Malleus

On the way home yesterday at the start of my journey; an Audi in front driving poorly (not sticking to lanes/no signals etc) - I decide to pull over to buy some food, drink and such. Hanging about for 25 minutes or so. Jump back on the bike - head off - 5 minutes down the road guess who I am behind again! made me laugh - taken the guy 30 minutes to move 2 miles.

Amazing - There is a weird sense of achievement when you see these things coming. Approaching a roundabout I saw a Merc and a HGV. - Generally at lights I would get up front but the way the Merc had been driving I thought I would hang back. Lights change - both vehicles attempt to go round in one lane. - Bit of squeeze eh and a few £K's of damage Insurance companies use actuarial tables - which can be hard to understand/predict - you will notice weird changes if you are doing insurance quotes online and change something which you assume would increase the cost (for example increasing the value of vehicle - must make price go up right? - not always - adding a second driver who does not have full license must make it go up right? again not always!)

Looks awesome - are these all handheld camera shots? A couple look like you are driving but seem really high quality for stills from a video?

Any luck finding this?

Damn. Thought it was new. Sure video wa's only uploaded a week ago... maybe it was a year and a week ago What annoys me is the roads. They aren't fit for purpose. There are so many buses and large vehicles now in London they just can't cope. Half the time traffic is held up as two large vehicles simply can't pass each other. (As in when occupying separate lanes) And yes. My first thought was move! Don't even think about it just get out the way. Wasn't exactly moving very fast. And my second thought was poor bike...haha

It reads well. I like it. Not got much constructive to say really.. though you only have to buy two tyres aren't they more expensive generally than car tyres? Haha

(This is not Owen?) but yea - I am always watching car wheels, if you see here though he literally starts moving as he turns. Second time I was not trying to overtake (but yea stupid with oncoming traffic) I was just trying to talk to the idiot - did not expect him to decide he was going out along wrong side of the road. And.. I did not argue with him I said - "You pulled out in front of me" - he said "Sorry mate I didn't see you" - (Literally!) and I said - "You didn't look." that was it..

I think the guy on the Ducati is like 'nah he isn't going to drive into me' ... 'oh f$&k he is'

Hi again - Welcome - Mostly you will find me on a MT-09 driving through rush hour traffic. Not very pleasant - actually a guy almost killed me twice in about 3 seconds yesterday - will post the video if I have time to edit it. EDIT: I made a gif haha -

crazy - I feel bad - but I would really like to have seen this while it happened

Welcome

Hello and welcome - I would say price is often to do with branding. For example 'Gore-Tex' is a brand name and you will pay a premium for any branded clothing that uses it. Companies can make there own version of waterproof/breathable material (not always as good mind!) but can't call it 'Gore-Tex.' I think it is a case of shopping around, reading reviews etc. As Slice says boots are important (am I the only one here who has managed to run over their own foot? Also got it stuck between the peg and someones car - solid boot probably saved it from fracture) and of course helmet. At least with these two things I would go into a shop to check their fit and quality. I check all helmets on here: http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/ If you cant find the brand - I would say its not worth buying - if you cant find the model - look for something similar from the same brand for some indication of quality - also you may be surprised to see how well some of the mid-range/low priced helmets perform and how poorly some of the £400+ ones do. (Good example is the Halfords helmet £30 has higher rating than Shoei GT Air at £469) As for jacket/trousers - this is up to your preference really as long as it has decent armor in and is abrasion resistant. For your weather I would say textile that is waterproof/breathable with removable lining for winter/summer. When I first started out I cobbled together my kit from a fair bit of second hand stuff - only new things were boots and helmet.

I think he means 'oil pump chain' (?)

I would look for a breaker nearby - maybe able to pick up something semi decent for a cheap price to mod yourself?

I would guess 15-40 would be better for the climate there? Good to see a well used bike still going! Though you cant be getting far with no chain

Stops my key rings from flapping about Warranty is up (from dealer anyway - 3 years old soon- not sure if there is any other warranty) plus I wouldn't take it back to them anyway they are useless. When I bought it in for tensioner change as it was defective i waited 2 weeks for an appointment for them to just say 'we cant' hear it... so there's no fault

Thought I would post some pics of some additions. All basic, unlike some of the work people are doing on here.. Added screen (tiny and pointless one!) Engine sliders, and some new levers. Had new tyes fitted today and the guy said my clutch was too tight and needed some slack (something about damage when it heats up?) Is this true? He loosened it a bit but I prefered it the way I had it.. sure I will adapt though. Another thing mentioned was that the head bearings seem to be "notched" as in front wheel kind of tries to stay in the centre. I didn't really notice till he mentioned it. Not sure if I am (or should be) bothered. Next up I think frame sliders and knuckle guards if I can find some I like. Official Yam ones are white which would look weird. Finally changed cam chain tensioner so it doesn't sound like a bag of spanners aswell And lastly.. went past this guy on WR250 .. never seen police on these before.

Good luck, watch out for mosquitos !

Not sure about prayer helping, but not driving in Russia will increase your life expectancy alot

Any excuse to talk about your new BMW S1000R!

Hi Andy, Good to say Hi in new members area and introduce yourself. Not my area of expertise - but you shouldn't leave batteries for extended periods (sure you know that now so I wont bang on) you can get battery maintenance kits that keep it in good condition over longer periods, some also have some diagnostic functions and may be able to tell you what is wrong with battery. How long before the second one went flat? - When you say ebay - was it a decent battery? (If it was bought for £1 from china then I'm not surprised) if it is decent I would suggest you return it. Alarm should have instructions for winter storage - most can be put into a kind of 'sleep mode' though if it has its own battery it should not be much of a drain.

I have a 50litre topbox but prefer to carry a bag most of the time. Like taskmaster, mostly using military surplus as it is generally waterproof, strong and compresses nicely when not in use. Both times I have crashed I have been wearing a backpack. The second time I highsided and literally landed on my backpack - if anything I think it helped - though may be a different story if I was carrying glass bottles etc.

Wow - good to see you are security conscious! tbh nothing reasonable really - mainly it is the price for what you get I suppose. To me it seems like a lot of cash to part with for something you are running around on L plates and realistically likely to drop during this period and is likely to be stolen.... and being grumpy and judgemental, I have not been a fan of most of the riders I have met... but I'm sure you cant all be bad just a few bad impressions stick with me unfortunately!

Hi and welcome to the YOC