what went wrong but it was most certainly the battery itself which was the source of the blaze. The insurance will cover it all but it's still a bit of a bummer.

I use Lithium batteries in my RC models. The only thing that kills them is miss use. Either running them to a too low voltage or overcharging. As long as vehicle batteries are in a good hard case and the charging system is suitable for Lithium all is good. Same here. They transformed my flying. The power to weight ratio is phenomenal. Treated with respect they are perfectly safe, the one nasty incident I saw was a guy who had a crash and didn't realize the battery had been damaged. They tend to catch fire very slowly, then go bang. He chucked the broken plane into his car, had lunch, flew another model and then his car went up in flames. It must have been a good couple of hours after the initial crash.

It has finally stopped raining so time to sort the slow leak at the front. I'm pretty sure it's the rim, it loses a couple of pounds every few days which is irritating.

The thing to bear in mind is that a bike battery is really six 2v (nominally) batteries connected in series. They are rarely all perfectly balanced so if a battery gets low one cells will die before the rest. At which point the dead cell will (for want of a better phrase) reverse charge. Once that happens that cell is useless so you 6x2v=12v battery then becomes a 5x2v=10v (with higher resistance). Which is why if you leave a battery to go flat it can kill it. In my view it is better to use a decent quality maintenance charger to ensure that all the cells are kept towards full capacity. You usual battery in regular use may be charged enough to start the bike but it's rarely anywhere near fully charged. Hence if you allow the charge to get low, even on a new battery, you are more likely for one cell to drop beyond the point of being usable. That is why I would always charge a new battery before fitting. You know then that you are starting off from the point of all cells being in a good state of charge. You hear a lot of people buy new batteries and they fail within a short period - usually you'll find they simply bought it, fitted it and so long as the bike started assumed all was well.

I have a couple of CTEK chargers, they do a 0.8amp one specially for motorcycles. I have fitted the comfort leads with leds that show the battery condition at a glance. Not the cheapest but in my book well worth the money.

I have always charged new batteries, even ones that say they come fully charged are nowhere near full capacity.

No. When I ran classic cars I had similar policies. Cheap to insure but you don't get a NCD. When I packed in running classic cars and needed another car the many years of claim free driving counted for nothing.