Mississippi Bullfrog

I like the idea of riding within the speed limits and not being aggressive - makes riding much more relaxing. Only snag is I work most weekends - certainly for the whole of September I'm booked solid at weekends

What? They don't do it on the road these days? We just rode round the block until the examiner jumped out from behind a tree and so long as you didn't run him over you passed. Legend tells of the guy who rode round and round the block for hours until he ran out of fuel. When he walked back to the test centre it turned out the examiner had jumped in front of the wrong bike and got himself flattened, so he was carted off to hospital leave the candidate cruising round the block blissfully unaware of the accident.

When I did it they measured speed in furlongs per hours - but it's so long ago I can't remember what speed I was doing at the time.

Drives a Bentley Continental and rolls his owns ciggies ... Just proves the theory that for every force there is an opposite and balancing counterforce I drive an ancient Toyota Yaris and smoke Siglo Vs (Castro's favourite).

This is really a very individual thing - some of my mates wear contacts and love them. I wore them for years and eventually had to accept they don't work for me. The one thing about contacts and riding bikes is the very occasional times when something got into my eye even with a full face helmet and the visor down. It only happened occasionally but since I have to wear gas permeable lenses it was horrendous when it did. I tried soft lenses but they just didn't work for me - but they do for most people. So for me it's glasses and full face flip, and I don't generally have any major fogging issues. But for you it may be entirely different. All you can do is to try and see what works for you.

Check the earth, intermittent problems like that can be down to corrosion on the main earth. One way to check is to use a jump lead as a temporary secondary earth.

tbh my first thought would be points - I had one did that. Invest in the puller do the job, I had all sorts of pullers and none of them shifted it until I bought the specific CG tool - then it was a doddle. It helps to say the year of the bike when asking questions - later ones didn't have points.

Exhaust wrap is usually used to prevent the heat from the exhaust getting where you don't want it to be - eg in classic cars with hotter engines it's common to wrap the exhaust to prevent the engine bay getting too hot.

Yup - Halfords pro stuff is excellent value for money. I take rusty old cars to bits for fun and their tools take some punishment. I once managed to split a socket and they replaced it without quibble. Buy well and buy once. Buying cheap tools is only for rich people who can afford to throw money away.

I once used WD40 to try to fix the auto ignition system on our gas hob. This was not a good idea. The void under the hob filled with WD40 fumes and when I pressed the ignition button the hob rose about six inches out of the worktop. A friend had a similar mishap when he sprayed it into a model glow engine as an after run treatment, and then flicked the engine over by hand. Did you know that WD40 will ignite under compression like diesel? He didn't! He does now.

I have another solution to this problem - I have raging tinnitus so one of the joys of riding a bike is that it is one of the few times I am not spending my life listening to a jet engine at maximum rpm about to terminally explode.

It is a silly fault on ebay that once you've listed something as either 'auction' or 'BIN' you can't revise that bit. I had some car bits I was flogging off and every item was listed as an auction except one that ebay itself decided ought to be BIN so it just defaulted to that setting and I couldn't amend it. I try not to use ebay these days because every time I do so it ends in hassle. Too many muppets out there.

I use a Halfords digital tyre pump - for the bike I run it off a lithium ion starter pack. Does the job great.

You managed to break a CG! I feel some sort of award ceremony ought to be in order. You do realise that you now need to carry hammer with you everywhere you go. And one day Mr Plod will notice this and not be convinced that you need it to start a CG so you'll be charged with going equipped with intent and be thrown into jail.

I am sure the advise replacing the battery is right. But once you have a new battery you want to keep it up on charge. For tiny batteries like the CG get a plug in 12v charger for a gell cell, about 400Ma. When you're not riding daily just put that on the battery and it will keep it topped up.

Been there. Done that. Join the club. You ain't the only one.

Well I think that pretty much confirms what has been suggested on here in various other threads - it's got to be running way too rich for that to happen. Impressive, but hardly economical or good for the engine. The fuel will be washing oil off the bores so engine wear will go through the roof. Plus - Mr Plod may take a dim view of you riding a mobile flamethrower. I remember a severe talking to with a tuned Celica which had a side exhaust that spat flames.

Ear plugs - they'll make the whistle go away. Mine does it on & off according to the weather. I'm pretty sure it's just the pads ever so slightly kissing the disc when not in use. You could whip the pads out and clean the caliper if it worries you.

I wore my new pair the other day. The missus thought my butt looked rather good in them. I don't how far I can slide down the road in them - so far as I'm concerned they've proved their worth.

Is this the same one that worked after you disconnected an additional brake light? And you'd changed the carb settings? If you've made it too rich then popping in the exhaust sounds like unburnt fuel getting past the valves - whip the plugs out again and see what they look like.

I have chaired various groups including being appointed to the most significant position in a local club containing people with more experience and years of membership than myself. So I think I can understand your concerns. My take is that if there are members and committee members who would be qualified then in any form of election process they can be nominated and people can vote for them. It is very hard to find people to stand for office these days so maybe they are sitting on their hands not wanting to offer their time/skills/energy. It is possible your nomination may prompt one of them to stand. If they do - or don't - it's a fair vote and they have the opportunity to nominate other candidates if they've got an issue with you standing. If you feel you can contribute to the group set out your stall - let the members decide. The skills of being chair are different from the skills of being a committee member. There may be a job that needs doing which needs someone outside of the current committee. That was certainly the case with one chairmanship I took on. I made it clear I would do a set period then step down - which focused energy into resolving issues which had festered for years.

You know what they say about things coming in threes.... Out for a bimble this morning, the three events happened within an hour of one another, 1. I am approaching a 45 degree bend to the left in a 30 mph zone. Just before the bend a white Audi overtakes me at well over the limit. As I get to the bend the white BMW chasing / racing the Audi also reaches the bend and tries to overtake going round the outside of me. BMW loses it, goes sideways into the kerb, bounces over the kerb and lands sideways across the pavement. Luckily no pedestrians we there at the time. BMW suspension is apparently not designed to hit kerbs sideways. It didn't look very well afterwards. 2. A mile down the road in 20mph zone a silver BMW overtakes me, not going very fast to be fair but then comes a speed bump which he tries to straddle. Big mistake since he'd lowered his suspension. There is a rather loud crunch and the BMW comes to a standstill. Unfortunately the black Audi following didn't expect the BMW to stop and proceeds to go straight into the back of him. One has to chuckle on occasions. 3. Heading home I come to right hand turn I need to take. There is a blue Mazda coming briskly the other way so I am stopped signalling to turn right. There is a high hedge on the junction so the oncoming Mazda can't see down the lane. He then puts his left indicator on - so he's turning into the lane. Due to the hedge he can't see that there is an ambulance backing out of an blind exit just round the corner and he's not showing much signs of slowing down for the turn. So I wave at him indicating he needs to slow down. He glares at me, gives me the finger, then proceeds to very nearly collide with the ambulance. He did look rather sheepish when he realised why I'd been waving at him. So I came home, had a cup of tea, and decided today is the day all the nutters are let out so I'm staying off the bike.

Have you tried spraying them with a dilute solution of washing up liquid. Usually works for me with rubber fittings.

If you've left it a while any fuel in the cylinders should have evaporated off by now. If you want to make sure take the plugs out, put a rag over the holes, turn it over briefly which will eject anything left in there. Refit the plugs and see what happens. A flooded engine can usually be fired by opening the throttle fully to allow more air into the cylinders.

Sounds like fouled plugs due to the previously over-rich mix. Try cleaning the plugs, check the gap whilst you're at it.