Fiddlesticks

Rain is a persistent bugger. I bought a Richa Typhoon one piece rainsuit. It looks rubbish and feels cumbersome to wear. In fact its only job is to keep me dry, a task at which it singularly fails. Have some different waterproof outers now. Maybe next year I'll go for the expensive laminated gear.

My commute is similar. Motorway speeds, for about an hour. Heated grips and seat help, as do hand guards and screen. Neck gaiter, skull cap, winter gloves with thin liners if cold. Then T-Shirt, shirt, fleece, down jacket if really cold, textile jacket, waterproof shell if wet. Jeans and textile trousers, goretex boots and army overtrousers if wet. The seat has a Cool Covers mesh cover - good for water drainage and hot weather but bad for cold weather. Textiles were from J&S - IXS Navigator - not the most expensive, but fine for what I need. They go up to 5XL.

Spent a bit of time today talking to the guys from Contra - a start-up electric motorcycle outfit based in Manchester. They've come up with this hand-built concept, which is going through the SVA process to make it road legal. It's a 125cc "equivalent", built around the latest gen Lithium battery tech. Some clever features, including being wifi-enabled, with AI feedback to help the newer rider improve his skills. Real-world range is around the 130 mile mark, with a six hour charge time. The comparison to petrol bikes in cc terms is a bit misleading - Contra have had to limit the acceleration on launch to something approaching a 650cc bike. In theory, you could reprogram it to derestrict it entirely. It would go like stink, but only for about 30 miles. Sounds to me like the plan is to stay niche - even after the transition from hand built to factory production in the UK. Quality over quantity, sort of thing. Easy to be cynical, but apparently they've roped in the local biker club to help test, and they all love it. Anyway, it made for a more interesting lunchtime than usual. Good luck to them. https://www.instagram.com/contramoto/

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Worth noting that driving licenses do expire when you're 70 years old, after which you have to self-declare fitness to drive every three years. Licenses can also be revoked on medical grounds. It's not foolproof, but as Thomas Sowell has noted, "there are no solutions, only trade-offs".

Here's another.. Thirteen quid motion alarm. Stick it under the seat and treat claims of waterproofness with skepticism.

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Slightly off topic but I have picked up plenty of small and not altogether useful things. Eg.a bike turntable made from one of these sandwiched between two pieces of ply: It didn't save a whole lot of time, but being able to ride in and out of the garage made me feel like I was one of the Thunderbirds. Edit: Come to think of it - it did allow me to put the bike width-ways across the back of the garage for a month or so while I had it all in pieces, so not altogether useless.

Good question! There's a comparison here: https://www.motorcycle.com/new-model-preview/2023-suzuki-v-strom-1050-and-v-strom-1050de-first-look.html

V-Strom 1000? https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/suzuki/dl1000-v-strom/2017/

Goretex DPM Desert Overtrousers. Got these to go over my drop liner textiles (they wet out after a while). A few mods - hot glued the fly and pocket slits shut for extra rain protection, and replaced the drawstring with elastic. £20 vs. two and a half grand on a new Rukka suit. There's something to be said for layering.

Here at Fiddlesticks towers, we set the cable company router in modem only mode, and use an Asus gaming router similar to an RT-AX88U for wifi (I'll update the actual model when I get home). You can daisy chain a second one if needed, but ours goes three floors up and through two solid brick walls, so no need. Update: Ours is an RT-AC88U - but they look pretty similar.

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Happy birthday!

Yes, tried that, but got the impression it was more of an inconvenience than anything. I've told them no thanks. Will probably do bits myself and pull in different trades as and when required.

I do get it, from the other side. You don't want to be messed around by non-paying customers. But when "I'll be in touch nearer the time" becomes "can you send me a large chunk of cash right now?" you do have to wonder.

Most jobs on the house I've done myself, but this one is a bit bigger, so we thought, stuff it, let's get someone in. It'll all be done by Christmas... First job - get three quotes. That's what everyone says, right? So we got a few recommendations at the local builders merchant while pricing up the materials and gave them a call. Of the three, two didn't turn up to the arranged appointment to view the job. No messages either. The third came, seemed knowledgeable, and gave us a written quote by email. No address or landline on the document. Bit of an email knockabout ensued. "Start date in two months... We'll need a bit up front to cover costs of materials.." (most of which are already on site). "Be in touch nearer the time about the first payment". Two days later: "can you send us one and a half grand please?". How far in advance do they buy their materials? Am I wrong to be getting bad vibes here?

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I recall the story of a science teacher who had a poster up in his classroom with the poem, Twinkle twinkle little star I know exactly what you are An incandescent ball of gas A million times our planet’s mass A little Baptist girl in the class piped up, "I don't like that poster" The science teacher peered over his glasses with a condescending "hmm?" "That's not what the stars are", she said, "that's what the stars are made of". "We don't know what the stars are." A more scientific statement had never before been uttered in that classroom . "And anyway" she carried on, "why should I believe what you say, when you're just a bag of carbon and water"? Made me smile, anyway .

Busy staggered crossroads on an A road. Old guy in an suv looks left, looks right, locks eyes with the guy on the brand new BMW sports bike... And pulls out! BMW rider manages to scrub off most of his speed, which fortunately wasn't too high anyway. Probable impact speed circa 10-20mph. Enough to render the bike somewhat shorter, and leave the guy lying in the road. I'm 4 cars back, people are looking after him, so I make myself useful and move the bike to the side of the road. And the thing starts talking to me. "We've called you an ambulance..." The future is here, folks. Anyway, he comes round and he's OK. BMW assist are still trying to coordinate a rescue effort. Old bloke is pretty upset with himself and most apologetic. Witnesses exchange details. The crowd start to dissipate. Turns out we work at the same place. Saw him later on and had a bit of an after action review. Conclusion: shit happens, wear your gear.

They have these curly yellow cables... Thinking about it there was this one time I didn't bother with it and.. Well, fortunately I was only pushing it out of the garage.

Now the hot weather is over, I've fitted some mesh seat covers to the Tiger. Not sure how they'll cope with the heated seat, but the idea is they'll keep the rain from pooling around me nethers.

Just why?

Ahh... Even so, might be worth a punt, cheers.