Throttled

Spray it with Muck-off. Wash off with this https://www.kaercher.com/uk/home-garden/mobile-cleaning/oc-3-16800050.html

I have quite a specific set of accessories needed to make the bike comfy and suitable for touring. My spend depends entirely on what the bike comes with in the first place. My most recent bike, the accessory spend was a superb £0, helped by being able to take some of the accessories off my old bike and transfer them to the new one.

My filtering tip is to get mirror extenders and have the mirrors set at slightly wider than the bike, so you know what can safely fit through. I adjust mine depending if I have my panniers on or not.

That you will need to get a MOT means you may as well get to a garage, get it serviced and then the MOT.

I did some assessment thing at school, to suggest a career and mine came back as a cameraman. It was suggested that was a good way to travel and to see the world, but be aware it may involve working in war zones! I think it came as a suggestion because I had ticked boxes such as travel, work outside, not afraid of danger. There was even a plan that I would go for some work experience at the BBC, as BBC Scotland was only a couple of miles away from the school. But if I could really start again, I would have done the law degree I was accepted for and become a lawyer, rather than a policeman.

Yep makes it sound terrible. https://www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/yamaha-bulldog/ This is a bit more favourable as a review I found that the more unfavourable a MCN review was, the more likely I was to like the bike. I love the look and nearly bought one, but touring and fitting luggage was too much of an issue.

I helped a pall do a light restoration on one that had been sitting unused for months, preparing it for sale. It was fine and appeared well put together. Think of it like early Korean cars, bland, but functional.

Mine have both been fine, I only ditched the first one because of a lot of use during the long hot summer and it went beyond being cleaned.....

The reviews I have seen were fine, I had a mark 1 and wore it so much it needed replacing, so I got a mark 2. I know they are heavy, but apart from that, I think they are great and the best of all the helmets I have owned.

Mg gear is all black, to be fair, and so is my bike I would consider a brighter helmet as that is the highest point and in traffic, the most visible part of you.

In this thread, the words over and used are being over used.

The whole point of cleaner is to break down the dirt and then both dirt and cleaner are washed off. There should be no cleaner or dirt left. So it does not really matter if you use fairy, so long you rinse it off at the end.

I apparently use the word "actually" a lot. I think it is because I like facts and often find myself correcting people, which I think of as important work. Other people's favourite words to me are "f**k off".

I have not bought one for ages and am happy with Visor Down https://www.visordown.com/

My Versys 650 was fine. Bough new and run to over 20k without much happening. The main issue was water got into the coils and they split and corroded. It always ran fine. The Versys 1000 has been fine as well, bought with 20k and now with 24k. The only issue was that the running light came out of its mount and the hot bulb melted a bit of the headlight casing. I replaced it with an LED. Both bikes have good forums and you will see there is not much about reliability issues.

Arguably :- why pay a cack handed monkey : frankly that's what some dealers are and at £70+vat an hour : to do when you can do it yourself .. unless its conspicuous consumption .. and there will always be supply where there is demand .. that's where i will buy from .. using my van again if necessary .. i fail to see the point in subsidising an uneconomical business .. not at my expense anyway.. My local dealer has winter labour rates that are lower due to lack of demand. Get your bike serviced in December or certainly before Easter when demand rockets as everyone wants their bike sorted after winter hibernation.

when they charge £150 for a basic service ie oil & filter .. £300 for something a little more involved .. + air filter and £500 for the valve clearance service .. add that up and compare the difference saved by using a non main dealer or doin it yourself .. your into pocket come selling time .. even with the added loss of no dealer service record ... Labour for simple jobs is often high because of all the parts that need removing to get at what is to be serviced. For example, changing spark plugs. In a car, most just need a simple cover panel removed (if anything) and that is it. Most bikes need at least the petrol tank removed and that can also mean removing fairing parts.

Congratulations to both and some cracking photos on facebook.

I know my local dealer well. The service pays for; 1 - the items used, oil, filters, parts etc 2 - wages and other staff costs like training 3 - the building and other physical costs That number 3 is not itemised on the bill, like parts and labour is, but it still needs to be paid for. 4 - a general check, which acts like a pre MOT, even if no MOT is needed, just to make sure the bike is OK. In any case, no garage would risk sending someone back out on a bike that say, has no working brake light. That number 4 on the list is very underrated and dismissing it as a visual check that is worthless is wrong. I know some bikers are better than others at checking their bikes, but to have someone who sees bikes every day and knows what they are doing have a look over your bike, is invaluable. 5 - VAT

New oddest gig ever, Massive Attack. No support, cheesy pop played for an hour instead. No communication from the band at all, not even a wave at the end. They played all the tracks off the Mezzanine album, interspersed with an odd selection of covers from others such as Bob Seger and Ultravox. At times we could hear music and vocals, but there did not appear to be anyone on the stage at all.

The last bike I bought was around £5k and then nothing on farkles, as it had the screen, seat, panniers, pegs, crash bars, fender extender etc I add to my bikes. All farkles are for making touring more comfortable.

The overlap for the cold also helps keep you dry and if you are in an accident, keeps your skin covered. When I had my accident I ended up with road rash on the side of my waist. So now I wear braces with the trousers (that do not zip onto the jacket) to keep them up.

I did the classic Antrim Coastal road in the car on a family holiday. On the bike I did a lot of the Donegal coastal road and a loop around Strangford Loch.

I have seen rechargeable battery heated clothing for bikes. What about a heated scarf or something like that to wrap the food in? I know the road you ride, have ridden it a few times myself visiting relatives in NI.

It is unusual to do it on a motorbike, but common on a pedal bike. The Highway Code does not advise on where to filter. So the police would not consider it as an issue.