My 13 year old mini clubvan passed its mot after the grand sum of 2700 miles going to Tesco, the park and back over the last 12 months to the day. Best car I’ve ever had for practicality and cost. Still only on 43k miles.
That's pretty and a great colour, Edit, I so much prefer bikes with a frame, I'm not a fan of the way Ducati have gone with just a headstock as a frame, might be an age thing of what a grew up with.
Managed to find a couple of hours free in my Friday afternoon that coincided with a gap in the horrendous weather and so I took it out for its first ride. At first it seemed absolutely gutless, plus it had a surprising amount of engine braking for a 2 stroke and I was starting to draft a “letter before action” in my head, but then I realised my right foot was pressing on the rear brake lever and I felt like a bit of a tit. Other than that, all good. It’s pretty vibey and made my hands a bit numb, but as I won’t be blatting along in top gear for very long while negotiating the muddy stuff, I suspect it won’t be much of an issue when ridden in its natural habitat. Off to the trails tomorrow for a proper ride.
The nearest lanes are a couple of miles away and per the last post but one, I’d be riding it for the first time on freezing cold wet roads, it’s fitted with the Chinese made OE knobbly tyres, it has twice as much power as my previous enduro bike and the engine is tuned for low down torque, any or all of which could spell disaster. The last bike but two which I bought (son’s DT125) suffered a stuck throttle the first time I rode it and I later discovered the speedo pickup was backing its way out of its bracket and was only a few microns away from fouling the holes in the centre of the front brake disc which would have locked the front wheel, so naturally I’m a bit wary of unfamiliar machinery. As my ride today proved (dragging the rear brake), even the controls being set up in a slightly different way can lead to issues.
My name is GrumpyGolfer and I am a ticketaholic.... The Australian Pink Floyd at the Royal Albert Hall.
Failed to live up to my forum name as I was a fairly happy golfer after this morning's efforts and stayed dry in the process. I then reverted to type and bought some tickets, this time for Alan Carr. It feels slightly ridiculous to be buying ticket for shows in 2027.
Also belated birthday greetings from me too. Not been on the forum properly for a bit. Hope you had a good day and hope you’re back on two wheels soon.
Took the Beta out on some muddy rutted and heavily potholed lanes and trails for the first time this afternoon. What an absolutely awesome bike! The hype is real. I bought it totally blind, having only previously ridden one for about 100m and on tarmac a few weeks previously, so I decided to get it solely on the basis of the universally positive reviews and gushing You Tube videos. No buyer's remorse here. And being Italian, it's also a really pretty little thing (stock photo).
I popped into my local to see what the latest was on the bike, had a chat outside the building with a chap from Kent with his Bayliss track bike
Mostly driving for 6 hours. Picked Son up from Cambridge as it's end of term so he has 6 weeks of study, dropped off at Gatwick Airport for a week of snowboarding in ValThoren. Then the long drive home, he's flying back into Luton next week so a much shorter day of driving.
Couple of days ago I renewed my multi bike policy with Bikesure. I went through the list of mods on the 2016 Multi including a full system, Rapidbike Evo and an up & down quickshifter and they’re happy. Result. Went to load said bike onto the trailer, and it was dead as a dodo. Nothing, nada, mort. I couldn’t unlock the steering. It turned out that I had not just one but two flat batteries in the two key fobs, Or had I? Bit of a coincidence, no life whatsoever. ‘No dear, no I don’t know the f-f-four digit code, I’ve never needed it. No I didn’t set it. I tried 0000, 1234, the last four digits of the VIN code. I have no idea what the f-f-f-four fidget code is. No a fourth attempt won’t make any difference’. It was fine all round Morocco and equally fine when I ran it up a few days or a week ago. A bike with a steering lock on, simply will not load onto a straight single bike trailer. Bastardo! The wife says she’s flying home. New battery in key fob 1. Nothing, still more life on Mars. Oh fuckerdyfuck-de-do. This is getting serious. The wife says she’s flying home. New battery in key fob 2 and…hang on, what’s that little thing on the back of this battery. It’s a sticker to stop it from making a circuit, I didn’t see that on the first one. Sure enough, in fob 1 there’s a sticker still in place. So I peel it off, put it all back together again and bingo, it lights up like Christmas has come early. Happy wife, happy life. All is forgiven and the wife is travelling back with me. Could have been worse, I was glad it didn’t happen in some godforsaken place in Morocco. The battery in the second one has probably been flat for years. Bike loaded, yesterday and today we drove up to Santander trailering the Multi. Now we’re on the ferry heading across The Bay of Biscay. As I speak the wine glasses have developed a life of their own and are moving around the table like they’re on an Ouija board as the boat pitches and rolls about. The forecast is for much worse.
Brilliant story and glad it worked out in the end, those little peel off tabs are a bugger and it would seem that everyone gets caught once or twice on whatever product; only last week my wife thought she needed a new iPad Logitech keyboard for exactly the same reason. I have never done the Bay of Biscay but understand it can get really bad especially at this time of the year. Hopefully home safe and sound!
Funny story, though you probably didn't see that side of it at the time. If we can meet up again for a ride again at some point in the spring remind me to bring the OBDStar and I can reset the code for you.
