Today I acquired...........

[roblane65]

Not one iota, I like keeping toastie warm and being sat in total comfort when driving , instead of sitting like the hunchback of Notre Dame , freezing my fingers , feet & balls off on a machine in inclement weather , on one that falls over with sickening regularity .

By your in a reet moood the nite !

 

[Pete.]

The difference between taking my company van and taking my bike to work into London used to average about 1.5hrs a day, now it's easily 2hrs.

2hrs a day x 250 working days a year = 500hrs. I work a 50 hour basic week so by using my bike instead of using my van I get the equivalent of 10 extra weeks time at work, at home every single year.

I'd rather be sitting in the comfort of my toasty warm home or free to pursue whatever activity I like than stuck on my **** in a car in traffic

 

[GraemeVW]

Filtering is encouraged, not just legal.
One of the reasons I failed my first bike test was not filtering. Was marked down as failure to make progress or something (was 1994 so memory is foggy).

 

[Hood]

Not one iota, I like keeping toastie warm and being sat in total comfort when driving , instead of sitting like the hunchback of Notre Dame , freezing my fingers , feet & balls off on a machine in inclement weather , on one that falls over with sickening regularity .

Biking gear has moved on a huge amount since I was last on bikes (25 years ago) Totally waterproof no matter the rain and time. very warm, still don't have the inner liner in either jackets or trousers and I have been for runs in minus 2 deg so far, just a T shirt under the jacket so far. Gloves to are superb, totally waterproof and warm and I also have heated grips which I have only had half power so far. Boots likewise, warm and totally waterproof and no hunching, I am sitting tall on the Twin

For the people that really feel the cold there are heated jackets, trousers and gloves etc.

Best bit is it is fun

 

[DAPPH]

I'm not in any sort of mood . Just smiling at motorcyclists in general ( aka potential mush splats ) and thinking fondly of the numerous mates & acquaintance's over the last 55 years who've got killed whilst using them .

Sadly this time of the year in 1970 , Paul a lad I grew up with popped himself & his moped off a slight bend in the road that was slo a flat bridge into a ditch that had a couple of inches of water in it . Poor sod broke his neck in the nine foot drop into the ditch and he drowned in the water . It took nearly 10 hrs or so for his dad to walk the route back to the family home from Paul's girlfriend's place before he was found.

 

[Pete.]

In the 1970's bikes rode on mahogany tyres and had frames made from noodles. Things have move along a bit in the 50 years since

Got my current bike at 39k miles it's now on 107k and that's all heavy traffic commuting. Mind you this past year since CV19 and the London Mayor closing all the back roads I've seen a lot of new to biking types using them to commute and some of them I wonder if they are going to make it home. I bet the accident statistics for this year and next are going to be pretty grim round here.

 

[Hood]

I'm not in any sort of mood . Just smiling at motorcyclists in general ( aka potential mush splats ) and thinking fondly of the numerous mates & acquaintance's over the last 55 years who've got killed whilst using them .

Sadly this time of the year in 1970 , Paul a lad I grew up with popped himself & his moped off a slight bend in the road that was slo a flat bridge into a ditch that had a couple of inches of water in it . Poor sod broke his neck in the nine foot drop into the ditch and he drowned in the water . It took nearly 10 hrs or so for his dad to walk the route back to the family home from Paul's girlfriend's place before he was found.

I have not had any mates die on a bike, had a few die in cars.

 

[Onoff]

Friends and friends of friends were always getting hurt, ending up as amputees or dying on bikes when I was a kid.

What put me off for life was my older brother staggering in through the back door with broken bits and covered in blood, I was about 5. He'd been forced off the road and gone off the side of the aptly named Death Hill. He left his bike there, Honda 500 I think and walked home across the fields. (Good training for when he later did Selection I guess). Would have been about 1972.

He's now 68 and a barrister. A few months back he said he'd love another bike!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Someone said "there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing" - yeah, right......

 

[MCKDAVID]

Hark at you two proclaiming this and that!

Aye, you'd think they were twins or something....

 

[indy4x]

Good gifts. Happy Birthday !

It always helps to tell them what I'd really like, I'm sure the wife would rather buy me clothes or something

 

[bricol]

The difference between taking my company van and taking my bike to work into London used to average about 1.5hrs a day, now it's easily 2hrs.

2hrs a day x 250 working days a year = 500hrs. I work a 50 hour basic week so by using my bike instead of using my van I get the equivalent of 10 extra weeks time at work, at home every single year.

I'd rather be sitting in the comfort of my toasty warm home or free to pursue whatever activity I like than stuck on my **** in a car in traffic

I just stopped working for Philip Morris Engineering in SE London in 1991 and returned to Yorkshire rather than sit anywhere, on anything, in London traffic.

I just prefer to sit in something with some steel around me, even the limited amount in a Seven-type vehicle - too many mates knocked off, forced off, injured or killed due to inattentive road users or simply complete idiots.

There's a lot of bikers, powered or not, who seem to follow the "I'm in the right", or I am Barry/Randy/Mike re-born and speed limits are a suggestion . . . when two of those meet, as two did on an Austrian mountain pass I was coming down a decade or so ago - in the car behind what was going to happen was obvious . . . but the two motorbikers who managed the full chat head-on obviously didn't . . so your average car is white goods driver isn't likely so see 'em either.

 

[bricol]

It always helps to tell them what I'd really like, I'm sure the wife would rather buy me clothes or something

Hydraulic handbrake assembly was presented to me at the weekend as an early pressie

 

[DAPPH]

I have not had any mates die on a bike, had a few die in cars.

What' s your name " Billy no mates " ?

 

[James1979]

I have not had any mates die on a bike, had a few die in cars.

Me too. One guy usually rode a bike but was in a car that day. They said he would probably have been injured at most on the bike as he’s a smaller target.

That said. There are some complete cretins on bikes but as I’ve said before they are just cretinous individuals generally. They would behave the same on a bicycle, motorcycle or whatever. There was an unwarranted 50 put in where I used to live due to a head on fatal between two of the **Language** wits. Both families campaigned for “safety measures” on that bit of road, forgetting their relatives died due to their combined stupidity

 

[Hood]

What' s your name " Billy no mates " ?

Nope, we all had bikes when we were old enough, most before Lots stayed with bikes for years as the only means of transport, I never sat my car test until I was 21 and never had a car until I was 25 but even then I used the bike most days and was still clocking 12-15,000 miles a year, same with 3 or 4 of my mates.
Two that did move to cars at about 18 didn't live much longer, seemed to think because they were wrapped in a metal cage that they were invincible, one hit a tree the other a dry stane dyke.

 

[My Old Landy]

Nope, we all had bikes when we were old enough, most before Lots stayed with bikes for years as the only means of transport, I never sat my car test until I was 21 and never had a car until I was 25 but even then I used the bike most days and was still clocking 12-15,000 miles a year, same with 3 or 4 of my mates.
Two that did move to cars at about 18 didn't live much longer, seemed to think because they were wrapped in a metal cage that they were invincible, one hit a tree the other a dry stane dyke.

I have similar experience, I have only given up riding due to arthritis. 37 years in the saddle with nary a broken bone. I also rode trials for many years. Damn I miss it

 

[Hood]

I have similar experience, I have only given up riding due to arthritis. 37 years in the saddle with nary a broken bone. I also rode trials for many years. Damn I miss it

I always wanted another bike but other things happened, almost bought a KTM 6** (can't remember) but a van came up at the same time so I thought a van would be the more sensible option, biggest mistake I ever made, van was crap and probably less reliable than the KTM would have been

Tried to keep away from anything bike related on the net or magazines etc when I sold my CBR600 to buy a lathe but one day a Goldwing video popped up in my Youtube feed and I watched it, the boss said you better go with one now or you will be too knackered to get one Decided the Wing wasn't really practical for around here so started looking at other options, thought about an old XL600 as I had a few smaller ones and always fancied a bigger one but man the second hand price of them was scary, even the 250's were stupid money for 35 year old bikes. So started looking at the AT and got hooked

 

[RichardM]

Always had a bike since I turned 17, tyres, technology and gear have improved vastly since the 70s, but I still avoid wet manhole covers.

 

[julianthegypsy]

The biggest problem these days isn't so much the kids who think they're invincible, it's the born again boys who remember the fun they had trying to get to a ton on an old 650 and decide to have another go. Only to find that any modern 750 will be doing a ton before you can blink, usually into something unforgiving. That's if you don't slide hitting the throttle too hard coming out of a bend. I never stopped riding bikes, but was still blown away by a zx9 and didn't keep it long, as I knew I'd either lose my license or do myself some mischief. Sadly, a friend in his forties with a fire blade learned the hard way. He survived ok but never rode a bike again. If only he'd bought a Harley or a triumph twin he'd probably still be enjoying bikes now.