French are very relaxed about that sort of thing. My Guzzi, at their suggestion, went in to the hotel kitchen for the night once.

I suppose two of them would fill an Edinburgh pothole just fine.

I must be getting old – I saw him as one of three concerts entitled “Three Men and their Guitars” on the Festival Fringe.

Can’t remember when but he was supported by a new band, who had quite a lot of obviously travelling following in the audience, named the Housemartins!

Suggest a used builder’s transporter – with luck they’ll have left a couple of bricks in the back………….

I think there’s some near the trail centre at Barrule but we couldn’t find them a couple of years ago. As advised – best to speak to the organisers. We missed the riders briefing which would have been the best time.

I’m not sure I’m fussed about how mushroomy a helmet might look (provided it is actually sitting properly on the head), more about the overall comfort.

A massive collar round the neck might not be too comfortable on a warmish day, or any day for that matter. But it’s good to see some lateral thinking.

If things are largely as they were before and you are riding as you were before I would suspect that the tyre compound may have gone hard over that number of years, particularly if the bike has been kept exposed to daylight. This will reduce the grip available.

That must be a good cafe – tins of Tate and Lyle syrup on the tables!

I found it rather amusing that the piece on cycle safety was immediately followed by the presenter cycling in a busy cycle lane then coming to a halt without either looking behind or signalling his intention.

If they put in a special surface for the Olympics then why the hell did they not either avoid putting in until afterwards or burn off for the event the white paint. At least one competitor went down when she was unwise enough to let her front wheel get on to a wet triangle whilst leant over.

That’s what you call customer service – I know for a fact that there is not a single off-licence in Edinburgh offering a jet wash.

Pressure washer allows more precise aiming of water than a hose so you can avoid flooding the bearings,used sensibly, the biggest problem is blasting off the stickers on the frame afer a while.

A few years ago a newcomer appeared on a CTC run wearing brogues, jeans and a Barbour jacket – it wasn’t a cold day. We all wondered what he had in the massive rucksack. The trackpump was revealed when he punctured and the hardshell briefcase containing his sandwiches when we reached the drum up.

This won’t be a lot of use to you but I had a test ride on a Burgman 400 a couple of years ago at a dealer open day.

I took it up on to some moors and was most impressed – a windy day and it was not upset by sidewinds. There was some rain and my jeans were still dry when I got back after 30-odd miles. Fortunately there was a stretch of private road so I was able to find out that it was still accelerating well when I had to shut off at 85 or so on the speedo.

They offered to sell me the demo but price was high and my SV 650 does everything I need to do.

I did however do some investigation and it seems that, despite being on the third incarnation of the clutch design, they still fail early on and the silencers still fall apart.

The problem seems to be that Suzuki design it for use as a Gentleman’s Express for the businessman to cruise to the office on but the British use it as a touring bike ie covering distance at the speed limit and using the acceleration to keep up with traffic flow and it don’t like it.

I suppose I could go less than 10x but I definitely need more than the 3x on the Fuji.

Thanks but neither Lumix nor IXUS seem to have a viewfinder. Absolute slimness is not essential – as long as it does not have a lens poking out I would have a bulkier compact to get the facilities I want.

Many moons ago I used to see a Merc coupe in Edinburgh, driven by a blonde lady, which bore the number 10 NOB with a couple of black screws to give the ” mark after 10.

I seem to recall seeing photos or video of, I think, a couple of Dutchmen, with offroad tyres fitted to their GSXRs. Two wheels is two wheels after all.

You’ll be Ok as you don’t see the Secretary of State there often – he rides a highly geared fixed.

I can’t recall anyone not responding to a nod or verbal equivalent at Glentress and we usually get some aimed at us. There’s almost always a conversation, even if only a quick remark passed, at the gatherings by the exits off the forest road onto the singletrack.

I did Aberfeldy to Aviemore a few years ago accompanying someone on part of their End to End. I had 23 slicks and luggage. Certainly would not choose the mountain bike to do it, too much like hard work, as it’s all “smooth” to one extent or another. Certainly much better than the main roads in Edinburgh!

I haven’t read all of this but picked up on the angle of motorists’ perception of motorcyclists’ actions due to not having ridden.

I was fortunate that, when I was 16, the young could afford motorcycling and consequently have had a lifetime’s pleasure from it.

Others have not been so lucky and nowadays the tyro tends to be middle aged and they undergo training, often beyond the legal requirement.

I would say that, almost without exception, the biggest effect of this is, partly through riding and partly through observing properly the actions of other road users as motorcyclists generally do, the realisation of just how poor a car driver they have been over two or three decades.

Would that all road users got this eye-opener.

Well I finally stopped crying and burst out laughing when the Wiggle advert came on in the middle of a CRC show.

You could easily be out of sight at a trail centre (behind bushes, trees, over an edge, etc) not just in the wilderness. You won’t be just an annoying twunt if you use the correct signal (which I’m surprised nobody has mentioned thus far).

Good luck with using a mobile at Glentress.

“Train travel in this country is a joke.”

Never mind it’ll all be sorted soon with what Cameron describes as “the biggest infrastructure investment in the railways since the Victorians”.

Oh how we laugh.

Worth doing Laggan as well if you can find transport to get you there (depending on your type of bike of course).

I don’t really see as valid the inference that bad riding was the cause of this. If a deer comes out a deer comes out and many sensibly driven cars hit them every year, a bike is no different.

In my experience a deer is only in your path for a fraction of a second. If you hit it at 40 then you would probably not have at 60 as it would have landed behind you.

A bike ain’t a car with crumple zones and is not designed to withstand impacts like striking a few cwt of meat (why should it be?) so the separated front end is indicative of not much at all beyond a frontal impact.

B&Q one has been fault free for two years with all signs of continuing that way.

The 40 year old Suffolk Colt was still doing the job when I sold it on (moved house and no room to store it and no grass) and had nothing other than a couple of sharpens and the oil changed. Doubt whether there’ll be too many 40 year old Hondas sold on e-bay in a few decades.

’92 Ascent EX

Not used a lot – all original except for the brake blocks.

Thomson’s Bar in Morrison Street (200 yards?)do good beer and anbience but don’t know about food.

I’ve often thought about how to fit a decent off-road mudguard in that position so that it does a decent job, just like my trials motorcycle.

I havent tried it yet, and it should stand commuting, but fill the middle recess on the back of the brace with say metal putty (it won’t stick enough to hold it adequately but it’s only to prevent movement). A small metal plate, cut to match the curve, goes over that and the mudguard bolts through its own bracket to the nut (which could be welded to the plate). The plate is held to the brace by colour matched plastic ties. If I could put a sketch on here I would.

Worth a try?

That’s not been something I’ve seen in thirty years of such cycling – problems from overtaking vehicles happen just about every trip.

And 20 mph slower might still be too fast – that’s the issue, being told a limit does not slow a driver down to the actual safe speed if he can’t judge it anyway.

I would say that my feeling on this is still what it was when I first heard it this morning though the detail is a bit airy-fairy at the moment.

I have to say, as one who frequently travels on “open roads” of all sorts in touring groups, of a size and spacing suitable for the conditions, that this will make life more unpleasant and dangerous for such cyclists.

Overtaking is a manouevre which should be accomplished in the shortest possible time for the conditions. Many motorists seem to find it hard to overtake such cyclists safely as it is with a 40-45 mph speed advantage, they’ll be struggling if that’s cut to 20-25 mph. So…..we end up with them having to force their way in to the left through the cyclists when something approaches or annoyingly following for miles just off the rear mudguard.

Don’t say we could just stop and pull over – when did you last do so in your vehicle just because the following driver was not competent enough to use perfectly safe overtaking opportunities?

And the last thing we want is more paint on the roads.

LBS had Vaverts in their sale with good stainless fittings. I can’t find them in 26″ though – has anyone seen such?

Michael Chapman? Plenty on the tube if you don’t know him. Last saw him on his “Bus Pass Tour”.

Clamp’s possibly a bit small for some tubes? 4 feet a benefit though.

Seal Shore on Arran null

And there’s a hotel adjacent for a pint.

I prefer Lochy but possibly the clientele at Glen Nevis is a bit different from the norm during the WC weekend.

The owner at Glen Nevis is basically in the wrong game in my experience. No dirty shoes in the bar (it’s a campsite in the wettest part of Britain FFS). He seems to think he has a posh restaurant (going by the prices) but the diners are supposed to thole it being used as a kid’s playground because he banishes them there while their folks are in the bar, from which children are banned.

Appearance is down to personal taste I suppose but, to me, it’s hard for any real motorcyclist to disagree with Peter Egan, then editor of Cycle World, who wrote an editorial 20-odd years ago on what constituted the ideal motorcycle (more or less a modern Vincent from his criteria) when he said “I don’t trust a motorcycle I can’t see through”.

I thought that summed up the requirements quite nicely.

“Who was it in Scotland that really pushed for the totally open access policy?”

The late John Taylor (who lived in Dumfriesshire and started the KM Rally) was very much instrumental in this.

I always find amusing the Ramblers attitude to legitimate use of the countryside by others given that they are an organisation founded on breaking the law. Goose and gander?

There must be an agency handling Festival lets which fits right in with your holiday. Don’t know what it might be called but rents go sky high that month.