Ttaskmaster

As stated above, 120 miles before reserve. Actual figure will vary depending on how you're riding, but 120 is a safe number. I never saw how far reserve went. 70mph on a stock standard 125 Drag is easy - Accelerate to max speed in 4th gear, take it all the way up to the top of the powerband, then shift up into 5th. 5th gear is more for easing the revs at max output, but also allows a gentle 'top up'. Apply enough throttle to maintain current speed (probably around 65 at this point), then gradually increase throttle to max over about 30 seconds to a minute. Obviously this is a motorway/A-road cruising technique and needs a bit of forward observation to be worthwhile, but I got a consistent top speed of 74mph using this. Great for riding London to Cornwall and back!

I don't understand why you can't just swap the boards out. Are these not the pivoted kind where you just knock out the retaining pins and insert footpegs? Or do they have some weird kind of custom bracket assembly? Need pics...

Hoo-rah, congrats! What was the question/what did you think he said?

Campsite, no... but I've stayed at the Chase The Wild Goose hostel in Fort William several times while biking in that area. Costs about £15 per person. Basic, but good service. Be sure to check out Glenfinnan on your way through - I was born there. Very pretty place and full of history!

Expect about 120 miles before reserve, with a top speed of 70+ and effortless cruising at 65.

I prefer the freedom of riding alone and going where *I* want to, *when* I want to. I enjoyed my time riding in a club, but the best rides were always alone.

Nah, drummer here. However, I have owned a Yamaha stage maple custom kit

My last bed in the field was a thin 1941 issue (as in, actually was issued in 1941) US Army blanket, with an overstuffed 1928 haversack as a pillow, sharing a 6'x5' scraped hole in the frozen ground with another bloke, all his kit, two rifles and a 60mm mortar. Comfy enough, even in the rain, but we actually volunteered for that so we can't complain. Most other times, we sneak off to a nearby building, ruin, cave or even abandoned train carriage and nab the cosiest spot "Good soldier" and all that!

I can... But it's customary and polite to post an Intro first, join in with the community and so on. Afterward, send me a PM or somesuch. Failing that, it's Googling like the rest of us, I'm afraid.

Hard luck, dude. Ignore some of the harsher tossers' comments above. It's just one of those things. TBH, it's the instructor's bike. He should have made sure you held on to the key as much as you. Our local MAG rep is an instructor himself and the number of times he's checked before the test (for this very reason) only to find the student had forgotten is quite common. Move past it, rebook and get that licence, mate!!

Look instead at what stuff you need to pack and assemble your luggage around that. Typically, I'll have a 45L rucksack that gets bungied tight to my tie-down points. Makes for a nice backrest, actually. Also available, I have an 80L military rucksacky-suitcase thing (weird limited issue thing), a Hein Gericke tank bag, a pair of big saddlebags and a small selection of Maxpedition kit. I've never used more than about half of that at any one time. For camp tours I'll take a tent and sleeping bag. If the Mrs is coming I have to strap down a wealth of extra comfort things, like camp beds, rollmats, fancy stoves and half a kitchen. She's a hardy rider but not a hardy camper. If you're staying in hotels/B&Bs then you have more room for luxuries like spare footwear, smart clothes and can plan around having somewhere to hang any wet kit.

Whassamatter? You not got enough bugs and midges already, you want temperatures that will bring MORE??!! Military adage: Any moron can rough-it... a good soldier makes himself comfortable under any conditions!!

+1 for Wemoto! Not the widest rage of parts, but pretty damn good and they can often get stuff that isn't on the webshite. Customer Service is a major part of who I will or will never shop with. Asda can fuck off every time, whereas I will pay the high prices at Waitrose just to be around staff who give a shit! Wemoto are one of those who will bend over backwards to get you what you asked for, or even figure out which one you *meant* to ask for! Utterly brilliant folks!

Freezy Forehead is not fun! TBH, I'm keeping more of a watchful eye on the road surface. Now we live out in the country, local roads have lots of those shaded patches on tight bends that hide frost and ice oh, so cunningly!!

Try getting some online quotes and then phoning up. Often they will offer different. Then try playing them off each other - "X offers this, what can you offer?", "Y counter-offered this, can you beat it?", etc... My Mrs does this (she actually enjoys it, for some crazy reason) and gets her insurance close to £100!

Hi Harry, 18 years old, on an R6? Pray that you save the lives of a fair few wealthy folks... for it will probably cost an absolute bomb, I'm afraid! Other than that, if you can afford it, go for it. I use Carole Nash myself - Lots of good cover and, in my case, one of the cheapest around. They utterly decimated ANYTHING else the other companies quoted, by at least £100 every time.

Wicked stuff!! I'd suggest blacking out your reg in the photo, though... This forum is publicly available and some nasty folks are out there.

Proper bike jack. Can get one for about £60. Fancy ones cost more, of course. I use big blocks of wood and/or the Mrs.

Cool stuff - I love 80s bikes!!

2004 - 2004 XVS 125 Dragstar 2004 - Present XVS 650 Dragstar Have ridden a lot more, but never liked enough to buy them.

Chatteauneuf light red, with champagne silver sides and sparkly orangey stripey bits that change depending on where the light is/where you stand/move to. Or Red & silver.

Contrary to what some may believe, this *IS* a caring forum of nice, polite people and if someone REALLY needs to ask how to take a bolt off, they need all the help they can get. If someone is just being a lazy tosser who can't even Google a statistic, then fuck 'em. I decimate, repudiate, remonstrate or facilitate on a case-by-case basis, examining each one on it's own merits. Besides, this one is fun. If you go round kicking off on everyone who knows less than you, you'll find yourself bleeding in a back alley, eventually.

You may want to reach up under the mudguard (or fender, if you like) with a second socket or pliers to hold the bolt while you remove the nut. Same thing when putting it back on.

American WW2 issue P-38 can opener. ANY veteran will tell you these things are amazing! If ever there was a precursor to the Swiss army knife, this is it. The British Army issued a larger version, which I also have lying around. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener http://survivaltek.com/?p=2069

Oh, there is... But there's also an extreme level of cynicism from older members, due to the high volume of One Post Wonders who rudely come along and ask/demand answers to a question (usually solved by Google in 30 seconds or less) and are then never heard from again... unless they post a whole 20 minutes later to bitch about how no-one has answered their question yet. This is not a service provided by people who are online 24-7 to supply free information. There is a certain amount of give and take involved - Simple community participation, such as posting an introduction usually garners far better answers. The post title, "How fast does my bike go?" has cropped up several times in such disatrous circumstances.