Iano

as far as I can understand the tanker drivers are agrieved because they are seeing their salaries compromised as contractors now tend to employ them rather than the oil companies as previously. seems a lot of people are seeing their salaries reduced one way or another. personally can't be bothered to go and fill up cans, was going to then lost the will only thing is it means not being able to travel much for the time being nearly got into a tight spot with the bike as I was miles from home and virtually out of fuel, first garage I reached was closed, no pertol - the second had big queues of 4 x 4 type vehicles as the country set is clearly getting anxious inadvetently went in the filling station the wrong way being so glad to find one and managed to squeeze in before the next monster truck realised, he he.

Have to agree with the point about a bike being the best therapy for stress, well - that is as long as you don't go out in a bad mood. On the receiving end of what I thought was unfair criticism one time and rather ragged it on the bike which was stupid of me and pathetic but generally biking does help put a bad day behind you and revitalises the soul if that isn't going too far!

oh yes! very nice matey!!

must be exciting, hope you get it sorted for a ride soon, not too heavy for such a huge bike although still too heavy for the likes of me, just the machine for the open spaces. looks like a good summer (or is it winter there) for you.

congratulations!

Bad thing is if your a unemployed bum in a rental house, and you hit me, I have to claim off my own full comp if you havent taken insurance out. seems a lot of peeps in the uk, possibly urban areas/inner city more so, that don't always bother with insurance at all - same type of thing, if you tangle with one of them there is nobody to claim from. for once we are having some australian type weather here.

Good thing is once its been MOT'd, as long as you keep paying the rego (road tax) it never needs to be inspected ever again ! that's so alien having growed old with uk ways of doing things, suppose each country has it's own rules that work for them. congrats - always a relief to get another ticket

rack looks fine - designed to suit the bike, assume the container in the images goes with it and that will be next, practicalities mean compromises sometimes. whole thing looks good though, about as good as it gets with luggage, smashing looking bike, massively out of my league.

looks a tidy rocket, you be careful Is it true that the TDM doesn't have an oil warning light?

probably isn't totally relevant but it did occur to me that one could apply the sort of dissatisfaction mentioned in this original post to a wider set of items, ie: the wife, girlfriend, the job, the house... be satisfied with what you've got or maybe the analogy doesn't work with other things - not sure

I'm not entirely clear which is the most damaging way round, I think the nozel on the pumps are designed not to let you put diesel in a modern petrol car - so if that is right a bit of petrol in an old diesel might not have been too bad. Think the newer 'common rail' diesels with injection don't like petrol at all though. Not sure about all that, it's my understanding anyway.

Day off so went down Wokingham way to check out the IAM training meeting venue, a school, mainly to learn the route, more straightforward than I thought. On the way back pulled in at a pub and sat out on a raised deck overlooking the Thames, it was peaceful until two rather loud women sat near me, their language was fairly awful, frequent expletives and their conversation seemed to involve a fair bit of drink talk. Up to then it had been the comparatively quiet twittering of relatively well off looking types. Yes we all swear a bit (like today when I got back and found our bin chucked in somebody else's garden and half the rubbish not taken) but we all need a bit of peace and quiet having a break don't you think?

did the same, both me and the wife's cars are diesel, hadn't used the bike much, returning from a sunday motorbike jaunt filled the tank with diesel, plenty of smoke and just got home before it choked up pretty much. Emptied the tank, changed the plugs, filled it with pertol and it was fine, luckily I don't have injection otherwise it might have been different. My mind was on autopilot, remember thinking about the things I had to do when I got into work the next day so - being distracted was part of it plus the fact that I had got so used to putting diesel in vehicles. You feel such an idiot afterwards.

Have you noticed that bikers are invariably pondering on their next upgrade? I'm just as bad as any.. While at the mechanic's place thought this is a good opportunity to sound him out on a bike that I had been thinking about, of course bigger than the one I have now. The mechanic put down his tools and said, 'look there's nothing wrong with the bike you've got, it does everything you need it to do...' and you know what, he's right. rather like a priest saying 'stop envying everybody else and their stuff' moral of story, value what you've got .

36 yrs ago, as a student, recall riding a motorbike on a motorway with no top on, that hot summer of 1976 - makes me absolutely cringe to think of it now. These days I never go out unless fully togged up, funny how you change.

got a little confession - didn't want to go on the training thing so had to force myself, trouble is that there are too many nutters coming out of side roads without looking or they have cars with thick door pillars. IAM don't seem to have the answer to that other than positioning and manoeuvring - something which is difficult to do, of course speed is another thing they emphasise (despite going wild in the countryside as witnessed).

that's the problem. hard to change ingrained habits however what they said just on that day out made a lot of sense and felt, if i could just bring myself to adopt their advice as automatic, it could potentially save me from a nasty.

thanks carole - poor old rocky in the picture isn't that good, he's got a few problems although you wouldn't realise from the photo (taken at Christmas) I'm very sorry about your pooch, can just imagine how devastating that must be, they are a member of the family after all aren't they. IAM typically costs about £140, I got mine at a special recruiting rate but it wasn't really a big saving as it is not the closest to me, somebody I know is a member of that particular branch. Not absolutely sure but I think you get six or so sessions with your own 1 to 1 observer for that, I'm sure there is a free fiddle if you aren't considered up to scratch for the test, seems to me that if you show enough interest they melt.

Trying to do something about not getting wiped out so went for an informal assessment as part of a ride out with the local IAM group - it was a days outing of 140 miles with a couple of breaks, relatively fast pace as well. Whoever selected the route did a clever job, some lovely roads, had two observers pick holes in my riding, typically the complement then the criticism. Did learn a couple of helpful tips though, a question of adopting the changes by practice now. - the biggest surprise was the last third of the run seemed to be a free for all back to their base (a pub), that got a bit competitive. will go on and do the formal test with more training but their runs are too scarey for me, isn't that wierd with a motorcycle safety group. Ian

congrats on all those children streetfighter went swimming today - 70 lengths, record so far, but done not that quick... find it helps suppleness, get 'brittle' if i don't.. oh yes, signed up for IAM training.... and bought/fitted the givi rack and monokey topbox (mentioned in a previous post) - impressed with the engineering quality and fit of the rack. tired out now, ready for a lie down

thanks tony - nice bikes

thanks matey - give that a go

Anybody read MAG?, looking at a copy my brother in law gave me, a life insurance company, Ageas, says:- 'for every km riden a motorcyclist is 46 times more likely to be killed in a road accident than a car driver and 57 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured' where's that bike training stuff gone...

that last post by tony made me think, slight lean forward helps with a little bit of weight on the arms, wish the foot controls would go back a tad on mine, doubt that there are any kits for rear sets on a divvy though.

good result however.. "It took a complex and painstaking investigation over several years to blow away all the smoke screens and ensure Pruthi faced justice." wonder if the police will have the resources to carry out similar investigations in the future with all the cut backs to their service.