PaulCa

Have you ever miss identified someone's driveway as the road if it's lit up? I had this once, it was a minor affair. However I have heard stories of bikers ending up skidding into people garages and even cars ending up trying to stop from 50mph in a driveway. I feel sorry for people who have driveways that lead straight on while the road turns.

A few years back they converted the lights on the main dual carriageway into my town LEDs. At the same time they installed this little black cabinet with a pole sticking out the top. Every single time since, that I drive past this, even if I look at it consciously and see it as a charcoal grey utility box on the central reservation.... my inner advanced driver starts shouting "Pedestrian!" I know it's not a pedestrian, but every single time I pass that box I have a pedestrian warning, every time I look in the mirror to confirm it was NOT a pedestrian. But tomorrow I will do it again. I have noticed this occasionally with other things. Like flood lights from buildings ALWAYS raising a "headlights, car on the right!" type alarms from my road sense. Am I alone?

Regrettably I don't think anyone has successfully simulated bike racing from a home entertainment setup.

I had a crack at this a few years ago. Online racing championships. It's great fun. You can play against the "AI" game generator racers all you want, but when you are sat in a grid of 22 humans. It's very different. Obviously, if you enjoy a racing game and join in online you tend to find the wreck fest public access servers. It doesn't matter how good you are into turn 1, some 12 year old will KKKKAAPAWWW! you up the rear into turn one, wiping out half the field. This is not the case in "private" invite only racers. If you do that on them, it's an instant ban. They even have stewards who watch replays. I used a VR headset and the first takeaway was, running 1 hour races, means for 1 hour you are stuck in the seat, with the wheel in your hands. There is not enough time in the mandatory pit stop to pee. Then they have the 1.5 hour at the ring with a reversed championship grid. Hardest 2 hours of gaming I have ever done. I think I came 3rd from 2nd last, but I was shattered afterwards. Here is a "long" video of the race I won in the season. I had this track and weather conditions (known in advance) nailed. I spend 20 hours practicing and setting up the car for the track and conditions and another 10 hours turning every last tenth out of the qualifying setup. The track started dry, but heavy rain. It was IMPERATIVE to get out quick on a dry setup and nail a low lap time. Unfortunately when I hit "DRIVE" I had a default setup, due to a bug in the game, but the time I cancelled, got back to the pits and tried again the track was soaked. I ended up 6th or something. The trick with this race and why I won it, was, through my practice I noticed how the wets wore, I also predicted people would run as long as possible, so I went early. Ended up nearly last. But came out in 1st when everything shuffled. It's long but enjoy. I add "Silverstone" where I came second as a bonus, though it is nearly as good a race.

Slipper clutch? If the clutch plates have dried out it might be "grabby" and the slipper clutch is trying to stop you stalling? I'm probably talking crap though.

Just gave the new bike it's first wash at 240 miles. A zero touch wash, just to get the road spray and muck off it. HP blade attachment at a distance to blast off the dirt. Very close range to remove bugs from the screen. Quick dosing with AutoGleam foam shampoo. Then a quick rinse. Ran it to come up to temp while I mopped up with an old T-shirt. Looks grand again. Although I am going to have water spots all over the gloss work. Shrug.

I rode scooters for ages on a provisional license. But, when it came to doing my test, I learnt on a manual loaned by the bike school. Then I bought a CG125, practiced a lot, like commuting every day, did another few lessons and did my 2 tests. I got a 500cc which was pretty much on the hp limit and just rode out the A2 restriction period and now I'm full A1 and can ride any bike I want. I mention this as the motorcycle license will be tagged "Automatic only" is you do the test on a auto.

I'm in the market for a new suit. Definately considering RST or RevIt. What do people think of daneasie? (sp?)

An invisibility cloak on a motorbike would be about as much use as an ashtray or a personal fan. I have black gear. I did augment it with a hiviz if I intend to commute or drive in low visibility or at night. Yet I know for a fact I'm still invisible. White helmet though. Bought purely on hi visibility and nothing to do with appearing in peoples mirrors wearing a hiviz and a white helmet making them leap out of your way on hte fast lane.

I might be a bit sick, but I always enjoyed the one on YouTube where the girl fell out of the straps on the elastic launch ball thing, like the upside down bungy jump in a cage. She slipped under the waste belt and had to hang on to the straps. Her companion just laughing hysterically and not helping at all!

Local government clowns have started emailing over half the population of Northern Ireland asking for highly sensitive PII (personal identifable information). Stuff like bank statements, passport, birth certificate. Only, they didn't. They got a little small 3rd party IT company to do it. So it literally looks 99% like a scam. When you phone up this 3rd party company handling the scheme the say it's legit, better do it, or you won't get the voucher for the scheme. It has no links to the government, no SSL certificate for same. It's not gov.uk. They threaten you with 7 days notice in bold red. The website to submit the information is public, makes no reference to the government. No Privacy policy, no data protection information, no terms and conditions. It really looks like a scam. Heads will roll. I've already complained to the ICO and the government department behind this as I for one will NOT be uploading that kind of data to a random 3rd party unless they at least look legit and act responsibly. </rant>

Would be interesting to do a test. 10 miles with it fitted, followed by an IR camera review of the wheel hub. 10 miles without it fitted and the same IR camera review. Note the black plastic will absorb heat from the sun, so it could get to 50*C or so, but I would expect wheel bearings handling a lot more than that and even starting at that temp cold they would be fine. Especially if the ambient is nowhere near that.

"If entering from the top of the sphereabout and planning on exiting at the bottom, please approach in the right hand lane and indicate down."

I've had to remove these 3M foam mounts like used by dashcams, helmet cams, go-pros. It isn't immediately obvious, but here are two ways. Credit card (or similar preferably an old one). You almost use it like a knife to scratch the gel glue off the surface, rocking it as you slide it under the mount, flat against the surface its on. The credit card shouldn't damage glass or paint work if you are careful. String, fishing line or dental floss. Just loop it round it and "rope saw" it off. This can leave bits of the foam behind if the floss cuts straight through the foam and maybe need to be clean up with a credit card afterwards. I think most gentle detergents will remove the residue, if any, with a bit of work. I wouldn't attempt to pull or pry them off with force, it might damage the surface, although twisting them off might work if a bit messy.

I bought a brand new 2021, Euro 5 bike. It has a silly lower belly fairing. I wondered why you would cover up the engine and hide it. Then I seen a picture of the front of the bike naked and ... nope. Put that fairing back on, it is ugly under here.

Given the extremely elevated cost of OEM parts, this is, in effect a profiteering racket for the auto industry.

On a slightly related topic, this just came up in my YouTube feed. That'll fix rush hour traffic rightly.... until there is more than one of them anyway.

One of the first things that struck me, pun intended, when I started motorcycling. Is just how hard the impact is when you hit a recessed drain cover at 50mph. It was around then I realised why motorbike frames and forks are huge compared to my mountain bike. I wouldn't want to hit too many of those a 50mph on a bicycle, not least one with a 30kg batter and a 10kg motor strapped to it between my legs. I've done 47mph on a mountain bike and the counter-steering force required to lean it into a tight corner is enough to flex the wheels. It's not fun.

I am coming to the opinion that us motorcyclists need to maybe step in and advise the up and coming electrically powered bicycles. Sure, the stated 250W limit is fine, for actual bicycles with a hub motor, but there are loop holes via the CBT route, and imported or custom goods, allowing motor specs similar to a 125cc.... however if a 125cc can deliver, say 14.8bhp at 7,000rpm. An electric motor can produce that torque flat from 0 RPM all the way to it's limited speed. That's a frighteningly fast bike. 14.8hp at 200rpm is a LOT of torque. Under 3 second 0-60 times. On a CBT. So the lines are blurring. I'm seeing custom 'bicycles' boasting 4kw and higher. That's 5 or 6hp, but with a solid torque curve from 0 rpm to near max rpm, it does 30-40-50mph. Yet it looks like a mountain bike with tundra tires. Of course it has pedals and of course the rider has no gear on. It has flimsy cycling forks, frame, brakes, normal bicycle spoked wheels. That said. Coming 'from' PTUs, some of them do sound like a right blast of fun. I'd be wearing my helmet and gear though. https://urbanebikes.com/collections/electric-motorbikes

More likely cursing the bike for not being able to go around a roundabout WITHOUT scraping the pegs.

Well done. Ride safe. As a note. Granted it was 19 years ago, but my first years insurance was £70. On a provisional license.

I was out for a blip taking the longest possible route to buy a 6 pack. I tried a roundabout at 30mph, following a Golf who was pushing it and no peg. So as I was feeling well in touch with the bike, I counter leaned slowly, but when full upright and bike down much more, still no peg. I still have 2cm of factory rubber. I tried again at a smaller roundabout on the way back after buying a 12 pack as they were on offer and throwing it in the top box. Entered for a 180 exit, leaned the bike in and got a nice smooth transition into neutral throttle, so again I counter leaned, put the bike down and started adding speed. No peg. I get the feeling I'm very close and I should just stay where I am right now, but do it more often as I become comfortable with it. And ... no. Having the 12 pack of beer transfer from one side of the top box to the other was... not helpful at all, but correctable. Also did some exercises, like sudden stops and swerves. For swerve practice when there are nobody about I switch lanes as quickly as I can. No peg. I have got a wobble out of the front tyre in the flick over if I'm too abrupt. Maybe I should start doing that slower too at 10mph rather than 30mph.

They are great but a little too off road focused for my liking. Soft diving suspension, weak single front disc. Forward tilted off road seat forcing you into the tank. Easy enough to ride. Bag of nails below 3k, but it revs to 10k IIRC. It pulls, but, you have to wonder how is only produces 38bhp. The ton is available, even after the suggested up tooth on the rear. It will wheelie, it will handle a bit more than a flat gravel road. It's almost light enough for off roading. I didn't do much more than rutted gravel roads to get closer to the mountain when hiking. Nothing too hard. Plugs and valves are a bit of a pain to get at. It's carb'ed and manual choked. Mine sat outside for 3 years, someone tried to steal it, shorted the electrics out, blew the CDI ignition and destroyed the key barrel. Got it fixed up again with a new key/barrel, but corrosion a dent in the tank, paint flaking I still got a good price for it, £1000. I think the dealer I sold it too would have a queue of 125cc riders dying to ride a big trailie and would sell it instantly.

Speaking of garage. Carole Nash gave me two quotes. 1 on the driveway. 1 locked in the garage. The only company that would insure it on the driveway the premium for full comp was £500.