Mississippi Bullfrog

You have my sympathy.

As @Fiddlestickssaid, if you have certain letters or numbers that take less space you can have a plate that is overall slightly smaller so long as the spacing is correct. The dealer I bought the Bobber from was wise to this so supplied it with a plate that is legal but slightly smaller than average.

Unlikely, though not entirely impossible. I suspect its more likely to be a poor connection. People often misunderstand what I said about charging. The bike's charging system will keep the battery charged enough to start the bike, but that doesn't mean that the battery is kept fully charged. Many modern bikes have a low level of drain when the engine is off. With smaller bikes and low capacity batteries this can lead to partially discharged batteries making starting a bit marginal. For example, my Honda has a battery monitor fitted and even with a high capacity battery it will show a reduced level of charge after 4 or 5 days if left off the maintenance charger. My Triumph has a lower capacity battery that most owners find fails after 18 months. Many have replacement batteries under warranty as they dont even last 12 months. These are Yuasa as OEM so decent batteries. Mine is 5 years old and still spot on. Both my bikes have monitors and are kept on CTEK chargers when not in use. It keeps the batteries healthy. So the suggestion to use a charger isn't saying that the battery charge is your problem. It is saying that keeping your battery charged using a decent smart charger is good for the battery in the long run. Some of my mates are always changing batteries. Mine usually last 8 to 10 years at least.

I took a group sail training at Kielder, within 48 hours they all looked like stunt doubles for the Elephant Man. I've never been back.

I'd start by cleaning the battery connections paying particular attention to the earth strap where it connects to the frame. A whole host of problems arise from poor battery contact and it's a very common problem. Do you have a charger for the battery? Running it on the bike never gets it to full charge so it's worth investing in a good smart charger. I have CTEK chargers which are connected to my bikes whenever they are not in use.

I had a good start to the morning. I am restoring a 1971 sailing dinghy and spent most of yesterday evening trying to remove the centreboard. This is held in a casing and swivels on a single bolt that runs through the casing and centreboard. The bolt came out but the board wasn't budging. It was still swivelling which suggested something had got stuck in there. With the tip of my little finger I could just feel a metal sleeve which someone had put into the wooden board to strengthen it. This has slipped out of place and was jammed half in the board and half in the casing. It is impossible to see into or get at. I could feel which side it had slipped to but there was no way I could knock it back. I have learnt when encountering such problems not to go at them with bigger and bigger hammers as that rarely ends well. So I slept on it. And woke this morning to suspect someone had probably used a bit of copper pipe as that would fit neatly over the size of the bolt I removed. So I cut a short length of pipe, slid it into the side of the casing, gave it a gentle tap and the centreboard slipped out easily.

Right, if we're having a willy waving contest about keys here's what I have to lug round in my back pocket.....

Ooh...I have just remembered, we have a packet of jammy dodgers in the cupboard and I have been left unsupervised for the evening.

But extensive research has proved that parkin has a shelf life of mere nano seconds. It is baked. It is then surrounded by maximum security until it is ready to eat. At which point it mysteriously disappears. Presenting the empty cake tin does not result in more parkin being made. Life is hard and cruel.

The squirrel that has chewed a hole through our summerhouse wall and eaten our garden furniture. I am going to borrow a gun.

The legal test between a cake and a biscuit is.... A cake goes hard when it is stale. A biscuit goes soft when it is stale. Jaffa cakes go hard when stale so they are a cake. My choices are: Jaffa cakes Jammy Dodgers Wagon wheels (preferably jammy) Caramels At a push I will eat any kind of biscuit. Even fig rolls.

I am pleased to report that they serve an excellent breakfast which may be consumed whilst watching those wonderful men in their flying machines. The entrance road is a bit bumpy but well worth a visit.

That's going to scratch your paintwork.

This often turns out to be a bad battery connection, most often on the earth side. Clean them up paying particular care with the terminals and where the earth strap connects to the frame.

Have a great day

My worst ride was a January trip from Chester to Anglesey via Birkenhead. It was heavy snow and visibility was horrendous. Going along the A55 there was no traffic and I was having to ride the white line down the edge of the road to see where I was going. It was a lonely place to be, I kept thinking that if I ditched it no-one would find me until to was too late. When I got to Conwy the snow cleared and the temperature plummeted. I stopped at a cafe and found my left glove had frozen to the handlebars. It took a pot of coffee to defrost it but it was still soaked and bitterly cold. I got to the outdoor centre at Plas Menai after midnight and spent an hour in a hot shower trying to get warm again. I rode over Glencoe once - and once was enough. Me and mate found another rider huddled behind a wall suffering with hypothermia. We got him going again - and down at the bottom found a police roadblock telling us the road was closed due to the weather. We'd obviously got through at the other end before they closed it. No wonder it was so quiet up there.

The AA one is the same as my Halfords one. But the AA version is way cheaper on Amazon than Halfords sells them for.

Fortunately yes. But it still buggered up my day.

Checked the tyres as I always do and found a nail in the front. It's done less than 500 miles from new. Not a happy bunny.

I generally see them hanging off some battered Chinese 125 or scooter in supermarket car parks. They are bought by people who have no idea and don't care. So long as it makes them legal that's enough. If you spot one of these riders returning to their bike you will note the absence of gloves, boots, and any form of protective jacket or trousers.

Maybe it was shot?

Look at any biker meeting and the vast majority are old farts like me. The generation who realised sports bike are uncomfortable. The manufacturers are making bikes for the people who are buying them. A few of my mates getting back into bikes bought sport models and then got rid within a few months.

Or very much like their motorbike - they spread particles everywhere.

My winter project, a Solo dinghy I was given in much need of some TLC. The deck has delaminated in parts but nothing too drastic.

You want a Triumph Bobber then. It doesn't tick any of the other boxes but the riding position is similar to a good sit on mower.