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The Euro K Club Lounge / Re: Snow! Can I go outside mum?!
« on: Today at 04:15:17 pm »
That reminds me I need to mine back in the air; got all the bits, just need to get a round tuit 
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The Euro K Club Lounge / Re: Who do you reckon will be the first member to get the Covid jab...
« on: Yesterday at 02:39:34 pm »
It was a silent disco and a blacked out one to boot, so glo-sticks were confiscated by the police on the way in...
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johnnybnix's bikes/trikes/combos whatever / Re: Sidecar stuff - sort of technical
« on: Yesterday at 02:34:50 pm »
Brilliant article and well written John and despite being just round the corner, Covid has conspired to stop me from seeing it in the flesh.
As I've said before my first ever ride on a motorbike was on an outfit. My dad's uncle had a wooden leg (as you did post war, but he eventually got an upgrade to a tin one ) and he couldn't afford a car so he had a chair bolted to the side of his bike and off he went.
He would often ride down from Wigan and whisk me away for an hour or two, no helmets, no protective anything apart from a couple of pairs of goggles and we would always stop at The Saracen's Head for a shandy or two, sitting in the car park listening to it tick and crack as it cooled down. I have no idea what the bike was but in my young schoolboy mind it used to fly along those empty Cheshire lanes of yore.
Too much of a compromise for me but the sight of the beasts squirrelling through Ginger Hall at the TT always made my hair stand on end and think of Uncle Dick
As I've said before my first ever ride on a motorbike was on an outfit. My dad's uncle had a wooden leg (as you did post war, but he eventually got an upgrade to a tin one
) and he couldn't afford a car so he had a chair bolted to the side of his bike and off he went.He would often ride down from Wigan and whisk me away for an hour or two, no helmets, no protective anything apart from a couple of pairs of goggles and we would always stop at The Saracen's Head for a shandy or two, sitting in the car park listening to it tick and crack as it cooled down. I have no idea what the bike was but in my young schoolboy mind it used to fly along those empty Cheshire lanes of yore.
Too much of a compromise for me but the sight of the beasts squirrelling through Ginger Hall at the TT always made my hair stand on end and think of Uncle Dick
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Other (K) Bikes or anything else! / Re: Electric bike - 145bhp
« on: January 22, 2021, 01:11:03 pm »Only one way to beat an electric car - get an electric vehicle with better power-to-weight ratio. That would be a bike. Status quo vadis restored.
But then I too have range anxiety whilst riding...
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Other (K) Bikes or anything else! / Re: Fully Integrated Nav
« on: January 22, 2021, 01:09:54 pm »
...and further to Rae's point how do you get the speed camera database into the damn thing.
The idiot sat-nag in my Audi is so user-unfriendly that I still have no idea how to even get out of the 'route' screenit is currently in. Poking buttons and pressing bits of the screen has little discernible effect and then I have to invoke the ABS to stop me from running into that bus stop full of nuns and schoolgirls.
And it isn't in my line of sight. And most of it requires me to be looking at the screen to make sure an errant finger poke doesn't fire the passenger ejector seat. Or worse still, the driver's
Give me after-market ones every day. I can't even change radio stations without taking my eyes off the road. Not that I ever listen to 'entertainment' whilst driving.
The idiot sat-nag in my Audi is so user-unfriendly that I still have no idea how to even get out of the 'route' screenit is currently in. Poking buttons and pressing bits of the screen has little discernible effect and then I have to invoke the ABS to stop me from running into that bus stop full of nuns and schoolgirls.
And it isn't in my line of sight. And most of it requires me to be looking at the screen to make sure an errant finger poke doesn't fire the passenger ejector seat. Or worse still, the driver's
Give me after-market ones every day. I can't even change radio stations without taking my eyes off the road. Not that I ever listen to 'entertainment' whilst driving.
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fjtwelve's Bikes / Re: K1200S
« on: January 22, 2021, 01:03:24 pm »
The 13 has a bigger engine and bigger engines MUST run hotter with the same size exhaust...
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The Euro K Club Lounge / Re: Who do you reckon will be the first member to get the Covid jab...
« on: January 22, 2021, 01:02:06 pm »
The problem with your 'problem with the stats' statement David, is that the number of excess deaths is a figure which in normal years is over and above a huge and frightening number of influenza deaths as well as deaths from all other causes.
With the various lockdowns, I 'imagine' that the number of deaths from influenza (which is nowhere near as transmissable as Covid and for which many people have the jab every year) is much lower this year than in a normal year because folks are wearing masks, not going out except to illegal raves and are social distancing, all of which help to stop the spread of the 'flu and hence makes the excess deaths figure seem lower than it will actually be for this year. Your wife would surely know the stats on current 'flu death rates assuming she has the spare brain capacity to even wonder about such things whilst currently doing 487% of her normal job and probably that of three other people who are off sick. Much hero worship going on here...
I was shocked and horrified last year when the 'normal' figures for deaths from 'flu came out, something we don't normally hear anything about. OK, most of those 'flu deaths are merely the annual cull of the old and decrepit who would probably die soon anyway from other unrelated causes like old age, but the statistics are still scary.
As whoever it was once said, 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics'.
But I totally agree that we shouldn't obsess about any of it. I'm currently panicking because Waitrose has run out of rib-eye steak and has no stock of 2litre bottles of Yeo Valley milk
With the various lockdowns, I 'imagine' that the number of deaths from influenza (which is nowhere near as transmissable as Covid and for which many people have the jab every year) is much lower this year than in a normal year because folks are wearing masks, not going out except to illegal raves and are social distancing, all of which help to stop the spread of the 'flu and hence makes the excess deaths figure seem lower than it will actually be for this year. Your wife would surely know the stats on current 'flu death rates assuming she has the spare brain capacity to even wonder about such things whilst currently doing 487% of her normal job and probably that of three other people who are off sick. Much hero worship going on here...
I was shocked and horrified last year when the 'normal' figures for deaths from 'flu came out, something we don't normally hear anything about. OK, most of those 'flu deaths are merely the annual cull of the old and decrepit who would probably die soon anyway from other unrelated causes like old age, but the statistics are still scary.
As whoever it was once said, 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics'.
But I totally agree that we shouldn't obsess about any of it. I'm currently panicking because Waitrose has run out of rib-eye steak and has no stock of 2litre bottles of Yeo Valley milk
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Other (K) Bikes or anything else! / Re: Electric bike - 145bhp
« on: January 20, 2021, 09:54:17 pm »
The big problem I see with a K vs electric cars on country roads is that they have the same accelerative power as the K so popping a quick overtake becomes very dodgy if they spot you and close the gap which used to be your landing site.
Not so much of a problem where I live as even the 24bhp Honda gets past almost everything on our wonderful roads, but that's because most drivers have a) not a clue about engine or tyre and supension ability and b) no desire nor incentive to travel faster than the horse.
Not so much of a problem where I live as even the 24bhp Honda gets past almost everything on our wonderful roads, but that's because most drivers have a) not a clue about engine or tyre and supension ability and b) no desire nor incentive to travel faster than the horse.
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Other (K) Bikes or anything else! / Re: H2 SX SE test ride. A different perspective?
« on: January 20, 2021, 02:48:48 pm »
Oh well. Back to the drawing board... 
Interesting the way MCN refers to the H2 demographic as the supercharged brigade. Nothing to do with the supercharger, merely the performance package. It is a super-sports tourer...
Interesting the way MCN refers to the H2 demographic as the supercharged brigade. Nothing to do with the supercharger, merely the performance package. It is a super-sports tourer...
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Other (K) Bikes or anything else! / Re: Electric bike - 145bhp
« on: January 20, 2021, 02:42:43 pm »
It might just be Covid messing with my mind (as opposed to alcohol) but one wonders in this ever-more-connected and even-more-home-working world, quite how much range the average motorist needs.
I'm retired so no commuting and even my regular weekend trips are only 50 miles one way. In between, the car rarely goes further than the supermarket.
As a comitted petrol head, my huge gripe with electric anything is not range anxiety but performance anxiety.
Followed a Tesla up Birdlip and through Nettleton (40 limit) and out onto the A417 south (derestriced dual carriageway). He took the left lane through the roundabout and couldn't corner for toffee (him, not his car) and I was out of the roundabout in the S3 20 yards ahead of him at which point his view of the world became that from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise....
Er, OK! I NEED that sort of acceleration and I need it now!
A mile further on, there he was cruising along at 60 doubtless with all sorts of alarms and hooters warning him of an imminent stall or explosion or somesuch. But he had 'put that whipper-snapper in his place'. I can drive the way I drive (more or less full chat) for 280'ish miles before needing to stop for five minutes to recharge my fuel cell, otherwise known as the petrol tank.
But, on that regular run, could I drive his car at maximum amps for the whole 50 miles? Because if I could then who needs a charging station, it was full when I left home and will be full again the next morning all for the cost of a home charger or two.
I still think the original Top Gear crew had the right idea, cover the motorways with electrified chicken wire on poles and fit your electric car with a dodgem-car like coupler and you can charge as you drive.
Simples!
I'm retired so no commuting and even my regular weekend trips are only 50 miles one way. In between, the car rarely goes further than the supermarket.
As a comitted petrol head, my huge gripe with electric anything is not range anxiety but performance anxiety.
Followed a Tesla up Birdlip and through Nettleton (40 limit) and out onto the A417 south (derestriced dual carriageway). He took the left lane through the roundabout and couldn't corner for toffee (him, not his car) and I was out of the roundabout in the S3 20 yards ahead of him at which point his view of the world became that from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise....
Er, OK! I NEED that sort of acceleration and I need it now!
A mile further on, there he was cruising along at 60 doubtless with all sorts of alarms and hooters warning him of an imminent stall or explosion or somesuch. But he had 'put that whipper-snapper in his place'. I can drive the way I drive (more or less full chat) for 280'ish miles before needing to stop for five minutes to recharge my fuel cell, otherwise known as the petrol tank.
But, on that regular run, could I drive his car at maximum amps for the whole 50 miles? Because if I could then who needs a charging station, it was full when I left home and will be full again the next morning all for the cost of a home charger or two.
I still think the original Top Gear crew had the right idea, cover the motorways with electrified chicken wire on poles and fit your electric car with a dodgem-car like coupler and you can charge as you drive.
Simples!
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K1200 / K1300 Forum / Re: K1300 Motorsport & full akro
« on: January 20, 2021, 02:19:05 pm »
No idea on the conversion but it is my understanding that the full Akra kit has a silencer with no cat. The BMW after-market silencer does have a cat.
Just saying...
Just saying...
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The Euro K Club Lounge / Re: Rheumy eyes!
« on: January 19, 2021, 11:00:47 am »
Nothing else has changed apart from being 10 years older than I was a couple of years ago.
Diet? Wine, beer! Nothing changed.
Goggles? They would have to be prescription because specs and goggles inside a flip-front might be aninteresting combo. Although I am gradually getting long-sighted and would be happy to drive the car at about 50, riding is not on the cards without the glasses (and is illegal anyway, car or bike). I have a pair of industrial goggles I carry on tour as I buggered my visor in Germany years ago and had to ride for miles to get a replacement, not nice and bloody dangerous to boot.
Open face? Haven't ridden in one of those since 1970 and definitely wouldn't do it at K speed!
The misting is only a problem with a totally sealed helmet as the pinlock keeps the visor clear under 'normal' (i.e. eye-watering) circumstances.
Diet? Wine, beer! Nothing changed.
Goggles? They would have to be prescription because specs and goggles inside a flip-front might be aninteresting combo. Although I am gradually getting long-sighted and would be happy to drive the car at about 50, riding is not on the cards without the glasses (and is illegal anyway, car or bike). I have a pair of industrial goggles I carry on tour as I buggered my visor in Germany years ago and had to ride for miles to get a replacement, not nice and bloody dangerous to boot.
Open face? Haven't ridden in one of those since 1970 and definitely wouldn't do it at K speed!
The misting is only a problem with a totally sealed helmet as the pinlock keeps the visor clear under 'normal' (i.e. eye-watering) circumstances.
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The Euro K Club Lounge / Re: Rheumy eyes!
« on: January 19, 2021, 10:31:33 am »Hyco San Shield eye drops for dry eye, might fix it. My other half had watery eyes for ages, found this stuff was the best thing for it. Must be the Shield, not the other versions.
Thank you for that Andy. I shall get my friendly shopping fairy to take a look in Boots.
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The Euro K Club Lounge / Re: Rheumy eyes!
« on: January 18, 2021, 04:48:46 pm »
Hmm! The problem with a sealed environment is that a) the visor fogs even with a PinLock visor and b) I tend to suffocate.
Off the bike, windy weather causes it, but not all the time. Maybe its an airflow round the spec lenses thing.
Don't suffer fron hayfever ever since I was diagnosed with late onset asthma about 20 years ago.
One cause can be dry eyes...and I can see that through helmet draught might be drying out the old eyeballs, but why don't I get it sitting in front of a blazing log fire.
Need to go to SpecSavers anyway but just not while the Covidiots are out and about.
Off the bike, windy weather causes it, but not all the time. Maybe its an airflow round the spec lenses thing.
Don't suffer fron hayfever ever since I was diagnosed with late onset asthma about 20 years ago.
One cause can be dry eyes...and I can see that through helmet draught might be drying out the old eyeballs, but why don't I get it sitting in front of a blazing log fire.
Need to go to SpecSavers anyway but just not while the Covidiots are out and about.
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The Euro K Club Lounge / Rheumy eyes!
« on: January 18, 2021, 01:04:12 pm »
I know that certain things are inevitable with advancing years but there is one thing that really pees me off when it comes to biking, watery eyes. This is a serious and ongoing problem and wearing glasses inside the old helmet just makes it worse because you can't just pop the visor open and have a quick wipe with the glove.
I've tried almost everything to stop the old peepers weeping uncontrollably, helmet vents open and closed, visor tight shut or cracked open, rubbing a cut potato on the eyeballs, Bob Heath visor spray instead of Optrex but the only that works is riding with my eyes closed. Which explains a lot...
Discuss
I've tried almost everything to stop the old peepers weeping uncontrollably, helmet vents open and closed, visor tight shut or cracked open, rubbing a cut potato on the eyeballs, Bob Heath visor spray instead of Optrex but the only that works is riding with my eyes closed. Which explains a lot...
Discuss