Jerry_Atrick

I wonder if this makes payment optional?

Same..

I don't know where to put this... post, so this thread is as good as anywhere. Kicked off a project today that will ultimately result in my redundancy. My initial thought: I need to get it done before the big move. Some people were a little gloomy at the prospect.. I was very excited.

far-k!. I had a new chain on the CBF and has done 10,000 miles with twice being tightened.. Yes, I clean it weekly.. And it cost be £90 (about $180). Yes, most of my riding is constant - not much stop start, motorways are fairly "clean", but I have a feeling getting a chain motorcycle in Aus is going to be an expensive habit. I can't remember what the sprockets cost, I think they were closer to the £120 mark.

So much for leaving the office on time yesterday - for the ride home. But thankfully, it wasn't too late - I left my desk at about 6:15 and was on the bike at 6:30.. It was starting to get dark - it is that time of year. But the weather is positively warm for the UK... I don;t know the temp, but I was sweating in my kit.. Although it is concerning from a climate and environmental perspective, I was selfishly appreciating it as my heated glove replacements have not yet arrived. That said, I didn't need the heated grips at all.. and I could have even used summer gloves instead, as it was warm all the way home. Even with a fuel stop about 3 miles prior, I was on the M4 by 7:15pm. I had an amazing run of lights through London and, with the exception of the ever increasing population of lunatic cyclists - electric and human powered, the traffic was quite light and it was easy to filter to the front of the queue at traffic lights. Except for the 20mph limited areas (sans cameras), I was sticking to the speed limit and taking it easy. Once on the A4, it is 30mph to the other side of Hammersmith and then 40.. so with lighter traffic, we were keeping up those speeds comfortably. I have to be honest.. I always approach these commutes with a sense of fatigue in doing them, but once I am on the motorway and in a rhythm, I quite enjoy the ride. For a lot of people, it would be boring, but there is enough to keep you alert and concentrating. This was no different. What I liked about coming home earlier than normal is there is slightly more traffic on the motorway, which provides further protection against any stray deer that may come along - although in all my time doing this route by car or motorcycle, I have yet to see one - dead or alive. The M4 from London to Reading is basically around populated towns/cities and well lit. Once past Reading, it becomes rural and unlit. At night I am a bit naughty and stay in the middle lane in case a deer does make its way onto the motorway - in which case I will have more options open to me (which is not really true, as to the left of the left lane is a decent hard shoulder to ride onto at speed if needed). I will normally stick to the limit until a car comes through going a speed I would prefer to be. And last night, there was no shortage of them to follow. And when they turn off, there's another to replace it within a couple of minutes. So, apart from two narrow bands of precipitation - one drizzle and the other moderate rain, it was a nice ride home. Whe turining onto the M5 from the M4 at Bristol, for some reason, the cars were handling that exit/entry really slow - so I did some higher speed filtering to keep up the pace (I was starting to feel the need for a releif stop). On the M5, it was much the same.. The phone went off as some evening software release didn't quite go to plan, but there's nothing I could do about it at 70mph -ish on a motorway. Got home by 10:30, which for that route was amazing timing (I ende up not stopping for that comfort break, but it was a rush through the front door). Bike is performing nicely.. and the decorator finished the study, so after work today will move my office back into there. He can then work on the next room..

And let's not forget, his last electoral win was the majority of people who turned out to vote... Not just the electoral colleges - but also the popular vote. I can't be arsed looking at what the voter turnout was, but if it was low, there were enough pricks who didn't care enough about it. (Remove from the USA population those who turned out to vote against him from the prick population of the USA). And for the context of being pricks, I include some good friends of mine in the USA who thought for some reason it was a good idea at the time.

This is a very good article and shows the longer term impact of our flee to globalisation mixed with a deranged US leader: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-29/us-dollar-trust-weakening-due-to-donald-trump-iran-war/107204644?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

I didn't know about the railway museum but there is an aviation museum now.

Indeed.. I learned to glide at the Geelong Gliding club at Baccus Marsh, and then shifted to Tocumwal after that. After I got my PPL, it was heaven when I could.. A RVAC PA28 from Moorabbin (and then Coldsteam) to Tocumwal... weekend of gliding and back home. Bliss - except when I checked my bank account of course. I worked at Coles Myer at the "Tooronga Zoo" (Coles Myer head office in Tooronga, Melbourne - near Camberwell). They had a "bistro" and one of the servers there and I used to chat a bit as her husband used to drive to Tocumwal on a Saturday morning, glide all day, and return I think that night. She was ship scared he would die in a glider accident and I used to assure her it is possible, but after a day of gliding, I would be more worried about his drive home. Sadly, and it was a long time ago - around 1995 - as I recall a powered aircraft pilot failed to give way and the prop sheared off the fuselage boom of the glider and he died. Although technically the powered pilot's fault, it is entirely possible that the pilot with the big facial panel and cowl to look over did not see the glider , although they tend to come in higher. When I did see here, I felt utterly horrible and sorry. Strangely, I never met him. That is a discussion for the other forum, though.

One of the many flaws in my character is that the long term partners I have managed to attract have all had phobias of flying and.. moths.. 2 of the three still live on the East Coast of Australia. Those moths are doomed.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.. it is really appreciated and clarified things. And I picked up from Mongrel Dog Productions' video that what BMW do in these cases is quite exemplary - life of the bike and no cost to owner for fixing issues from design flaws is a pretty good thing.

Nope

Just when you think it couldn't get any uglier, you lot are going to have to endure me in the country again in the not too distant future. Leave here late on the 30th October and arrive in Melb early on 1st November for two weeks. This time though, I will be officially working while in Melb.. And I am going to head up to Sydney to meet our Aussie colleagues.. Have booked the obligatory night in Tocumwal as well. Hope to catch up with my ab initio flight instructor again. As well as have rather yummy dimmies from - of all places - the bakery! Probably shouldn't as we are going through money like it is going out of fashion, but will try and sneak a flight from Tocumwal this time.

Back to the CBF. It is running like a dream at the moment. The electrical system seems to be working well, but given the corrosion with the connectors, that they found, I think it may be prudent to one weekend spend time going through all the wiring and connectors to make sure it is OK. But that will be on the back burner (pardon the pun) for now. Thankfully, the weather is still very mild - especially for this time of year. The El Nino is expected to cause a pretty shippy winter, and I can foresee many weeks of working from home, which will help the hip pocket, but not make life terribly easy. This week's commute was interesting, and I think I managed to pick myself up a speeding ticket. The ride in was, well, in first world terms, well, not terrible, I guess. In relative terms, it was a bit of a pain. I caught almost every red light through town towards the motorway. I wasn't able to fill up before I left, but decided I would take the price hit and fill up at a motorway services when I stop for a comfort break. I usually stop at Leigh Delamare, which is about 1/2 way there. But, alas, not to be. There was a big traffic jam on the entry road as a truck had broken down. No worries - have enough to get to Membury - I would say about 40 miles east. Stopped at the servo there, and no unleaded at all - high octane or normal. So, next intended was Reading.. about about 40 miles or so. There is Chievely, but it is off the motorway and a pain to get to and return to the motorway from. As it was, I had enough fuel to comfortably get to reading, had utilised almost every micron of bladder capacity. Though, I decided to fill the bike up and raced to the loo before going back and paying. (Look up the place names in google maps if you are in the least bit interested ;-)) The traffic on London was manic - quite a lot heaver than it normally is. Very close to Parliament, the traffic thinned, and unfortunately, I wasn't quite concentrating in a 20mph zone for which most motorbikes are not built, and I noticed a couple of flashes coming from the fixed speed camera.. I looked down and was doing a whole 24mph... without a car, bike, bicycle, scooter, pedestrian or even a fox or cat around me on a ruddy wide road. If the police operated the cameras, then they would probably just think it was minor and look at the next photo. But the camera system is run by civil (public) servants, who know His Maj's Revenue and Collection could use a bit more these days than in the past. As it is a minor infraction and I haven't been caught for quite some time (12 years??). they will offer me a speed awareness course, which will cost be the same as a fine, but you don;t have to inform your insurance in this case and mine is up for renewal. Having said that, I have yet to receive the tax, er bill, er fine in the post. Got to the parking area easy enough from there.. but when riding back to the pub in Richmond for lodgings, there was no parking. One of the great things about Richmond council is they are motorcycle friendly. As long as we park on metered parking space boundaries perpendicular to the kerb, we don't have to pay.. As long as we park in residential permit areas perpendicular to the kerb, no problems. No charges either way. Do you think either were available within the normal radius of the pub? FFS! I finally found somewhere about 10 mins walk from the pub.. which with a heavy backpack and in full kit, is a slog (at my age, anyway). That was Wednesday. Thursday, the traffic in was heavy, but when it thinned out around Parliament, I made sure I went through the camera zone under 20mph. The ride home was excellent. The traffic out of London was lighter than normal, and there were no road closures or works I had to slow down for. The ride is c. 3.5 hours each what. I dort of groan at the start - especially the ride in as it was 3:14am this week.. But once I get going, I find it relaxing and because I concentrate on the ride, cleansing of the soul.