Mississippi Bullfrog

Last year our local council decided to make the local roads 20mph - given how narrow the roads are with parked cars, kids playing, me being half asleep, it seemed not an entirely daft idea (as opposed to where my parents live - huge wide straight road that is 20mph for miles and miles and miles...) So I'm bimbling along doing a steady 20mph which is quite nice as it warms the engine up gently, when a local triathlon event is being held and a group of cyclists overtake me and then suddenly find the race route turns left - so I'm carved up and a bit cross. I mentioned this to our local council officer that it seems a silly idea to hold cycle races on a 20mph roads and he tells me that it's only applicable to motor vehicles. Cyclists can legally do 30mph in a 20mph zone so the council are happy to allow racing to take place in an area where for safety's sake they lowered the speed limits. I have a meeting with him later this week to tell him what a silly billy idea this is.

Many moons ago when I had a Cg125 an MOT tester told me it was good job I wasn't any fatter (like I am now for example) - because the rear brake test had to be a percentage of the overall weight and since my back brake was a bit marginal I scraped through because at the time I was skinny. I've always wondered if he was having me on or not. I hope so because it's a bugger getting in this corset every time I go for a MOT.

YAY that leads me perfectly to this.... That tester ought to be reported. That's not an advisory. It's a clear fail. The car should be immediately crushed.

When you are turning right are you taking up a position at the extreme right hand side of your lane? When I did my test (many moons ago) the examiner commented that riders are taught to adopt a position to the right of the lane but this has two disadvantages, 1) it means anyone cutting the corner takes you out, 2) it makes turning right harder. He advised me to forget what I'd been taught to do and to take up a position a couple of feet to the left - ie nearer the middle of the lane. Over the years that has saved me getting swiped by cars cutting the corner, but it does also give you that bit more room - maybe it's psychological, but having a bit of space means it feels different. I still find that if I come to a tight right hand turn and I have had to take the extreme right hand position I can feel myself being more conscious of controlling the bike in the turn. Don't be afraid to slip the clutch - bike clutches aren't like car clutches - they run in oil so slipping them doesn't cause the same wear as slipping a car clutch.

Ah - ye olde Fizzy, a mate had one, and a Raleigh Chopper. I was dead jealous. Until he got sent to jail. (For trying to rob a local tobacconists by lobbing a brick through the front window not noticing there was a police car parked opposite. He missed the window, hit the wooden frame in the middle, the brick bounced back and knocked out his accomplice. The best bit was that he tried to run away and hide under a car. Unfortunately the car he chose to hide under was the aforementioned police car. He wasn't the sharpest pencil in the pack.) My first bike was a humble CG125 bought off a riding school with a zillion miles on it. But it was cheap and I was skint. I eventually traded it in against a GS500.

Did you check that what he'd written is his real reg? If not it's probably coming back as not insured because it isn't a real plate

To be fair I used to be but these days I take a more chilled attitude to riding and find it much more relaxing and to be honest more rewarding. What I love is the freedom, some time to myself, the wind noise which drowns out my persistent tinnitus, and best of all moments like yesterday when I pulled onto a motorway alongside another biker. We rode about 20 miles together then he gave me a wave when he peeled off up a slip road. No idea who he was - just another bloke on a bike who shared a few miles. I get my adrenalin sailing boats these days. You can be as much of a hooligan as you want and there are no speed cameras on the water.

Makes you realise that as soon as the bike starts to move the movement of the bike opens the throttle even if the person holding it isn't twisting it.

Is badger bashing a common occurrence? Imagine the biker wont come off well in a high speed badger impact. lol I do see a lot of dead ones on my travels and you wouldn't want to hit one at speed because they are pretty solid. They sure are pretty solid, my mum hit one in her Mini many moons ago. The Mini was a right mess, the whole front was stoved in. Poor little thing was a write off.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/roadworthiness-testing-for-vehicles-of-historic-interest The report has been issued following the consultation process. I think the summary is that there will be a rolling exemption for light vehicles over 40 years old, with no mileage limit imposed. Obviously this has already been debated to death, just posting the link for those who didn't take part in the consultation.

I don't know if applies to your engine but I've heard of some aftermarket exhausts causing an increase in oil consumption. Just in case yours shows higher oil use than it should. Otherwise if it works ok I'd leave it, having a slightly more noticeable exhaust can be helpful.

I think there is a rather big difference between being bike jacked and voluntarily dismounting a machine and pushing it from the rear with the engine still running. But if that's where the discussion is going then I'll happily admit to being wrong.

If he had full control why didn't he throttle back, apply the brakes or hit the kill switch? If he was in control and chose not to then it's his responsibility. If he couldn't then it's again his responsibility.

I guess I'm going to be the odd one out here - and I agree with the general rule about not messing about with other people's things but that is surely a secondary issue in this situation. In my book the rider of a bike is responsible for the control of it at all times. If the rider cannot reach the controls then the engine shouldn't be running. The primary cause was that the rider left the engine running when he didn't have full control of the machine. Maybe bikes ought to learn a lesson from boats and have a kill cord fitted.

Are you to blame? Not in my book. The owner / rider is responsible for the control of their machine and if it's left with the engine running and they haven't got their hands on the controls then they leave things open to go wrong. In that kind of situation it's easy for the throttle to be activated by contact with anything nearby. Especially any kind of bike with an automatic clutch. If the rider wanted to move it like that the engine should have been off. Back in the day - and don't tell anyone this - when I was young and poor and desperate - I had a Honda Cub to get to work on, I had a similar mishap pushing it into a parking slot when the throttle caught on a railing, fortunately no harm done. After that I never got off the saddle without killing the engine.

If I've read this right (and I probably haven't) Leaning inside keeps the bike more upright for faster bends, putting your weight outside is when you want to counterbalance the bike when cornering slowly. You certainly wouldn't want a pillion going the other way.

You can't tax a vehicle until you have insurance on it so it's not uncommon to buy a vehicle and tax it when you get it home. However that relies on the vehicle being currently taxed by the owner - what people refer to as 'get you home tax'. You send of part of the V5 to arrange the tax which you usually won't have from a private sale until you've done the deal. Obviously you must have insurance in place to ride it home - but if you're buying it then you'd need insurance anyway so not sure why you'd bother with one day insurance (unless you intend to lay the bike up for a while). If it is declared SORN then you can't ride it home until you have taxed it - so you'd need to pay for it, exchange documents, sort the insurance and then tax it before collecting it. Bear in mind that any vehicle taxed must have continuous insurance so if you tax it then you have to keep insurance going.

Surely this calls for a Montgomery Scott quote - Ye canna change the laws of physics. Are you sure you heard right?

This will get moved 'cos it's in the wrong place - but just clicking, first thing I'd check is the battery. The clicking is the solenoid engaging, but if the battery charge then the voltage will collapse as soon as the starter load hits it.

I met the guy who does those at a trade show last year, some lovely bikes he's got I may know something about this 🖒 I knew I had a photo on my phone somewhere....

Particularly when it's a motorbike hearse 🖒 I met the guy who does those at a trade show last year, some lovely bikes he's got

Im sure the guy they are burying doesn't mind. The deceased may not but their family hardly feel any better when some knob carves up the hearse.

It is appalling how some drivers treat a hearse and following cars. These days funeral drivers have to literally drive bumper to bumper to prevent idiots trying to squeeze between the hearse and the following limo. It never used to be like that. Most bikers seem to be different, I've seen a few bikes block the traffic to show some respect.

I missed this - been busy as our daughter is just about to get married so it's chaos here.... I have a dodgy knee following a fall off a canal boat so I sympathise with the pain, but a mate of mine has had two cartilage operations recently and in both cases was back to fell walking within a fortnight. Doctors tend to tell you the worst to cover themselves. I had my shoulder done a couple of years ago and was told it would be six weeks before I could even make myself a cup of tea. 48 hours after the op I stripped a car engine and rode to the first physio session. When I walked in through the door in the my riding gear the physio just laughed and signed me off. The trick is to get back to being active as soon as you can. The worst you can do with any kind of op is sit around waiting for it to get better by itself.

The person driving a black Golf stuck in traffic approaching the Mersey Tunnel this evening - all the other cars had moved to the sides of the lanes allowing a clear route down the middle which a blood biker was using to make good progress. Until he comes to said Golf which is sat out of line blocking the blood bike's progress - and no amount of hooting would make her shift. Had to chuckle on the way home when a green Beetle shot past us at a rather exuberant speed for Her Majesty's Highway. Clearly the unmarked plodmobile a couple of miles further on thought a few words were in order and there was much flashing of lights by the roadside.