Hywel

What do you expect them to do with them? Repaired them or recycled the materials. Retail stores are struggling as it is... if I owned a shop I'd be very careful not to tarnish my image by selling on obviously faulty returned goods at knock-off prices. Bad form.

What's more annoying is the reluctance of cashiers to supply the bag at all. The other day on my lunch break for example; A Greggs employee rung through my lunch and food for the afternoon break, so 2 packs of sandwiches, crisps, a drink, some chocolate and a bag of those little pancake things for an evening snack then just left it all sitting on the counter and started to serve the next person. I was like "a bag would be great, thanks" "they're 5p" "sure, here here you go" she then just huffed, handed me a bag and left me to put my stuff in it. This has started happening more frequently over the last year in all sorts of shops.

My favourite lottery winner was that bloke with all the bling who spaffed it in a few months. So jealous of lottery winners... refuse to play it though!

Maybe the rest of Europe don't believe everything they read in the newspaper? As Nick Ferrari said yesterday "It's all very well criticising what is seen as an absurd rule, but if the headline had been '3 year old dies after swallowing balloon' we'd be calling for tougher safety standards". There's some truth in what he said, sadly. More responsible parenting maybe (if it became a regular problem, which it isn't), not "tougher H&S regulations". Kids/people just hurt themselves sometimes... they fall down steps, they run into roads and get hit by cars, they drown in rivers and choke on food. It's tragic when it happens but you can't exactly devise a massive encyclopaedia of legislation to somehow rub out every single possible cause of death or injury without making everyone's life miserable and tedious. I'm hoping one day soon the EU will just snap out of this weird, surreal idea that we need to be bubble wrapped and put into storage for our own good. Let us take responsibility for our own decisions, our children and our lives. I thought that article was straight out of http://www.thedailymash.com

I'm so tempted to post some jokes. I've seen some hilarious ones floating about.

RIP, he always lived life to the macs. ... http://knowyourmeme.com/system/icons/554/original/facepalm.jpg?1248715065 In all seriousness, Jobs was a marketing genius. Respeck.

That's probably my favourite 'pop' album of all time!

I've spent the last couple of months obsessively digging about for decent 90s HipHop for some reason. ScarFace, Method Man, GZA, the first Wu Tang album, Gravediggaz etc. Get this in your ears; "> ">

When I was around 8 or 10 I tried joining a football club with a friend, but honestly, the other kids were dicks and the coach was a big bully. Fast forward a few years I was carving my hometown up on a skateboard with a big crowd of awesome friends and listening to the nastiest sounding hardcore and metal I could get my hands on. Best childhood ever. Unfortunately Nogin, I think it's just the nature of the game/industry... It's mostly populated by w*nkers. It's weird how so many blokes assume I'm interested in football and are incapable of speaking to anyone about anything else. I recently started a new job, which has been great, but quite a few of the guys have tried to strike up conversations with me by rambling about some match/player/goal/whatever. When they realise I basically have no idea what they're on about they shuffle off again . I'm starting to think I'll have better career prospects if I just feign an interest and 'find out' about this stuff so I can talk about it a little bit.

Similarly to a few other here, I have a Knox back protector, and if I go for a 'ride-out' I might reach for it but regarding the daily commute, it's already a pain in the arse bumbling into the office after changing with my boots, lid, jacket, tank bag etc in hand... I think if I added a back protector the list I'd go mental after a couple of days

Bleughh! Despite agreeing with him on a lot of levels, I think Richard Dawkins is basically a dick... but, he says calling a child a "Christian child" or a "Muslim child" is like saying; "Labour Party child" or "BNP child", which is bang on I think. Kids aren't any of those things because they're the parent's agendas. Just let the poor little buggers grow up properly and decide for themselves. 100% indoctrinated, controlled by the fear of hell and the power of lies since birth. Tragic IMO.

I was also a bit 'into' the conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and the US government's version of events is possibly shaky in places, but I don't think the "unsatisfactory official report" is unsatisfactory because it was an inside job. I think it was a giant blunder... they had some intelligence and were half expecting a big attack, but hadn't put a good enough security infrastructure in place, missed the boat, and failed to prevent a handful of religious nutters killing thousands of people with commercial planes. Hugely embarrassing. I don't think the US government (or any government) could secretly pull off something that big even if they tried. I'll be checking out the doc.

I've been putting my bike totally back to standard spec but I really want to improve my brakes, they aren't dangerously weak or anything but they're squidgy and have no feel. I've ordered some HEL braided lines (keeping it low key with black covers and banjos) but I've read quite a lot about using a Blackbird master cylinder to improve feedback because it has a lower capacity for fluid or something? Is this possible on a Hornet, and would I need to buy a Blackbird brake lever too? Also, do I need to inform my insurance company about upgrades to the braking system? (I bet the premium goes up, even though the quality/safety of the bike will have been improved .)

Sorry, I don't want to sound like a dick... I'm sure you're a safe rider, and I'm fully aware that every road user (myself included) makes mistakes, but I firmly believe you should always try to make sure that your safest option is stopping in time if possible. If your safest option is to dive up the side, that's fine... unless you're on a single track road with oncoming traffic or on a dual carriageway with stuff overtaking you. The reason for Tommy Lee Jones' glare was that your posts didn't suggest you were having a think about your approach to stopping distances... they came across more like "ah, this situation is kinda okay because I can jump alongside stuff if I need to". Anyway, it's very possible that you could have stopped in time, but you made a good judgement in plenty of time and decided it was safe to pass rather than drop the anchors... making me just another judgemental, condescending internet-forum twat. In which case, as you where EDIT: Also, the only reason I assumed you made the decision in a panic was because it inspired you to start a thread called "had my first scare", which kind of implies a really close call.

http://www.ponychan.net/chan/dis/src/131337671431.jpg Seriously... just make sure you can stop in time. Regularly diving out alongside stopped/slowing traffic in a last minute panic is a superb idea... but only if you actually want to become a mangled heap on the side of the road.

If you're fatally injured because you didn't leave yourself enough space to stop or you simply weren't paying enough attention to changing road conditions ahead, discussions regarding 'legal responsibility' or 'fault' are meaningless. Your life is completely in your own hands when you ride a bike, and there are loads of cretins who drive around with their eyes sewn shut, so passing blame and not learning from these mistakes is going to end badly for you. Just sayin'.

Anyone travelling in front of you may stop suddenly at any point, could be an animal or a pedestrian shooting out in front of them or whatever else, even if there aren't any obvious hazards. Keep a defensive position on the road and put plenty of distance between you and stuff in front to deal with any sudden stuff, 'specially if the road is a bit greasy. If you don't keep this kinda thing covered, you may go a fair distance with only a few bum clenching moments but it only takes one nasty surprise and you'll be collected! My first proper scare was rushing up to a roundabout with a bit too much gusto, panicking, and locking up the back on a YBR125 and going into the roundabout sideways, totally out of control. A car was going round but luckily had passed before I got there. This sort of thing happens to everyone, learning from it is a must though

Poor, poor little unborn foetus.

Oops, just found an identical topic... snapped cable I suppose. Mods; feel free to delete this thread.

Today one of my clocks died whilst on the move so the speedo and odometer are currently lifeless... the cable seems to be screwed into the clock nice and tight, so are there any quick common fixes I could try before pulling the whole lot apart?

Depends on your budget. I bought a used Canon 400D in South Korea for cheap and it's perfect. Learn how to use it properly and it takes beautiful shots with the right lens, but it's not so ridiculously expensive that I'm scared to take it on holidays or to festivals etc. None of the main manufacturers make "bad" gear. Choose a spec/budget that's suitable, after that it's like choosing between a Vauxhall, a Ford, a VW and a Honda... whatever floats your boat.

The ZXR is sexier, more extreme, more race bred but if I was going to actually buy one for heavy use in the real world as my every day transport it'd be the Suzuki every single time.

All done, got some hose from my local bike garage on the way back from work today and sorted without too much fuss. The bike is now running sweet as a nut! Thanks all!

Is there a site that sells trick snap-on fuel and vacuum hoses for specific bike models? I fancy making future removals / replacements easier because I don't want my nan to hear me swearing through my parents garage wall any more, it's not doing her any good

Yeah when I cut the rest of the hose off it was quite stiff. The smaller vacuum hose wasn't coming off at all either so I might just remove that one surgically and replace them both with fresh ones if it isn't going to be any extra hassle. I can see plenty of fancy braided fuel lines with quick-release ends but no equivalent vacuum lines. Are these easy to get hold of? Hah, that Haynes thread is spot on although this is the first trouble I've had and seems to be down to old rubber hoses which is fair enough. It's probably a good thing that I've ripped it and now need a replacement to be honest.