Mr Bignel

not me i'm afraid

hmm bright lights and reflective vests aren't that effective then. I'm probably unfit to ride a motorbike as I am prone to getting upset with errant motorists - this is when most of my near misses have occurred, now i try to be calmer even when provoked by selfish behaviours. there's so many other hazards though

not too bad really

Gunk is the famous degreased but petrol may be cheaper, works well with a stiff brush usaually. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145758872650?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-166974-033325-9&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=145758872650&targetid=2274951440814&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007155&poi=&campaignid=22093844385&mkgroupid=173144283077&rlsatarget=pla-2274951440814&abcId=10153141&merchantid=9884324&geoid=1007155&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22093844385&gbraid=0AAAAAD_Lr1fWtM-keLbZXQFh_Jg2vroCu&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2IDFBhDCARIsABDKOJ6nuG7HlCwpv8e9VMSm3-311AYFdXXCNfNyWHG1Dcqt_NWZ54Bcpw8aAgM9EALw_wcB

at 193 kg (wet weight) the MT09 is quite a light bike for the size I see. Roughly how many miles have you got on yours now please?

amb, it may be pragmatic, and cheaper, to make one good one? the more stock the greater the value. just musing 😊

incidentally this is a nice site alex, well done setting it up and keeping it going...🙂

hopefully the photos will help you reassemble the bike in due course lol. just joking 😄

spot and running lights may help, led lights are fairly sharp and bright, i put the spots on for filtering and i'm so paranoid now that i have running ligfhts front and back plus a lit reflector to the side.

i agree with the above, common sense stuff. i don't know what got into iam and rospa, the two main training bodies here about 'making progress' it really isn't the best tactic on our crowded roads in the UK. to my mind there are three dangers, junctions, overtaking and to a lesser extent bends, the latter is just experience. emergency braking, good thing to master of course but i'd say best never to let yourself get in that position if you can, animals might run out that's true. i try and leave gaps, use the gears to get speed down for bends and generally look well ahead for anything that might cause a hazard.

good luck with those then 🙂 I find that I have enough to do keeping chain tensioned, oil changes, tyre checks etc on my one bike lol.

dunno about u amb but there's two likely areas we are most likely to get wiped out, junctions and overtaking imo - maybe bends too but with experience most have got the hang of them

saw something recently that one can expect more miles from a liquid cooled engine.

haha - i thought i was reasonably balanced, depends on your tutor's i guess, i did end up with the basics but didn't like the forced pace. the near serious accidents i've had were associated with overtaking so i'm a bit on the anti-overtake side of things unless driven to it but even then it needs planing as opposed to a routine thing.