Capt Sisko

I'm currently doing training to become a National Observer for the IAM and one of the thing we've been told to encourage the 'associates' as we have to call trainees is to read the damned book! The observer ought to tell you what you'll be doing next time, bends, positioning, dual carriageways & motorways etc, so read the book beforehand and better still, go out and try and put some of it into practice BEFORE the next session. Trust me you'll get get much more out of the course if your do.

Sorry if this is going to burst you bubble of enthisuasm, but you've probably bought a dog in need a trip to the vets, possibly it's final trip. Crankshaft bearings are what allow the internal rotational parts of the engine (in this case the crank, which then has the conrod & piston attached to it)) to spin whilst attached to the none rotational part, i.e, the engine casing. The illustration isn't from your bike, but the principle is the same. I've highlighted the Crank Bearings and as you can see the other components spin on the said bearing. Obviously there's a bit more to it than that and of cousre these bearings can be replaced, but it's an engine out, split the engine cases and specialist tools job to extract & refit the beating. Doable but no cheap.

'Teyin Motorcycles' or whatever the official name is, never heard of them. Don't take that as an insult but one of the things the insurance industry runs on is databases & insurance groups. It may simply be a case Teyin Motorcycle or just your particular model just isn't on their database yet and the computer says no. EDIT. Just to add to your problem, if you ride through a low emmission zone something obscure may not be on their database yet either.

All insurance proposal forms have the same question. Something along the lines of 'Have you ever had an insurance policy cancelled, voided or refused?'. Your daughter needs to go back to the insurance company and ask exactly why the policy has been cancelled and put in a complaint/appeal if she thinks it's bad practice or their proposal questions were misleading. If it's not her fault they ought to reistate the policy, but either way get it all in writting and she needs to keep it. If it is her fault now comes the hard bit, insurance companies don't like people misleading them, they share their data and that cancellation will follow her. If in the future your daughter has now to say yes to that 'have you ever . . .?' question, and note the question is general, not just about motor insurance, then your daughter is going to find obtaining insurance both more difficult and more expensive to buy. The above sound a bit OTT and you may think it's only an insurance policy, but if that canellation goes on her record it could haunt her for a very long time. With accident claims the question is usually 'in the last five years'. That question on cancellation, voiding or refusal is 'ever'. Your daughter needs to take action fast and take it seriously.

The difference between the needs of us bikers and hikers/cyclists with regards to tents is our motorbiking kit. At the most the most bulky thing hikers have is a pair of boots and a now empty rucksack to carried their kit in to store. We bikers generally much bigger boots, plus a helmets, gloves and all the ATGATT kit, none of which rolls up easily. That kit takes up a lot 'indoor' storage space so to a certain degree the more space you have the better. Obviously you don't want to get too big & heavy, but I wouldn't get too concerned about buying a particulalry lightwieight tent, your bike is taking the weight not you. Within reason practicality of erecting, particulalry if you're on your own and ease of use should outrank weight, plus what I said about storage space being valuable. A tarp to give you a bit of extra under cover area ain't a bad idea either. The much copied tunnel design is a very pupular for good reasons. A good example below, but everyone offers something similar:- https://www.vango.co.uk/omega-250

See:- EU Dash Cam Legality

A bit tongue in cheek, but if you swallow your pride and accept a bit of mechanical help for the slope, a small 12v electric winch run off a battery might be the answer. That along with the wheeled stand will see your neighbours posting videos of you showing off on YT!

If you do this just be careful about what constitutes public access for these 'private' places. If it's got a gate on and you've got permission that's fine, it's 'off road'. However, just as you can be done for drink driving on a pub car park, traffic laws still apply to private grounds where the area has public access. Good luck.

If you get off your bike, take your gloves off, scan your clubcard and generally act like everyone else there is no reason for a garage to ask you to remove your helmet. However I can see why a garage would question someone attempting to refuel whilst still sat astride their bike, helmet & gloves on. You could be 'drive off' in seconds.

It's the same with my 12 bore. I can walk around the farm all day shooting pigeons and the like, but do the same in Trafalgar Square, which would be doing the public a service by controlling the numbers of pigeons, and the men with the blue flashy lights would be there in minutes. Never been able to figure that one out.

It's an unfortunate fact of life that some 125s they've been owned by a succession of learners, some of whom shall we say, may not have had much mechanical sympathy or money to spend on maintenance, so it shouldn't be a great surprise that it comes with a few issues. It‘s nothing new, the Nth hand Honda CD175 I had in 1978 was exactly the same. I was just another learner in its life and your bike at 13yrs old has already well outlived my old Honda so it can't be that bad. On the bright side, if you're mechanically minded or want to learn, this type of bike is a good place to start as the mechanics are quite simple & straight forwards. Buy yourself a manual, when you do stuff don't rush and don't be afraid to ask. We all had to learn at some point. Good luck.

And now the sun is trying to break through!

Well that's the good weather over in my cormer of Shropshire. The dots are lightning strikes in the last half and hour or so, plus of course the accompanying rain.

Put simply, in an accident that seam would tear and bang goes your protection. Post accident and if you wanted to make a claim for compensation, that involves an expensive experts report. Prior to an accident, it's just a case of, look this isn't good enough. Return it.

I don't see why it shouldn't work. They are designed to work doing a wet job and on the Ryobi one I've got the battery is in a sealed up box. Obviously salt water is far more corrosive that fresh, but they're designed to accept chemicals, i.e. snow foams and as with all these types of thing, there's so littal 'metal' in them anyway. If you think the salt water might affect it, just run some fresh through it as the last thing you do. Given that Boat is also short for 'Break Out Another Thousand', a hundred quid for a cordless jetwash from a known make is quite cheap.