And today's commuting highlight is...

[Bailey93]

John D. said:

I'm more wary riding my 125 scooter in the damp/wet than ZX6R. st narrow tyres/less throttle and clutch control + tendency to just wind it open (yes, asking for trouble!) had me nearly off once.

I work with someone who rides a 125 scooter he's come off 4 times in the past 6 months or so, I don't know how he manages it. But he's young and appears to be made of rubber and magic as he always bounces back up and see his scooter every morning at work. Albeit showing battle scars

[kiethton]

After Friday evening's drop I was on the train this morning, up half an hour earlier and in work later

Dobles didn't have a replacement gear lever (the SOS man manged to snap mine trying to bend it back) so I've got one on order, along with all the other bits (crash bung, indicator, engine cover) due to arrive here mid-week.....until then the train will have to take the strain!

Only worry is it won't seem to engage gears with the lever stub, I'm hoping I haven't bent the hanger bracket

[Angrybiker]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The good kind or the bad kind?

[Angrybiker]

paralla said:

Keis heated vest and glove liners have changed my life. CHANGED MY LIFE!

Since I got the glove liners whenever I hear people bang on about how well their heated grips work I immediately write them off as narrow minded fools.

http://www.keisapparel.co.uk/product-category/moto...

Thursdays highlight for me was educating a Mondeo driver with a size 10 boot to his/her passenger door as he/she cut into my lane, almost knocking me off on the very congested Vauxhall one way system. National Grid have two lanes of Vauxhall bridge road closed which is wreaking havoc on traffic flow and frustrating the cagers.

I'm always surprised how easily car doors/wings yield.

Have to say there are times when I'm tempted, but I've never done that. Worst I've ever done is intentionally slap mirrors but that doesn't do damage it just annoys the hell out of the driver. Not proud of this but sometimes they do need a wake-up call.

Net net I find myself siding with the argument that this was a bit of an extreme response. I've been doing the Vauxhall one way system for 16 years and although on the odd occasion I get people doing silly things, I know people sometimes do silly things and I adjust my riding accordingly. Thus have never had such a close incident there. (it's also why I choose this route over the A3 which is a horrible horrible road for blockages and people doing silly things)

[black-k1]

paralla said:

Thursdays highlight for me was educating a Mondeo driver with a size 10 boot to his/her passenger door as he/she cut into my lane, almost knocking me off on the very congested Vauxhall one way system. National Grid have two lanes of Vauxhall bridge road closed which is wreaking havoc on traffic flow and frustrating the cagers.

I'm always surprised how easily car doors/wings yield.

Incidents involving cars where the car is "in the wrong" tend to fall into two types:

1. The driver isn’t concentrating/looking and doesn’t see you;
2. The driver knows you’re there but carries on anyway;

If it’s the first situation then kicking the door is a very strong over reaction and risks moving the driver from type 1 to type 2.

If the driver knows you’re there then they’ve already shown they don’t care very much about your safety so kicking their door is only going to piss them off more. I really wouldn’t want to be in a situation where the driver next to me really doesn’t care about my safety and is now really pissed off with me!!!

[Angrybiker]

black-k1 said:

Incidents involving cars where the car is "in the wrong" tend to fall into two types:


If the driver knows you’re there then they’ve already shown they don’t care very much about your safety so kicking their door is only going to piss them off more.

Yeah unfortunately there's really nothing you can do. If you shout at them they'll just shout back and won't listen. If you try to stop them and talk to them they'll still reply aggressively... but if you resort to damage and somehow they take you to court with video evidence I don't think a judge would view your position with sympathy.

Personally I think a CBT should be a compulsory part of any car driving test. Everyone should have awareness of how it feels from a biker's perspective. I don't care if it's unpopular, it could save a lot more lives and money than a stupid 20mph limit or speed humps. I'd definitely 'do a Trump' on this if I was elected PM.

[Tribal Chestnut]

Bailey93 said:

I work with someone who rides a 125 scooter he's come off 4 times in the past 6 months or so, I don't know how he manages it. But he's young and appears to be made of rubber and magic as he always bounces back up and see his scooter every morning at work. Albeit showing battle scars

A scooter without any damage to the plastics is a rare thing indeed.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 30th January 21:07

[John D.]

I bought mine pre-crashed.

[JulianHJ]

I liberally doused my bike in ACF-50 yesterday for the first time. I'd read a bit about it smoking and smelling, but blimey, it really does, doesn't it?

On the plus side, today's ride in was very quiet, which was nice.

[supercommuter]

Wet one today. Glad to say my new Alpinestars waterproof took the battering it was expected to.

Was short of patience this morning and sat on my horn at some bloke on one of those three wheelers blocking all the filtering routes down past the Ritz

[sjtscott]

At least the rain over the last few days has cleaned the roads of all the crap/salt over the past few weeks. I worked at home yesterday so today is my first commute in this week.
My bike was only clean for around 2mins while I was gearing up before my commute in this morning - I'd cleaned all the last few weeks of rubbish off it finally over the weekend on Sat before the rain set in.
Having the vee-wipe on the heated gloves is nice given the rain this morning.. I could actually see something, esp as there was enough water and no salt to smear everything like last couple of weeks

[Pothole]

Vee wipe FTW!

[Bailey93]

Drizzle today but all the salt is washed away great!... Nope a lorry or even a delivery van maybe has been through my town dropping diesel everywhere so its even worse than the salt, had a front tyre moment coming off a round about. Cant bloody win

[E36GUY]

Only experienced the ABS twice since I've had the bike but I am very content knowing it's there in this weather!

[creampuff]

CoolHands said:

As it happens the crutch of my waterproofs did leak. Trouble is I'm too tight to purchase another pair.

Don't worry, once you hit 45yo you will start to lose full bladder control and your crotch will be damp most of the time.

[J B L]

Yes the roads have been cleaned a bit but there's still a load of crap. I am looking at a very scratched visor. Bugger.

Other than that, this morning 2h shlep was fairly agreable.

[kiethton]

Managed to fix my lever after work last night so was back on the bike this morning....

I knew the battery was flat earlier after dying as part of me trying to start it too much following the falling over episode last week.

Jumped it off the car and all was good, rode in as normal until just after New Cross, didn't use enough rev's pulling away and stall.....no start!!

Luckily had jump leads in the backpack so the GF was awoken to come are rescue me! - cue a trip from Beckenham at 6:30....

Jumped the bike again and all's good, whether it starts after work is another question though.....have the jump leads just in case - hope I can find a friendly taxi/van!

Needless to say a new battery arrives tomorrow - also going to look at changing the tyres, look past their best but give me absolutely no confidence in the wet! - may be in part to do with last week though!

[myvision]

kiethton said:

Managed to fix my lever after work last night so was back on the bike this morning....

I knew the battery was flat earlier after dying as part of me trying to start it too much following the falling over episode last week.

Jumped it off the car and all was good, rode in as normal until just after New Cross, didn't use enough rev's pulling away and stall.....no start!!

Luckily had jump leads in the backpack so the GF was awoken to come are rescue me! - cue a trip from Beckenham at 6:30....

Jumped the bike again and all's good, whether it starts after work is another question though.....have the jump leads just in case - hope I can find a friendly taxi/van!

Needless to say a new battery arrives tomorrow - also going to look at changing the tyres, look past their best but give me absolutely no confidence in the wet! - may be in part to do with last week though!

Couldn't you bump start it?
I carry one of these under the seat on the burgman.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AHYB8SG/ref...

[supercommuter]

Left Bristol at 6am this morning in horrific wind and rain. Was getting blow all over the shop between Bristol and Swindon and had about 5ft visibility because of spray and rain. My new Alpinestars El Nino waterproof put up a strong fight, by the time I got to London i had a tiny bit of leakage in the crotch.

Hopefully the weather sorts itself out today in the southwest for my ride home later!

[kiethton]

myvision said:

kiethton said:

Managed to fix my lever after work last night so was back on the bike this morning....

I knew the battery was flat earlier after dying as part of me trying to start it too much following the falling over episode last week.

Jumped it off the car and all was good, rode in as normal until just after New Cross, didn't use enough rev's pulling away and stall.....no start!!

Luckily had jump leads in the backpack so the GF was awoken to come are rescue me! - cue a trip from Beckenham at 6:30....

Jumped the bike again and all's good, whether it starts after work is another question though.....have the jump leads just in case - hope I can find a friendly taxi/van!

Needless to say a new battery arrives tomorrow - also going to look at changing the tyres, look past their best but give me absolutely no confidence in the wet! - may be in part to do with last week though!

Couldn't you bump start it?
I carry one of these under the seat on the burgman.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AHYB8SG/ref...

I was stuck in a very busy part of the Old Kent Road....didn't think it too wise playing with lorries trying tbh.

May give it a go this evening although every time I've tried before I've had absolutely no luck at all