Ttaskmaster

It never rains in Scotland... at least never when I go up there, anyway. See cold, seen fog and mist, but never ever seen rain in Scotland... ever!

Ride without supports at your own risk. I don't think I need to say anything further on this matter... do I?

Most 600cc+ bikes can manage 120 miles before hitting reserve. It sounds more like a bit of carb icing to me...

Apparently you're supposed to leave it all unlocked and unsecured, possibly with keys in it, because that's what the insurance is for and security is for law-abiding citizens only... so sayeth some dozy prick who doesn't like it every time we drag up the security thing. For the record, I've lived in Camden, Aylesbury, Harrow, Watford, Reading and several other places, with varying degrees of 'bad area' status. Always locked my bikes, never had a single one nicked. Just sayin'...

Have a qualified mechanic check everything over. Your life depends on the good nick of this machine, so anything else is just stupid. Failing that, make sure your idle adjuster has not been knocked or anything.

I have never used a comparison site, ever. I always go around individually, compare that to their online quotes and then play them off each other. Carole Nash always beat the next best price by a good £100 for me. Always!

The Classic will take big-ass saddlebags straight off. The Custom will need you to move the indicators back, but is easy enough (I did it myself) and then you're equally sorted. The advantage here is that you save 20kg on the bike weight. I can't see your links from here at work, but there are plenty of support/sissy combinations that work in tandem. That's what they're supposed to do in the first place. I suspect you may have just gotten one of the few mismatches. Had you not already bought, I'd suggest getting a set all from the same brand. Ultimately though, since you're already considering changing bike, I'd say you might as well go all out and get a Dragstar, making sure that you match the 'passenger' kit. Many 2nd hand Drags are sold with this stuff already fitted, so do hunt around!

Oh, well if Scotland is your choice, then he's right! Do stop over in Glenfinnan and explore the road to the Isles - Some great riding to be had there!

Insert location, eh? "I now have a fireblade" That'll be the nearest gay bar, then!! I kid, I kid... mostly My dad grew up around the Albrighton area, which is Wolverhampton-ish. That's all I can tell you about that, except that Steve Bull played for the Wanderers. "like asking a blind man to tell you what the colour blue looks like" Watch the film Mask, starring Cher. That answers how to describe colours to blind people. Good film, but make sure you're in a serious mood! I hear Holland outside of Amsterdam is pretty good... A friend of mine plays violin on the street for a living and every year he He's ridden the route a couple times and loved it, but gave up on bikes as the train was cheaper. Also, he says to do Barcelona second (spends are better in Zurich) and keep a FUCKING close eye on your wallet all the while you're there - Barcelona cops won't give a shit if you're pickpocketed, unless you come to actual harm (whereupon your stuff will be recovered or fully recompensed and a local gang of street-scrotes will all have strangely coincidental accidents). Generally, be very paranoid about anyone who enters your personal space. Zurich, by contrast, is peppered with plain-clothes cops and about as safe as you can get when other people are about. Lastly, touring France is always good. I'd personally visit the battlefields and beaches, but there's loads out there. If you're into organised trips, a lot called J The B's are known for doing such things - www.jthebs.com

Bike fucked? Need to make it go again? Gotcha by the balls, chap!! Starting to find that a lot of the things I want suddenly cost megacredits, even for some cheap piece of plastic that cost a couple quid when it came out five months ago - Now it's about £26!! Or, to quote Captain Malcolm Reynolds: "It's a nothin' part, 'till ya don't got one..."

Among many other things: - I hurt people, with both big medieval English weaponry and my fists (for real, not re-enactment). - I hit drums. Usually with regular interval sequences strung together and sometimes in a professional capacity. - I kill Germans (for Living History, not for real). - I walk places, usually far away places with lots of trees en-route. - I read words. Lots of words. Usually of movable printed form factor. - I observe pictures that move. Occasionally I will watch larger ones, but finances often force me toward those of 21" diagonal size or less. I do enjoy altering the picture size to enable their observation on a portable frame of approximately 3" as well. - I make pictures move in accordance with my will... well, I try to. Some pictures are more difficult to control, Lara Croft's Anniversary being my most challenging thus far (specifically one picture that everyone else seems to have trouble with, as well). - I half-burn food. Sometimes I observe professional burners half-burn food and attempt to emulate them. - I make stuff from the skins of dead cows. And most recently, my wife and I share our lives with a gorgeous Border Collie.

Definitely give one a test-ride and see if you like it. I'd give my usual opinion of how the Customs are better than the Classics, but the former takes a minor bit of fiddling to move the indicators, while the latter will accept the larger saddlebags without any modification. Could be you're after the less hassle option. I also hear the Classics are more comfy for pillions, but I find them about the same personally. Either way, the Drag is a great bike and well worth the money. But if you're doing fine with the Viggie, only change if you really want to. The luggage supports should bolt through the same hole as the backrest - ie, you should be able to fit both *at the same time*. One of them should have come with longer bolts to accomodate this... For decades native Englanders have often been at the mercy of government education. We spend so much money on foreign aid, benefits and so forth that there isn't much left for education. From what is left, a lot of it gets diverted to pay for the prosecution of male teachers (often wrongfully) accused of paedophillia and general sex scandals. As a result, many schools are full of thugs and carefree idiots who know there's nothing that can be done to discipline them and both they and the few students actually receptive to proper education subsequently do not get the attentive instruction they ought. Furthermore, as each generation grows up, their parenting skills and assumption of responsibility have lessened, paving the way for even greater disruption in subsequent classes. I went to a grammar school, supposedly one of the better ones in the country with a long history of univertity types and fancy folk near the equal of Etonians and so forth. Certainly during my years, you'd never believe that such a failing institute had once produced some of the top echelons of the academic world! Lastly, factor in the inherrent laziness of modern technology and the cultural disinclination toward reading and you have your answer. Even I, with all my high-fallutin' words and such, am prone to errors of vernacular.

I used to hit up Fox's some weekends, but the route just got so samey... Not been up that way in a while, TBH.

Screw you, Penguin, that's my local!! Fine one to talk, you are - You're from Newbury, where they whittle banjos for fun OK, *maybe* there were a few banjos playing back when it was Fox's Diner... but since it changed to H's Cafe, it's become the best fry-up joint in Berkshire!

Have a great one, y'all. I'll still be popping in here every now and then, but wherever you go and whatever you do this Christmas, do it well, do it safe and enjoy it to the max!!

Workshop manuals are intended for professional mechanics and cost a LOT of money, normally. The PDFs and stuff you see are of course pirated copies, so the links often get taken down by the law. YOC does not condone such illegal documents itself, but if individual members want to share such things, it's their responsibility...

Get a Cruiser - Plugs are easy peasy to reach

See, if you'd gotten an R1, you'd not be having this problem either, but you were *set* on buying a Feebleblade... I fink yer battery might be fooked, Foamz... But yeah, AFAIK, you do have to strip a lot of the gubbins down for these Sporty things. Is there not an online manual?

Buy a mixed-size bag for a couple quid. They're cheap as chips, at around 5p each!

Amazing... but what's the point? Is this modelling, or somehow actually edible as proper sustenance? I don't get it...

The Dragstar keeps going all the way through (unless the Mrs finds where I hide the key).

Cheers for that. Forum threw an eppie and wouldn't submit my post for some reason, so I clicked a second time and it crashed!

So how come all the local dealers and mechanics (not engineers, as they're totally different - I work with some and they get very arsey when you mix the two terms, ha ha!) brick it when a recently restricted bike gets pulled/trashed/crashed? I can understand it for a PDI, but if this is like MOT why do they get worried?

Many people do machine-wash, but it *may* destroy the waterproofing. Could try warm soapy water and a scrubbing brush, then rinse with cold water and hang to dry for about 2 days. What do the instructions that came with them say? Alternatively, phone SPADA up and ask: 01384-413-841

Exactly. After only a year of riding on a full licence, I had SO many bad habits, it was frightening. 60? Bunch of pussies... Round here, you can expect to be passed by vehicles doing anything up to 130mph, on average! 1-10 - Yes, that was a tractor/horse/bicycle/skateboarder. WAKE UP!! 10-30 - You maybe haven't noticed the lights change and are being flipped off by 'Ped riders 30-40 - Why are *you* going so slow? Get up to speed. 40-60 - Meh... most vehicles do this in our 40 limits. 60-90 - Boy racer. Twat. 90-120 - Almost certainly middle-management type in BMWs 120+ - Almost always a cock and/or middle-management guy who fancied a sports bike as a Summer toy. Occasionally a games coder on his way to work, though. They don't call it the Thirteen Bends Of Death just because it sounds cool...