And today's commuting highlight is...

[sjtscott]

CAPP0 said:

Same again this morning, took me the same time to do the last 25% of the A102 as it did the other 75% due to someone tiptoeing their way through. Other bikes were actually trying to pass him whenever there was a gap but he still didn't get the hint.

I had to follow Mr CBF600 with his top box very very slowly through the whole limehouse link tunnel heading west this morning. Apart from a couple of tight spots between trucks or poorly positioned cars his bike fitted through all the gaps perfectly fine he was just really really poor and lacking confidence in filtering i.e. he loved his brakes and ensuring his brake lights indicated this every few seconds. Anyway I hung back and as soon as we cleared the tunnel dispatched him and didn't see him again.

I'd love to know who the blue/silver K1200S or might be K1300S is I see when our commuting paths cross on around Tower Hill every so often. Even though you've got the small beemer panniers on you still can't fit through the gaps between the traffic past the tower of london down to lower thames street period so why bother, a top box would be more practical for the filtering bit in london. To be fair to him at least he got the roadblock nature of his wide backside and very kindly moved to one side (shockingly) to let the other bikes through this morning. Panniers and London commuting don't really mix I used to use a E55 maxia3 top box as it was more practical on my old blackbird with its sprung loaded mirrors being the widest part of the bike.

[Tribal Chestnut]

More fking filth. Photo doesn't really do it justice, but there's a big old smear right across the visor so did half the journey with it up and had to wash my face when I got in. Looked like I'd been green laning again.

Rest of the commute was fun though. A41/Brent Cross flyover was shut so lots of 'interesting' filtering required. One minor argument with a plonker in his car and one near miss as a truck mirror clipped my shoulder causing a bit of a wobble between lanes.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Friday 9th December 08:17

[308mate]

sjtscott said:

I'd love to know who the blue/silver K1200S or might be K1300S is I see when our commuting paths cross on around Tower Hill every so often. Even though you've got the small beemer panniers on you still can't fit through the gaps between the traffic past the tower of london down to lower thames street period so why bother, a top box would be more practical for the filtering bit in london. To be fair to him at least he got the roadblock nature of his wide backside and very kindly moved to one side (shockingly) to let the other bikes through this morning. Panniers and London commuting don't really mix I used to use a E55 maxia3 top box as it was more practical on my old blackbird with its sprung loaded mirrors being the widest part of the bike.

On mine, the panniers are no wider than the mirrors. So if the mirrors fit, the bike fits. They would catch on some tight turns though but actually, if you turn tight enough, the top box can catch on buses, vans etc too.

[CAPP0]

There's a team curry on tonight, and whilst the lure of alcohol was not great enough for me to attempt public transport, I decided that if I used the car instead of the bike, I could have a couple of small bottles of beer, and then, at 10pm this evening, it will take just as long to go back to the office and get togged up for the bike as it will to just jump in the car and drive home. I very very nearly convinced myself that the bike was still the better option, but oh no, I brought the car.

I left home, 30 miles from the office, just after 8am this morning. I've just got in....

Honestly, I use the car for work about once or twice a year, seriously. Every time I do, there's a massive cluster-fk on the roads. Today's is apparently something to do with the Canning Town flyover, so everyone's coming in south of the river, but just for sts and giggles, they've closed the slip coming out of the tunnel which goes towards the A13/Isle of Dogs. Hilarious.

I've now told MrsC that if I ever so much as glance at the car key on a work day again, she has to smack me round the head and flush the key down the toilet.

[Tribal Chestnut]

Driving into town on any other occasion than a school holiday is just asking for trouble. I'd have got the train. Or more likely not bothered going out. But then I'm a miserable bd, hence why I ride a bike.

[sjtscott]

308mate said:

sjtscott said:

I'd love to know who the blue/silver K1200S or might be K1300S is I see when our commuting paths cross on around Tower Hill every so often. Even though you've got the small beemer panniers on you still can't fit through the gaps between the traffic past the tower of london down to lower thames street period so why bother, a top box would be more practical for the filtering bit in london. To be fair to him at least he got the roadblock nature of his wide backside and very kindly moved to one side (shockingly) to let the other bikes through this morning. Panniers and London commuting don't really mix I used to use a E55 maxia3 top box as it was more practical on my old blackbird with its sprung loaded mirrors being the widest part of the bike.

On mine, the panniers are no wider than the mirrors. So if the mirrors fit, the bike fits. They would catch on some tight turns though but actually, if you turn tight enough, the top box can catch on buses, vans etc too.

Ok his mirrors stopped him fitting through the gap between the traffic then and it wasn't his panniers even though it looked that way to me I'd still have got my old blackbird through with its mirrors as the widest part and the 55 litre to box too. In any case a speed triple fits through even smaller gaps and he realised that.

[sjtscott]

CAPP0 said:

There's a team curry on tonight, and whilst the lure of alcohol was not great enough for me to attempt public transport, I decided that if I used the car instead of the bike, I could have a couple of small bottles of beer, and then, at 10pm this evening, it will take just as long to go back to the office and get togged up for the bike as it will to just jump in the car and drive home. I very very nearly convinced myself that the bike was still the better option, but oh no, I brought the car.

I left home, 30 miles from the office, just after 8am this morning. I've just got in....

Honestly, I use the car for work about once or twice a year, seriously. Every time I do, there's a massive cluster-fk on the roads. Today's is apparently something to do with the Canning Town flyover, so everyone's coming in south of the river, but just for sts and giggles, they've closed the slip coming out of the tunnel which goes towards the A13/Isle of Dogs. Hilarious.


I've now told MrsC that if I ever so much as glance at the car key on a work day again, she has to smack me round the head and flush the key down the toilet.

Oh dear.. Traffic was a complete cluster f**k tonight gridlocked from central London East.. My route home. It was slow painful even on my bike.. In a car you really weren't getting anywhere. When it queues both way round the isle of dogs it's super f**ked like it was tonight. No cycle no motorbike anything with 4 wheels going nowhere fast

[Tall_Paul]

Tribal Chestnut said:

More fking filth. Photo doesn't really do it justice, but there's a big old smear right across the visor so did half the journey with it up and had to wash my face when I got in. Looked like I'd been green laning again.

Rest of the commute was fun though. A41/Brent Cross flyover was shut so lots of 'interesting' filtering required. One minor argument with a plonker in his car and one near miss as a truck mirror clipped my shoulder causing a bit of a wobble between lanes.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Friday 9th December 08:17

Bah, that's nothing.

This was my visor after Monday mornings commute - the filth dried whiter than it was when actually riding, but yeah...



Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

[Mad Jock]

Tall_Paul said:

Tribal Chestnut said:

More fking filth. Photo doesn't really do it justice, but there's a big old smear right across the visor so did half the journey with it up and had to wash my face when I got in. Looked like I'd been green laning again.

Rest of the commute was fun though. A41/Brent Cross flyover was shut so lots of 'interesting' filtering required. One minor argument with a plonker in his car and one near miss as a truck mirror clipped my shoulder causing a bit of a wobble between lanes.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Friday 9th December 08:17

Bah, that's nothing.

This was my visor after Monday mornings commute - the filth dried whiter than it was when actually riding, but yeah...



Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

There is a gadget called "Visorcat" which should help with this problem. It's not for everyone, I'm sure, but the reviews are generally pretty positive.

https://www.visorcat.com/

[sjtscott]

Mad Jock said:

There is a gadget called "Visorcat" which should help with this problem. It's not for everyone, I'm sure, but the reviews are generally pretty positive.

https://www.visorcat.com/

Seems like a good idea but in reality conditions like currently are very rare - normally there is more than enough water falling from the sky.
I have a vee wipe which is effectively half of this without the liquid/sponge kind of thing. That does the job round town (despite others here on BB thinking they f**k your visor) when its raining.

Certainly when I've been touring before a bottle of windowleen and a roll of soft paper towel cleaning at every fuel stop did the job well

[Tribal Chestnut]

Tall_Paul said:

Bah, that's nothing.

This was my visor after Monday mornings commute - the filth dried whiter than it was when actually riding, but yeah...



Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

You win that one! I should've taken a pic on Tuesday. That was atrocious.

[308mate]

Tall_Paul said:

Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

Behold the rise of the RT!

Cleaned my visor twice last week, in 320 miles.

[CAPP0]

308mate said:

Tall_Paul said:

Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

Behold the rise of the screen of the RT!

Cleaned my visor twice last week, in 320 miles.

I had a day working from home last week and read some of this, then I set off the next day with some trepidation and a bit of wet kitchen towel.

Needn't have bothered

(PS: Pete, you were saying something recently about sliding around a bit? Mine's on PR4s, bit squared off now but has definitely not slid at all in the past few weeks).

[Tall_Paul]

308mate said:

Tall_Paul said:

Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

Behold the rise of the RT!

Cleaned my visor twice last week, in 320 miles.

Yeah I realised just how nice a big screen is when test riding an Africa Twin with the taller screen - 80mph and visor up with the wind going over the top of my helmet was awesome.

[308mate]

CAPP0 said:

308mate said:

Tall_Paul said:

Naked bikes in winter suck. I've decided I want a new commuter with a big ass screen next winter.

Behold the rise of the screen of the RT!

Cleaned my visor twice last week, in 320 miles.

I had a day working from home last week and read some of this, then I set off the next day with some trepidation and a bit of wet kitchen towel.

Needn't have bothered

(PS: Pete, you were saying something recently about sliding around a bit? Mine's on PR4s, bit squared off now but has definitely not slid at all in the past few weeks).

Of course the trade off is that eventually you have a ferkin great screen to clean instead.

See separate thread for tyre update.

[sjtscott]

So the rain we had over the weekend assisted cleaning up the roads which is great. Sunny skys yesterday ensure it cooled off again.. I think its almost back to normal this morning but not quite that cold yet. Still the heated gloves on min setting were very nice

Smooth commute in today save for once again being held up through the limehouse link by a timid topbox sporting honda CBF thing. I mean as I've said before I really don't take the p*ss filtering through there given the repeated dodgy lane changes that occur but there is riding way within yourself just incase this happens vs really really overeacting to basically nothing as your bike will fit through the majority of gaps just fine.

[OMNIO]

Not a commuting highlight but not worth its own thread.

I learnt a couple of things tonight.

Getting knocked off hurts.
Being a lazy and not changing out of suit trousers and shirt and simply putting waterproofs over the top is really really stupid.
Being knocked off hurts... Did I mention that?

50/50 maybe but probably more my fault really. He should have used his mirrors before swerving out to the right to overtake a car turning left. I should have anticipated he was going to do it and held back rather than try to sneak ahead.

A few scuffs on the bike but seems ok. Going to have my local garage look over it at the weekend. The remaining ride home was very gingerly completed. Bike rides straight, no wobbles in the steering or pulling under breaking etc.

I have a skinned knee and a bruised elbow but count myself extremely lucky considering what I was wearing. Thank god it was a 10mph shunt and drop rather than a 40mph slide. Doesn't bear thinking about.

Ride safe folks!!

[CAPP0]

OMNIO said:

Getting knocked off hurts.

Ouch Will probably feel a bit knocked about in the morning.

There's a guy at my place who puts waterproofs over his office trousers, I do wonder, I wouldn't want to take a tumble like that.

[Tribal Chestnut]

That seems to be all most scooterists wear.

[black-k1]

OMNIO said:

Getting knocked off hurts.

I hope things get sorted pretty quickly.

CAPP0 said:

Ouch Will probably feel a bit knocked about in the morning.

There's a guy at my place who puts waterproofs over his office trousers, I do wonder, I wouldn't want to take a tumble like that.

I wouldn't want to take a tumble ... full stop!!!