Bungleaio

I had a car written off about 10 years ago. They paid out, I bought a new car and they covered that until the end of the policy. Why cancel the policy just ask them to insure your new bike? It sounds like you are complaining because you want to go to the expense of buying a new policy rather than just carrying on with the current one.

Ohh is the quest for a new bike nearly over? Fingers crossed your insurance Co is playing ball about the old one.

I'm Leicestershire but only go on ride outs to Germany

I just kept them in a bag and strapped them down with my tent and chair to the pillion seat.

Happy to make a donation from any sales. I only have about 10 in total to sell though so neither of us will be able to retire from it I'm afraid

Thank you I appreciate that, I've thrown together a simple website which may help too www.flatpackfirepit.com

I've put this in bike related as I designed these specifically to go in my panniers but arguably it could go in the general. I designed these to be small but still make a decent fire. I made a few prototypes out of paper then card and finally out of stainless steel. I was really pleased with it and was going to leave it at that but other people liked it and asked if I could make them one. It was a bit of a faff using the jigsaw to cut them out so I spoke to a local firm who said they could laser cut some for me. I've had a few of them made up which I've nearly sold out of so I've got another batch being done now. I've had a crack with the sewing machine too and made some bags up to keep them in. When flat they measure 29.5cm x 25.5cm (11.6 inches x 10 inches). Each piece is cut from 0.9mm stainless steel so is less than 3mm when stacked. The bag makes it ever so slightly bigger than those dimensions. When assembled they are 25cm x 25cm x 21cm high. (9.8inches x 9.8inches x 8.2inches high). They weigh 1060g or 2.5 lb. https://i.imgur.com/hUTurVs.jpg' alt='IMGUR>'> https://i.imgur.com/j5HTRbK.jpg' alt='IMGUR>'> https://i.imgur.com/BVDIVXF.jpg' alt='IMGUR>'> Would any one like one? I'm selling them for £45 which includes the bag and delivery to the UK

Do you mean on youtube? Teapotone, Mrfish and Richy Vida have just done something on a couple of honda cubs and sinnis 125. They have called it the big little adventure.

I'd never sat on a motorbike before I turned up for the CBT. I'm slightly younger than you but I still took to it later in life. If you have the ability to listen and take on board what they are saying you will be fine. Just get a CBT booked, if you don't like what's going on you can walk away at any time, you are there because you want to and be don't feel pressured to go on the road if you you don't feel safe to. The instructors will have seen just about everything before, you won't be unique and they will do their best to put you at ease. Learning to ride has been one of the best things I've ever done, I'm sue you'll find it the same.

The electric element is the challenge, they've already done a couple of adventures which are far far bigger than most of us will ever do on petrol. Being able to pick up petrol pretty much anywhere or have spare taken on the support vehicles is easy. Yes they have the sprinter full of batteries that they have tried to charge from but couldn't, maybe they sort that later but range anxiety and where the next charge is coming from makes it a harder challenge for them to do and more entertaining for us to watch.

I seem to be the polar opposite of Fast Bob. I like Charlie Boorman, I think electric bikes and cars are the future and I have access to Netflix, prime and Apple TV. Seen the first two episodes so far and I’m enjoying it. I watched the long way round fairly recently and was surprised how long ago it was and how dated it looked.

Probably the worst time to be speeding!

You've had a fantastic trip. You're pics of the Schloss remind me of how fantastic the trip I shared with you guys in 2018 was. I really hope that I can join you in 2021 for another amazing time.

You have been lucky with the weather. Sunday and Monday were terrible in southern wales. I should have just stuck to the more preferable north wales. Fantastic bit of greenlaning you’re getting up to.

Epic stuff. Looks a lot better than wet wales!

Being relatively new to riding and not actually really needing a bike it’s taken me a few years to actually work our what I want to use a bike for. I’ve found that I don’t really go for quick blasts for an hour or so. It tends to be either all day rides or longer trips of at least one night away quite often camping. In the (almost) 3 years since passing my test I briefly had an MT07 which I only had briefly before getting offered a fantastic deal on a street triple RS. I covered about 14k miles in 18 months on this bike and loved it but it’s quite small for me and didn’t offer much in the way of all day comfort. Servicing was fairly pricey too. I paid not far off £1000 in routine servicing whilst I owned it. Fantastic bike though and for short rides it was a lovey thing. The Z1000sx took my fancy as it was a similar power to weight as the street but offers a lot more touring capacity. I could only get a couple of short test rides on them but it get good and I fitted on the bike a lot more comfortably. Again a great bike but there was a few bits that I couldn’t get on with, the LCD display was near enough invisible in the sunlight being grey characters on a black background. The seat was also massively uncomfortable after about an hours riding. The main thing though was I never quite gelled with it, it didn’t like cross winds and would easily be blown about. It was a good bike and they are very common for good reason but for me it just didn’t feel right. Thoughts moved onto potential replacements and the only thing that I really fancied trying was the GS. I booked an appointment with my local dealer. The bloke I’d spoken to arrange it was away so someone else was going to check my license and give me the keys. When I arrived I waited 10 minutes then he came over to reception and told the lady he was too busy so someone else would have to deal with me. I gave them another 20 minutes and no one had spoken to me since I’d arrived so I walked out. I went to the next dealer and they couldn’t have been better they had given me the keys to their demo bike within 10 minutes of me just turning up out of the blue. They said no ones booked on it so take out for a couple of hours. I didn’t really know where I was so set a random route on the calimoto app and set off. I covered all kinds of road, single track, country lanes, residential, town centre and motorway. I loved it. When I returned to the dealer they asked when I might be looking to buy a new bike. I said I’d do it today if the deal was right. They looked at what was available (bmw were offering extra trade in on stock vehicles) found what I had in mind and gave me the list price. I asked if there was any discounts available, no sir, no discount on bmw. I knew this wasn’t necessarily right as the first garage had already given me the numbers they would sell me one for if the test ride went well. I left the dealer and said I’d have a think about it. I didn’t really want to go back to the first place due to their attitude but I wasn’t going to pay full whack either. A couple of days later I remembered the IAM (I did the training and passed the test last year) has some affiliate discounts so I had a look to see what was available, one of them being BMW so I gave them a call to see what they could do. They offered a very attractive price along with a great trade in price on the Z. That was it for me the deal was done. The deal with the IAM is directly with bmw and the only dealership they have in the uk was Park Lane in central London so I went down there last week to pick it up. Riding or driving in London isn’t something that I’m afraid of but it’s not something that I actively choose to do but for the discount it wasn’t something that I would pass on. Being park lane there’s no forecourt, you have to park on the pavement outside. It felt wrong but it’s what they told me to do. There she is, R1250 GS TE. The only options being the sos button that I wanted along with the vario luggage. The bike also turned up with the factory alarm and comfort seat which I didn’t ask for so they discounted those off the cost meaning I got those for free. The handover was very comprehensive and took quite a while, there is a fair bit of tech onboard and everything was explained to me. It was rolled out of the showroom and off I went into rush hour London traffic on the biggest bike I’ve ever ridden, I didn’t do any filtering! It was 100 miles to get home which left me with 500 to go until the running in service is due. I've got it booked in at the end of the month and I've got a few bits going on most weekends but I'd got a couple of days available. I put some engine bars on along with a mudsling and fender extender. Filled the cases with camping things and beer, strapped my tent and chair to the back, booked a couple of sites in wales and off I went. I was away for 3 days and covered 500 miles in comfort and without issue even though it was sometimes bright sunshine and other times very heavy rain. I rode on lovely smooth tarmac, freshly recovered in new chipings road, even on a gravel road that I wouldn't want to take my car down. It handled everything perfectly. Even though I was running it in and couldn't use the full rev range it still has a fantastic amount of power even when it is fully loaded. it inspires confidence on the corners and seems to be the perfect all rounder. There are only two things that are slight downsides, one I'll get used to the other I don't really care about. Firstly there's no doubting that this is a heavy bike, it's only really noticeable at very slow speed and will be something that I'll just get used to. The other thing is that most other riders seem to ignore me and don't nod back, strange behavoir but I don't care what other people think. Overall I'm thrilled with the new bike and I'm hoping to keep this one for a fair while. She now sits in the garage for the next couple of weeks until I take her for the 1st service then I'll have a think about where we'll go next. I've got insurance for use for work so there will hopefully be the oppertunity for a few midweek trips too.

If he’s in the IAM then it’s possible to get a decent discount off a new one. [mention]bonio[/mention] the Z has gone. I’ll start a new thread rather than going off topic with this.

I've just bought one and it's an incredible bit of kit. It's very easy to ride and hides it's weight very well when moving, when stationary it's bloody heavy. Pushing it in and out of the garage is not easy. I've had mine a week and done 600 miles on it in weathers from hot sunshine to driving rain, the GS just eats it up. 500 miles have been with it fully loaded with everything needed for a few days camping including beer, food, logs for a camp fire and it's a joy to ride. One thing I have noticed though is that a lot of other riders no longer nod back.

These updates are brilliant thank you for doing them. Fingers crossed next year I'll be experiencing a trip rather than reading about it

Loving these updates, it's the next best thing to being there ourselves.

Were having a benediktiner in your honour mate. I’m in the map cross in Nottingham though so miles away from you

Aaarrggghhh https://i.imgur.com/0l3JtrL.jpg' alt='IMGUR>'> [Video footage redacted] Stahp ((( Have a great time Big Man, and stay out of Switzerland and Czech Republic because they've just been added to the quarantine list I think I recognise that. I think I ended up there when I went off on my own.

Anyone who passed their car test prior to 1st January 1997 also received entitlement for BE, C1, C1E, D1 and D1E but since then you don't. I think it's a good idea as people who have passed their driving test can barely drive a car let alone a minibus with trailer.

I've enjoyed my Z1000sx but the display isn't great with it being grey lcd on a black background, the seat isn't great either but the new ninja sorts both of these. They are coming up 2nd hand but there's not many of them. I've ridden a 1250GS and the gearbox is not as smooth but the seat is way more incredible. There is some good discounts through the IAM on them at the moment too. The best thing is just to go out an try anything you can get on and see if anything takes your fancy. The new S1000xr looks like it's a decent ride too.

I've got a MSR pocket Rocket 2, sea to summit x32 cookset and wacaco nanopresso. Not cheap but gives me decent cooking options as well as nespresso coffee when camping. It's a shame I can't get my weber go anywhere bbq on the bike so I can cook 6 hour ribs.