Category: General Ramblings (Page 18 of 19)

Amid all my concern over my friend Ian buying another scooter it got me thinking about the boxes we put ourselves in.

I’m a mac using, real ale and malt whiskey drinking, Honda and BMW buying, IAM training, living in St Albans, London, cigar smoking, Biker. And you’d be surprised at how many others are too.

I buy into the whole thing you see, riding a bike is about more than just transport. That’s really where my problem with scooter riders starts, for the vast majority of riders a scooter is just transport, there’s no romance, no love, no depth to the experience. I know a lot of bikers have scooters too… not for fun… but because they’re perfect for cutting through the traffic.

So is being a biker about more than just transport? Yes it is! It’s the same with computers, using a computer is about more than just getting the job done, for that matter any tool is about more than just getting the job done… it’s the reason why I use a mac, why I smoke cigars and not cigarettes, why I drink REAL ale, not the trash Burton Upon Trent chucks out today, and savour MALT whiskey… and why I may buy a BMW next.

But all those things also point something else out… I don’t like to follow the crowd… well not the main crowd… the smaller slightly more interesting crowd I’m more than happy to follow – I quite get on with them.

I really don’t know what to do about this… Ian Forrester is a mod… he’s just bought this.

Which frankly scares me – it’s 600cc and has ‘twin exhausts’ – I felt too bad to point out that they where both the size of a gnat and that it will still sound like a scooter… but he has his heart set on it and how can you hit a man when he’s down!?

The funniest thing is that the photo on his blog has a stunning black fireblade behind it – how could he not see it! Does anyone know of any mod / scooter rider help centres?

Is the internet forum stronger than the lobbying group?

I only ask because over the last few days there has been a debate raging on londonbikers.com about what we can do to stop bike theft. That’s the actual aim… wipe out bike theft.

As ever with these things it was borne out of an emotional post on behalf of a loved friend who had their bike stolen – if you don’t own a bike you will never understand the literal love between the two of you, and when someone steals your bike – it’s like losing someone close. My wife is fully aware the bike comes first.

But my point is how on earth do you just ‘wipe out bike theft’? It’s stupid – you can’t – it’s an unobtainable goal… BUT… you can get councils to install more secure bike parking and put public pressure on the Home Office to put more resources and tougher sentencing into this particular area of crime.

The majority of the club members at the moment favour a very public, very noisy ride through central London – sending a message to the bike thief that “we’ve had enough… no more!”.

Yes that’s a very laudable goal… but who’s going to listen? The bike thief will just laugh at us, spot a couple of machines he fancies and follow us home to swipe dear Fireblade from my back garden.

But of course when people get caught up in the image of 200 riders bringing London to a standstill forcing the government to do something – they get carried away – about all we’ll achieve is getting arrested and giving bikers across the capital a bad name.

So how about this?

We get in contact with the BMF, use their help to lobby local councils – get them to install secure parking – get the bike press on our side and actually make something happen… then lobby the Home Office via our MPs to let them know how a significat number of their voters feel about this issue. Then, and only then, if we’ve been ignored we protest – properly.

So… is the internet forum stronger than the lobbying group? We should ride through London – perhaps that will achieve what people like the BMF have been trying to do for decades. What do they know?

Passed to me via londonbikers.com this is the funniest thing I’ve read in quite some time…

From

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171034

Just read the (very good) JC article in this months copy of Bike (nov) – and I must say it’s really rather revealing… whilst saying that he wanted to string cheese wire across the road to stop bikers, he also says he always moves over to let bikers pass – and likes the feeling he gets when bikers say thank you.

Perhaps that’s something that we should all do more often, say thank you to cars who do move.. I always make an effort but I quite often forget and that results in yet another cage driver who thinks bikers are tossers.

Anyway back to my point, it seems to me that the only reason JC continues to dislike bikes is because he can’t ride them and because Richard and James both love them… sound reasons there methinks.

Whilst I mention Richard Hammond.. if you haven’t already go here and donate some cash.

Just read the (very good) JC article in this months copy of Bike (nov) – and I must say it’s really rather revealing… whilst saying that he wanted to string cheese wire across the road to stop bikers, he also says he always moves over to let bikers pass – and likes the feeling he gets when bikers say thank you.

Perhaps that’s something that we should all do more often, say thank you to cars who do move.. I always make an effort but I quite often forget and that results in yet another cage driver who thinks bikers are tossers.

Anyway back to my point, it seems to me that the only reason JC continues to dislike bikes is because he can’t ride them and because Richard and James both love them… sound reasons there methinks.

Whilst I mention Richard Hammond.. if you haven’t already go here and donate some cash.

I’m getting more narked about the fact that Honda gave me the wront parts on Friday – appart from the fact I had to use my lunch hour on Monday to go back to Chiswick and get the part replaced – I also have to find an hour to do the work… sounds easy… but when you realise that because my garage has no power or light I can only do this work during day-light… when exactly can I do it?

So tomorrow morning, because there’s no way I’m going to collage with dodgy brakes, at 7am I shall be up, dressed in my ever so smart overalls and pulling bits of my front brake system appart, re-adjusting my brake levers and hoping I can get it all done before I have to leave for work.

I’ve not had a rant yet but I can feel one coming on… how bloody difficult is it to give someone two front pad sets and one rear… it was even on the bloody reciept… I’ve given Chiswick chance after chance after chance… but what happens when I need to change the oil and they give me the wrong filter? Or perhaps the wrong bolt, or the wrong chain… at what point is enough, enough?

Going to stop now.

So today I did my own brake pads – it was actually quite straight forward with the shop manual – but the only issue was the fact that Chiswick Honda managed to give me 2 sets of rear pads and 1 front, rather than 2 front and 1 rear as the reciept said…!

So tomorrow I’m off to the garage to get it sorted before my disk is scored any more… it’s a sad sad admission when I sit here and admit how naffed my brakes are!

You may be able to tell I’m on leave…! But just quickly it’s nice to see that Robin has the measure of me

http://www.cybersoc.com/2006/10/two_big_guys_on.html