Throttled

Royal Oak, Largs Black Bull, Ayr Horseshoe, Ayr White Horse, Dalrymple

Millennium Motorcycles in St Helens was good for a break, something to eat and lots of bikes to look at. I liked riding somewhere you could stop and eat.

You should be able to take the armour out of the pockets to see what it is like. For me, so long it is CE rated (which should be marked on the armour) and it fits neatly into the pocket it will do its job. Feeling good about your kit, the way you are riding and the road means you are going to be in the zone, where you feel good about your riding, you are riding well and within you and your bike's limits. When you clean your bike, do you wash the tyres to get rid of grease and then rinse them afterwards to get rid of the soap? How often do you check tyre pressure? Making sure your tyres have the best contact with the road is important especially in bad weather.

I was exactly the same as you. Riding a YBR in all weathers and falling off. Then riding a KLE500 in all weathers and falling off. Then I thought I had missed a patch of mud on my Versys and fell off. The cause is inexperience + bad weather + a bit of bad luck + speed (even if it does not fell like you were going very fast, you were for the road conditions) = accident. The solution is experience + a bit of good luck - speed = no accident. The best way to get experience is to ride and practice looking ahead for hazards and getting better at bike control, which is speed and balance. Did you have any or decent elbow armour?

There is a round-a-bout next to the Shieldhall test centre in Glasgow that has contradictory signs. The training school made a point of showing us how to negotiate it without failing. Your school should have done the same. There are only a certain number of routes the instructors can take to get in various types of road in the time limit. Good schools will know the hazards. That round-a-bout is a bugger. I would have taken the right hand lane to turn right. But when the keep turning right arrow appeared, I would have gone on round again and then moved into the middle lane. There have been lots of reports of round-a-bout accidents on this forum. The best way to stay safe is be prepared to abort leaving and go round again rather than dart off.

A self inflating ground mat will insulate you from the ground. Easter is the 27th March and that is the start of the season, before that and you may have problems finding a campsite that is open.

What does it say?

Turns out it was the side stand switch (again). The connectors were corroded and a quick file and clean and all has been fine.

Mine can be a bit sticky at times and is reluctant to select neutral. I just park up in gear, switch off leave it and find on restart it is fine. Almost like re-booting a stuck computer.

Has anyone any experience or knowledge of the effectiveness of tracking devices such as; http://www.biketrac.co.uk/ Their twitter feed shows that their tracker helps recover about 4 bikes a month. But we do not know how many bikes are never found or have the tracker. I like the idea of trackers, especially this one with a text alert, which means you could be back with your bike to stop the theft. I also like the idea of the thief being caught with the bike. But I have no experience at all of them actually working.

Make sure the police get the broken link. Be careful with it, it may be worth fingerprinting and checking for the tool mark.

Realising when it is best not to act saves lives.

Most people think they would be great in an emergency, but in fact they tend to just freeze as they do not know what to do. The police, firebrigade and ambulance are trained and practice to know what to do and not freeze. Well done you for being more like the emergency services and not freezing. In reality you do not want lots of people trying to help, they just get in each others way. It is also probably more sensible not to approach a burning car. As for people spectating, that is handy for the police as it is lots of potential witnesses are right there at the scene. An investigation into a crash can go way back in time, for example a car driver could see the aftermath of the accident, recognise a vehicle as one behaving erratically 20 minutes earlier and tell the police. People who film can also provide valuable evidence. Even if they post it on youtube, the police can easily get it to use as evidence. Youtube will take down videos and copy content to the police. The bad news is those events will stay with you forever, the good news is that time is a great healer and do take counselling. One session to discuss events can often be enough. Think of it as a critical incident debrief which the emergency services use so people can discuss events.

AMR in Renfrew. They just helped me sort my bike with advice over the phone. It is up and running again. They are also now official Kawasaki service agents, so st least that is covered again in the west of Scotland. http://amrmotorcyclesltd.com/

Very sad. Never saw him live, but had most of his albums and saw most of his films. He will be missed.

Last year (or maybe the year before) Balmoral castle was on the list. When I arrived I just rode right up to the entry kiosk and asked if there was a view to take a photo. They said no, but the nice man moved a sign for me and cleared some tourists so I could get a photo to show I had been there. Part of the challenge is to be creative and get as good a photo as you can. There should be bonus points for anyone who can talk their way inside one of the castles!!

The user manual will tell you how much oil is needed, overfilling can be as bad for the engine as not enough. The sump plug is the bolt under the engine to drain out the oil, I have never heard of one on string.

Hard to tell without seeing the engine.

It will not work with the rust, but you can get sump plugs with little magnets on them to pick up tiny bits of metal, floating about.

Since CGD217 got his good lady to hold the sign I have suggested she register as well. I don't know if she went as a pillion or not, but pillions can register and score points as well.

Happy New Year

I took the clutch switch off. It works fine, but was very dirty inside, so I cleaned it up. Then it started to rain, so I will refit tomorrow. I have also noticed that a cable tie has been put on so tightly round the handlebar it has cut into the cable sheathing leading from the switch. So maybe the wire has corroded inside.

I have edited the OP to make it clear I can select a gear with my foot, the cut out happens when I release the clutch lever with my hand.

I definitely selects first gear as I can feel the clunk and slight jerk, but when I try and engage the gear by releasing the clutch that is when it cuts out.

I did not know there was such a think as a clutch switch and I see they are very cheap. It is too dark now, but I will check that tomorrow.