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Good afternoon everyone, It's coming close too 1 year since my dad passed, time has flown by very quickly. I thought it'd be good to quickly reply to some questions i've gotten either through here or on FB / Whatsapp. 1) The funeral was small, it was only myself and Ali in the end, due to Spain typically having a funeral with-in 2 days of the passing it was all done very quick and suddenly. 2) I got to see Pete in hospital the day before he passed, he seemed to be recovering well, so it was indeed a shock that he passed the following morning as i was arriving to visit him again. 3) I've taken over his business and also the forum for the time being, so things will still continue to be online for the foreseeable future. 4) Ali is doing as well as could be expected, she's still living in Spain but it's going alright. 5) I'm not planning any public service or remberance for Pete this coming year, there's still a lot on-going, but i appreciate all the love / support from everyone. Please do continue to take care of the forum and yourselves, i do come to check-in on things from time to time. Best regards, Scott - Petes youngest Son (Living in The Netherlands)

Just got notified yesterday that I'm gonna be a Great Grandparent this coming October... here's my oldest Grandson's 1st view of his future riding partner...that he already has a bike in the waiting for the little guy...

We were sleeping near Albufeira, which is the most benidorm style place in Portugal, all sorts of Thai massage parlors, Curry restaurants, Irish pubs advertising premier league matches on the TV, all day long full English and "big boy full English breakfast", the pits! Gammons (Pete mode: on!) were dragging their knuckles crossing the street, etc I took Sofia around these roads, not really motorcycling greatness, but still interesting to see if you're from Portugal and don´t know this region. Albufeira, viewed from a not very flattering viewing point : Stopped by Alfufeira's Marina, and was surprised to see all the new houses, all these with bright colors were built after the last time I was here, back then (almost 20 years ago) it was just a proper Marina with almost nothing built near it. Now it's ugly as hell: Sofia was pillion on the GS today, not too keen on riding the Speed Triple on boring slow streets and almost urban style traffic. Another small beach, Olhos de Água: And another, access to these beaches is very crowded in the summer, can't park anywhere and it's an absolute chore to get here, unless you really are sleeping within walking distance or have a motorcycle: To end her exposure to the most british oriented part of Portuguese tourism, we ended the morning with a spot of lunch in Vilamoura's Marina. I enjoy a walk around a proper marina, although I do prefer a smaller one with a diverse more authentic sailboats from all around the world, the marina in Vilamoura is where I remember my parents sometimes bringing me and my brother for a walk after dinner when holidaying in the cheaper places around, we'd come here to posh things up Now it is less fancy and most of the shops and establishments have lost some class, but it's still a nice place to visit in the off season. The sun made an appearance so all was instantly looking better too. Getting in the spirit of it, we had lunch in Pizza Hut: After a little shopping for Sofia's birthday present, we carried on heading to a supermarket in search of supplies for the next few days, and in the spirit of the area I took her to Food & Co, which is a British enclave sort of supermarket . Everything inside is from the UK, all the staff is primarily an English speaker, and the groceries and food is completely not what you find in a Portuguese shop. The prices are adequately increased too, to make up for feeling at home while living away. We ended up buying almost nothing there, and moved on, back at home and had a quiet dinner by ourselves. Next morning, breakfast was had enjoying the great weather we were now having, still too cold to go in the swimming pool but it was very nice outside for the time of year. The morning was dispatched with no hurries, proper lazy style living. It was a saturday so I had no calls or work, and eventually we made it to Faro to meet a friend for a snack and talk, about 45 minutes away. Both him and Sofia are members of the Triumph Owners Club in Portugal so there was lots of talking about Triumphs and meetings and stuff. I used to spend a lot of time in the beach in Faro, and love coming here. It was an uneventful day, nice to just relax and sit down talking. Next day we went and met another friend of Sofia's, she lives in a very posh area near Faro, Vale do Lobo. Vale do Lobo is mostly villas with manicured gardens and quiet streets, it's more or less detached from reality and a retreat for people with money, property values there are quite expensive but end up being closed and empty for most of the year. We had a little snack with a view to the ocean, and Sofia and Sharon were very happy to spend time with each other. The next day, we set of to Tavira region, East of Faro, hoped on the motorway to get there in time for a late morning espresso, but first stopping in Santa Luzia. We stopped by a 2000 year old olive tree, it's quite impressive to think the same tree was alive though the Romans and Arabs. The weather was amazing. A brief stop by the sea, and someone went to some efforts for a BOTM attempt: Stop in Santa Luzia for a coffee and a little walk by the sea and to enjoy the great sunshine, even though it wasn't that warm. After a light snack in Cabanas de Tavira, we headed back home. Returning home was done the long way around via one of the nicest roads in Portugal. We crossed paths a herd of new Transalps and NC750, both groups coming the other way in quite tight formation. They were clearly journalists, and indeed I now heard they are launching these two new bikes here, if you check MCN or similar channels on YouTube you'll surely see these bikes being ridden there. The Algarve is being discovered by the motorcycling industry as having nice roads and nice weather most of the time. I will keep an eye out to see if we appear on any of these videos We stopped briefly, to enjoy the view from top of the hills. We stopped by the supermarket to buy some fish, and made it back home during an amazing sunset. Just in time for a shower and for our friend João to arrive with some nice wine in time for dinner.

Over the past month, Special Services investigators, with assistance from the Canadian Police Technological Crimes Unit, examined graphic images and videos extracted from cellular devices seized during a previous drug-related investigation. The material depicted various sexual acts involving a Moose, investigations have lead to this artists sketch to help identification of the suspect.

Well the deed is done I’m a married man ..

I saw a few of Fred's girlfriends, it is lambing season to if Fred had been here he would have gone full nonce. I then headed to Talla Reservoir, as usual the scenery was okay. Going off the side of the road would give you a bad day here. I eventually rejoined the main road and headed back to Edinburgh.

I also wanna build a tiny cabin or two for visiting bike riders. Plenty of room behind the garages for them and I've always wanted to build one. Something like these:

Got the electronic Bat Signal to meet with the Distinguished Senior Gentleman of Fowey (Combined age 250) for a ride out Down West at 10:30 am. Given that I had just finished a night shift I figured why not? Didn’t want to miss out, youm a long time dead. We headed out through St Austell down the A390 to Truro. Then down to Falmouth and along the South Coast to Helston, Marazion, Long Rock and Penzance. Bleddy stunning weather but chilly. Not that it bothered me behind the CBF’s touring screen. Told the others I was actually a bit stuffy and two warm behind the screen, which they were delighted to hear in their cool looking but cold leathers . Just before we got to St Just we stopped at Boscawen Ur Stone Circle for a bit of Paganism but collectively decided it was to fucking cold to dance around the stones naked. Also with our years of experience we all pissed with the constant wind rather than against it, luckily just after we saw a hunt. Again after some discussion we decided not to lick the stones, every though one was solid quartz, as they were probably contaminated with Pagan DNA. We headed on down past Lands End airport to St Just in Penwith for a pasty dinner, met the local village idiot who wanted to sell us a Big Issue. I said ok only to hear he didn’t have any. . Fucking numpty shuffled off after that, don’t think he had a scenario worked out for that turn of events. Resident Idiot, parents were obviously two closely related With a healthy dose of heartburn we then St Just left for Godrevy onto St Ives, Hayle, the Towans finally stopping at Pentreath for a posh coffee. During which we discussed how many vertically challenged gentleman we saw riding Wank Panzers today. The Gamma ripped nicely up Pentreath hill with the Greeeves bogging behind in a plume of blue smoke. We were also a little derisory about a chap on his 24 plate Harley who went past with AC/DC blasting out of his radio for everyone’s enjoyment. Coffee and second piss done we headed home via the quick route back up the A30. Well I say quick we did have to ancient rattle machines with us who riders openly admit the vision blurs over 70 mph. Of course none of that non sense on the CBF. Left the A30 at Innis Downs then Lanivet, Lanhydrock, Fowey Cross and home in time for the rugby. Which I managed to sleep through. Good day and 130 miles with laughs, coffee and heartburn. Hoping for a summer of this

Well, 2025 hasn’t started particularly well. Having been over to the UK to visit my dad in hospital just before Xmas my cousin went to see him about four weeks ago and alerted me to his deterioration. Having seen a couple of photos it was obvious he was much worse than before Xmas, although the hospital kept telling me he was doing okay and was being considered for discharge! Went over to see him and it was quite obvious he was fading away and sadly he wasn’t communicating so all I could do was talk to him. He was transferred to a hospice last Wednesday but I had to fly back to Spain on Thursday morning so I said my goodbyes beforehand. My cousin went to see him on Friday lunchtime for a couple of hours and at 2.30pm UK time he passed away peacefully. He had just turned 88 years old so it’s fair to say he had a good innings but it doesn’t really make it any easier just yet. So, that’s that then; both parents gone, no siblings and no offspring of my own. When you consider how much useful and active time you may have left it makes you want to seize every opportunity, take every chance, be less risk adverse and just not worry about the small shite that seems to permeate our everyday lives. So, today instead of pondering about cremations, wakes and all of the fucking admin that needs to be done I’m out on my bike, enjoying the sun and the empty roads. …………….I just hope to God he doesn’t bump into the ginger Welsh twat

Cold morning, but only blue skies and the rains had all moved North, we headed South towards the Algarve hills, happy times! There, in the distance, it's the ocean sparking behind the hills. These are very nice motorcycling roads and usually deserted By the afternoon, we made it to Portimão, met up with our friends, looked around the pits and saw some people riding around. Scott Redding's training bike, pretty cool! He was obviously very fast, but the event was being used by a couple more racers for training, so the fastest guys in the faster group were really fast! Cool van We made it to our hotel, which had a nice view with the track in the distance: Someone had a blue cocktail, and spirits were high. Next day, and it was Sofia's birthday. We left the bikes in the garage, the plan was to walk to the track and hang out with Niel and Anne a little, walk around and then have dinner somewhere. Breakfast with the track in the distance, I like that! The dip at the end of the straight must be intense on a fast bike: There's a crest as you exit the last corner into the straight, faster bikes would float their front wheels for quite a distance after that: By mid afternoon it started to look like rain so most people cut their track time short. It was a three day event and nobody seemed like they wanted to ruin a nice experience by riding in the damp, it started to drizzle a little after that. I had a buzz around the pits in the Suzuki, it's incredible how easy and docile it is if you don´t poke many of the 200 horses. By the time we made it to the hotel the rain had officially arrived. We had a friendly van driver give us a lift to dinner, and much fun was had. The food was great and wine flowed merrily. It was a great evening filled with laughs and tales of motorcycling and life. In the morning the rain was all rained, we packed and left to visit Sagres before going to our home for a few days. Overlooking the beach and my favourite lighthouse in the distance, from the tip of Sagres: Stopped in Lagos for a bite to eat but got lost inside the old town. So parked the bikes and went on foot to find a snack. Just so you don´t think it's all scenic locations : Exiting Lagos we stopped for a while for some calls. After getting home I went to a local supermarket to fetch groceries for dinner, GS went into shopping trolley mode with the luggage stretched wider. Next few days, Algarve.

I’m going to show her now, except to wake up with a horses head in your bed

Some pictures in daylight and from a non-phone camera.

Had to go and get a replacement headlight bulb this morning for the Yamaha so turned up at an official Yamaha dealership, all swanky marketing stuff and a full range of new bikes. I thought to myself “I’m going to pay for all this bling”……….. but no, I spoke to the salesman in my bestest Spanish, he checked to see if they had any in stock and gave me one………for free! I thought he was joking at first but it seems he was happy that I’d made an effort to speak Spanish rather than just shout in English Happy days.

All four of them.

I set off in the dark and came home in the dark . Inbetween it was feckin cold and slippery as an eel on the trails but it was bl**dy great

Just to piss him off, since he never wanted to be MOTY, I'll nominate @XTreme Well, tough shit, Pete! You're nominated now. Nomination is not for passing away, it's for truly getting a kick out of providing a space for people to get together, he took great joy and pride in it.

@boboneleg... he comes across as a cunt all the time

So proud of her, She is a right little madam.

Shadows been out for her maiden voyage since the RTA. Bikes all good but she did comment that the foot controls felt different but understood when I told it was because her foot pegs were no longer bent . Still I am happy she is back out there with her confidence intact. Loves her new HJC LID Back out where it belongs

Rode home today, from my parent's place near Porto to Ribatejo. This was around 2,5 hours on the motorway, and then maybe an hour on country roads and over hills, with a stop on my favourite cafe for lunch on top of Serra de Montejunto and just half an hour away from home. I was a little too optimistic watching the rain radar, by this point I thought I was just escaping the rain clouds, light was just ahead. Turns out I was wrong, and went through a few showers. A few harder ones, but all of them short so didn't get too wet. I didn't feel like stopping so stayed with jeans the whole time, it was manageable as it wasn't cold. Stopped by a cool old school looking house to check some stuff on my email while talking to a client: Up in the Serra, it was quite wet from the very low clouds. The sun was trying hard to break through, but couldn't. After avoiding some lost city folks who were scared of the fog and stopped a grey electric SUV with no warning lights in the middle of the road to check their phones, I managed to get to my lunch location. It was very moody out there today. Ate inside, their heat lamps felt very good after the motorway. Just a nice value simple burger, nothing fancy. Almost home, local farm's horses were munching on the winter wild growth. Uneventful ride, felt nice to be back on my bike.

Bruised both shins it did bloody hurt and in work last week i twatted the left shin on the vans tow bar right on the bruise and later on the large stainless steel instrument i was carrying swung down and twatted the other shin, six30 is right i'm like a frank Spencer reincarnated

@Marcel is out partying in the street

My CBF600S has the wrong colour front brake callipers. They have obviously been replaced at some point with callipers from a naked CBF600N which are black not gold. They are functionally identical and work fine but it is getting on my tits that it’s wrong. So for no other reason than to satisfy my OCD, I am going to replace them. I got a second hand set of gold callipers from eBay for £27 and at the same time I ordered a rebuild kit for them for £34 from Wemoto. I started stripping and cleaning the callipers up today and to my surprise they are pretty good. All threads perfect and pistons appear spotless. I am waiting for the tool to come to get them out and polish them up. I know there are other ways to get the pistons out but I wanted the right tool which is coming tomorrow. I would guess that I don’t really need to replace the seals but I am going to because I have the new ones on the bench. First attempt at cleaning has brought them up quite well. There are a few minors blemishes here and there but I think the callipers will look fine once they are on the bike, after all it is 18 years old. Of course there will be more cleaning before I fit the new seals. Before anyone pipes up, if this is boring fuck off and read about Marcy’s adventures. I am a bike geak and I like this sort of stuff.

Had a slightly longer spin out this morning as it was cloudy for the first part of the morning so it kept the temperature down to a manageable level. Some great views around here………..might pop over to the nudist beach next time

I think we might have to turn this Marcel / Rich / Buckster content only accessible upon request. This shit is just too embarrassing to be out in the open. Consider yourselves all lucky. As a moderator, I am not able to turn on the ignore function.

Paolo had gone to church and then a pic-nic with his Nonna we had a chance to get out today . We went to Alfred's Tower and an ice cream parlour (no Strawberry) on a farm near Nunney .

You look like an Eighty year old ..........

Went out for a ride this morning, went to Damerells then Padstow and then followed the A39 (Atlantic Highway FFS) to Camelford then onto Bodmin Moor at Davidstow. Just a stunning place to be. Got lost for 30 minutes or so but knew it was all good when I found St Breward. Onto Blisland then down the A30 to Bodmin.

Fixed.

Well I've finally figured out how to use this site properly It does surprise me as I'm so good at technology.....yeh right Anyway now I have half a clue what I'm doing you may get sick of my posted shite

Had a little potter about today to see if the air filter cage made any difference and to check the local lanes are still clear. Went up Darren Ddu haven't ridden it since it was officially re opened and its nice to see that regular use has made it a lot easier than when we first cleared it although it was still hard and i was puffing at the top after paddling all the way up. I then went to the ynysybwl ford the path i cleared to the side is still there but still needs a bit of shoring up on the narrow bit looks like someones rear wheel has almost slipped off and wont be long before its unusable again. From there down the Abercynon lane where i tested the Silky folding saw again, it works really well and far better than my Aldi special. I then headed up the cynon Valley over to Heolygerrig from there i headed home along the Merthyr Byway my path rebuild and shoring up is still looking good from last summer. And i got to use the Silky again. The cut trees are the ones i cleared over Christmas. from there i went up the Cymro my old high school running track in the background and last lane before home. A good workout and i'm ready for bed but the wife is trying to drag me out tonight god will i ever have rest LOL

With the fifth horseman of the apocalypse here ( mother in law) I’m having to run the bloody heating 24/7 and the log burner all day. She’s always bloody cold. I didn’t look at the meter for the first 6 weeks but the utility company have kindly emailed me to tell me my direct debit which used to cover the gas and power is now woefully behind. By the time she clears off I will probably have been able to buy another bike with the heat Ive wasted warming the place up.

F*ck me , doesn't the twat of a mechanic know how much work you put into painting those wheels ........

I think i might be making a U turn on that decision and giving up drinking all together not good this morning

Fortunately, he's a tough kid...built like his Dad. He's got a coupla broken ribs & a fractured collar bone. So grateful he's fixable. Looking forward to seeing him next week.

2024 was a hard year for us here, we lost the founder of motorcycleriders.net and of other forums from the past where many of us met, of course I'm talking about Pete, to this day I keep expecting to see his posts appear. People have come and gone, I'm sure we will see some people return as the weather improves but I would like to thank everyone who has stuck around, except for @Six30, I was hoping that fucktard would flounce. I especially want to thank @boboneleg and @Pedro for stepping up and undertaking the work of the forum with me, we would not have kept going without you two. When Pete passed I really didn't expect the forum to survive beyond a couple or so months but here we are. Pete wanted this place to be an alternative to social media and I think we have kept that ethos going, a sort of virtual riders club of like minded misfits which is really what riding motorcycles is about even if they never leave the van. So here is to 2025, lets make this our year, loads of ride reports, a few van reports and plenty more of the usual bollocks. As for me, I will be styling and profiling on the magnificent Harley that I know you all secretly lust after, my pictures and reports will no doubt have people, especially ladies, flocking to the forum. For me the highlights of the year have been keeping the place going as well as Marcels epic melt down and flounce, looking forward, I will be doing a lot of miles in the coming year to various rallies as well as manning a stand at the Scottish Motorcycle Show in March, so you lucky people are in for a treat with all my pictures and reports. So what are your memories from 2024 and what have you got planned for 2025?

I just started riding a couple of years ago, even though I have my bike license since 2002. I couldn't afford to own a motorcycle before so that's the reason I've only got the Honda CB500F. Other than that I had a chinese pocket bike . Thanks to my feather weight it could get to 50Kph!

Good health and a happy new year to you all.

…I’m on the edge of my seat … Actually in bed because I’m too old and can’t be arsed to stay up another 45 mins. I’ll get woken up in a couple of hrs anyway when my son staggers in and doesn’t turn the lights on as he tries not to wake us up and then falls over the dog toys scattered around everywhere.

Mother in law staying with us at the moment. She’s stepped on the puppy 3 bloody times so far. He’s laying in front of the fire minding his own business and she seems unable to get from one side of the room to the other without treading on the poor thing. Thankfully she’s back the US on Thursday. I should be more tolerant but it’s bloody hard at times.

She's running! Torquier and faster than before, smoother than before, shifts better than before. Just brought her home!

I brought one of these home last week, just in time for ski season to start here in Michigan. It'll be about five months before I can ride it, so for now it's sitting in my basement shop looking for ways to spend my money. With 0.5 miles on the trip odometer (total miles still says 0) it's got a Quickshifter, upgraded front brake pads, Upmap unit & reflash, Swingarm spools, USB port, tail tidy, and various warning stickers removed. Oh sure, you shake your head at that one, but I've removed five so far and have four more to go. Not to mention various barcode labels and an incredible amount of yellow marks that indicate somebody gave that item attention at some point. It will have better tires put on it as soon as the seasonal sales start. Or maybe sooner if I get impatient. I even got to break out the 3d printer. In prep for trackdays I've printed a couple plates to capture the nuts on the mirrors so they can be removed without disturbing the fairing. I am also anxiously awaiting the release of an add-on wiring harness to move the front turn signals onto the headlight, like in other parts of the world. Because if I don't do that, I'll still have to remove that pesky panel to get access to the mounting bolts. Come on Aprilia, figure it out. You don't have to make attaching/removing things so piddly. I had an RS-R a few years back they used something like 37 long screws just to hold the airbox lid on. Annoying. It may also get an exhaust, another reflash, rear shock, and fork inserts too, but I think those will wait until I've actually ridden. Maybe not. In stock USA trim there are five warning labels visible from this angle alone. F'ing lawyers...

When Pete passed on it was a very uncertain time for this forum and if I'm perfectly honest I thought it would just end. I know we've had a few flouncers and we could definitely do with some more female members and some aren't posting all that much but generally I think it's going ok. So I'd like to thank Ian for keeping the forum going and in the same spirit as Pete ran it. It's not a bed of roses keeping this forum going so although he can come across as a bit of a c*nt to some newer peeps I think he deserves some big praise .

I agree totally with the sentiments expressed here regarding all the admin team. Pete’s untimely and unexpected passing could well have been the end of this forum but it’s been saved by you folks from an admin point of view and all those that post on a regular basis. On a personal note I don’t mind admitting that I’ve struggled to make much of contribution since the daft Welsh twat decided to leave us all in the shit. I think it was due in part to his demise but also I’ve had quite a bit going on with my dad and my missus and I just lost the desire to contribute. However, things have picked up and I do feel that I’ve turned a corner and intend to make more of an effort from now on. I might have to return to full Cockney-Wanker mode.

You wouldn’t believe the effort it takes to keep Buckster and Bob from running this place into the ground.

After a week of decent weather here, we're due for some precip tomorrow....possibly some snow on Sunday. It'll be a nice change after the frozen fog & temps in the teens F for the last 4 days. Finally got the led outta my arse & got the Mrs. on her new Trike I bought for her...I got a kick outta listening to her giggle as she did some laps in the back yard today ...that alone was worth every penny I spent on it... And the normally scheduled Friday night Tequila shooting will commence soon...

Was out Riding earlier today....up Cemetary rd. & back down to Indian Cr. rd. & was surprised to find an Airplane parked in the middle of the road.... turns out that the pilot was on his way to TX from Seattle...& had some mechanical malfunctions of some type...had to make an emergency landing. He brought the plane down safely, avoiding any power lines....tbh- he picked a good spot to land it as that road has minimal traffic & is close to Hwy 82 @ the south edge of Elgin. Definitely not something we see everyday around here....