Nute

I’ll give it a shot. I use fixmystreet which is good because you can see all of the problems others have logged too.

Shit roads, blocked drains, pot holes, areas of the road surface just breaking up, metal inspection chamber covers 2 inches plus out of level with the road surface ( if there is one)… two big pot holes about 15 feet apart in our village been there for so long the white spray paint lines the highways chap paints around pot holes for repair had worn off, some helpful soul put a traffic cone in one of them, after 3-4 weeks of being hit and driven over the thing falls apart and another one gets put in the hole, 4 cones later someone spray painted petals around the hole with the cone and drew a stalk making it into a flower … Along comes the highways contractor and fills in the hole with the petals and ignores the other one the same size 15 feet away. After a few sarcastic comments online about council efficiency I got an email explaining that the one that got filled was considered dangerous so they filled it in. It was just as dangerous for the 4 months they ignored it as is the one next to it they have also been ignoring. Walking the dog today I saw the second one has now been converted into a flower. They just piss away the money we pay in taxes … Marcel, Canada isn’t the only place going to the dogs. I bet you don’t pay the equivalent of almost £2/litre for fuel

Kudos to Canada for telling Trump to shove it where the sun don’t shine.

I had a young Swedish woman with a placard marching up and down outside my house every time I started the thing. The stand on the other side minimises the smoke cloud and eco protestors …

I rode it on the trip to Bosham on Sunday. Can't say I noticed any undue vibes but then again the FTR is very vibey so anything else is rock solid by comparison. Every car ive had has been large displacement and lots of low end torque so that's what I am kind of used to and I find it difficult to switch to using the revs to get the ooopfh out of a bike, and that's exactly what the s1000 needs. I owned the MT09 for several months before I noticed that the rev counter went green once you wound the revs up enough . The BMW really is a lovely engine. I have raised the bars by 25mm which weirdly makes a huge difference to the comfort/riding position - I need to decide if I think it would be further improved but bringing them up a bit higher but that would require altering the brake lines. Im somewhat bigger than the average rider so all I can see in the stock mirrors are my shoulders - new bar end mirrors to fit tomorrow which will improve things.

Didn’t expect that ! Thanks all, I’ll have to work on my acceptance speech

Anything Italian looks beautiful, but it’s going to be in the shop a lot.

By some miracle I actually have a picture of my frankenbike ... you can all wash your eyes out later if you don't like that style.

I could accept that, if the roads were ever resurfaced, but it’s 10 years since anyone has done that …

Bloody 20mph limits are a nightmare, they are popping up everywhere. What’s next 10mph limits?

I was tempted, I’m fairly tall ( although not as tall as Marcel or Bucky obviously ) and probably the XR would be a better fit with a bit of fiddling, but for some reason I do enjoy the naked bikes.

Black, what other colour is there?

Just bought a BMW S1000R ( used) which is certainly fun to ride. I need some bar risers to raise the bars a little as the riding position is a bit far forward for me. Lovely engine… Also looked at the XR too which looked nice, just not sure I’m ready for a bike with luggage just yet. Maybe next time. Lots of instructions to read …

Watched the eclipse yesterday from the top of a large nearby hill, along with hundreds of other who had the same idea. It’s on a small country road- going back to the car people who had turned up later than us and couldn’t squeeze onto the grass verge just stopped and abandoned their cars in the middle of the road.

Do you need any form of oscillation damper on the hitch (ive never towed anything except in a tractor, but there are plenty of YouTube clips of caravans doing alarming things)...