2WheelSolo

That's very true, the ECU automatically applies a percentage of the rear brake. I don't know how much but I do know that if I put my foot on the rear pedal I get the ABS kicking in whereas if I leave it alone I don't. So it can't be a lot. The other point with the 'two stage' technique is that you don't actually have to use that much pressure on the front lever to stop the bike. It's getting physics to do the work for you. I can't really explain it better than that - it could be voodoo, witchcraft, and mysticism for all I know - but it works. If in doubt, find a quiet stretch of road and give it a try.

Hmmm...interesting thread. Here's a bit of science. Front braking When bikes slow down the weight transfers to the front of the bike. That's a good thing because more weight on the front tyre means it compresses, resulting in an increased contact patch, which means more grip and so you can brake harder. However, you need to ensure there is enough weight transfer to fully compress the front suspension as otherwise you are not compressing the front tyre and so not getting that increased contact patch. That's why most experts recommend 'two stage' braking with the front. Squeeze a little at first, pause just for a moment to let the suspension compress, and then squeeze again to perform the braking. Rear braking Unless you are only using the rear brake (and there are scenarios for this, like trailing braking into a bend) then the combined use of the front brake will result in weight transfer to the front and away from the rear. This makes it much easier to lock up the rear wheel, and if you have linked ABS this can result in ABS cutting in on both wheels. But also, braking with the rear will reduce the weight transfer to the front, which reduces the compression and so the grip. The additional grip gained from the rear tyre - which is under no sort of compression and has very little 'weight' on it during braking - in no way compensates for what is lost at the front. And if you try to go for 50/50 braking - taking into account that the front brakes easily offer 4x the braking effort of the rear - then you are only applying perhaps 40% of the total braking ability of the bike and losing any benefit from increased grip through compression of the front tyre. Practical tests I recently did a machine control course where this was covered. Braking hard using both brakes just results in ABS kicking in and the bike taking longer to stop. Braking only with the front brake - using the 'two stage' approach - is much faster, especially if you brake the front to the point where you are getting the ABS kicking in again. After practising this myself I was able to consistently stop my R1200 RT (250KG bike plus whatever I weight) from 40mph in around 8 meters using front brake only. tl;dr Use only the front brake - with the 'two stage' technique - if you want to slow down fast. Use the rear back for trailing braking to slow into bends or for slow speed control of the bike.

I quite often go for shortish (~2 hours) local rides on the weekends starting out from Warrington. In the absence of anyone proposing something more structured / longer I'm happy to post up a start time and location when I next go out in case anyone who is local wants to accompany me. However, I must be honest up front and say I'm a speed limits kind of guy and I'm not an aggressive rider so I imagine it wouldn't be for everyone (though I guess there's nothing stopping people blasting off down the road and then waiting for the rest of us to catch up). A couple of examples of rides might be: Cat and Fiddle Horseshoe Pass I also have some local routes on Cheshire back roads As my son is just learning to ride I could also post up some '125 friendly' rides following the same routes but taking it easy so the smaller bikes can keep up. I have never organised rides before but if no-one else is organising them, and there is an interest, then I'm willing to give it a go. If it works out I might be persuaded to plan in something a bit longer from time to time.

Hello and welcome. The only person whose opinion really counts on your bike is you. Looks to me like you are having a lot of fun with it and that's the main thing.

I currently have a Shoei Neotec which I find great for longer rides and it's nice and easy to fit an intercom to. Regarding intercoms, I have used wired (both Autocom and Starcom1) and now Bluetooth (Scala). The wired intercom has the benefits of better quality and no charging required but the BT solution is less hassle and is usually cheaper - especially if you want to go bike-to-bike. You probably need to decide which intercom you plan to go with before you choose your helmet as it's not always easy to fit the kit. For example, you can't fit a BT kit onto a helmet where the slider for an integral sun visor is low down on the left hand side. And Schuberth helmets seem intentionally designed so you can't use anything other than their (damned expensive) BT solution without cutting into stuff.

Hi folks, Video removed. I hadn't thought about the fact that I would need permission to share the content specific to the course itself - my bad. I did make the organisers aware of the video and they have asked that I take it down, which is entirely their right. It doesn't in any way detract from my enjoyment of the course but you'll just have to imagine how much fun I had instead of watching it

That's what it sounds like to me. Stopped briefly behind a chap with a trailer earlier this week. He was fiddling behind the car and the lights on the trailer were doing an excellent impression of Christmas come early. It was even messing up the back lights on his car. I didn't envy him the job of fault-finding. Do you have any reason to think that there has been water ingress to either of the indicators? That's a pretty common cause of gremlins like you describe.

Have exchanged polite nods with many police bikers - they are after all bikers first and coppers second (not that it influences them in our favour), and it also doesn't hurt to try and keep them onside

This looks like a bit of fun - even if I am coming to the party more than halfway through the year. Please sign me up, number 210.

Unfortunately I think CCTV is not much of a deterrent these days, they just make sure their faces are covered. When it comes to security the key factor is time - the longer it takes for them to break through the protection the more chance there is of them being disturbed, the more effort is involved, and the higher the risk for the thieves. I agree with the above post that a 10mm chain isn't going to stop anyone for long. You need something thicker than that and, ideally, two chains (connected to separate ground anchors would be even better) so it takes twice as long for them to cut through. You also need some sort of noise maker to alert you (or others) to the fact that someone is tampering with the bike. Whether that is an alarm on the bike, or some sort of alarmed chain, the key is that you need to be able to hear it. If the alarm is going off and you sleep through it then it's worthless. Clearly your address is being targeted. Thieves will often return to the location of a successful 'boost' to try and take the replacement bike. You need to make it too difficult and unpleasant an experience for them so they go look somewhere else. Good luck!

Made the mistake of over-spraying it onto my front brake disk. It's the sort of thing you only do once. Even though I thought I had wiped all of it off I still had to put up with horrible burning smell and poor braking until it burned away. Now I apply the stuff with a brush and it goes nowhere near the brakes!

I think some of us must just be 'heavy breathers'. I ride with glasses and pinlock and I get problems with fogging quite a lot of the time. Sometimes even at unexpected times, like in the summer with my glasses fogging up early in the ride. It's not specifically the helmet, I have been through several trying to find one that works. And part of it is certainly riding a bike with decent wind protection. I don't think there is a 'one size fits all' solution, you just have to find the one that works for you.

I currently do around 1k motorway miles each month, a 120 mile round trip twice a week. Last couple of contract it has been closer to 1.5k miles per month. I have been doing this sort of mileage on the bike for 2.5 years now. After a while you get to spot those people who drive regularly for work (the 'professional' drivers) and are willing to give you a bit of space - I especially find truck drivers to be good at pulling over to let you through when filtering. My bike is a BMW R1200 RT, so it's a big beast for filtering with. You get used to the fact that sometimes you just aren't going to get through, and to putting up with the idiots who refuse to pull over and give you space. In fact very little gets me bothered these days, I have seen it all and I know I'll see it again. When people are behaving like morons I just try to get out of their way and leave them to it. I also find it helps to leave plenty of time and ensure you never feel rushed.