Mississippi Bullfrog

It was the big dark cloud in the top left corner that did it.

Yes, they were very active at Knutsford where Dave's wife joined the ride. I was with a group they approached but they were focusing on the more flamboyantly attired, whereas my kit is generally on the scruffy end of things. The guy with a shirt covered in boobs got interviewed.

Don't be tempted by cheap oil filters. Buy a decent one from a reputable supplier as mentioned above.

Replace the oil at least. Probably also wise to replace the brake fluid as it's hygroscopic even when not in use. Coolant is good for 5 years so check when that was last done. Check the date on the tyres and their condition. If they've been indoors out of sunlight and kept fully inflated you may be OK. But if they're getting old or have been left at low pressure replace them. Drain the fuel system and replace with fresh fuel. You'll probably need a new battery as well. Check all cables, lights, fasteners. Check the brakes, make sure the pistons aren't seized. Check wheel and head bearings. Check the suspension for signs of any oil leaks.

I have a very old textile jacket which is my usual daily chuck it on and head out to work kit. Over the years it has got very disreputable and isn't much use in anything more than a shower. Back in days when we used to get a summer it was a bit too warm when things got hot. Last night I decided to pull out the armour, risk it in the washing machine and then try treating it with waterproof spray. Whilst dismantling it I discovered various zips I had never noticed. Upon opening said zips I discovered no less than 6 air vents I never knew I had.

Having successfully got Windows 11 to run on my crappy old laptop which said it wasn't compatible I am now going one step further and exploring Linux. I am fed up with big companies dictating things and wanting to cause hundreds of thousands of perfectly good computers to be scrapped. I found a HP Pavilion from 2012 in a drawer. A very ancient AMD processor and 4GB of RAM and a clockwork HDD. I've got Zorin to run on it - not very quickly but it runs. It's probably at the bottom end of the necessary specification but if this works I might try it out on my other crappy old laptop which at least has a newer SSD and more memory. I had to rewrite a bit of the boot sequence to get it to work with the pitiful graphics capability of the HP but everything I needed was listed. At least my knees are nice and warm in this cold weather - the HP is getting very hot.

If you really want to do it (I think FortNine did a video on this) then why not take your wheel into a tyre place and ask them what they've got that fits it?

That may not be the whole story. A battery can show 12v at rest but not be holding charge. Did you test it under load? You want above 12.5v at least. Anything lower says it's discharged. Put a headlight bulb on the battery and then test it. If the voltage drops then the battery either needs charging or replacing.

I must confess I was a bit misty eyed passing bridge after bridge packed with people waving. At some points the motorway was lined with people. All ages were out in the sunshine braving a chilly wind just be part of it. Kids in cars were thrilled when bikes pulled a bit closer and gave them a wave.

The moment at Knutsford when Si met up with Dave's wife so she could ride pillion was pretty amazing.

Hope you've had a great day

I was very glad of them! It was quite chilly as we headed up the M6 with a strong wind. And getting colder by the time I got home.

Sadly I doubt that would work. Insurers usually stipulate that a garage must be a brick built structure. In the past I've had to send photographs of the garage to prove that it's solid. You are looking at fully comp policies I trust? Those are usually cheaper than TPF&T. If you don't have a garage is there one locally you can rent?

I have a very very sore arse. And my water bottle has leaked in the top box. But what a brilliant day. Absolute chaos at times with so many bikes, but brilliant fun and everybody being happy.

Knutsford services

First job this morning before setting off for the Dave Myers ride - put the thermal linings back in my kit.

There are several YouTube videos how to get updates on machines past the date Microsoft want you to continue to use them.

Smug mode is engaged. I got my crappy old laptop to run Windows 11. So the need to purchase a new computer can be deferred.

Occasionally my presence on this mortal coil serves some useful purpose. Glad it's sorted.

A day of appointments over a wide area...and by the time I got back to foam bit off the cardo mic was missing (I may have inadvertently eaten it of course) and the Cardo unit itself had fallen off. (I didn't fit it, the bloke at J&S did it.) The unit was still attached with the wires so I can fix that ready for the Dave Myers run on Saturday. When I did the oil on both bikes I had some Castrol Racing left over from the Bobber so I chucked it into the CBF. The gear change is now very slick.

A Skoda Citigo...1.0 litre 3 cylinder engine.

Just got the road tax for my wife's automobile.....£20! I'll have to pay it monthly. £1.75 a month. I think I can scrape that together.

@Gerontious that's a good point! The fact that Asus have a video outlining steps to avoid OLED degradation and software to alleviate the effects of long term use make me suspicious. My LED monitor is ancient and still faultless.

I have a tablet and bluetooth keyboard / mouse - but that doesn't cover everything I need. I currently use a desk pc for most work and a laptop for presentations / training events / meetings. All being well I hope retire in 2026 which means moving house into something smaller where I won't have an office. Hence whilst I need to update my hardware I'm looking at a decent spec laptop which is more portable and doesn't need dedicated desk space. It needs to last me at least 5 years - I'd prefer a LED screen but the spec of laptop I want is only available with an OLED screen. I'm after a 16:10 screen as I do a lot of writing. Asus do a Zenbook with a LED screen but that's 8GB RAM. I'd prefer 16Gb to make it a bit more future proof - but those only come with OLEDs.

My 12 year old Toshiba laptop is surprisingly not compatible with Windows 11. I can get W11 to run on it but since everything I have is set to English (United Kingdom) which isn't supported by W11 I'd lose a load of stuff updating the os. Shame really as I fitted extra RAM and a SSD to it and it still flies in terms of what I need it for - basic word processing, emails and the joys of online meetings. I'm looking at Asus Zenbooks but apart from the entry level one with 8GB RAM they are all OLED screens. I tend to keep things for years and from what I've read OLEDs don't last that long. Has anyone had one long term and how did it go?