trcooke

A damp shammy leather tucked behind the bike screen works well for me especially on the road when it's wet with lots of dirty spray.

Convicted but then conviction overturned for something similar. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/08/banker-rode-police-motorbike-police-jacket-convicted-alleged/

Now now, play nicely.

There must be some weight in it and corners may be a struggle. But then it's America so none of their vehicles do corners very well.

It is 100% ridiculous.

I find it hard to judge the manual choke sometimes on my Transalp (same v-twin), especially in colder weather, and if I get it wrong it'll pop and splutter a bit then settle down after a few minutes. This doesn't really help you though, sorry.

I got smoked big time by a BMW M5 a few weeks ago, then leisurely filtered past him stuck in traffic not 30 seconds later. I never saw him again. Who smoked who really?

I use BP Ultimate for my cars for the reasons stated above. But you all put a seed doubt in my mind about the benefits of it in my 2004 Transalp and I filled up with regular this morning. So far no observable difference.

The Honda Transalp isn't a very common bike around here but yesterday there was another one parked in my regular spot. Mine is the black one on the left. And by some coincidence on the same day I happened to meet a Honda Deauville rider on my way in too, which is a similar bike with the same 650 v-twin engine.

Well that's one way of shifting some weight off your arse, leave it on the road.

Sounds about right.

I can attest to this, being the owner of one of these 'slow' bikes, a 650cc Transalp. I regularly am able to filter my way to the front of the queue at a set of lights on my way home from work, and more often than not I'm way down the road before most of the cars have really gotten going. This was not the case on two occasions recently: First one was an M5, fair enough, you pay your £100k you can leave me for dust every day of the week no problem. Today was a.... heck I don't even know what it was, a Toyota Starlet or something equally as tiny... but off we all go, tiny car still behind me, fair enough riding a rally tourer first gear doesn't get you very far, now second gear and really getting going and I hear a dump valve right behind me and this thing really wants me to get out the way. I pull into the left lane and away he goes. I dunno what it was, but it was quick! Getting back on topic though, in my limited experience I've learnt to avoid any car that actively tries to engage with you in any negative way, be it racing, deliberately awkward road positioning, unnecessary acceleration or braking, whatever... those drivers have ego, and ego is dangerous.

Colour blind? Maybe they all look amber.

Entirely up to you, but I wouldn't. Fair enough they're giving you a warranty but how will that work out in practice? Will they expect you to get the bike back to them? All too much of a faff for my liking. I bought my bike from a local dealer so I could see and inspect the thing first and so that it's convenient to get to should anything need sorting, which in my case it did. Besides, supporting your local bike guy can't be a bad thing.

The most common motorcycle related hand injuries are referred to by hospital staff as a 'de-gloving' and happens when the rider instinctively tries to break their fall with bare hands. I'm also told that jeans material has a tendency to become one with your skin when skidding down the road. Personally I don't feel comfortable unless I've got all my gear on, but I do see a lot of other bikers with little to no protective gear on and selfishly I hope I'm not around to see it if they come off.

Today's nob of the day goes to another motorcyclist. The scooter rider who has, on more than one occasion, closely tail-gated me filtering through traffic from Holywood to Belfast. I pull into the lane to let him past and watch him go. His filtering technique can only be described as aggressive, maybe even reckless. Anyway, turns out he parks in the same place as I do in the city and must have arrived just a few seconds before I did so nothing really gained. Nominated as nob of the day for putting himself in danger for negligible benefit.

I've never watched it but I did see a coach load of caped crazies unloading from a GoT tour bus in Tollymore Forest Park when we were there a couple of weeks ago. Some of it was filmed there apparently.

The height of my displeasure displaying repertoire is a good hard stare and a thumbs down.

The twatty bloke in an Audi A4 coming into Belfast who stuck his wheels on the centre white line in near stopped traffic to prevent me filtering through.... for about 30 seconds until the other lane moved forward a couple of car lengths and I was past him. Of course he gained nothing but my contempt.

I did a direct access in Belfast having never ridden a motorcycle ever before and I couldn't say exactly at what point the cbt was complete but throughout the whole process I rode a Yamaha 125 of some description, a van van 125, I did the MOD1 on a hornet, the MOD2 on a Suzuki Gladius, and some other footering about inbetween on a Honda Super Four. The Gladius was by far the nicest ride of them all.

Fingers crossed....

I'm sure she's a delight really

The lady who didn't like me filtering past so undertook me on the hard shoulder.

The "emergency" stop for MOD1 does not have to be very aggressive at all so just take it easy and keep it under control. The examiner would expect a longer stopping distance in the wet so don't overcook it. For MOD2 if it's wet pay attention to the road surface and look out for slippery stuff like dropped oil, drain covers, and road paint. If you keep your speed in check, accelerate, brake, and corner smoothly then you'll not get into any bother. Remember your braking distance is double so 4 seconds from the car in front.

The fella riding a big sports bike past Belfast City Airport with jeans and bare hands.