Hi All!

[Lightning_650]

Wondered where you'd all gone!
A very infrequent poster on the old site,I used to log in now and again just to see if anything exciting was under discussion.
I'm Lance,from North Bedfordshire,K1300GT owned since last October but only ridden four times since I bought it.(A nasty cow tried to punt me and the missus off the bike,screaming and hollering that my headlamp was blinding her in her rear view mirror;it was,because the headlamp effing adjuster had fallen to bits)
Hence it's lack of use since purchase...
Anyway,I'm of mature years,in the middle of the IAM thing,and looking forward to lurking around this site....

[raesewell]

Welcome back Lance.

[Phmode]

Yes, welcome back Lance, glad you found us again, although we did try awfully hard not to let anyone know where we had gone 

A strange and similar thing happened to me before Xmas, not the adjuster falling off, the silly cow thing, only it was a bull.

I was rattling along the M4, on a freezing cold Sunday afternoon, homeward bound from a very jolly biker's Xmas party.

Most cars, stuck in the 50-60 mph car park were drifting toward lane 2 or the Armco in a very definite attempt to let me squeeze by and I was very kindly taking up their offer and making progress.

Eventually the motorway cleared, all apart from the solid line of cars still stuck in lane 3 all trying to overtake the car in front.

Suddenly, the car I had found myslef behind stamped on his brakes so I lifted off and eased into the empty lane 2 but he pulled over as well and started shaking his fist in his mirror. Lane 1 and he follows suit, still shaking his fist. When I pulled out and moved tentatively alongside him, he wound his window down and started spluttering about me flashing my headlight on and off the whole time I was behind him, demanding to know why.

Now, I have always found it a trifle useless to flash the driver in front unless they are asleep and the only vehicle in the outside lane when a quick one normally wakes them up and moves them over and I certainly wasn't flashing him; there was a whole lane 2 empty if I had been that desperate to get home.

I shrugged and left him behind but to this day he probably thinks I was flashing him.

Paying attention to this when I re-joined the back of the queue my headlight most definitely seemed to be flickering imperceptibly, or jiggling over surface irregularities and being so much higher that most car headlights I figure it can seem like I am flashing folks; although he was the only one who took exception. When I got home I had to delve into my cowling to fit s a an HID kit I had been given and could find no physical reason, no loose bulbs, no loose adjusters, nothing.

Since then, I've paid a lot of attention to this when I am in the car and have noticed that most bike headlights do seem to flash, or flicker, when they come up behind me. Harsher suspension than cars? Higher lights? I have no idea but it has never bothered me, but I have noticed it is definitely a feature of most bikes.

Brian (who has been riding with his lights off since then and has had no more problems  )

[bobtail]

Welcome Lance glad you found us.

Regarding our bovine friends there was an interesting dialogue a few years back on the BMW Club site (the admins of which should really check this site out to see how interaction works) The nub of the story was .......cow in road, plod called, PCPlod going at fair lick round bend, cow still in middle of road, Mr Plod rams bovine up backside, cow now deceased! The dialogue that later evolved was to do with the plod getting slight tap on wrist and told not to do it again. We said what if it was 'us' would we be let off so lightly? Oh deary me the trauma and tribulation that ensued over the next few weeks was quite farcical but resulted in some of us being told off and one of us in particular being banned from that site forever!

Anyhoo good luck with the I.A.M. thingy when you've got your ticket go and do the RoSPA course it is far superior. If you want any pointers give me a call.

Bob

[Phmode]

Stop talking about cows and the BMW site, or you'll get banned here too, you know what the mods are like around here!

Brian (who wonders what some forums think they are for  )

[bobtail]

Sorry Brian sir, I cowtow to your superior position so no more cow related tails(get it) oh and it wasn't me that got banished to the outer reaches but he is a member of this site. So watch out for him he could be a troublemaker.

Bob

[Phmode]

You're banned anyway!

Brian (who wants you all to know that we have all the trouble-makers names in a big box, a very big box actually)

[Dusty]

It would be so much easier if we all became troublemakers, thereby allowing the moderators to treat us all equally. My wife assures me that I am one already, so I'll try my best. 

[Phmode]

OK! That does it, you're out too!

Brian (was that an echo in here or is there still someone left  )

[Lightning_650]

Welcome Lance glad you found us.

Regarding our bovine friends there was an interesting dialogue a few years back on the BMW Club site (the admins of which should really check this site out to see how interaction works) The nub of the story was .......cow in road, plod called, PCPlod going at fair lick round bend, cow still in middle of road, Mr Plod rams bovine up backside, cow now deceased! The dialogue that later evolved was to do with the plod getting slight tap on wrist and told not to do it again. We said what if it was 'us' would we be let off so lightly? Oh deary me the trauma and tribulation that ensued over the next few weeks was quite farcical but resulted in some of us being told off and one of us in particular being banned from that site forever!

Anyhoo good luck with the I.A.M. thingy when you've got your ticket go and do the RoSPA course it is far superior. If you want any pointers give me a call.

Bob

Bloomin 'eck,I've never heard of the RoSPA course!.
IBefore I started the IAM,I'd never had any riding training*,I figured that as I've survived the first 44 years I must be doing something right...all a bit of an eye opener though tbh
(*apart from 2 days enduro school where I launched my bike UP into the trees so dramatically traffic stopped on the adjacent A11...my head hurt for a week...)
According to my regular Observer I'm not far from my test,I've had five Observed rides but I've got my winter-riding mojo back since I started and have been putting in the practice miles almost  every week.
Not spent this much time on a bike since I gave up London despatching...

[bobtail]

Hi Lance,

Never too late or old to learn summat new. The IAM course/test is ok but when I was running my own rider training school I always advised my customers to either go for both, IAM first then the RoSPA, or just do the RoSPA. The latter is a much more detailed and the depth of the content is (in my opinion) far superior. One of the main differences is that with the RoSPA qualification you have to be re-tested every three years which really does keep your standards up and of course although you may achieve the highest standard(Gold, class 1) one time there is no guarantee that you are going to get it the next. With the IAM it is a once and forever test so standards can (and do) slip.

Good luck with the course and keep us informed on how you got on.

Bob

[chriscanning]

Welcome Lance glad you found us.

Regarding our bovine friends there was an interesting dialogue a few years back on the BMW Club site (the admins of which should really check this site out to see how interaction works) The nub of the story was .......cow in road, plod called, PCPlod going at fair lick round bend, cow still in middle of road, Mr Plod rams bovine up backside, cow now deceased! The dialogue that later evolved was to do with the plod getting slight tap on wrist and told not to do it again. We said what if it was 'us' would we be let off so lightly? Oh deary me the trauma and tribulation that ensued over the next few weeks was quite farcical but resulted in some of us being told off and one of us in particular being banned from that site forever!

Anyhoo good luck with the I.A.M. thingy when you've got your ticket go and do the RoSPA course it is far superior. If you want any pointers give me a call.

Bob

Bloomin 'eck,I've never heard of the RoSPA course!.
IBefore I started the IAM,I'd never had any riding training*,I figured that as I've survived the first 44 years I must be doing something right...all a bit of an eye opener though tbh
(*apart from 2 days enduro school where I launched my bike UP into the trees so dramatically traffic stopped on the adjacent A11...my head hurt for a week...)
According to my regular Observer I'm not far from my test,I've had five Observed rides but I've got my winter-riding mojo back since I started and have been putting in the practice miles almost  every week.
Not spent this much time on a bike since I gave up London despatching...

The punch line is the enduro school I rode my first bike on the road in 69 didn't ride a big bike for 5 years out of respect of learning my trade so to speak but quickly realised you could ride a bike on the road for a 100 years you'll learn to survive but you'll never learn to ride a bike and all but gave up riding a road bike for 8/9 years apart from summers hols to southern Europe.

Having ridden stuff from the Welsh 2 day to the Western beach race and heaven knows what else along the way it's where I learned to actually ride a bike when the front wheel is going one way and the back the other and just as importantly had my first encounter with after market suspension and generally how a bike works I had 3 years in the bike trade and to this day never ceases to amaze me the number of folk who don't know a shock spring from a bed spring  or their compression from their rebound which is a shame.