Date: 29-03-24  Time: 07:57 am

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Messages - Grahamm

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2826
General / Re: IAM Skills Day at Thruxton
« on: 29 April 2013, 07:33:04 pm »
Its useful for the road too as you really can see just what your bike can do, then in any emergency situation your brain will tell you not to panic as it will stop/turn/lean  even though first reaction may have been  it wont

That's what I need.  My brain rewiring.

Thing is, knowing it isn't enough, you've got to have the instinctive reaction to be able to use it.

On the last session (I was getting very tired by this time) I messed up the turn into the complex (Campbell, Cobb, Seagrave) and ended up just braking and going for the run-off area.

Had I had the reaction down to the instinctive level I might have been able to carry on through the turns, but that just didn't happen :(

2827
General / Re: what did you do with your fazer today ?
« on: 29 April 2013, 12:51:48 am »
Did another MotoGymkhana Experience Day at Kempton Park.

Lots of fun, lots of other bikes, from Fazers (someone had a gold box-eye) to a couple of Harleys, Triumph Sprint 1050 ST an RD 350 LC (smell that two-stroke oil!), beemers and even a monstrous Victory Vison Street to name but a few :)

2828
General / Re: IAM Skills Day at Thruxton
« on: 29 April 2013, 12:44:05 am »
It sounded like a great day, was it through your local group that you did this or through the IAM webiste? Also how much?

This was an IAM event which was put out to the nearby clubs in the South.

I gather that it was so popular (they were limiting it to about a dozen people from each club and I think there were about 48 people there) that they may well be doing it again and following it up with other such events.

2829
General / Re: Tyre Time
« on: 29 April 2013, 12:38:11 am »
I think part of what I saw might actually have been the sticky compound picking up rubber shed from other tyres, but I didn't think to take a pic of it.



2830
General / IAM Skills Day at Thruxton
« on: 25 April 2013, 10:39:28 pm »
When I heard of the opportunity to join an IAM Motorcycle Skills Day at Thruxton, I jumped at the chance and so, at 6am on a bright and clear April day I found myself waking up and heading up to the famous circuit.

After signing in and getting a voucher for a bacon butty, the first order of the day was to attend a mandatory Safety Briefing covering what to do (and what not to do, like doing a u-turn and riding around the track the wrong way!) plus details of the warning flags (as Thruxton is also a working aerodrome, if someone is waving a red flag they want you to stop immediately as an aircraft may be about to crash...)

We were divided into two main groups, then split into several sub-groups with different coloured bibs so we could identify our instructors before getting a briefing on what would be happening during the day.

Because this was an IAM day, the skills training was based on the IAM's IPSGA System (Information, Position, Speed, Gear, Acceleration), so the first session was Information: On each bend there were Red, Yellow and Green cones where Red marked the Turn-in Point, yellow was where you should Apex and Green was where you should aim to exit.

We started by following one of the Instructors who would demonstrate the correct line, then, in a way similar to the Marker System in Group Rides, the second rider would drop back and the next rider move up to enable everyone to get a chance to follow the Instructor's line.

Each session was followed by a short debrief chat from the Instructors, then a full brief on what we would be doing on the next one, working through applying the IPSGA System to what we were doing, using Positive (Counter) Steering, three-stage braking and making sure we were allowing sufficient time for the bike to settle before manoeuvring etc.

In subsequent sessions, the order system changed slightly, instead of the Instructor leading, one of the riders would lead, then the Instructor, followed by the rest of use. Subsequently the lead guy would drop to the back, the second guy (behind the Instructor) would move up to Lead and the Instructor would stay in second place so we'd all get a chance to lead and have the Instructor watch us through the course.

Although there was no racing, time keeping or pace-setting etc, it was noticeable that our speeds were definitely increasing as the day went on and we got more confident about handling our bikes and discovering just what they could do if we let them!

Things started to get really fun when Overtaking was introduced and we were allowed to pass other bikes, not least because our group seemed to be making more progress than the group in front of us and we kept catching up with them, but on previous sessions we had to stay behind them instead of move past.

There were blue cones on some sections before certain bends and on the main chicane (and two "cone chicanes" that had been added to slow things down a bit in places) indicating that you should not overtake through that section, but apart from that, if you could get past someone, you were permitted to do so (and generally people would move over if they saw you coming past).

There were no serious problems although one guy did blow out his Akrapovich can and got Black Flagged for being too loud and I did get annoyed at one time when a Yellow Flag was put out, so I slowed as we had been told to do, only to be passed by half a dozen other bikes which was more than a bit naughty of them!

Unfortunately, due to the very early start, I was so tired that I had to leave before the final session, so I missed the end of day debrief, but none the less I had a most enjoyable time and certainly learned a lot more about handling my bike and knowing what was possible on it.

All in all a great day  :)

2831
General / Re: carbon panels fron Zero Limits
« on: 25 April 2013, 10:35:17 pm »
If you paid by Credit Card and it cost over £100, contact your card issuer and tell them you're going to make a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (which makes them "jointly and severally" liable for the correct completion of the contract of sale :)

2832
General / Re: Tyre Time
« on: 25 April 2013, 10:23:09 pm »
I was on an IAM Skills Day at Thruxton on Monday and you could *see* the effect of the two-compound Bridgestone 023 where the central (hard) section looked normal, but the outer (soft and sticky) sections were showing clear signs of being well used :)

2833
General / Re: what did you do with your fazer today ?
« on: 25 April 2013, 10:19:41 pm »
Nothing today, but last Saturday I was doing a Slow Riding Training Course with the Solent Advanced Motorcyclists, on Sunday I was at the Lord Mayor's Ride-In event in Portsmouth and on Monday I was having an incredibly good time at an IAM Skills Day at Thruxton :D

2834
General / Re: Share this far and wide...
« on: 25 April 2013, 10:18:06 pm »
I can't share this, am trying to put it on Facebook?

Save it to your computer and then use "Add Photo or Video" to upload it to FB.

2835
General / Share this far and wide...
« on: 25 April 2013, 12:22:36 pm »
A Road Safety advert from Australia which should be shared far and wide...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sw4qbnw86608k71/Blind.mp4

2836
I was a little worried this might be a damp squib, but I was well impressed when over 650 bikes turned up for the Ride In and Guildhall Square was chocca!



2837
General / Re: grrr so called parking ticket …………………
« on: 20 April 2013, 05:01:19 pm »
My Mrs drove me to luton airport for me to pick up my hire car.

We stopped very briefly to drop me off,  it was dark and we were unfamiliar with the airport and it's roads etc ……

Yesterday in post we get a letter, fine of £80 for not parking in the correct zone.


Is it actually a legal parking fine (Penalty Charge Notice, I think) or a "demand for payment" or similar? If the latter, ignore it. See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3027572

It's very probably not a legally enforceable but just an invoice that they send you and follow up with various threatening letters, but you most likely have no obligation to pay.

2838
General / Re: Costa Coffee Moan
« on: 20 April 2013, 04:55:32 pm »
Another moan is price of fuel at motorway services 10p a litre more that local prices here in Cornwall


If you figure you're going to need to tank up on a long ride on a motorway, find out where you're likely to need to fill up, search for "XYZ services M5" (or whatever) then put the post code into http://petrolprices.com/ and it'll find the cheapest station within a radius you specify (eg 5 miles).

Often you'll find out that it's virtually just off the motorway and it'll save you a packet! :)

2839
General / Re: Game for a laugh
« on: 20 April 2013, 04:52:19 pm »
Would anyone really wear one of these ?

If you buy one at that price you've probably got more money than sense anyway!

2840
General / Re: the old and the new
« on: 20 April 2013, 04:47:13 pm »
its the st imho the gt lacks the looks  8)

Well that and it's a bit longer which might might it better for long distance riding, but not so great for riding the twisties :)

How many miles does it have on it? One concern I've got is that wheras the Fazer only needs a major service every 24,000 miles, the ST needs one done every 12,000 and which is about £500 from what I've read, so it increases the running costs noticably.

2841
Bump for this.

Hope to see some Hampshire Foccers there, I'll be the guy with the long grey hair in a pony tail on the Solent Advanced Motorcyclists stand :thumbup

2842
FZ6 / Fazer / Re: side stand removal (s2)
« on: 19 April 2013, 10:38:54 am »
I want to take off the side stand for painting, There is two big bolts with alen key and threadlocked..
There is also one large nut in the middle, Looking at it I was thinking that the two bolts ( alen key ) had something to do with the rear subframe or something like that..Can anyone confirm that removal of the two ( alen key ) bolts are just for the side stand and not connected or needed for anything else,

I've just had a look at the Haynes Manual and they're simply to hold the sidestand in place (also I had one of them come loose at one point and nothing fell off, only the side stand wobbled!)

Haynes says: "To remove the stand leg only, first unhook the spring with the stand in the raised position, then couterhold the nut on the pivot bolt and unscrew the bolt. Support the stand leg and withdraw the bolt. Note the location of the stand switch plunger."

If you want to take the whole assembly off, you'll need to deal with the sidestand cut-out switch first which is more complicated, I'd recommend picking up a copy of the Haynes manual for this.

2843
General / Re: the old and the new
« on: 19 April 2013, 10:26:55 am »
Is that the ST or the GT?

I've looked at the Sprint 1050 ST in the past and took one for a test ride (which was very nice) and I may well get one if finances pick up a bit...

2844
General / Re: Where have you mounted your tax disc?
« on: 19 April 2013, 10:25:09 am »
Mine's in a holder bolted to a bracket on the swingarm.

2845
General / Re: cat d,c
« on: 19 April 2013, 10:23:21 am »
are you aware that insurance contracts are not "buyer beware", but "utmost good faith"? You must declare all facts that a reasonable/prudent underwriter would want to be able to consider when choosing whether to accept a risk, or the premium to charge.


Not any more. The Consumer Insurance  (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 came into force on 6 April and changed the onus from 'utmost good faith' to 'reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation'. (2.2 & 2.5a) The standard of care required is that of a reasonable consumer. (3.3)


That's very interesting, thanks.

It stops Insurance Companies from trying to weasel out of paying for a claim because "you should have told us about X" when they haven't even asked the customer for that information  :thumbup

2846
Ha no chance!

Sure, but some people just let it go through on the nod :(

2847
I said why didnt you do that first! Mental.

Because they were hoping you would just stump up the money without question!

2848
General / Re: The Iron Lady R.I.P.
« on: 17 April 2013, 06:42:27 pm »
I think the best quote came from Ian Hislop on HIGNFY:

"They interviewed her enemies who said unpleasant things about her and then they interviewed her friends, most of whom also said unpleasant things about her."

2849
General / Re: April 15th to Sunday April 21st, North Wales.
« on: 15 April 2013, 11:33:41 am »
From that article: "North Wales Police has a robust strategy around enforcing the ‘Fatal 5’ offences which are speeding, drink and drug driving, dangerous driving including unnecessary risk taking, failing to wear a seat belt and using a mobile phone whilst driving."

And does "dangerous driving including unnecessary risk taking" include "Driving too foccing fast for the conditions" because that is *much* more dangerous than just going over (a possibly arbitrary) limit number!

Too many accidents happen because people just won't *slow down* when it's pi$$ing with rain or foggy or other such poor conditions, but "well I'm not going over the speed limit"...

2850
General / Re: Ding dong the witch is dead
« on: 13 April 2013, 11:19:06 am »
Meanwhile...

After Margaret Thatcher's funeral, a short documentary on the writing of Tony Blair's eulogy will be available on BBC iPlayer.

Just search for the Blair/ Witch project...

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