Throttled

I rarely commute, but I do not put my bike away for the winter. A ride on a clear, dry winter's day, with my thermals and heated grips on, is a joy.

During our annual visit to Yorkshire, I got a Penalty Charge Notice for parking on a raised area of road, which according to Scarborough Council is a crime under Sec 86 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (which does not apply in Scotland). The raised area of road was marked with 20mph markings on the road and 20mph signs and was one of three where we were staying that was near to a primary school. I thought it was only to show where the 20mph zone started and ended, I did not know it was a no parking place. I have pointed out that section 243 of the Highway Code they quoted is about dropped kerbs and this was not a dropped kerb. I have pointed out that there was still space for pedestrians, prams and motobility scooters to get past the car. I have pointed out there was no white line to indicate no parking, which they suggest was there. I have pointed out that nearby were various signs and road markings to show no parking, so why was there nothing where I parked? I have pointed out that there was nothing to show I was in a "Special Parking Area". They want £35, or £70 if I pursue this further. Is this a serious thing that could get very expensive if I fight it? Or is it a bluff that carries little to weight? I am not a crusade to take on a council and rack up lots of bills to fight £35. But I don't want to pay for parking where there was nothing to show that I should not have parked there.

The instructors at the local riding school wear a pinky/red coloured top and the pupils wear yellow. I had not thought about it before, but it does make them stand out more.

I think that after a few months, you feel it is still too much, then it is too much. You then need to decide, do you sell it or do you put up with the issues?

We were genuinely looking at holidaying there next year! But alarm bells began to ring with Trip Advisor hotel reviews. We are now going to peaceful Munich and regarding the police use of guns, check this amazing statistic; https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/german-police-used-only-85-bullets-against-people-2011/328297/ "German police shot only 85 bullets in all of 2011...Meanwhile, in the U.S., where the population is little less than four times the size of Germany's, well, we can get to 85 in just one sitting, thank you very much. 84 shots fired at one murder suspect in Harlem, another 90 shot at one fleeing unarmed man in Los Angeles. And that was just April." Good luck and that is just trying to dodge the police.

Whatever you do, try stuff on before you buy. Bike gear is very badly sized. IME I have tried on jeans that were supposedly the same size and one fitted better than the other. For that reason I would suggest as big a retailer as possible, such as J&S.

I would stay anywhere I was going to be worried about my bike.

A dealer told me his rule of thumb is the more torque and the larger the engine, the more miles expects a bike to survive with ease and that is due to engine stress.

Stenna Line ferries to NI tie your bike down in seconds very effectively. Last ferry I got had about 20 bikes and we were met by 10 staff all ready with the straps. Very impressive.

This is the nearest equivalent http://www.triketoursscotland.co.uk/tours.html I think a trike is ideal as two friends can go on the tour and it less intimate than sitting directly behind the rider. Better view as well.

Nothing more than insects on the bike, but the one right on the Adams apple hurt a lot. With cars I have hit pretty much every mammal and most birds native to the UK. I did manage to avoid the Wallaby on the Loch Lomond road.

Ferry over, the only biker and an odd experience of being for a time, the only European. The boat was full of Chinese who are daft on Game of Thrones and go by the bus load to see various sets and locations. Run to Westport, in OK weather. Then disaster. I find the back tyre is damaged. It has lots of little slashes and a nail in it. Goodness knows how it is still inflated, but I am not taking any risks and have to be recovered. I must have run something over, but not that I noticed. At least I had got to Westport and was able to arrange recovery from where I was staying, rather than stuck at the side of the road. Various phone calls and the ONLY places in the entire of Ireland that had a tyre of the size I needed, were in Dublin or Belfast. At least the place (Hursts) in Belfast is near the ferry and the famous H&W crane; so I made it back, just thanks to the recovery lots keeping my bike overnight on the back of the lorry and then delivering it at 0800 to the tyre fitters. Ireland's roads are great, petrol is the same price north and south and that Hop House 13, the lager made by Guinness rather nice.

x2.

Local councils have public liability to cover should they need to claim on insurance, but they operate with a huge excess whereby they will pay for damage themselves. If we have an accident, we are to take photos, get the other drivers details and fill out an accident form. The council want the option to repair any damage themselves without any claim being made.

Yeah, but cars are designed with a radiator size appropriate for their amount of grill. Which some motorcycle radiator covers do; and the rest are mostly mesh or grills, so they just let the air flow through.

Happy birthday. PS, glad we are not doing this for everyone on the forum anymore!!!!

The most any were in for repair was about a week. I would think any savings would be marginal, since the fleet is huge and it would be a full time job taxing, SORNing and taxing again, with potential fines to pay for getting it wrong. Plus, you only get full months tax back, so most of the time, you loose out.

They are insured, councils do a block insurance cover that covers all public liability. I was told that the person who had SORNed the vans had been disciplined.

I am doing my rounds as a meals on wheels delivery driver with the local council. I am in my council uniform, in a council marked "Community Meals Service " van. I was stopped and getting food out of the van to deliver to a client when an unmarked van appears and the driver shouts to me; "Your vans not taxed" I reply; "Its not my van" The diver replies; "It is your responsibility to tax your van" I see his jacket has a logo and it appears to be DVSA (it was DVLA tax enforcement out with ANPR checking for untaxed vehicles) I reply; "No its not, it is clearly a council vehicle, I do not have the authority to access council finds to tax it and in any case, it is the job of the fleet manager to tax vehicles" The driver moves off as I am talking to him, so I am now shouting at him; "Oye, stop, I am still talking to you!" He does stop and now he sees I am a bit pissed off he starts to call me sir; "You need to get that van taxed sir, please inform your superiors" He drives off again, with me now shouting; "They are not my ****** superiors!" I do my delivery and phone the office to say what had happened. When I get back to the depot, the manager asks again what happened and I show her how to do an online tax check. She discovers that a third of our fleet has been SORNed!!!! Some wag in the council workshops had decided to SORN any van sent in to be repaired whilst it was repaired, but had not declared it back on the road when it had been returned. We had been driving around in SORNed vans for ages! I get a replacement van to do my next run and in the street where I was stopped, a car has been clamped. I suspect I did not get clamped because it was meals on wheels and because I had become Mr Angry. Imagine that story hitting the news!

All car radiators are all behind covers as such and they work fine, so I do not see how fitting a radiator cover would stop a bike radiator working or reduce its effectiveness.

I prefer the wet paper towel method; soak the paper towel, lay it over the visor, let it soak off the crap and then dry with another paper towel.

What with work, lots of other stuff going on, not doing the challenge this year and no rally, I was facing no trip on the bike at all. But a short gap has appeared and so off to Ireland in a few weeks. The plan is home to Co Down and stay with relatives, then an overnighter in Westport, Co Mayo, back to Co Down and then home. Four days of about 6 hours a day riding, so quite leisurely. I have done the coast roads before, all round Northern Ireland and Donegal, so decided to stay in land and go to somewhere small and out of the way. So looking forward to this.

Yes, it is OK to look like a police vehicle, but you cannot behave as if you are the police. There is a US police car I see occasionally around Paisley, which is obviously not much like the Police Scotland vehicles, but you still do a double take.

I have not ridden many bikes, but even my three Kawasakis had very different engine braking characteristics. Your riding style will adapt. I preferred my twins which had a lot of engine braking.

The last time cricket was that interesting, Ian Botham was playing.