Tinkicker

Its here. Arrived sooner than was thought. Fairly quiet so far, but aircraft flying over the polar routes are being diverted away. Apparently its pretty intense up there. It is forcast to peak tonight and tomorrow morning. Clear skies tonight, so if you live in an area without a lot of light polution, you may see the northern lights over the UK.

In reference to my other thread. What is one to think about while waiting for a solar storm? Very generic terms.. Every situation is different. Of course, it is technology, specifically technology utilising low voltage and very low amperage in the home. Even more specifically, things connected to long wires. So you have a PC plugged into the wall socket and connected directly to a land line. Do not use it. Unplug it from the mains and remove the BT connection. Long wires act as a step up transformer that picks up the induction from strong magnetic fields and amplifies them. The longer the wire, the greater the power. All a ht coil in a car / bike is, is a very long wire wound into a coil. It generates 30,000v. The same length of phone line will do the same, given the same magnetic field strength. The PC power supply unit has some measure of protection built in, but it is not to be relied upon. High voltages can jump across on/off switch contacts... PC connected to the mains and using wifi from a router. Better, but do not use it, unplug from the mains. Wifi is safe for the PC but consider the router if plugged into a land line and mains.. PC connected via a surge protector and wifi. Better still. Surge protector should protect the PC but it is a one time deal. The surge protector will be toast.... Better to switch off and unplug it if you do not want to take the chance. Laptop on running on battery and wifi. Little risk. Touch screens may go crazy and become unusable ( my kindle suffers badly). Wifi routers running on fibre and mains. Risk is from the mains supply... I hope the above has given enough info on how to assess risk from a large solar event in your own home. For myself, I have surge protection, wifi and already have the funds in place for the previously planned upgrade to my PC. I will probably risk it if I get bored on my kindle.

Just removed the (extremely rare and expensive) CDI from the 175 and placed it in a biscuit tin with my spare VFR CDI and lodged the tin against a central heating pipe for a good ground. Overkill? Very probably, but for five minutes effort, worth it. The original VFR CDI is still left in place because: 1. It needs the removal of a lot of bodywork to access. 2. I do not really believe it will be damaged. 3. I have the spare...

Predicted to hit sometime this afternoon/ evening and be of long duration. Forcast to be a level four incident, the lowest rating being one and the highest being five. If it is this evening and into Monday, looks like the americas and eurasia have targets painted on their backs. Luckily we live on a very well designed spacecraft with very good defensive shields that will take most of the sting out. The expectation is minor power disruptions, radio blackouts and some electrical fires. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-severe-geomagnetic-storm-watch-effect-2-june-utc-day#:~:text=A G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm,later on Sunday%2C 1 June.

I think i shall name this thread " Lazarus".

Never rode a CF Moto motorcycle, but I have done around 6000km on a hired CF Moto 600 Quad in Kefalonia. Used to visit Kefalonia twice a year, same place called Trapezaki. I knew the owner of the local bike hire business very well. We were both motorcycle techies and both ex very devout off road riders. Used to talk about off road biking for hours. One day I went to hire our usual 300cc quad bike and was surprised to find a brand new 600 quad waiting outside. Deal was I could hire it for 50 euros more than the 300 if I would run it in for him. Of course. I was fairly easy with it and when I handed it back, it had just over 1000 km on it in line with our usual mileage. Never missed a beat. Last time I hired it, it had just shy of 80,000 km on the clock and still going strong. Never could go back to the 300... Oh my precioussssssss. Its only fault was that it dumped a fair bit of its engine heat over my left leg. Not something you want in 30c and above temperatures. The vid about the CF Moto 450 motorcycle is most interesting and mirrors my own findings with the quad. In case you were wondering, i hire a quad because T shirts, shorts and trainers do not sit well with riding motorcycles.... Vid..

Heads up. A couple of really massive ones happened yesterday and one of them is heading our way. Be prepared for electronic shennanigans at worst if it hits when we are facing it, and I hope we have clear skies, there is going to be quite a firework show if we are in the earths shadow. It is predicted to hit sometime from Sunday afternoon to Monday lunchtime. Edit. Now expected tomorrow. https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-activity-solar-flare-cme-aurora-updates/

I know that the mainstream market is down the toilet and dealers are struggling. I watch the bikes for sale on ebay very closely and nothing is moving there, be it a 2021 africa twin with luggage and low miles, or a top notch restored 350 LC. I do not "do" facebook, so no idea how marketplace is faring. My own beloved DT175mx failed to meet what I was looking for. Acknowledged to "probably" be the very best example in the country. In effect it is a brand new bike. Professionally assessed as worth between £6950 and £7400. I put it up on fleabay advertised at £6500, but knowing the market had softened, never expected it to sell for that. I expected to accept £6k and take the loss on the chin. Nearest genuine offer was £5750, a LOT of money for a DT175mx, but not enough to convince me to sell. All is not lost. In five years time, those teenagers who had one brand new at the start of their careers will be retiring at careers end with a lot of time on their hands, in many cases a generous pension pot and a healthy injection of nostalgia. They may also be lifelong bikers who are looking to offload their GS1300s and look for something a bit more easy to own and ride occasionally with a bit of rose tinted glasses thrown in. I intend to bide my time. When the world recession is over, the bike will only go back up in value. So how are the professional auction houses faring? I would advise anyone thinking of selling to hold on. A sentiment echoed on the vid.

Absolutely correct. It is ridiculous. The Construction and Use Regs forbid a screen in view of the driver that can play videos while the car is moving. However it does permit these " information screens". Watching a movie while driving is stupid but optional. However the manufacturers are fitting ever bigger screens that demand your attention. Interaction with them is still optional, but extremely compelling. Who wants to stop the vehicle to be able to change from a radio station to music on a pen drive? My PoS 2022 honda civic has such a screen. Full of unwanted " features" all accessed through the damnable screen. Climate control temp ok, accessible through a couple knobs under the screen. Turn the fan speed up or down? Nope, several screen menus to go through. Want to do it without taking your hands from the wheel? Fine, you are now peering at two spokes on the steering wheel as well as the screen.... What idiot dreams these things up? The owners manual is pretty much the size and thickness of an old style mail order catalogue and takes up 90% of the space in the glovebox. Impossible to buy a good car these days. Give me my old Capri 2.0S any day. A far better car than this modern garbage... And repairable.

Sudbury to a call centre in Delhi is quite a distance however... First chain of hoovering . Everything goes great.. Small outlay, little risk, despite the paypal payment. Second time, more value, everything goes fine with a small reward. ? Third time better still, everything great. Bigger reward. Fourth time, better still, lets make things easier in the future, need your bank details to streamline things. .. Fifth time... Empty bank account. I am a sigma male, so feel free to call me cynical...

I think all of these " features" you mention has a direct impact. Both psychologically and physically. ABS, Traction Control, Wheelie Control, Wet Mode ect have all contributed to a steady loss of essential hand eye coordination skills and general riding ability. Psychologically, riders will tend to rely on technology to keep them safe, falsely making them feel far more secure than any situation permits. This leads to less vigilance, forward plannng and longer reaction times. Also, all these features need constant attention in some form or another, all taking the riders brain and eyes away from the road. Even looking at the dash these days seems to involve squinting for long periods as the display is cluttered with this mode enabled, this feature on, that feature on its second setting, the satnav is demanding attention, appleplay is acting up... Even worse is you seem to often have to look at the switchgear to see what button to press. If you can sort this in a two second gaze at the dash, you are good. Most will take longer. In two seconds at 60mph, you have travelled 176 feet. That is a long way to not be paying attention to your riding. I may be a luddite, owning a few " vintage bikes" but my displays are simple. How fast am i going? A quick glance and eyes back on the road. Am I approaching peak rpm? A quick glance.. How about petrol? A quick glance at the fuel gauge. Fancy electronics and aids detract from riding in my view, not add to it. You are not riding a motorcycle, you are driving a two wheeled car. Until the brown stuff hits the fan and the four wheeled car wins every time. Also, the young thugs riding pit bikes illegally on the roads, dressed in hoodies and no helmet will contribute significantly... And what of the effect of electric bicycles? Are they, as " motorised bicycles" included in the motorcycle stats?

Joined six hours ago, 2 posts. That's a big ask. Payment by PayPal. More so. You certainly have a brass neck.

Agreed. Cannot abide the reptillian ahole that owns it.

Yup. A quick workaround. The aircraft I want is still unavailable. The sim is too unstable. This bird is a lovely machine but unfortunately far too slow for what I need. Still, it was on sale at a mind blowing £12. A no brainer. If I said you maybe saw one of them landing on a beach on a remote island in Scotland, you would know what it was.... A very rugged workhorse.

Its not the sump that is hard, its all the BS that fits tightely under the sump, preventing its dropping thats hard.....

I heard this the other day and was transported back in time circa 1980. Scene. Summertime, a band of brothers and a gaggle of motorcycles. Location: Back garden of a mates house sat on those aluminium deckchairs, Leather jackets removed and black T shirts allowing the sun to warm us (IIRC, mine was probably a Rainbow Rising tour T shirt - it was my favourite and worn till it faded and fell apart). Bikes in view parked on the driveway, a collection of coffin tank Yam RDs and Suzuki X7s. Just finished work Saturday lunchtime and gathered to discuss where we were going out that night and offering suggestions for the Sunday run destination. It was all so vivid, amazing what a piece of long forgotten music can do. Considered mild in those Rainbow and Whitesnake days, but still a classic tune.

I think it is stupid of the designers of these engines, not to include an access panel in the floor of the sump, directly under the strainer, so the strainer can be cleaned and checked for debris before the engine grenades.

Huddersfield. I am thinking Earnshaws Motorcycles. A very long established business with a good reputation. OR Huddersfield Kawasaki Centre. A similarly long established business with a good rep. DC motorcycles. Been around for 30 years or so. Used to be a motorcycle breakers back in the day. Reputation unknown. Rock up, jump on and ride...

Froggy is quite correct. Wet belt engine.. Main dealer servicing only and on time as they know the correct oil ect has been used during the service. If it fails during the warranty period then fine and dandy. It is after the warranty period that service history really becomes important when / if the belt fails before its stated time and you are pursuing a "goodwill" claim towards the cost of repairs. And never, ever ask for an engine flush at service time with a wet belt engine. Seems there is a growing feeling in the trade that it can chemically damage the belt. Engine flushes are BS and not required if the oil is changed regularly. There is also growing evidence that a regular oil change using the correct oil reduces the chances of failure drastically and many of the failing belts are a product of a poor servicing regimen. Many vehicles, serviced on or before time at main dealers are actually reaching their stated belt change interval. Wet belts. A product of the devil and idiotic politicians.

Public service announcement.. Yamaha Thundercat. A truly excellent bike back in the day, almost on par with the VFR750. A LOT of bike for not a lot of money, an excellent candidate for a light restoration. I would have had it myself if I had the room. Even better, it is open to offers... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326590664359?_skw=yamaha+it&itmmeta=01JVWDGK2VY7FQZF0RHWEADB45&hash=item4c0a520ea7:g:dYkAAOSwDrFoDNX4&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA4FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1e%2BjXmgp6Kz2RaDlpx5CYIlUmaULTl93fD7IFrSEsGF8%2BsFRBVZRrf6k41tfMtfLbh5PXlr8bK6kcurrYusGSik1V1r9d0NvCYfasz3%2F9Ucx2VvcL9B6tfgaQ6sA9c3ylVQD%2Bflw%2BSTsmjP1AjvYM9owd6Po7zBNDVAVJipJVealMTorx%2FhzttXbxz4r4umg1lH1Mn9AHSjISF1MVGPaHT%2FePpiNbVg5qoG8lcNeAW1tClDkq69gQfGlrXE9MREs66LaBwoc%2FycDLi%2BtT2TGK11|tkp%3ABk9SR8yxwo3fZQ

Give Bikesure a call. They do specialist insurance for modified, custom and one offs. You will have to speak to a person though. Not online.

May have been. However in those days my denim of choice was always wrangler jeans and levi jackets. In my new found nightclub lounge lizard guise however, I did buy a lot of stuff from Top Man clothes shop.

Isle of man TT races 1981.

Pics of me back in the day are non existent unfortunately. They were all at my mums and I have not spoken to her in well over a decade. A toxic narcissistic woman. I went no contact years ago for the sake of my sanity