Jerry1111

On 31/03/2021 at 22:21, Bender said:

I could stretch to breakfast in Scarborough about 10am, but be there for sun up as Amy said, no, no, no....

10am??? Frigging early start for me, better be a good proper fry-up in Scarborough on the table at 10:05!!!!

Why the fook not, I only plan to live once!

When ?

On 02/04/2021 at 16:31, dynax said:

Didn't manage to empty the tank still half left

Rubbish! I started at my local Tesco, then had to top up before coming home. 180m in total 

Best day so far this year !!!!

15 minutes ago, fastbob said:

Just out of interest , can anyone else with a reasonably sized four cylinder bike turn the back wheel by hand with the clutch pulled in ? 

XJ6.

Tiny bit of friction when kicking my tyre with No 8 boot (when in 1st with clutch in). I could "just" tell it wasn't in neutral.

Started the bike cold, put it in first, clutch in - back wheel rotating one rev every 5s. But then it rotates one rev every 10s when in neutral on centre stand anyway - which is interesting, some directional oil flow?

From reading all this, I suspect side stand switch...

I have a pair of Packtalk Bold had it for over a year now. Can't fault them - works reallye well. Reason I bought them, the school was using them.

These are definitely waterproof 

On 29/03/2021 at 20:53, bonio said:

I've been trying out different sat nav apps on my phone. . 

I settled on Sygic (had it for ages) and Locus Maps. Both offline, both have good updates. Locus is more "adventurous", Sygic is for going from A to B.

And Google maps for errands.

Finally sorted phone charging problem on my bike. I got myself a Givi S957B phone holder and I managed to find 10Ah slim QI-capable battery bank. Everything zips up nicely and works.

Yes... I fully expect this combo to overheat if we get proper got summer - we'll see! For now it works perfect 

On 04/03/2021 at 09:17, Ian Frog said:

As often gets repeated on here you may find parraffin is a cost effective and just as efficent alternative.

Cheers

Ian

One day, when going past B&Q I'll remember!

Need to remember, ran out of cleaning spray!

1 hour ago, dynax said:

 

One of the reasons I never keep keys together

One of the reasons I keep insurance up to date

Load of bollocks! My school had a lowered XJ6 for that specific purpose. They'd use it also sometimes with zero-confidence people.

On 11/03/2021 at 16:34, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

The cocoon sleeping bag arrived and its bigger than my tent  

Down. Lightweight (forgot the rating, not for winters!) which I'm hoping to be able one day to fold in a way that'll for in my jacket pocket

Slept in it when sailing, I've not noticed any damp problems. It really packs away nicely.

2 hours ago, fullscreenaging said:

 You’ve just described the Versys 1000. 
 

I’m not biased....

No, you're not. Of course you're not 

I'll add it to the list, thanks! Eventually this bloody lockdown will end...

2 hours ago, skyrider said:

yes one thing i do know for a fact is i will never again own a bike with a fairing, still what doesn't suit me may well suit others

Why is that? For me fairings give mostly dry trousers (on the outside, you lot!!!) if caught up in the rain.

Also makes it 0.01°C warmer sitting the winter if there's something to hide behind.

On 11/03/2021 at 08:22, husoi said:

Now this is getting ridiculous... 

 

Soon somebody will be showing a high quality shed with all the gear in shelves, cabinets and even wee drawers for gloves.

Won't surprise me if there will be a wee sofa to put the boots on...

Garden shed gets my vote! But it needs to be heated, or the gear will stink of damp - can't have that!

I have the same problem, not knowing what the next bike should be. Instead of models, I started to think what do I want to do on it, and also some must haves -that started to eliminate quite a lot.

Decent lights (preferably cornering), ABS, low seat, prefer 4cyl, comfy for pillion, reasonably upright for rider, needs a bit more umph than my XJ6, at least half-faired, effing quiet (so no akrapovic style crap).

Been thinking 2-3 months, no decision whatsoever.

I have been looking at FJR, mainly because it's a "non twin(*)" used by most services. Price-wise in general, I'd get something around 3k-5k mark to try and if it's really, really, really working - then it would be searching for a newish model.

SWMBO must feel real comfy and "planted" in the back (hence comparison to Goldwing, which we've both seen only on pictures - the rear couch looks fab), I must feel "planted" on the floor (164cm, for me difficult to dual-flat-foot XJ6), bike should be a bit more powerful than XJ6 (sometimes it starts to be not enough, like today on B660 )

Choosing a bike is even worse than choosing a car - when you pick "must haves" then there's next to nothing choice left or there's plenty! Are trade-in prices also as low as for cars? I'm thinking here going through 2-3 bikes before I settle down for a longer term, but I'm not sure about economics of such an approach. I can always use "fook it, this is MY toy" approach to the price, but I'm (trying to be) too reasonable for that!

(*) Now you can guess what I think about BMW cars, and yes - I'm completely unfair and extrapolate it to bikes. Bring My Wallet, my a*&e!

1 minute ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

It’s a future deafness factor. 
Have a read up on what your cheap comfy plugs actually block out. 

That's exactly what I'm trying to understand. When seated properly these single use plugs make the whole world go significantly quiet. I think 36 or 37dB attenuation, to the extent that volume on Packtalk has to be max - or I can't hear anything.

Having ran out of 3M orange ones, I'm now on Laserlite yellow/pink.

Works well, doesn't fall out and is "single use" - so no drama with chucking these into the bin.

Is it "comfort factor" or "loudness factor" that some of you lot choose to almost go bankrupt on the custom ones?

Been riding fully faired XJ6 for over a year.

I got bored in this lockdown and started to think "what next". No specific use patterns, only point I can come up with is that the new toy needs to work well for pillion (she pointed out the full pillion seat on a Goldwing, but I'm not sure about such a supertanker). A bit of commuting, but even after lockdown it looks like I'll be doing lots of working from home anyway.

I might keep XJ6 for daily/salty hack, don't know yet.

If I write anything in any of the tyre plugging threads again, whack me!

Went to the garage yesterday to check the tyre pressure in preparation for today... 36 front and 12 back! Turns out there's a rusty nail in the rear, luckily in the centre of the tyre - so I'll be riding with two plugs (2500m on the tyres).

If I only kept my mouth shut!

Few months ago I was just about to wash my bike after a ride. Suddenly I hear a hiss... thinking bollocks, something happened to the gas meter or pressure reducer (gas meter is on the side of my driveway). Found the key, checked everything, all good - and the hissing noise stopped. Washed the bike down, popped off centre stand and... wtf? Can't push into the garage!

Turns out I picked up a big flint in the rear tyre on my way home. Bought a Gear Gremlin kit -takes 3 minutes to fix the puncture!

4 hours ago, fullscreenaging said:

 

I have found if I start getting quotes a full month or the earliest you can in the comparison sites (usually 30 days) I tend to get better prices the earlier I take out the insurance. 
My insurance is due early March and I paid for it early Feb. 

Exactly, start as early as you can - prices are different. Having too many toys makes it difficult to remember which insurance ends when...

Ok, in that case I'll finish off the can of C2 lube and then switch to my gear oil. What type of paraffin/kerosene for cleaning?

And on China - they make stuff as good/bad as you want. If someone's not experienced enough in offshoring that they let China CEM do what they want, then they get what they deserve. There's a skill to running this well...

I got fed up with chain rust forming whenever I leave the bike for a few days. I'm using Motul C2 lube and their cleaner.

Is this normal that you'll clean and lube the chain, then leave it for a few days and it has (hopefully only surface) rust? WTF is happening with this lube once it dries, that it lets rust in? It's effing sticky in all the places that don't matter, and it's not present in the outside sides of the links -where the rust annoys my eyes!

What to do? Move to hydraulic oil? I have a bottle of Quiksilver marine gear oil for my outboards...

I don't mind going to the garage with a pint, for a quick maintenance job, but this rust is getting on my nerves now!

PS: chain and sprockets are new, 2.5k miles, less than 6 months. It's a "non-gold" chain.

On 31/01/2021 at 15:29, dynax said:

 

Give them a one way trip to the middle of the Atlantic

Waste of wind/fuel/bourbon - they won't appreciate it. Me, on the other hand...

On 08/01/2021 at 21:25, Bungleaio said:

 

For camping on the bike I have a MSR pocet rocket 2. 

 

So basically that's a jetboil burner with the top detached 

Thanks for sea to summit set suggestion - that's something in missing. I have Cadac Safari for cooking, works well with the car, need something smaller for bike trips.