Mate has a Diavel and we swapped bikes up in mid-Wales last summer (he had a go on my S1000R).

I was very impressed, comfy (he came from a Speed Triple but found the riding position too much for his ageing wrists), very, very fast, and handles far better than something long enough to span two post codes has any right to. My boots were touching down on slower tighter stuff, but on most roads it’d keep up with pretty much anything. Highly recommended and a bike I will consider one day.

Speed Triple – great bikes but showing their age now.

Harley – only real redeeming feature is they sound great on open pipes. I couldn’t own a bike that doesn’t corner well.

So what are your takeaways from this thread?

We spend a lot of time in meetings working out how to get on the “Happy Path”.

(IT project meetings mainly).

I prefer my sportsbikes with flat bars and less plastic (my Beemer and a mate’s ‘prilla):

An R6 is hardly an ideal first bike, but that said like all super sports 600s they have bugger all power below 10,000rpm, so if you keep the revs down while you’re learning the bike / how to ride properly you’d probably be ok.

Motorbikes. Getting faster and safer. 150-200bhp now the norm, but with ABS, traction control, wheelie control, electronic suspension, not forgetting modern tyres which are stupidly grippy and confidence inspiring.

That feeling that your whole life is laid out in front of you and anything is possible.

To add: for the supermarket comparison I’d go for Sainsburys and the advice on underlay above is spot on, don’t scrimp on it.

I normally avoid large chain stores (whatever they sell) like the plague, but we’ve used Carpetright many times over the last 20+ years and always had a good experience. Store staff tend to be typical bored under-paid chain store types ( slightly unfair generalisation, some have been very good) but we’ve always got a very good price, had no issues with measuring-up and fitting, and will continue to use them in future. We’ve always gone for fairly decent (i.e. not the cheapest) carpets and they’ve worn / aged very well.

At age of 8 or 9, decide to see what happens when you disconnect the connectors from the transformer to your Hornby model railway and stick them up your nose (with transformer on).

The smell of burning nostril stays with one.

If you do want climbing Cheddar gorge is a good one (though not that hard), you can take the first left at the top, follow that road through to the crossroads, turn left and drop back down Burrington Coombe and back into Bristol.

From Hengrove I’d head up the Wells Rd (A37) and just after you leave town (over a humpback bridge) take the first right turn (past a garden centre) which takes you to various lanes into the Chew Valley. The A roads aren’t too bad round there, but there are so many lovely quiet lanes you don’t need to use them much. If you want fairly flat head for Chew Lake and do a loop round there. You won’t really go far wrong round there, stacks of good road riding to the South of Bristol.

(Like the Sepultura reference btw 🙂 )

Had a Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCI Zetec for nearly 5 years, since it was 8 months / 2000 miles old.

Brilliant car, uber-practical, and has never missed a beat. (We only use it for longer trips though, have a 1.2 petrol car for town work).

AndyRT – Member
Aka_Gilo, look those chicken strips!

Only joking. But a trip on your roads will soon sort this!

Yeah yeah! The tyres were only about 50 miles old when I took that pic. :-). Mind you, it’s my first time on Metzeler M7RRs – they’re great tyres but I’m really struggling to get right to the edge of the tyre. I don’t hang about but there’s still a few mm of virgin rubber on the edge of each tyre. On Sportsmarts there’d be no chicken strips left within the first 100 miles.

cyclelife – Member
Nice BMW but which Bonnie is that?

2013 limited edition Bonneville Dark.

I’m deffo up for another Southern / Welsh ride.

My bike is sat on its likkle mat all ready to go 🙂

I

According to my wife and younger daughter:

Sausage or bacon sandwich: tomato ketchup.

Sausage or bacon sandwich with fried egg: brown sauce.

Woe betide anyone (that’ll be me then) who gets this wrong.

Wish I’d seen this thread earlier.

Ordered some motorcycle bar end mirrors from CRG Moto 2 weeks ago and nothing received. Unable to contact by phone and no reply to my polite e-mails asking for a delivery date.

Looks like my next call is to my bank to arrange a credit card chargeback.

Grrrrrrrr….,

Good view through the pinhole in Brizzle n

Great view from our balcony in Brizzle. Come on…

Shoestring!

Great news*

*even more so as a motorcyclist myself.

Freshly creosoted fence.

Mr_Mojo – Member
Im writing this whilst staying in this place. Fantastic location. Think there are other apartments in the same building that are bigger.

We’ve stayed in that block a few times, both in the Summer and at New Year – amazing location.

Of course riding motorbikes increases your chance of serious injury or death over a life spent in front of the TV, in the office, and driving everywhere.

So does road cycling.

So does horse riding.

So do an awful lot of things that give you a serious buzz and (importantly) make you feel alive and love life.

Weigh it all up, make your choice, but ignore the people who feel the need to throw in (possibly spurious, I’ve been around motorcyclists all my adult life and only known two killed. Known plenty died young through cancer, heart problems etc) tales of death or destruction. Get trained, get advanced training once you have a licence, never stop learning, treat your bike with respect, and get a crowbar to prise that grin off your face 🙂

mitsumonkey – Member
I love the look of them but too many idiot car drivers on the road ready to kill you in my opinion.
So no.

A chap down the road bought his wife a motorbike for her 40th, sadly and tragically she didn’t make 41.
A bloke I used to drink with in the pub was killed on his motorbike a week last Friday.
My mate accidentally ran over and killed a motorcyclist who was going too fast, the biker tried a crazy overtaking manoeuvre, got catapulted off and ended up with his head underneath the wheels of said friends car.
My dad was knocked off his motorbike twice by shite drivers before he gave it up.
Shall I go on?

Yawn. Heard endless tales of woe since I started riding motorbikes in the early 80’s. It’s tedious and predictable.

Funnily enough, people die before their time for many reasons, not just motorbikes.

Motorbikes provide a ridiculous amount of pleasure, but there’s a big risk involved too. Weigh it up and make your decision. I can’t see myself giving them up though.

Great stuff. 🙂

Great news!

Had my mobile number for 17 years and get about 1 call I don’t recognise a week on average. If I don’t recognise the number, it’s private or blocked, I don’t answer. If it’s that important (virtually never is) they can leave me a voicemail.

Your L shaped kitchen / diner / snug idea for sure. Nice big space but still with a separate room for privacy.

Cheers all , I’ll check out those other options.

cheekyboy – Member
Razzle

The 1980’s called – they’d like their grot back. 🙂

Another vote for St Ives, I love the place. Better for road riding than MTB though.

Awful news.

Thinking of you and your family. Stay strong.

wallop – Member
The best one. BS3.

Wins the thread 🙂

I eat a lot of shite, but to (try to) balance it I eat stacks of raw carrots, and olives. Mmmmmmmmm

I rarely drink shorts ( mainly wine only these days ) but I do enjoy a good whisky on occasion.

Always Scotch first for me, but I do like a good bourbon.

Had our new drive block paved by the builders who put up our extension 2 years ago. No moss or weeds as yet.

Since I got my new phone with a health app I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that I walk an average of 25 miles a week. I don’t even regard it as exercise, but it makes me feel slightly better about cycling far less than I used to.

Pretty standard on new(er) TVs. Ours (1 year old and about 8 years old) are either on or on standby. No option to turn off other than at the socket. Seems crazy, don’t know the rationale behind it.

Can’t say I’ve ever had a job I really enjoyed (maybe the 2 years in a record shop after leaving school).

Current job has lots of boring crap and endless politics (which I can do to an extent, but would really rather not) but, crucially, means I earn far far more than I probably should given my lack of qualifications and inate slacker attitude. This means I have a good quality of life and lots of toys. So I’m resigned to being a wage slave. Hopefully only 10-12 years to go.