Macie_UK

Yep confirmed elsewhere like http://www.stayontheblack.com/news/hein-gericke-placed-into-administration/ Will be interesting to see how it ends up because IIRC HG had an odd structure in terms of certain stores being 'fully ran' and some being sort of franchised out to a self employed manager. I don't think that I've ever seen more than 4 people in the Leicester branch. People that have been around a while will remember Carnells/MC going belly up in a far better economic climate, so it's not a great surprise. I reckon it's unlikely a buyer would take the lot on, unless they intended to farm every branch out as a franchise, but retain the clothing brand rights for the UK and stick HG labels on some cheapo shoddy gear. More likely that a buyer would want to keep the top ten or so performing branches and let the others go to smaller players. Probably some margin and market in the online sales side (assuming they sorted out the hideous website) because I presume they have some customer loyalty for niche stuff and can leave the anodised bolt kit brigade to stick with M&P/Busters/MPS/whatever they're called this week. When you consider that the long time UK distributor of Arai is calling it a day at the the end of the year because it's not making enough money, then it's clear that no market segment is safe these days. Bring on the sales

Good one Dave but you should be ashamed of the filth on your front paddock stand

Unless you really 'slum it' in terms of camping gear and clothes or just do one or two nights away then you are gonna struggle without panniers as well, which as you say, is an issue with your particular bike - is that for both hard and soft bags? You can also get a rack for the top of the Givi top boxes that then allows you to lash more gear to the top, which is not an uncommon sight. If you have a look here Here it seems that modding a Givi Wingrack for your bike is do-able. Alternatively Hepco and Becker do some soft pannier holders Here As for the whole touring thing, what you want to do and what you want to get out of it really dictates the amount of gear you need. For what it's worth, my take (these days - old bones and all that) is: For 1 or 2 nights a tent will do at a push if the weather is on your side. Anything longer and the constant pitching and packing gets on your nerves, especially after 8 days of rain in a Scottish summer You can make it easier by taking the minimal amount of gear, but this is supposed to be enjoyable not an endurance! To my mind, the whole touring thing can be split into 'getting there' and 'being there' elements - if you're doing the Norkapp or a lap of Spain or Scotland just to 'do it' then the accommodation arrangements become a secondary requirement and are entirely dictated by your budget - you will quite happily pitch a tent in a field in the same clothes you have worn for a week if it means achieving your trip. That said, kipping on a pallet on a cold spring night near the Portugese border, or in a field near Aberyswyth in a monsoon is in all truth, less than fun. If you prefer the 'being there' kind of tour, with a static base then lugging a load of gear there and back isn't so bad, because the intervening days can be spent riding with all your gear left behind and you still get to see/ride the good bits. This, I have to admit, is my preferred way of spending a week or so away these days - for example you can base yourself around Fort William and do pretty much everywhere North and West each day and come back to the same place - and you don't mind having a long day on the bike if you haven't got to faff around setting up and the end of each day. As for budget, well you're still going to eat, drink and use fuel whether you stay in a tent or in a Marriott, so those costs will remain equal. Assuming you don't fancy the slumming it in a field option, how much is it to pitch a tent at a decent site these days? I'm guessing at £10 to £20 a night (going on my last jaunt to Cornwall). So B&Bs aren't cost effective if there is more than one of you, so how about looking at the middle ground of various budget hotels? £50 quid a night for somewhere warm, dry and more secure than a tent to leave your gear in - as low as £20 a night if you hunt around for those occasional deals, and if cram 4 of you in a room for the odd night if you're travelling around it gets even cheaper. Is it worth the hassle of camping? Only you two can say, but the difference in cost between tenting and a cheapo hotel is probably less than you spend on bike cleaning products in a month Sorry for rambling, I'll go back out to the garage now..........

Good on ya keep plugging away it that's what you want. Just tell him that he is allowed to clean your bike as well and he'll soon cave

On second thoughts, if *you* did your test and got a bike, it would allow Dave much more room to cart all the gear around, while you went buzzing off

The West coast is the *only* coast in Scotland Good on yer Mel, glad you liked it. He'll get *no* peace at all now

The only time I used all 3 was for 2 of us for longer than a week, and that included packing the laptop

Just a quick heads up if you are in the market for a double bubble screen, Harris PerformanceHarris Performance are doing some Technoflo ones at a tenner + Vat & delivery. Bikes catered for are: Honda SP1/2, CBR600/900 Ducati 749/999 Kawasaki ZX6R/ZX9R/ZX10R Suzuki GSXR600/750/1000/1300 Yamaha R6/R1 Colours are clear, grey, mercury, black or if you have a taste deficiency, iridium. Laddo had 3 turn up today for his ZX6 and they fit fine

That's a bit of a blow mate Hope you manage a reconciliation (if that's what you want) but try and be as positive as possible, because not dealing with it won't stop it from happening. As it happens my 21 - year marriage finally came to an official end in April, and despite it being a bit up in the air for a few years previous, it's still better (from my point of view) now it's all done and dusted than while it was dragging on. If the worst does come to the worst, get some decent legal advice and just try to seperate the emotional side of it from the financial arrangements side otherwise it can be fairly easy to get shafted, while trying to 'be a good guy'. Keep your chin up fella, we're here if you want to natter/vent/discuss HRT etc Good luck dude!

Like when Stratford stopped bikes parking on the Riverside, they'll soon start crying about the loss of revenue if everyone stopped going....

Givi is good gear, I bought mine 2nd hand and got ten years use out of them until I flogged them. They wear very well indeed. Don't think that I would go for one that small, 36l panniers wouldn't get my lid in but a 45l box would. By the way, if you get the Givi 'monokey' plate as opposed to the 'monolock' Kappa boxes also fit straight on.

We used to have a few C220CDIs as company cars.No real issues, with mileages varying between 40-70 thousand a year. Discs pads and tyres can get a bit costly with enthusiastic driving. Mid 30s seemed tobe the normal MPG and personally I found them to be fai rly cramped inside, OK, but nothing special if you took away the aspirational/status rubbish. FWIW the E class that some directors had were far more economical, returning high 40s despite being ragged to and back and are an entirely more nice place to be.

You're going to put 700 miles on it going to Kent? As eveyone else has said, a bit over will be fine Dave

Have a good trip fella

Best tidy up Chad, your Dad's back soon!

So you take an awful bike (Ural), chuck in an awful diesel engine (daihatsu) and stuff the electrics in the pannier...... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ural-Daihatsu-Diesel-Motorcycle-/251114696137

Still a couple of hundred cheaper than a vapour one though. Mind 22,000 rpm is a bit excessive for an RXS100....

He has another listing with it on, with a 'buy it now' price of eight hundred pounds. This guy is as delusional as those awful early contestants on x factor that actually believe they can sing....

That was a heat, she came 5th in the final.

The gearbox one really did make me laugh out loud

It's getting to that time of year when the riders/teams/agents start playing games. F1 will be the same in a few weeks...

Cheers fellas. "Rivet bands" was about the only thing I hadn't searched for!

You know the little 1cm wide-ish straps that are riveted onto the ends of silencers? Can anyone suggest a decent place to buy some from? Ta

Heh I'm not forgetting 7, I have it on a dual boot box at home, but it's too fussy for me, so I usually revert to XP when I *need* a windows program. But absolutely agree that Vista is the worst version that they have ever produced. Awful beyond comprehension