S-Westerly

Personally I much prefer ferries to the tunnel. Mainly cos I don't particularly like North West France so like to take a ferry to Normandy or Brittany from Portsmouth (have family there). You're then straight into some nice (to me) parts of France and can get interesting routes if you are going further East or South.

Yeah the new model 3 tesla is supposed to be about £35k

Dream on for that. My wife fancied one and put down the refundable £1000 deposit more than 2 years ago. She cancelled the order last year as the earliest RHD version was not expected until next year. Since then I've heard it may never happen and the price is rising to north of 45k if you have the battery extended range pack. As a "by the way" we did get to drive a Model S and it was pretty awesome and I personally quite like the shape. I like an internal combustion engine in a bike but to me a car is just a tool so I don't really care what is under the bonnet hence all our cars have been my wife's and I've long since given up on trying to work out the reason she chooses the cars she has.

This has probably been covered in a previous post but for any riders younger than me (most I guess) - protect your ears. If you are not already using earplugs invest in some good ones and start using them asap. I never bothered until about 10 years ago and recently I discovered that I had serious hearing loss in one ear and moderate loss in the other. In order to pass my medical needed for my job I need to use hearing aids. Over £3000 for a set. Apparently this loss is not primarily caused by biking but is caused by a range of things of which my job is the worst offender. (Constant low frequency vibrations). However biking with unprotected ears is a major contributor. Protect your ears!

 

Look like we are in the same business, I am on deck (chief mate), but if u are engineer probably ur hearing was damaged there, or , I remember working on the petrol tankers in the cargo room just on top of the cargo pumps, few years there and ur hearing is affected.

About hearing protection on the motorbike I do agree, but don’t know if can be affected if u have original exhaust and ih u are riding from time to time 1 or 2 hours. Maybe people who are on the bike every day for few hours and got akra os similar without silencers.

But maybe I am wrong, should consult someone who knows more than me/us

Any doctor here?

Yes I'm in the same business. Old Man on Suezmax tankers. A few years ago there was a report that the low frequency vibrations on low speed marine diesels which are continuous so long as the M/E is running will negatively affect your hearing regardless of where you are working on the ship. Given my average voyage length berth to berth is 40 days that's a lot of exposure. This is thought to be the prime cause of my hearing loss although it can't be proved. It's also why the MCA are pushing hearing as part of the ENG1 in older seamen.

Mines the same whistley noises they use in a hearing test so that buggers that up! Did I hear it... hmm dunno maybe it was a slightly different noise to the tinnitus... hmm I think I’ll click... wait has it stopped or am I too late to click... aaargh. Meanwhile the audiologists face starts to screw up into a ball

BTW meant to ask is the hearing aid thing new to you? Different hospitals have different quality stock. My current hearing aids are up there with the best and they were nhs which they let you purchase add ons like Bluetooth boots and they sort it out for you. It’s worth asking about, if they are needed for work you can get them.

Yes the whole thing was an unpleasant new surprise. I got the hearing aids privately as with my job the whole nhs thing takes too long. I'm not around long enough to go through the process and yes the tinnitus makes the audio test interesting. On a plus the aids have Bluetooth so I can run my phone through them etc.

which "filter" coffee is best for dunking Chocolate Hobnobs?

Anyone dunking hob nobs in good coffee should be condemned to filtering the.North Circular on a.Gold Wing.

I am all for protecting your hearing, It doesn't take long riding at just 50mph for damaging noise frequencies to start affecting your hearing.

 

There are worse things than hearing loss. Tinnitus... Which in my case is so bad at times that people think I am hard of hearing. It's not that.. For me it's the constant "white noise/hissing/low grade whistling" sound I have constantly. No history of this in my family, the audiologist blamed the bike/helmet/wind noise over 20 years before earplugs/defenders were a thing. I now wear them every ride so that it doesn't get any worse than it is. I'm ok with it, but for some people it's intolerable to the point of depression/suicide.

Yeah, I can agree with that, I've had tinnitus since 2003 and there is sod all you can do about apparently.

Well I use a flip lid so not the best probably

Sadly no, although the Shoei Neotec 2 is supposed to be pretty good in that respect.

Would riding with earphones in count?

Only if they actively protect your hearing from the noise associated with biking. A good helmet design which minimises wind noise is a positive.

This has probably been covered in a previous post but for any riders younger than me (most I guess) - protect your ears. If you are not already using earplugs invest in some good ones and start using them asap. I never bothered until about 10 years ago and recently I discovered that I had serious hearing loss in one ear and moderate loss in the other. In order to pass my medical needed for my job I need to use hearing aids. Over £3000 for a set. Apparently this loss is not primarily caused by biking but is caused by a range of things of which my job is the worst offender. (Constant low frequency vibrations). However biking with unprotected ears is a major contributor. Protect your ears!

Learnt to ride a bike on the CB250N and yes with hindsight it was a maggot's toenail. At the time (1978) though I thought it was great. Learnt to drive in my Dad's Citroen DS and that was an awesomely weird car to drive.

If it's a laurel they grow like bloody weeds. My son had an annoying one in the middle of his garden so we cut it back to about a metre high. Within the year it had doubled in size. My wife stepped in and killed it as a menace to horticulture. She takes gardens very seriously and considers laurels as the botanical version of Attila the Hun.

Of course. I was being super good and grinning when the camera flashed.

The Disco that got upset by me filtering at a roundabout then stormed past me at about 60 mph in a 40 mph then stayed at 55 through a long straight stretch of NSL. Needless to say I did politely overtake on that straight. Did I mention the 40mph stretch has an active speed camera on it?

Did this quiz and it seemed quite accurate. Spent most of my childhood in either North Wales, Canada it Northumberland. Many of my family are from Northumberland and so is my wife. The results had me firmly pegged in Northumberland or North Wales. Of course now I live in Gloucestershire so I'm having to learn a whole new language and these southern vowels are killing me.

Asking for any locals that may know any good strip of twisties not filled with potholes and debris?

Don't know of any near Reading but if anyone else does I'd ride over to give 'em a go. All the ones round here are filled with potholes, hedge cuttings, mud, and general debris. Keeps you on your toes.

I bought a brand new 2018 royal enfield classic 500 in matt black last october and have so far done 950miles on it. It cost me £5000 from a local dealership and has been stored inside. So far I have not been happy with the quality of it and have listed the issues so far here:

- Massive oil leak from gearbox.

- Right mirror snapped off from the end of the mirror shaft.

- Constantly having to fix front brake switch.

- Exhaust rusted beyond repair, had to replace it.

- Front forks pitted rapidly.

- All unpainted metal is rapidly corroding.

The bike is still under warrantly but i feel like I have been sold a very substandard product and that I have thrown 5 grand down the drain. I would expect things like this to happen on a used or older bike but considering the bike was brand new and hasnt even done 1000 miles yet im unsure what my options are.

Please could you guys offer me some advice on what I should do? Legal or otherwise.

Thank you

What kind of warranty have you got? All the problems that you list should be under warranty. Talk to your dealer as you would seem to have some grounds for complaint. See what they offer before getting all legal beagle with them.

I lose the will to live in IKEA.

It took me ages to get used to cruise control in the car. Now at work we play a game of "How far along the A90 can you get before you need to cancel your cruise control"

I'm not sure how I would feel about having it on a bike.Feels a bit out of control I find

On the car I use cruise control really only in average speed checked areas unless I am driving in the wee hours on empty roads. In any kind of traffic I hate it. On the bike for the kind of riding I prefer there really is no need for it.

I assume this newbiker has just found God mode

 

Is there one with sleep mode too?

 

Yes, you just get a bike with cruise control.

More a power nap than a sleep mind.

 

Cruise control is one of those things I'm a bit ambivalent about. Even on motorway rides I am constantly adjusting the throttle and on the whole I don't do great deal of motorway riding anyway. On the other hand cruise control might help protect my license. More than once when I've been stuck behind traffic in lane 3 I've gone for a quick overtake as soon as I could then glanced down at the speedo and found myself doing a licence losing speed.

Why? Are your headlights torches from the £ shop or something?

 

No, but filtering or simply being around loads of cars,vans, trucks and buses in darkness people are less likely to notice me as a bike.

I'd rather spend a few months commuting by car than be stopped from riding bikes for the rest of my life as some driver squished me cause they simply thought I was a car that was further away...

 

Just gotta adapt your riding style but fair enough your choice

So you got a riding style then?

My wife had a Windows phone and loved it. She was really upset when they stopped but she went to Apple I've got a Motorola G6 and it.does everything I want. Solid bit of kit.

I stand suitably chastened. I'll have to grovel and abase myself before my mate's stupendous, mighty machine of awesomeness. As per the video they would appear to be capable of turning a corner. Like me my mate drives supertankers for a living so he'll probably feel right at home on the back of this 2 wheeled sumo wrestler of a bike.

When you have ridden a variety of bikes you can generally look at a bike and with a small stretch of the imagination you can more or less decide roughly what it must be like to ride. But no matter how long I gaze upon a Goldwing , I just can't reach any conclusions except that it's just so.... BIG !

 

That is exactly what I think. They are MASSIVE. Once my mate has his I may be less in awe of its all round mightiness. Could be fun though. Somehow given its equally massive price tag I doubt he'll be letting me have a thrash on it.

 

Whilst trying to blag a turn replace the word thrash with tootle

Kind of big for a tootle. Speaking of turn- what if you have to do a u-turn?! Think I'd have a turn and probably for the worse.

When you have ridden a variety of bikes you can generally look at a bike and with a small stretch of the imagination you can more or less decide roughly what it must be like to ride. But no matter how long I gaze upon a Goldwing , I just can't reach any conclusions except that it's just so.... BIG !

That is exactly what I think. They are MASSIVE. Once my mate has his I may be less in awe of its all round mightiness. Could be fun though. Somehow given its equally massive price tag I doubt he'll be letting me have a thrash on it.

Think I’ll avoid watching that.

Sorry know this is off topic but when did they start carrying armed guards?

Also how do you apply for a job as razor wife? I think I might have the necessary qualities It could be my “If I could start again.....”

Armed guards became the thing in 2011 when various authorities agreed it would be a good thing. Like all such things in the early days we had very experienced ex British forces guys. Also very expensive. Then a bunch of cheap cowboy outfits turned up (cue the vids mentioned earlier). My company never used them but have gone for cheaper options of ex gurkas. Depending on where we are going we pick them up / drop off either off Muscat, Djibouti or Sri Lanka.

As to the razor wife that was my auto spell check having a fit and me not seeing it. Oops.

 

I guessed but I think a boat protected by razor wives would work well

Would certainly scare me off and I suspect Mrs. S-Westerly would qualify with minimal training.