Mr Bignel

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.

Muddling Through Making progress is a key mantra for IAM/Roadsmart training, it means proceeding briskly, confidently and efficiently while maintaining your safety and that of others. It is something police officers are trained to do so that they can reach emergencies without causing accidents in the process. This police derived methodology has been translated into advanced training for civilian riders. My initial reaction was to think, ‘this is just what I need’ as I was experiencing increasingly frightening incidents with drivers who often seemed in no mood to take prisoners. What caught my eye was their reference to defensive riding. The process kicks off with a taster session, it works both ways, you find out a bit more about the course and it enables them to assess your performance. I was allocated an observer, their word for a tutor. The training takes place on a one-to-one basis, each session is a little over two hours with a break in the middle. The cost of the course is in the region of £160 but you end up paying nearly twice that as you must contribute to the observer’s fuel plus buying coffees and there are booklets they advise you purchase. The associate, or trainee, goes first following directions given by the observer behind via their indicators. This was a surprise as I thought instruction would be by radio link. On the good side, it makes you use your mirrors. I found it a strain as my old bike vibrates the mirrors and the observer’s big adventure bike had lights and indicators close together. In parallel to the above I went on group ride outs on the advice of my observer, these are set at three levels. The beginner one was OK, but it quickly became obvious that my heavy 1980’s tourer, with shaft drive, wasn’t as nimble as the powerful modern racers and enduro type machines ridden by the others so I slowed the following riders and felt stressed for doing so. After this, the observer encouraged me to take bends faster using various techniques and I improved as a result but not before a few occasions when I got it wrong and I was lucky not to have been injured. This process hardly felt that safety was the uppermost consideration no matter how much they said it was. More ‘do or die’ in my opinion. My tutor signed me up for a level two ride out which turned out to be too fast for me. I tried to maintain position, but it was getting scary and I felt the lead rider was charging through bends on their 150 bhp bike in situations where, it seemed to me, impossible to see far ahead. I wonder if attaining an advanced rider qualification does not feel like an immunity against misfortune. At another point on a second ride out the route flicked to a metaled farm road, raised about the fields it passed across. My bike started to oscillate, I had to slow as I was beginning to lose control, meanwhile the lead bike became a speck in the distance. It felt dangerous. When I confronted the ride organiser about this speed matter I was told that I should go at my own pace, I suppose that meant that they would wait up ahead. However, there is a pressure to keep up. When I mentioned the oscillation issue, I was told to get better shock absorbers, my bike had only just passed its MOT with no advisories. I upgraded anyway even though I don’t ride like that. The experience left me both fed up and humiliated. I was told that Rospa were less concerned with making progress so I had a taster session with them only to find, if anything, there was more of an expectation to overtake – when safe to do so of course. I quickly found that I did not always see the need to overtake when they did. The course involves relearning ingrained habits, it reminds you to keep your bike in top condition and makes you think about positioning, hazards, to read the road in advance and how to pass in the safest way. I'm a plodder though, too long in the tooth for pressing forward. I will nip by other vehicles if necessary but the words 'making progress' jars as I'm happy to stay in line. For me, the term is better applied to motorcycle endeavours like becoming acquainted with far off places and upgrading my bikes.

i think the main thing about sheds is that sense of escape, an illusion - somehow you are uncontactable for a while away from the stresses and stains of modern life. garages are a close second...

thanks for the reply snakebite, I was mulling over buying another thunderace, one with less miles but I don't think I will, hence mulling over what sort of miles one might expect. Chains do have to be kept lubed of course and any wet weather seems to take the lube off so remembering to attend to that after a wet weather episode is the trick I think.

mileage, saw this recently:-

they don't often go wrong in my experience although it makes a difference i believe if a bike has been left out in cold and damp conditions, vibration and age take their toll too I suppose.

oh dear, good luck. often somewhere near the battery box.... my bikes have been 30 yrs old though lol, the ECU needs power so it is likely to be connected to the battery by a red wire.

my old sheds - now gone

he also avoided using the brakes to conserve energy.

yes, one has to keep those things maintained - what actually finishes motors, probably missing gears and the g/box not worth pulling apart and smokey exhausts, loss of compression I suppose. What do you reckon one can get out of a Thunderace?

never mind mately, the romance of the shed was the subject but, really they are hot in summer and cold in winter so not actually that useful lol.

apart from bascis like regular oil changesand bigger engines being more capable generally speaking - what do you think is a reasonable expectation for a 1000cc bike please? 1000cc bikes should do 50K without anything serious if they have been serviced imo, possibly up to 75K but what do you reckon? Of course, there's other related items, bearings for both steering and axils, clutches and final drive transmission but I'm on about the engine, carbs and gearbox.

customised xj900 s diversion

Sad is the Shed Man - not What could be nicer than your own shed? Of course it depends on circumstances but, hopefully, all of us will end up with our own shed at some point. In today's world, more than ever, you need a retreat, not exactly a hide away, but your own space, surrounded by your own things, be that only stuff salvaged from the house, knick-knacks, bits and pieces and stuff rescued from the bin. This will inevitably, for the likes of us, include large quantities of motorbike bits, or as your other half probably thinks of it, 'that useless rusty old scrap'. If you are indeed blessed, you could even have one shed as a chill out zone, and with another for actual storage. Once you've got one shed, you invariably need another, almost for its own sake, like another motorbike. It's so restful down there, a real haven, just the sound of the birds and the buzz of an occasional aeroplane. On a sunny day it is fantastic, basking in peace, out of harm's way - it is fairly screened and inaccessible although enough room for a bike or two. A timeless world out of the hussel and bussel, away from household duties and disturbances yet within reach should one hear a call for 'lunch'. Shed life can have similarities with camping, it doesn't hurt to have a camp stove and a kettle on hand but it's better than camping as there's the house, with its toilet and kitchen, just a few minutes away. That garden path, linking the shed and the house is more than just a path; it's a bridge between quiet on the one hand and the real world of responsibilities on the other. Separate, yet tantalisingly close at hand. The downside is that sheds tend to be hot in summer and cold in winter. However, you can leave the door open when it is hot, and maybe wear thermals when it's chilly if necessary. Mainly a day time thing though, as hooking up power is a pain, plus bugs tend to be drawn by the light. A torch or lamp is really all you need for the inevitable evening rummage. Now, a radio. That's different. You'll definitely need a radio, battery or wind-up. Maneuvering bikes in and out of your average garden-type shed can be a bit of conundrum, but where there's a will there's usually a way. A friend is carving out a new opening in one of his shed walls, but me, I just heave bikes around as best I can and normally manage it through the existing doorway after a bit of minor straining. I tend to use one shed more for a workshop as it is less confined than the other. Bike fettling and messing with parts mostly, for taking engines out the garage is better, as I can fix a hoist and use mains power as required. The shed is therefore primarily for fiddling, mulling things over, cleaning and painting components maybe but mostly day dreaming. A tranquil place surrounded by bike stuff, to contemplate rides, go through boxes or just day dream. There was a time when the boss wanted a document produced, in a hurry. The office was noisy, not an environment where you could think clealy for something like that. The shed was the ideal solution with its old basket chair, a discarded cushion that doesn't match the others in the living room, and a redundant waste bin for the false starts. The document got written, slowly to be sure, and with pauses for a stroll across the divide for a cup of tea or to use the bathroom, but it got done. Best thing I've written. Once, tracking down spares, I ended up outside someone else's shed while they hunted a part down. It was full of used motorbike stuff, with a couple of half-dismantled machines nearby for good measure. From where I was standing, looking in, I could see the legend, "I'm OK, they know me here", painted on one of the roof beams. At the time this seemed slightly odd, but now, in retrospect, I can understand and endorse the sentiment. The shed is a highly personal place where interference is not expected, a friend was rebuilding an old motorbike, he had carefully placed all the engine parts in order pending the rebuild, some on shelves but mainly on nails tapped into the shed wall frame. Somehow, when children were playing in the garden, the shed took a blow or two. Small components ended up on the floor, out of order, oh dear. Sheds, bikes, a dog, wives and kids. They go together for a rounded life - you need the first three to be at your best with the last two. It's yin and yang, two different but complementary worlds. More than one shed and bike is good - however, generally speaking, one dog, one wife and one set of kids will suffice. The dog hasn't taken to the shed for some reason, so it's old bikes for company. A shed is more than four fairly insubstantial walls, a plank floor, and a flimsy roof. It's a mini holiday, a private zone, somewhere with its own sense of mystery and promise. Am I mad to imagine these things? I don't think so. There's definitely something magical about 'escaping' to a shed and, in my opinion, it's definately better with a motorbike or two to share the space with. Icing on the cake, as it were. You have to love your shed, and the slower pace of life it represents, down there at the bottom of the garden, somewhere to collect your thoughts and come away refreshed, better able to face life's facts. figures, problems and aggrevation. In fact, it is relaxing simply to envisge the shed and it's pleasant ambience.

talking of colourful bikes....(no yamahas though unless the first is one that I can't recognise)

no, the 750 I'm afraid, it is a cramped arrangement, rather track like imo. not comfy over distance. belongs to the tall guy to the far left in the same photo, lovely boke.