Fiddlesticks

Went for a longish ride on Sunday. The first nob of the day was 100yds from home, thinking they could pull out on me from the right. As if to say, "you're only on a motorcycle, you don't mind if I cause you to brake suddenly so I can join this otherwise empty road, do you?" Standing your ground against 2 tonnes of entitled stupid is not to be recommended, but if you do find yourself, two fingers on the brake, pretending not to have seen an impatient Qashqai driver trying to bully you out of their way, it is kind of funny when they do that emergency stop halfway across the road. Second one was from the left. I'm doing a steady 30 on a long, straight road and they ploughed through a give way line without looking. Brake or swerve - never both. No point swerving either left to go behind them or right to go in front until I knew whether they'd gun it or stop. So kept the bike heading straight, towards the driver's door, slowing as much as possible. A series of short blasts on the horn. Finally they stopped. I let off the brakes, performed a fairly tight swerve around their bonnet and kept on going. Lastly, going all the way around a mini roundabout at a supermarket, back towards the petrol station. Did a right shoulder check and what's this? Some Volvo estate approaching from the opposite direction has decided to take a short cut, going the wrong way round the roundabout, about to wipe me out. This is where the acceleration capabilites of a bike can get you out of a tricky spot. My philosophical take on all of this: If the fact that some drivers appear to be idiots comes as a surprise, we may not have inferred all that was intended from the extensive hazard avoidance elements of motorcycle training.

In my case it was a cracked wire from the ignition barrel.

To complete the set. More from the XJR (Triumph is in for what I imagine will be a rather expensive service)... Pub #2 - Feline - Red Cat Pub #3 - Big Four - White Lion Pub #4 - Fish - Sea Horse (I checked Wikipedia - it is a fish, not a horse) Pub #5 - Insects - Grasshopper Pub #6 - Equine - Coach and Horses Pub #10 - Random Aminal - Black Toad

To celebrate the XJR passing its test... Pub #7 Bird - The Swan & Scaffolding Pub #8 Rodent - The Harvest Mouse

It can be a bit of a minefield. We were out of contract with Virgin and paying some ridiculous sum. I got in touch with their live chat to get back into some kind of an introductory deal. What I wanted was the basic 100Mb broadband only deal for the same price as a new customer. One message over the live chat every ten minutes, repeated questions just to delay the conversation, offers to me as a longstanding valued customer which were way less attractive than for new signups. Once it was clear they weren't going budge I gave them the 30 days' notice. Price came down a bit (but not enough). No, thanks. Price came down a bit more. No thanks. (Bear in mind, it took 10 mins for each message to come through). Eventually they agreed the cancellation date. A few days later got a call from a mobile number I didn't recognise. "Hiya mate, it's Geoff from Virgin Media cancellations here. Can I interest you in staying with us for under £20 a month?" "Too late. I've already signed up with Plusnet." I could have cancelled the Plusnet installation, but the moment had well and truly passed. For the landline , we've had IP phones for the last ten years, meaning you plug the phones into your internet router and get a geographic number from a Voice over IP provider. Charges are minimal. The other advantage of Plusnet is that you can use your own Wifi router and can order a fixed IP address for £5. Switchover in a couple of weeks, hopefully all will go well.

AA Sentry Box 372

It's a good point. My commute is probably too far for an electric motorcycle, but if it was local I might be tempted. With the Zero I think you'll also be free from road tax until 2025 (and then cheap rate). I've three MOTs and two services over the next couple of weeks, but I'm still not regretting the "having two bikes" thing.. yet...

Of course, there's always the problem of both bikes and whatever car you also own needing MOTs and servicing all at the same time. Ask me how I know.

Mythical pub...

My favourite band.. The musicians' musicians.. I love this lady...

With regards to @JRH 's latest pictures. I note with schoolboy amusement that Knob Hill goes both ways.

You could always weld a nut to the top of it and use a normal socket.

But basic physics? ... you can only push downwards with the force of your own weight. I can stand with my whole weight pushing down on the tine and it won't be enough on its own.

Pain has a funny way of making you re-evaluate your technique. I think I was snatching too hard to pull it forward off the stand. Also when pushing down on the tine I need to pull upwards on the bike to create an opposite force. Again, just a bit too enthusiastic. Bit of wood is a good idea, will use that one.

I need this on the Triumph, it's giving me back ache.

Genius!

Thanks. It works! Much happier after a few pulls of the lever and getting the back wheel on the ground. Very smooth gear changes. Other than a bit of oil on the chain it's done. Next step MOT.

All of those except for 44Teeth. Plus... Bikeworld Bikes & Beards /srkCycles Billy4Rocks Irish Rider Jon's Moto Garage Let's Ride Motorcycle Training MCRider Mikes FJR Corner (?! Don't even have an FJR) Moto Ecosse Moto Education Moto Madness Moto Stars Motorcycle PWR Motorcyclist Magazine MtnMoto Richy Vida

Edit: ignore - wrong kind of bolts.

It's fairly normal for test rides to have a "one year" clause, but some dealers will turn a blind eye. The down side is that this leaves you in the position of riding without valid insurance on the test ride so if anything happened it wouldn't be good. I went for third party fire and theft with pillion and commuting (bike is garaged) which wasn't too bad. Adding extra security features didn't make any difference to the premium. If you go down this route, the trick is to set your budget at a figure you could cope with losing if the worst should happen and you wipe out spectacularly (while still having a reliable bike).

Thanks Mickly, that would be just like me! No, it's fitted. It's trying to change gear (neutral light is going off when the gear lever is pushed down). Just not quite clicking in. I'll have a fiddle later on. I had dropped the oil for an oil change anyway, but I read somewhere you probably need to do the oil if you've had a leaky clutch cylinder as the DOT4 fluid can contaminate it. Didn't want to re-add it too soon.

On the basis that there are no stupid questions - I'll be the exception that proves the rule. I've just got the clutch slave cylinder rebuilt and back on the bike, but it won't go into gear with the engine off. Reasons I can think of: There's no oil in the engine. Put some oil in, start the bike and it'll be fine. I've stuffed up the rebuild somehow. Air in the hydraulics. The vacuum bleed tool is great, but it pulls air bubbles through the thread in the bleed screw. Thoughts?

At least no serious damage. Sounds like there may be a loose connection somewhere?

I wouldn't have thought so. Mine has had an Optimate attached for the winter. I'd leave it on for a few hours and check to see if all the lights are green to indicate a full charge. Then disconnect it and try to start the bike.

The clutch slave cylinder was already hanging off but the banjo bolt was stuck fast. Couldn't get the thing back on the bike because the piston was sticking out. Devised a cunning plan to hold it steady while I could apply some serious pressure. This worked, surprisingly, but no amount of compressed air based persuasion would get the piston out. Left it soaking in WD40 and started on replacing the front tyre. Got the wheel off, tyre came of the wheel easy enough. Balanced the wheel without the tyre and marked the heavy point. Had a bit of a brain fart and aligned the light spot on the new tyre with exactly the wrong point on the wheel - then wondered why it took 55g to balance the whole thing. Broke out the G-clamps again to re-break the bead and pinch the tyre while I spun it 180 degrees on the rim. Popped it back on, added valve core and cap, rechecked everything and it balanced fine. All back together now, only thing left is to get the clutch cylinder fixed, oil in the engine and a bit on the chain.