And today's commuting highlight is...

[CAPP0]

Going through Lewisham yesterday, for some reason white van man got VERY upset that a pesky motorbike overtook him. I moved to the middle of the road, waited til he steamed up the inside of me and went nuclear, then just smiled and waved in his face and pissed off up the outside of everything as I would have done anyway

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V8RX7 said:

CAPP0 said:

Going through Lewisham yesterday, for some reason white van man got VERY upset that a pesky motorbike overtook him. I moved to the middle of the road, waited til he steamed up the inside of me and went nuclear, then just smiled and waved in his face and pissed off up the outside of everything as I would have done anyway

I'd suggest being the bigger man

In the long run it's better for everyone

That was sorta what I was trying to do, not have a barney, just wave and leave him to rant to himself. I often just ignore completely, it was only because he raced up the side of me, intent on reacting. At that point in the road (Loampit Vale) all the bikes are going up the outside anyway.

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ashleyman said:

Helmet fell off my mirror whilst locking up earlier.

Just bought a new tinted visor for it.

Need to decide if I replace it like for like and utilise the visor or if I get one with an internal visor.

Neither is ideal as I had been saving for a 1 piece which will have to wait now.

Years ago I hung an Arai on a hook in the garage. Concrete floor. Went back to find it on the deck.

I sent it off to Arai under that scheme they have where they will inspect it f.o.c and it came back with a clean bill of health.

Obviously ignore all of the above if you just want a new helmet!!

[CAPP0]

The parking rank where I park at work has been festooned with notices from Hackney Counail (thanks Abbopotamous) advising that there will be a consultation period (which means they've decided to do it and are only paying lip service to the public) whereby they will introduce a parking permit system for bikes which will "stop the use of more-polluting motorcycles". They've helpfully added a web address for everyone to read about the details, but there's nothing at the web address when you go there. I'm going to take a wild stab that a 1200 BMW is "more polluting".

Yet another stupid, ill-thought-out, loony leftie policy designed to ps off a small percentage of the population for no real reason other than "just because".

Ironically the street I work in splits in half for Hackney and Islington councils, although the nearest/largest Islington bike spaces have been suspended for nearly a year now, so if Hackney push this through there will be a bunfight every morning for the smaller bike parks which only hold 6-8 bikes each. Or more likely, Islington will follow suit.

I don't mind my job but FK I hate the commute.

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Mr_Megalomaniac said:

This sort of st drives me up the wall!
If you have the link, post it? I would like to try and at least comment. Naturally no one in the council will be held to account on it.

The link they provide on the flyers is consultation.hackney.gov.uk and then search for "motorcycles" but when you do that it returns a "No results found". I also searched all live consultations, there are only 12, and bikes wasn't in the list anywhere. I've emailed them and asked where it is.

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Krikkit said:

I bet they mean that any bikes not ULEZ compliant won't be permitted to park?

That's at least what I'm expecting. Wonder whether they will accept the rigmarole around proving that older bikes are actually compliant?

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V8RX7 said:

CAPP0 said:

The link they provide on the flyers is consultation.hackney.gov.uk and then search for "motorcycles" but when you do that it returns a "No results found". I also searched all live consultations, there are only 12, and bikes wasn't in the list anywhere. I've emailed them and asked where it is.

Keep us informed - when there's news I suggest starting a thread with a link - I'm sure we'd all happily comment.

I'd love to see the calculation - due to traffic I suspect even a 1200 will be less polluting than any car.

They've finally published it. https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/parking-servic...

Bottom line, if your bike emits <120g/kg CO2, you have to pay £61 a year to park. Above that the costs go up. I imagine the same debacle as with the ULEZ over actual emissions will ensue.

Add this in to the 20mph bks and yes, it does all start to stack up against biking to work. But the train is still a much worse option.

ETA: annoyingly I was talking to a mate last night about buying his K1600GT but that appears to emit 135g so it would double the parking cost.

ETAA: even more annoyingly I work in a street where the boundary for Hackney & Islington is drawn. The Islington parking spaces have been suspended for almost a year now with no sign of them returning; if they gave us those back I could part the K16 there, altho I suspect those spaces will become a massive daily bunfight if they are free and the ones nearby charge.

Edited by CAPP0 on Wednesday 26th February 10:45

[CAPP0]

If they really went full-on Nazi on it, it would kill commuting in by bike. Whilst I'm no lunatic, the whole joy of the bike is the ability to "make progress" when appropriate to do so. If you're crawling alongside every car at 20mph it's just going to be pointless. May was well drive anyway. That'll go down well.

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Jaetten said:

CAPP0 said:

I had a commuting lowlight today. Came up behind a cruiser of some sort ridden by a lady with lots & lots of flowing red locks all billowing out from under her hat. I'm a sucker for long hair, so I was happy....until I caught her up, when I saw that her muffin midriff was making a break for freedom from between the back of her jacket and trousers, exposing far too much ice-white, stretchmarked skin. 'Twasn't nice.

That’d hurt if something caused her to come off.

Approaching a crossing with a take out next to it. A few you girls, probably early teens walk out and look toward me. I’m slowing down as I got the moose walking into the road feeling. The first ran straight out before stopping at the crossing and the rest followed. The last stopped in the road.

I’m going slow enough, 15ish and 3-2 car lengths away when I slowed to a stop.

Hearts never been in mouth before, it was a good distance away, but if you’ve ever ran competitively it was the feeling you get when the gun goes

Edited by Jaetten on Tuesday 26th May 20:36

Bloody hell, how many years/pages ago did I post that?

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I should have posted this on Monday, but apropos my thread in the Jobs section, my commuting highlight is - no more commuting Took early retirement, this is my first week.

So, Covid notwithstanding, I'm definitely looking forward to NOT doing another winter commute!

I will probably also change out the R1200RT, it was a good, if heavy, tool for the job but I can look at running something a bit more fun. It's pretty shabby now, I looked after it mechanically, it's in good order, but the wheels and some of the bodywork are a little tatty in places.

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kiethton said:

CAPP0 said:

I should have posted this on Monday, but apropos my thread in the Jobs section, my commuting highlight is - no more commuting Took early retirement, this is my first week.

So, Covid notwithstanding, I'm definitely looking forward to NOT doing another winter commute!

I will probably also change out the R1200RT, it was a good, if heavy, tool for the job but I can look at running something a bit more fun. It's pretty shabby now, I looked after it mechanically, it's in good order, but the wheels and some of the bodywork are a little tatty in places.

Congrats!

If it was 6 months later I may have been interested in the RT - currently in Beckenham but considering heading out to Kings Hill in the spring, not sure the CBF600 would be that great on the motorway...

Thanks

If you do move to KH you'll be almost replicating my commute, I'm 2 miles from there (WM), into EC2A. It's not a bad run from this end but you need to eat those motorway miles from here up to Sidcup/Fiveways, which the RT was great at, shakes off the winter weather very well.

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HairyMaclary said:

Congratulations! I didn't know you were local. I'm just down Severn Mile Lane.

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How were the roads this morning, for anyone who travelled?

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Glad to see some people still commuting in, I've retired now so those days are behind me. Haven't sold the commuter bike yet but that's on the cards soon.

[CAPP0]

@DirtyHarley, definitely worth buying the salvage back if you can fix it yourself. When I was commuting, I was knocked off a £9k BMW in 2016, at literally walking pace. Damage was a few scratches and a dented exhaust header and that was it. They wrote it off - I was told by a few different people that they write almost every bike off as it's more trouble than it's worth repairing them, don't know if that's true. When the report came back, it said things like the front discs were warped (they weren't touched in the crash at all) and they had "loosened" things like the oil cooler plastic shroud, (again, impossible to have been touched in the impact) and added that to the repair cost, but it simply clipped back into place. Lots of things like that.

Anyway, I bought the salvage back for £1900, and spent £150 on a secondhand header. I didn't do anything else to it re the damage except touch up a few scratches on the engine bars. I commuted on it til Covid struck, and then retired shortly after, and sold it with about 45k miles on it for £3750 having had a good few years more commuting out of it!

[-Cappo-]

Those with Pinlock problems (only just seen those): adjust the Pinlock with the eccentric studs either side (I’m sure you know that), then when you think you’ve got it right, get a sheet of paper with “sharp” corners, and go all the way around the edge of Pinlock, between the Pinlock and the visor, pushing the corner of the paper in to check for gaps. Easier with the visor off the lid. If you find any gaps - start again! If you don’t find any, it should mist a lot less.

[-Cappo-]

black-k1 said:

iidentifyaswoke said:

ashleyman said:

Can confirm. GS is a unit and a half. I lasted 7 weeks before deciding to get rid. Perfect for a cross country trip but on the commute. Absolutely no way thank you

Would you say it the bike as a whole which is big, or the cylinders sticking out the side?

I’m pondering the RS. Smaller bike, but same engine with same cylinders out the side.

I commuted for 6 years on K1300Ss, which are about the same width, weight and overall size as the RS. While there were situations where the size was less than optimal, there were many more situations where the comfort, power and sheer presence were a huge advantage.

Yep, I commuted for 5 years on a 2012 RT, never really had any issues. The mirrors are car height, so yes you could get baulked at a pair of stationary cars side by side occasionally, but the flip of that is that I never had to slow down for a pair of vans side by side, which some bikes with bar-mounted mirrors did. I bought it solely and specifically for commuting and it was a great bike.

I have a 2022 GS now but I don't commute any more!