S-Westerly

On the large diesel engines on board (and mine are nowhere near the largest) the engineers use hydraulic tools to remove / tighten the bolts holding the cylinder heads down. Interesting titbits: the cylinder liners weigh 7 tonnes with a bore of 600 mm, each cylinder has 3 fuel valves and we burn about 250 litres per day of cylinder oil when the engine is running. Underground kit sounds fascinating and I'm no engineer. Far too much of the dark side there!

I'm with Gerontious- I wouldn't touch Chinese imitation shite with a 10 foot pole.

On the Ducati I had the Kaoko which was okay (once you got the hang of it) for motorway cruising. The biggest downside from it was that with biggish hands and winter gloves it was easy to inadvertently increase the speed setting which on a busy motorway in pouring rain on a November night wasn't very pleasant.

I find a get 1 to 2 years out of a visor. My current one is probably due for a replacement as its picked up a mark right in the middle and with winter and night riding its going to be more problematic. Probably won't go the aliexpress route but it would be interesting to do a test to destruction comparison just out of interest.

That's me to a T. I have the spannering skills of a cockroach. However I have a son in law who is really into that kind of thing, learnt a lot at his uncle's workshop and does this kind of thing for fun. He's also training up two grandsons one of whom has an interest whereas the other is more like me.

It gets better. We or at least the ship is officially under arrest and we can't go anywhere until the matter is resolved. Politics and a $100,000 bond probably has more to do with it than anything else.

Someone involved in this mega cleaning operation would appear to have been a very naughty boy. They've been telling porkies and trying to do it on the super cheap and not surprisingly the whole house of cards came crashing down today. All the so-called labour were kicked off today and there was a lot of thrashing around trying to come up with some magic fix which won't work. We are now on hold while big bosses try and decide what we do but it currently looks as if we will be shifting from here and ultimately going to the UAE to do the job properly which is what we should have done in the first place. Be warm though.

Guzzi don't even pretend to provide a toolkit with the bike. There's a single Allen key clipped to the bottom of the seat and I've no idea what it's for as it doesn't fit any of the obvious fittings. The space under the seat is big enough for maybe a toothbrush, not much more.

Highly thought of on a Guzzi forum.

That's dreadful.

The only Richa stuff I have is a pair of winter gloves which are Gore Tex blah blah. They are my warmest gloves and have stayed dry on the inside in the worst weather. Made in Vietnam and that's all I can say. I really like waterproof gear to be waterproof as that's its entire purpose. I have a pair of allegedly waterproof overtrousers which aren't which really annoyed me.

Must be 40 years or more since I was last at the White Bull. How time flies when you're having fun.

Didn't someone flounce over that? I'm getting senile so can't remember.

Don't goretex give a lifetime guarantee for waterproofing? Be worth asking what the hell as my winter Richa / Gore Tex have kept my hands dry in the winter monsoons.

Yeah, back to the future if you like living in the 18th century. No ICE, no plastics therefore no nothing. We'll also get pretty hungry as we dont produce enough food and any ship which isnt sails will be a nono and they wont carry that much. Looks pretty shite to me.

Bus lanes are council things and yes the average council particularly if its got any kind of Green in its composition are definitely run by cock wombles and that's being generous.

Precious little from China - it's pretty well a one way traffic with them but a hell of a lot of it both products and crude. Funnily enough the Americans ship oil from Alaska to China despite them being very picky about sending Alaskan crude anywhere other than the US. The rest of the world it really doesn't make a lot of sense. I've taken fuel oil from the US to Rotterdam then back loaded a similar fuel oil to take to Singapore. The large scale 140,000 tonne parcels of ULSD from Asia to Europe is a relatively new thing. Pain in the arse for us as it takes about 2-3 weeks to clean the ship so it's fit to load white oils.

Nor me either! I must investigate what the Guzzi's is although as its got fancy Ohlins electronic suspension I'm not sure what is supposed to happen.

Good morning from a warm and damp Malaysia. We are in the throes of heavy duty tank cleaning as the powers that be have decreed that we are no longer to carry thick black shit but instead diesel as cargo. Now that the Russians can't sell diesel in Europe they are shipping a lot of crude to India where it is refined then huge amounts of diesel get shipped to Europe. With the Red Sea being a no go area it's getting sent the long way round so the economy of scale thing comes into play. As usual money talks and bullshit walks.

Actually I do drive and obviously ride a motorbike too. I've no problem with children or the unemployed and if you are worried about germs try flying in a plane somewhere. I bet you're one of those impatient drivers who gets all hot and bothered if there's anything slower than you on the road? Buses generally are a lot less annoying than tractors imo.

Your average Japanese is probably considerably lighter than the average westerner these days.

Wow, pretty damning or what. I might agree with you if you are talking city buses although in some cities like Amsterdam the buses are the easiest way to get around. Rural buses as long as you aren't in a rush, are quite interesting as you can see stuff you don't normally see. As for pedal pushers clogging up the roads steam roller the lot of '

Starting to think Welsh cops are on some kind of bonus for tagging bikers as when I was over there last I had similar.

Round our way it's £2 for any journey on local buses. Of course some of us more ahem older folks get a bus pass. Have been known to take a bus out somewhere interesting and then walk back. 15 miles max for me but the Duracell Bunny that I married is keen for 20 or more. Taxi!

Maybe he thought you were channeling your inner Scotsman?