And today's commuting highlight is...

[terry tibbs]

myvision said:

bh in a car that swerved at me in Barking forcing me nearly into a head on guess what was in the stupid cows right hand.

mmmmmmmmmmm vibrator

[sjtscott]

lindrup119 said:

Nothing exciting today. Just a guy on a ZZR1400 who refused to let anyone filter faster than him despite checking his mirrors a fair bit, and then didn't thank any of the cars/vans that pulled over so that he could wobble and tip toe on through. Really isn't difficult and when you're already going so fking slow it's not gonna hold you up much.

I see a guy on a met green zzr14 almost everyday that fits that description. He is really poor at filtering and provides a mobile roadblock to the other bikes who can make better progress.

[black-k1]

5 degrees when I left home this morning. I used the heated grips for the first time this season. Still it was a beautiful morning once the sun started to rise.

[ClaphamGT3]

Monday's green ZX10 rider between Brixton Hill and Oval who was wearing a suit and tie and insisted on pulling a pointless stoppie at every single red traffic light was a bit special....

[3DP]

ClaphamGT3 said:

Monday's green ZX10 rider between Brixton Hill and Oval who was wearing a suit and tie and insisted on pulling a pointless stoppie at every single red traffic light was a bit special....

Every stoppie is pointless, but also awesome. Plus if the worst happens you get to see an epic faceplant. Basically a textbook win, win.

[CAPP0]

black-k1 said:

5 degrees when I left home this morning. I used the heated grips for the first time this season. Still it was a beautiful morning once the sun started to rise.

x degrees when I left home this morning. I used the heated seat* for the first time this season. Still it was a beautiful morning once the sun started to rise.

Twas a really nice ride in..






* and it was fantastic! Worth the price of the bike!

[308mate]

Joined the A3 today and started filtering at the reduction to two lanes, chappie appears instantly in my mirrors (and I thought I was making decent progress), so I wave him by. Catch up with him approaching New Malden and as soon as he sees me in his mirrors he is in them constantly, checking to see where I am and a bit frantic in his manner. At Richmond Park lights, his elbows are out, ducking and diving again like a mad man between traffic. Gave him plenty of room as I didn't want him to think I was putting him under pressure and he was clearly of that mentality. 10 seconds later I popped through a gap to find him rolling across the lane with his bike on its side and a van parked over the back wheel. Looked like he had clipped a car in front then bounced off it and ended up in the next lane where the van couldn't stop before being on the bike. He was fine, quickly got up and was trying to pick the bike up. Its not a race lad.

On a brighter note was two weeks ago, going west on Cannon Street just before the station. 5:15pm, busy as hell, road and sidewalk are packed and there is a chap who must be 48 - 52 yrs old, tall bloke but not in the best shape, pasty skin, going for a jog. No big deal except this guy was wearing a tight black lycra top and a pair of black lycra hotpants, the kind that the wearer's buttocks hang out the bottom of.

Edited by 308mate on Tuesday 27th September 08:44

Edited by 308mate on Tuesday 27th September 08:45

[Alex@POD]

308mate said:

No big deal except this guy was wearing a tight black lycra top and a pair of black lycra hotpants, the kind that the wearer's buttocks hang out the bottom of.

Today started well, despite the train commute (though it's really nice compared to train commutes in London), then you had to go and put that image in my head!

Can't even go for a ride tonight to make up for it!

[black-k1]

I pumped my tyres up last night as the pressure monitors were saying the rear was a little low. I went to set off for work this morning and the monitors said the rear was still a little low! I pumped it up again before leaving home and sure enough, by the time I got to work it’s down 0.3 bar. Looks like it’s a slow puncture!!! A real pain as the tyre only has about 1000 miles left in so is probably not worth getting repaired! Ah well! Looks like lunch time will be at the tyre fitters!

[308mate]

black-k1 said:

I pumped my tyres up last night as the pressure monitors were saying the rear was a little low. I went to set off for work this morning and the monitors said the rear was still a little low! I pumped it up again before leaving home and sure enough, by the time I got to work it’s down 0.3 bar. Looks like it’s a slow puncture!!! A real pain as the tyre only has about 1000 miles left in so is probably not worth getting repaired! Ah well! Looks like lunch time will be at the tyre fitters!

Mine lose 0.1 bar about every month, I've noticed. The TPMS also appears to under read against the forecourt machine by 0.1-0.2 bar. They also go up by 0.1 as they get some temperature in them. This morning I set out at 2.3 and 2.7, they will be at about 2.4 and 2.8 after about 4 miles. On Saturday I inflated them to 2.5 and 2.9. They read under that immediately, according to the bike. 0.3 in a single trip though isn't good news. Very annoying that BMW didn't include a simple conversion feature to put them in psi but I suspect its because they're not accurate enough to warrant that level of granularity.

[black-k1]

308mate said:

black-k1 said:

I pumped my tyres up last night as the pressure monitors were saying the rear was a little low. I went to set off for work this morning and the monitors said the rear was still a little low! I pumped it up again before leaving home and sure enough, by the time I got to work it’s down 0.3 bar. Looks like it’s a slow puncture!!! A real pain as the tyre only has about 1000 miles left in so is probably not worth getting repaired! Ah well! Looks like lunch time will be at the tyre fitters!

Mine lose 0.1 bar about every month, I've noticed. The TPMS also appears to under read against the forecourt machine by 0.1-0.2 bar. They also go up by 0.1 as they get some temperature in them. This morning I set out at 2.3 and 2.7, they will be at about 2.4 and 2.8 after about 4 miles. On Saturday I inflated them to 2.5 and 2.9. They read under that immediately, according to the bike. 0.3 in a single trip though isn't good news. Very annoying that BMW didn't include a simple conversion feature to put them in psi but I suspect its because they're not accurate enough to warrant that level of granularity.

Mine fluctuate a fair bit too as the tyres (and the outside temperature) warm up. I tend to take no real notice of the actual numbers other than to see that they stay "about the same". Over the last couple of days I’d noticed that the rear was going down slightly but not coming back up, hence the pump up session last night.

I did read that the CPU attempts to use the current tyre pressure and the current air temperature to give what it thinks the pressure would be if the air temperature was 20 degrees. I’ve never pressure checked my tyres when they were cold and the air temperature was 20 degrees to see if they TPM is actually accurate!

[TomMcqueen]

Having recently done the trade-up of a lifetime.

Exchanged my 79 Z650 for a 79 XS 650 in waay better nick.

I got to really stretch it's two legs on the way to work this morning.

It was cold, it was humid and I was freezing my tits off, but it was awesome!

[CAPP0]

Once again: if you simply MUST commute, during peak rush hour, with panniers big enough for a fortnight's holiday, with a female pillion (sorry Mitz), then FFS get out of the way, don't sit at the front of a queue of bikes trying to squeeze through an 8ft gap.

[kiethton]

Been off the bike for a month now following an argument with a power drill, screws are in and I'm starting to get some movement back in my fingers but my tax, MOT and CBT have expired...bks....

Looks like I'm stuck on the train for a few more weeks!

- separate note, anybody know of a decent garage in Bromley/Lee/Beckenham that can give the bike a full service (all filters, plugs, oil), fix my shifter/linkage problem and out it through an MOT?

[trumptriple]

I've used these guys a couple of times, they're very friendly and not that far from you. I've seen the place at the end of Orpington high street but never tried it.

http://www.mhmotorcycles.co.uk/

[kiethton]

trumptriple said:

I've used these guys a couple of times, they're very friendly and not that far from you. I've seen the place at the end of Orpington high street but never tried it.

http://www.mhmotorcycles.co.uk/

Thanks, waiting on a call back

[CAPP0]

kiethton said:

trumptriple said:

I've used these guys a couple of times, they're very friendly and not that far from you. I've seen the place at the end of Orpington high street but never tried it.

http://www.mhmotorcycles.co.uk/

Thanks, waiting on a call back

Never used them myself but they do come highly recommended, especially by all the trafpol at Catford (for their personal bikes).

[3DP]

trumptriple said:

I've used these guys a couple of times, they're very friendly and not that far from you. I've seen the place at the end of Orpington high street but never tried it.

http://www.mhmotorcycles.co.uk/

I needed a front tyre fitted to a loose front wheel on my R1 (my usual guys was away) and took it to the place at the end of Orpington highstreet. They butchered the rim and charged me £15 for the privilege. Literally an 8" gouge on lip through paint and alloy....

[308mate]

....a considerable weave whilst banked right over at about a buck and ten and having a play with a fireblade, because 308 was in race mode and his suspension was in comfort mode. The RT was no match on the tonne-plus peak hour slalom.

• this never happened. Obviously.

[CAPP0]

308mate said:

....a considerable weave whilst banked right over at about a buck and ten and having a play with a fireblade, because 308 was in race mode and his suspension was in comfort mode. The RT was no match on the tonne-plus peak hour slalom.

• this never happened. Obviously.

There are a few bends on my commute where I find it jolly amusing indeed to blat around the more fancy tackle with the RT on it's ear