manxie49

1 hour ago, S-Westerly said:

Used to use Fertan on a boat and it worked well enough. Easy to apply as well.

That was pretty much how I found out about it, a mate used it on his boat trailer, that was a few years ago and the trailer is still going strong.  You don't get much harsher an environment than the sea, it's a good advert for it.

Historically I've always used Fertan products and found them to be excellent.  I've used their product range on everything from bikes to metal garden railings and I've never had any issues.  They do a full range of products available here in the UK.  Not cheap, but they do seem to work.

Having had, what I would consider anyway, as two significant off's over the years, then I can hand on heart say that I will not be removing any of my armour.  IMHO, the armour I had in at that time saved me from injuries that could potentially have been a lot more serious, had it not have been present.  I think he's entitled to his opinion, but as for me, I personally don't agree with him.

I often just change the end can on my bikes, as I have done with the one I have now.  It gives a nicer, but not to obnoxious note, and gave me a weight saving off over 3kg.  I've never had any running issues with changing an end can.  However, I did a full system change on a Fireblade, decat, remap, the full works, and ended up having nothing but trouble, so much so I'd never do it again.  As for an end can, and this is just my opinion, I see it as just an extension, if you're leaving the bread box alone and not doing a full system, I can't see what issues it could cause.  A bike will actually run fine without an end can, I know that as fact, someone over here up at the Creg had his end can nicked last TT, He rode it down South to the dealer like that without any issues.  I find on a lot of these owner specific forums you tend to get some very self righteous individuals, that do have a tendency to piss you off if you let them, thats why I dropped the BMW forum.

Came up on my mates F/B Page, just in case anyone is still looking for accommodation, I know finding anywhere at this late stage is pretty much impossible. 

Happy Birthday @Pie man 

I would personally, if it was me, save the expense and heartache of trying to make it ULEZ compliant, and invest my pennies in buying a commuter bike that's already ULEZ compliant.  Sadly the bike doesn't fall into the classic exemption category (I believe that covers classic bikes over 40yrs old, although could be wrong).  IMHO trying to tweak the emissions could potentially make it unridable.  Then, after you've done whatever you need to do, you have to have it emissions tested and certified as compliant, which again isn't cheap.  Sad f------g world we're moving into, where some decent older machines are being slowly but surely forced off the road!  May be worth having a chat with a local garage, see what advice they can give, if any. 

As an afterthought, you could just keep your fingers crossed that Khan gets voted out in May, I hear his opponents keep saying that they will at least scrap the ULEZ expansion scheme, although as with most politicians, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Whatever you do with it, good luck, I certainly don't envy you living in London,  

Done 

I think, after a while, you'll find it just becomes second nature, and you probably already do it a lot of the time without even consciously thinking about it.  Off siding was a skill I was taught, that at first felt a bit alien, I do it all the time now "obviously when it's safe and legal to do so", comes in really handy on the narrow country roads I find, especially over here.  As Simon said, counter steering is another useful skill, that skill didn't really make sense to me till I started doing track days, but it makes a massive difference to your cornering ability and stability.

I've been using road 5's, in all weathers, I ride year round.  Excellent tyres, on dry and wet roads.  Newer version out now, Road 6's, which I hear are as good if not better.

Nothing much has changed, I hate getting my tyres changed!   I take it easy for the first 100 -150 miles, no heavy acceleration or braking, and gently easing over into the leans until I get the edges scrubbed in. That one is pretty important, especially if most of your riding is done on straight roads with limited bendy bits.  Heard stories of people having new tyres fitted, using the bike to ride from home to work and back again, on what are predominantly straight roads, going out for the weekend blast with mates and forgetting about the edges, then wondering why they low side on a tyre they thought was by now bedded in.  I have  had a couple of arse twitchy moments on new tyres, usually on wet roads.  I have heard of people who scrub them off with sand paper, never done that myself personally.

I only have experience of using a BMW forum which I was on for about two weeks!  No disrespect to BMW riders, I ride one myself, but it was an eye opener, and I can certainly see why some BMW riders get the reputation they have.  Some guy went on to ask about torque settings for his exhaust, and F--k me, he got berated as though he was some incompetent fool!  That was just one example.  I thought, this just aint for me and left the forum.  Thankfully not all Beamer riders have that attitude, but it seems like a lot of them appear to hang out on the bike specific forums, although in their defence, I would say it's probably a minority giving the majority a bad rep, as usual.

Always stay sat on the bike when I fill up, always have always will.  Particularly useful if it's pay at the pump.  Having the side stand down, as @S-Westerly said, is a good idea though.  I do that when allowing a pillion to get on and off the bike as well.

1 hour ago, Vic101 said:

the most forgiving bikes I've ridden are enduro's or scramblers

Surely not with nobbly tyres??  I rode off roaders for years, and nobblies, especially on wet tarmac, were twitchy as f---.   Brilliant in the mud though.

 Have a good one 

Going down hill, such as Hardknott, I'm usually in 2nd gear, light front brake pressure as has been said.  I tend to use the rear brake more for slow town riding, slow manoeuvring, or slow filtering where I want the rear of the bike to sit down a little.  Don't be afraid to use the front brake, perfectly safe to do so provided you don't go and grab a mittfiull all at once.  Going up hill, using Hardknott as an example again, gearing depends on conditions and other traffic. What makes that area difficult is mainly due to other people on the road who have no spacial awareness, and also poor forward vision, road positioning and planning by the rider.  So for me, I look well ahead, a clear road is an easy road to navigate, usually use 2nd gear, I don't overthink it but do plan my line in and out.  As I enter the steep uphill bend I move my body weight forward, look into and lean into the bend, keep the power on and don't be tempted to try changing gear half way through the bend.  I know a lot of people get freaked out by the mention of Hardknott and Wrynose pass, but it's actually a brilliant and very scenic ride.  You hear some bikers talking about how hard it is to ride, and the near misses they've had and all the horror stories.  I personally think it's all bollox and bravado.  Get on there, ride your own ride, ride in a way that makes you feel comfortable, relax and just enjoy it.

Gerbing heated gloves, I love them.  I hate cold hands and got these as a Christmas present a couple of years ago, money well spent IMHO especially if you ride year round.

All the best 

Happy Birthday @geofferz Have a good un 

1 hour ago, Ian Frog said:

@manxie49 Is the campsite at the trout farm in Kirk Michael still going? (Clearwater trout farm??).

We used to use that as a group with the bikes in a long wheelbase transit and it worked out very slightly less than scandalous if there were 5 or 6 of us going.

Cheers

Ian

Not sure if that re-opened, I believe it did close after the owner sold the land??  There is another one just down the road at the football club though.

Getting to the Isle of Man for TT cheaply ...... In a word ....... Impossible!  Long been known that travel costs to and from this island are scandalous.  If you can find accommodation, any accommodation, you'll be lucky.  Most accommodation is booked up a year in advance.  You can sometimes get homestay accommodation, but again, it's expensive, but you can sometimes mitigate the cost if there's a few of you coming and sharing. 

The middle, long weekend of TT is the most expensive time.  If you want to try and keep things cheap then avoid that long weekend, and you would need to travel as a foot passenger, as @Old-codger said.  Camping would be the way forward, and some of the out of town camp sites would be the cheaper options.  Not sure where you're travelling from so can't say which is the closest ferry, but they run from Heysham and Liverpool.

I used to use Slime in my tubed dirt bike tyres when I was off roading.  Maybe worth a look?  It could be used preventatively and also for emergency repair.  Not sure about it being used in a big road bike though??

As has been said, definitely check the battery.  My mate who was on Island last year with his 1250GSA had a similar issue.  The bike would turn over, lights and everything were working ok, but it wouldn't start.  His bike actually developed the issue when he was waiting to board the ferry back to Liverpool!  He had to get RAC out.  It turned out his battery was knackered.  Those big old Boxer twin engines use a lot of power to fire them up, and if you're running anything else of them in the background they can drain quickly, especially if you've recently done a few shorts trips involving a lot of starting and stopping the engine.

Happy Birthday, have a good un