Gerontious

Every service my dealer asks me if I want this doing when the bikes dropped off and keys handed over. Degrease/Lube/Adjust. All for the modest sum of £30. I say no, because I have the tools to do it as per spec. And for my bike that’s a fairly small list, but includes a socket that you don’t normally find in an average tool kit. As well as a breaker bar and 200nm torque wrench. It’s normal nowadays for owners to do absolutely nothing in the way of maintenance. Nothing at all. Pay the dealership to do everything. The OP gets kudos from me for cleaning and lubing his chain. Many can’t even manage that.

And probably cost 100s. Never ceases to amaze me what people will do or pay to avoid what is for me a 2 minute task. And then will act shocked and horrified when something goes wrong, because they never noticed anything in the early stages. Because they have some gadget that means they never need to look.

Now that’s a blast from the past, one of my best childhood friends had one of them, from new. Late 1970s. He thought it was the bees knees. After a couple of years he traded it or sold it and bought a Meriden Triumph, which promptly put him in hospital after launching him head first through his dads garage roof!!

When I go to the opticians I take my helmet with me. No big deal they are used to it given the huge number of myopic delivery riders. I normally go for glasses with straight arms that are flat against my skin, made from that springy but strong and resistant to bending metal. I’m not sure what it actually is. But it’s not the most expensive frame. Usually a mid-price own brand, rather than anything from a designer label. it’s obviously important they work with my crash helmet. So are tested with it as part of the decision process.

Vertu Honda bikes is now on Lenton lane, now taking up part of the car dealership building. When I bought mine their bike place was almost opposite the site of the old Brough factory on Haydn road. The new place has a great coffee machine.

I think it was about £80 when I bought it, before Covid and then Brexit kicked in. I got it from an eBay shop in Germany with free shipping. Cheaper than here by a fair whack. Im not really one for copies. My biggest worry would be if it were to suddenly ‘let go’ at speed on the motorway. The original is made in USA and imported. So that’s a lot of hoops to jump through that increases the cost. But then the cost of everything had rocketed. £200? I’m not sure any throttle lock is worth that. When all they really are is a cheap and very crude (fake) cruise control that only works up to a point.

Im the same, though admittedly I’m only prompted to change plates on a new bike because of my dislike of advertising. New plates always seem to include the dealers logo. And the other reason is to include the (former) badge, so I didn’t need to think about stickers when crossing to the continent. So 2 birds with one stone. Police don’t care, neither does the MOT (in my experience) The only genuine irritant on my plate are the first 2 letters. “F J” - which offends my OCD as the legal spacing makes the entire plate look unbalanced. I do my best to ignore it. and don’t get me started on the utterly ridiculous change from GB to UK as my mental equilibrium is rather delicate today as I’ve just realised I’ve run out of Hob Nobs. And it’s raining!!

I have an Atlas throttle lock on my bike. Whereas the Kaoko has to be turned to apply friction and hold the throttle in position. The Atlas is push button on/release. I bought it really on a whim, it’s very rarely useful as I so rarely use motorways. But it’s great at what it does.

you’re right. It could easily be smaller and remain fully compliant. That was the point I was trying to get across in my own post on this thread.

it’s a choice if the bikes designer to make these things obviously visible. There is no need to - the one on my GS was invisible, unless I got down in my hands and knees. And as that was one of the first cats on a bike that appeared in 1993. It seems ridiculous and just plain lazy for this to be an issue 30 years later.

Go for a ride. You might be surprised to find that you don’t notice any difference. Of course - if you do, then you have options. Very strange for a weight to come off though. I have never had that happen. Maybe the last fitter didn’t clean the spot properly. If so then that’s a bad sign - re. Care and Attention to detail.

I’ve fitted risers to almost every bike I’ve owned and I have NEVER had any that didn’t come with a full complement of hex bolts. Some use the originals - depending on the design. Some with longer bolts.- that’s more usual. Always Hex.

Independent tyre fitters need to make a living. So the tyres they supply are generally from trade suppliers with an RRP that they stick to. The markup is probably quite good. So they profit from that as well as the charge they make for fitting. It all adds up. charging more for customer supplied tyres isn’t something I’ve ever come across. Places I’ve used have a standard fixed charge for loose wheels. And another fixed price for ride-in ride-out.

I did uncover it. And it seems to be holding up well with the complete neglect its had over the past couple of months. I didn't start the engine as I believe its best left completely alone. When I insure it later this month then I'll try starting it and see how the lithium battery has held up. Im very confident. As soon as its insured I'll get it booked in for an MOT so I can actually ride it. it seems forever!! But, the upside is Ive managed to achieve what I needed to, so the sacrifice and risk (not much of a risk to be honest) was worth it. I also have a clean plate so to speak with all the payments for this years trip to the Eifel having been made. so, the clock is ticking to get it insured, in 8 days and if possible an MOT on the same day, or as soon as I can afterwards.

it would be worth a substantial fraction of a million pounds. its not unusual to see highly valuable plates on affordable vehicles. It’s a completely safe investment. 2 digit plates are normally owned by cities. Or undertakers. Or the super wealthy. i bet there’s a very interesting story behind it showing up on a fiesta. my funny story about a special plate. I was on the M1 heading south and came across a Bentley. It’s number plate was MAG1C. I slowed down to admire it. (I’ve always liked Bentleys) and eventually carried on. Stopped at Toddington for a smoke and in pulled the Bentley and parked very close to me. The driver got out. He was remarkably short and looked at me. I said Hello… hope I didn’t make you nervous, but I’ve always admired Bentleys and I Love your number plate. He said that’s ok mate and he went into the services with his wife. It was Paul Daniels.

it’s just another way of calling them a fat cow. So an insult. In a society with a misogynistic history we have a shedload of insults for women we don’t like. And this is just one of many regional examples. In farming a heifer is a female cow, normally a young one that has not had any calves yet. So is either being kept alive to eventually be slaughtered for beef. Or to eventually join a milk herd once it’s old enough to be impregnated.

I wouldn’t mind one, mostly so I can have a much smaller plate while at the same time remaining completely legal. A four digit would be great but these tend to be very expensive. Five digit are more affordable and can be fairly small depending on the letters and numbers used - ideally a “no date” with a couple of 1’s and I’s. But at the end of the day this is just vanity and I have other priorities.

I prefer weekdays to weekends. To the point that I work the entire weekend ‘Fri-Mon” when I can and wait for the weekday rush hour to end before going out.

September. Crossing soon after the August Bank Holiday. Kids are back in school. Holiday season effectively over but it’s still warm and the amount of daylight is long enough. Set a goal but be very flexible. I can’t count how many times I’ve set a goal and then changed plans due to all sorts of reasons. Sometimes due to avoiding bad weather and that includes excessive heat. Or simply because I arrive in a region and it’s so unexpectedly nice I decide to stay there.

I asked google. Sometimes that’s the easiest thing to do.

Dry and critical - use a torque wrench. This is one of those occasions where I get to use one of my favourite expressions “buy once - cry once”. Which is the lesser evil? a one off preventative expense or the eternal risk of overdoing it and stripping a thread - with all the hassle that goes with that. Or worse - underdoing it and having that as a constant concern “did I do it right?” Or worse the possibility of some sort of failure.

I try to avoid videos made on these things as they give me something like motion sickness. Saw so many people with them last year. They’re very obvious - usually on the end of a kind of pole effort sticking up, often above the head height of the rider. But that aside, I really can’t abide the effects of this type of camera.

Then you have a problem. because it should not do that. so either its got a major fault or you have another fault and think its the immobiliser. H.I.S.S hasn't really ever changed - the only draw from it is the flashing led. and you can turn that off. So, aside from the blinking light it is completely passive and does nothing until you turn the ignition key to 'on'. Here is the relevant page from the owners manual.