S-Westerly

I fitted one to my bike and it was literally plug and play. Works just like the OEM, is no more visible but makes a considerably louder noise. The OEM was particularly feeble.

Recently in Holland I was thinking there's a lot of nobs wearing polite vests until I looked a bit closer and realised they said politie which apparently is Dutch for police. Fortunately I hadn't sneered at anyone.

Good to know. Have to see what next year brings!

Wait till you meet the Solent ferries, I can ride to the local ferry terminal in 10 minutes. Yet it's cheaper to ride to dover and get the ferry to France than get the ferry to a port 3 miles south, including petrol costs.... My daughter lives in Cosham. Looked at taking my grandsons over to the Isle of Wight until I saw the fares. Ludicrous for the distance.

Got my renewal quote from insurance company - 35% more than last year. Went online got a number of quotes and ended up with Bennett's. Better cover and £20 more than last year but less excess. Still over a hundred quid cheaper than renewal. Annoyingly it took quite a lot of toing and froing with previous mob to cancel the auto renewal. They actually offered a decent deal but I'd already gone elsewhere. It yanks my chain that they throw out a stupidly expensive renewal but then offer a much better one when you tell them no. Basically if they want my business don't waste my time by screwing me over. bast*rds.

Another pointless jobsworth getting his kicks telling people how to live. Never met him and I hate him already. We are f**ked as a country.

Ducati dealers down my way were the same. No loan bikes when servicing thanks to Covid. As none of the dealers are that close to me it means that either I pay significantly more for them to collect and return or my wife has to come in the car as well. Can't even hang around in their on site cafe as it's closed. I was going to get it serviced just before I came back to sea but decided it makes more sense to get it done when I get home as then I'll be riding it in the winter. I'll get it done in the north east before bringing it south.

If I could do my servicing myself once the bike is out of warranty I would. Sadly I can't for a variety of reasons, not least of which is mechanical ineptitude. As to oil the manual recommends Shell Ultra 4T 15W50 which is quite difficult to get hold of.

In the current house our bedroom had a pointless alcove so my wife made it into a wardrobe. We use it for all our sports clothing - the only things banned from it are my fishing waders and they rather stink. They live in the garden shed.

Hated every bloody minute of it and found nothing redeeming in it at all. Wished I lived in Sweden.

I changed the end can on mine for what Ii believe is a far better looking one. It didn't affect the cat at all. According to the homologation certificate it increases the sound by 0.5 dB which is negligible. It does give the exhaust sound a different tone. Makes no difference to the HP and needs no mapping. All round winner so far as I am concerned.

We’re lead by donkeys. Being a bit cruel to donkeys. More like ticks - parasitical blood suckers that pass on horrible diseases.

Going down Channel and waving goodbye to the UK for God knows how long. When I hate my job.

So do I, mainly because I was 40+ years younger. Personally my best years were probably 1990 to 2010. Although my grandchildren started from 2011 which was nice but by definition means I'm bloody ancient.

My company used to dish them out as freebies in happier times. I've got several and I find them really good for stopping chafing on my neck from my jacket. I like fairly tight high collars but the downside is they can chafe. The tubes stop this. They also protect from insects etc but not such an issue as my bike has a substantial screen.

its more a requirement of euro 4 (and now euro 5), manufacturers have been forced to use bigger mufflers to keep the volume under 80db. Might as well go electric then. Oooh! Someone's looking for trouble!

I would be willing to go for 2 masks. Don't really need 3 but if Swagman bought 4 that averages out nicely.

Well I hope he wasn't planning on having any more children! Must have smarted a bit too. Total idiot!

Think the Chinese one is a rip off of the Cobrra Nemo. I've got a Nemo and they look pretty identical. Nemo is well made though.

Not sure if that's an image I want in my mind.!

Oh no!, it’s so easy to do with a new bike, I hope it hasn’t done much damage and it’s an easy fix. If it makes you feel any better I broke the mirror on my last bike before I’d even got it home from picking it up, we’ve all done stuff like this. No consolation but I dropped mine the very first time I put petrol in it. Also a couple of times since before I learned that if there's a slope / camber in the road and I'm putting a foot down it needs to be the uphill foot. Otherwise my short legs don't reach the ground before the bike reaches the angle of no return. The disadvantage of tall adventure bikes.

Do you know why you get that feeling? No idea . Nobody chooses a phobia . Phobia of dams or structures must be quite unusual but equally quite upsetting if you unexpectedly come upon one. I'm slightly claustrophobic but not an issue on a bike.

No bulls or nuns but a flock of sheep in a dip in the road and a bloody skip on an unlit village road spring to mind.

I have panniers too - tasteful ones. Not sure if Dynax's can be so described.

Now I understand - that's what the handbags are for. They carry the bits!