Nob of the Day.......

[peepae]

I vote myself as nob of the day.

 

still getting used to the height of the GS and always taking my butt of the seat to put a foot down - setting the scene: a road I don’t know very well in Brighton, steep hill with a light. Massive amount of pot holes.

 

car in front of me stops abruptly even though the light is green, I brake hard, haven’t had time to check the ground, I go to put my foot down, the ground is not there and it’s straight into a pretty deep pothole - my foot hits the ground I can feel I’m unable to keep the bike up and down it goes in slow-motion..

 

Only some bar end damage luckily, I have felt uncomfortable with hill stops on this bike so need to practice it I guess.

[husoi]

That reminds me when I had my Africa twin.

Fantastic bike, a nightmare for my wee legs

[peepae]

2 minutes ago, husoi said:

That reminds me when I had my Africa twin.

Fantastic bike, a nightmare for my wee legs

Yep… seat height on this one is 895mm, I can just flat foot the Africa twin but not this one… 

 

insurance didn’t allow me to get the 1100 AT though

Edited May 31, 2024 by peepae

[husoi]

15 minutes ago, peepae said:

Yep… seat height on this one is 895mm, I can just flat foot the Africa twin but not this one… 

 

insurance didn’t allow me to get the 1100 AT though

I solved the problem by undoing the nut that holds the spring.

The whole thing come down just enough to have both feet on the ground.

 

[bonio]

I know that feeling @peepae, and it's not a great one  

After three years riding the TV at standard height, I've had it lowered an inch. Now if I shift to the left I can get at least one foot flat down, and I feel a lot more confident stopping on uneven surfaces. 

[peepae]

2 hours ago, bonio said:

I know that feeling @peepae, and it's not a great one  

After three years riding the TV at standard height, I've had it lowered an inch. Now if I shift to the left I can get at least one foot flat down, and I feel a lot more confident stopping on uneven surfaces. 

If I had the low seat (870mm) I’m pretty sure I could’ve saved it, I was so so close but just had to bail out before my foot got stuck underneath it 

[S-Westerly]

Been there and done it on the Multistrada.  Put my foot down on a slope and slowly tipped over as my 30 inch inside leg couldn't reach the ground. So annoying!

[Bender]

On 28/05/2024 at 15:36, S-Westerly said:

Once upon a time I worked for Exxon and I was supposedly top of the promotion list. I was summoned to the office for what was supposed to be my promotional briefing but instead was told it was on hold due to my having had a furious row with the Master on my last ship. (He was wrong and I was right as it eventually transpired). So I wrote a resignation letter on the spot. Got another better paying job with a German company within 4 days and got promoted by them a year later. 

Did the master go on to pilot the Exon Valdez by any chance  

[S-Westerly]

21 minutes ago, Bender said:

Did the master go on to pilot the Exon Valdez by any chance  

No this was a few years after and on the non US flag ships.Valdez was entirely American. She ended her days renamed as the Exxon Mediterranean and running into Fawley. Used to give the local Greenpeace people conniptions. 

[S-Westerly]

The complete ar*ehole who let their dog harass a heifer which in its panic broke its leg badly (bone sticking out) and then had to be shot by the farmer. £2000 of Friesian cow gone. We own dogs but would never let them do that shit.

[Simon Davey]

13 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

The complete ar*ehole who let their dog harass a heifer which in its panic broke its leg badly (bone sticking out) and then had to be shot by the farmer. £2000 of Friesian cow gone. We own dogs but would never let them do that shit.

 

It boils my blood.

I see this so often in the farming press, and the dog owners almost always get away with it.

 

[S-Westerly]

4 hours ago, Simon Davey said:

 

It boils my blood.

I see this so often in the farming press, and the dog owners almost always get away with it.

 

I'm a dog lover and we have had many dogs over the years and they never worried farm animals. I had a labrador that when a pup got off the lead and chased a sheep. I lathered him brutally and after that he would not "see" sheep at all.

If I was a farmer who'd lost stock to out of control dogs I would shoot any off lead dog I saw on my land and the owners could Foxtrot Oscar.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I have a very old textile jacket which is my usual daily chuck it on and head out to work kit. Over the years it has got very disreputable and isn't much use in anything more than a shower. Back in days when we used to get a summer it was a bit too warm when things got hot.

 

Last night I decided to pull out the armour, risk it in the washing machine and then try treating it with waterproof spray. 

 

Whilst dismantling it I discovered various zips I had never noticed. Upon opening  said zips I discovered no less than 6 air vents I never knew I had. 

Edited June 14, 2024 by Mississippi Bullfrog

[Shepherd]

I'm the nob - again. Not today, but I forgot to post this when it happened recently. 

Before an Essex to Derbyshire ride I fitted some 90° valve thingies, as it's so bloody hard getting the pump hose on to them with the disks in the way, I lose more air than I put in.

Returned to hotel car park next morning to find completely flat front tyre. The 90° adapter had worked loose, letting all the air out.

Pushed the bike around half a mile to garage with an air line, bearing in mind I was on the Deauville which is a beast to move on inflated rubber.

 

What really made it worse was that I had those little gas cylinders in the top box, but because it was just flat and not a puncture, it didn't occur to me to use them 

 

Bike is now on ebay

[Tinkicker]

I usually kick myself up and down for  being a knob every day.  Thats OK because it focuses the mind on being better tomorrow..

 

Simple matter is that life decrees.. If you do not feel like a knob now and are feeling pleased with yourself, fate will laugh and turn you into a complete bellend tomorrow.

[Fender1515]

I claim Nob of the day, week, year!

So we are taking a few days off for  trip up to the borders in the car, the day after we get back we are taking a bike ride through the Peak District.

Car has half a tank of fuel,  bike has 1/3 tank of fuel, when I do a long trip I try to remember to out quality fuel in the car, V-Power or.., because I believe it does some good in cleaning filters injectors etc, this is not a thread hook to discuss if that's borrocks or not.

So I set off in car with green fuel can, at petrol station, fill up green can with E5 expensive stuff, put pump nozzle into car and continue filling up with 25 Litres of fuel into my 50Ltr tank, It's a diesel engine!!!!!!!

Can't believe I am such a dick,  call AA, good news, my policy covers me for (being a dick) cleaning out tank, two hours later, all sorted, car ran fine for the 500 mile trip.

So question, did I tell her ?

 

[Simon Davey]

5 minutes ago, Fender1515 said:

I claim Nob of the day, week, year!

So we are taking a few days off for  trip up to the borders in the car, the day after we get back we are taking a bike ride through the Peak District.

Car has half a tank of fuel,  bike has 1/3 tank of fuel, when I do a long trip I try to remember to out quality fuel in the car, V-Power or.., because I believe it does some good in cleaning filters injectors etc, this is not a thread hook to discuss if that's borrocks or not.

So I set off in car with green fuel can, at petrol station, fill up green can with E5 expensive stuff, put pump nozzle into car and continue filling up with 25 Litres of fuel into my 50Ltr tank, It's a diesel engine!!!!!!!

Can't believe I am such a dick,  call AA, good news, my policy covers me for (being a dick) cleaning out tank, two hours later, all sorted, car ran fine for the 500 mile trip.

So question, did I tell her ?

 

 

I reckon you had to tell her, or find a really good excuse for being gone for so long. 

[rennie]

I'd have fessed up 

[husoi]

Me today

 

Went to plug the pan on the Oxford trickle.

The damn thing didn't want to fire up. Tried a second mains cable and nothing.

Took the charger to the bench, dismantled it and notice the mains plug was a wee bit wobbly. Got the soldering iron and melted the old solder adding new one.

Plugged to the mains and worked.

Went back to the bike, plugged and nothing

Went to check the socket where the extension lead was plugged and the idiot who plugged to the wall had turn off the switch....

[Fiddlesticks]

Only one muppet deciding to pull out on me today. In about seven hours of riding (interspersed liberally with breaks) that's not too bad.  Too ashamed (or clueless) to acknowledge my couple of pips of the horn, staring straight ahead like I just didn't exist

I gotta get that horn sounding a little less like it's under water. Bad earth, over tightened or summat...

[RideWithStyles]

[Fozzie]

A couple today.

 

Had a BMW cut in front of me from the left. Two cars ahead of me moved to the right to take a right only lane, and he was marginally ahead. As I accelerated into the now cleared lane, he floored it and cut in. I had to brake to avoid hitting his rear quarter. When I beeped, he waved his arm around frantically like he'd done nothing wrong, I didn't make any form of reply, just shook my head a little. We would have hit had I not been quick on the brakes. He then decided to make some obscure point following this by doing what appeared to be at least 50mph in a 30 area. Along a road primary school kids were walking. Nob number 1. 

 

Then a mile later, I'm steadily moving along. Move into the right lane to pass some cars, and there's a corsa behind me. I clear the cars and indicate, begin moving to the left, but the Corsa, having to go in the gutter and cutting up the person behind him on the left to do so, has floored it up the inside to undertake. I had maybe had the freedom to move over for 2-3 seconds tops. Again, I gave a 1 second press of the horn to say "what the hell". This chap then did some dodgy overtakes, and I carried on my way. I arrive in the carpark and I end up directly behind him, which I found a touch funny given all he did to make progress. He then races down the wrong lane at the multi-story to get to the next up ramp, and pushes in front of 2 cars. One of which beeps. He then speeds by a number of empty spots, goes up another ramp, and then throws his car diagonally across a family only bay. 

 

Bizarrely, he then didn't seem to be in any rush. We both end up waiting for the same elevator. I glare at him, he sees this, and he pulls out his phone and stares at it. I do hold the glare for quite a bit, just to see if he says anything. I catch the other chap who beeped at him smirking at me, who cottoned on to what I'm doing.

Seeing more of these types these days, the type that feel they have to "assert dominance" but run away the second they face any form of feedback.  

Edited June 20, 2024 by Fozzie

[S-Westerly]

Complete nobs both of them. Quite what they are trying to prove I've no idea. Small willy syndrome probably.

[Fozzie]

I feel like I've seen a real decline in just general behaviour in the last few years, it seems to really stand out since covid. But lately, with driving there has been a big uptick with lane hoggers, and aggressive driving. Confronting it with a quick flash of the lights or a blip of the horn, results in what appears to be a tantrum. Alternatively, you are cruising in lane 1, and come up on a car sat in lane 3, they do all they can to not make eye contact with you as you pass on the inside. Usually I give a slightly unimpressed look, and if they catch my eye they bolt their head forward, almost as if they're used to it happening. I've seen more right lane hoggers in the past year, than the last 10 combined, I'm fairly sure. No idea why it became so popular recently. 

 

If I get distracted and lane hog accidentally, and I'm flashed, I usually get out of the way and wave sorry to signal I don't usually do that. Must be exhausting to just think with your feelings and lose the plot over something like that.  

[S-Westerly]

Also a lot of lane 3 hoggers seem to stick at about 70 mph as if they are stating " that's the limit and I'm not allowing anyone else to speed." They are the ones who tend to react badly if you undertake them.