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iandouglas last won the day on November 25 2014

iandouglas had the most liked content!

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About iandouglas

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  • Birthday 08/08/1950

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  1. from September 7, 2020 motorcycles made before 2007 will have to pay a £12.50 daily charge to enter central London - 5.5 yrs from now http://www.mcforum.co.uk/topic/2295-visordown-1250-london-motorcycle-toll-approved/ talking of polution, tell you what is really unpleasant, following a builders truck through the blackwall tunnell, dust/grit/rubbish swirling about.
  2. iandouglas

    S H E D S

    wrote a little item about sheds:- Sad is the Shed Man - not What could be nicer than your own shed? Of course it depends on circumstances but, hopefully, all of us will end up with our own shed at some point. In today's world, more than ever, you need a retreat, not exactly an escape, but your own space, surrounded by your own things, be that only stuff saved from the main house, knick-knacks and bits and pieces. This will inevitably, for the likes of us, include large quantities of motorbike parts, or as your other half probably thinks of it, 'that useless rusty old scrap'. If you are indeed blessed, you could even have one shed as a chill out zone, and with another for actual storage. Once you've got one shed, you invariably need another, almost for its own sake, like another motorbike. Shed life can have similarities with camping, and it doesn't hurt to have a camp stove and a kettle on hand but it's better than camping as there's the house, with its toilet and kitchen, just a few steps away. That garden path, linking the shed and the house is more than just a path; it's a bridge between peace and quiet on the one hand and the real world of relationships and responsibilities on the other. Separate, yet tantalisingly close at hand. The downside is that sheds tend to be hot in summer and cold in winter. However, you can leave the door open when it is hot, and wear thermals when it's chilly. Mainly a day time thing, too, as hooking up power is such a hassle, plus bugs tend to be drawn by the light. A torch or lamp is really all you need for the occasional nocturnal rummage. Now, a radio. That's different. You'll definitely need a radio, battery or wind-up. Maneuvering bikes in and out of your average garden-type shed can be a bit of conundrum, but where there's a will there's usually a way. A friend is carving out a new opening in one of his shed walls, but me, I just heave bikes around as best I can and normally manage it through the existing doorway. I tend to use our shed more for storage than as a workshop as it is relatively confined. Also, for taking engines out the garage is better, as I can fix a hoist and use mains power as required. The shed is primarily for fiddling, mulling things over, cleaning and day dreaming. A quiet place surrounded by bike stuff, to contemplate rides, or go through boxes. You know the problem. Your boss wants a document produced, and in a hurry, thank you very much. The office is noisy, and not really a place where you can assemble your thoughts easily. The shed is the ideal solution with its old basket chair, a discarded cushion that doesn't match the others in the living room, and a redundant waste bin for the false starts. The document got written, slowly to be sure, and with pauses for a stroll across the divide for a cup of tea or to use the bathroom, but it got done. Best thing I've written. Once, hunting down spares, I ended up outside someone else's shed. It was full of used motorbike parts, with a couple of half-dismantled machines nearby for good measure. From where I was standing, looking in, I could see the legend, "I'm OK, they know me here", painted on one of the roof beams. At the time this seemed slightly odd, but now, in retrospect, I can understand and endorse the sentiment. The shed is a personal plavce where interference is not expected, a friend was rebuilding an old motorbike, he had carefully placed all the engine parts in order pending the rebuild, some on nails tapped into the shed wall frame. Somehow, when children were playing in the garden, the shed took a blow or two. Small components ended up on the floor, out of order. Sheds, bikes, dogs, wives and kids. They go together for a rounded life - you need the first three to be at your best with the last two. It's a yin and yang thing, two different but complementary worlds. Generally speaking, one dog, one wife and one set of kids will suffice, though. It's a pity that the dog hasn't take to the shed for some reason, but an old bike can be nearly as good for company. A shed is so much more than four fairly insubstantial walls, a plank floor, and a flimsy roof. It's a hideaway, a private zone, somewhere with its own sense of mystery and promise. Am I mad to imagine these things? I don't think so. There's definitely something magical about escaping to a shed and, in my opinion, it's even better with a motorbike or two to share the space with. Icing on the cake, as it were. You have to love your shed, and the restful world it represents, down there at the bottom of the garden.
  3. iandouglas

    a good idea

    motorbike helmet with lights https://youtu.be/-JT_qc-bjAc
  4. a man in a tweed jacket has been slapping pensioners round the back of the head if he caught them sneezing in public http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/man-arrested-for-allegedly-slapping-pensioners-who-sneezed-in-carlisle-city-centre-10139611.html i hope i don't end up engaging/indulging in this sort of thing
  5. iandouglas

    cost of bikes

    no not new bikes, just keeping the existing (old) one running, had a load of repairs done a few months ago and now i have started using my 25 yr old machine more again with the weather improving somewhat, well temperatures anyway, and straight away i'm into a replacement silencer and replacement brake switch plus another service will be required soon. Also got our boy's bike to sort/pay for as he is still a student, not that i mind particularly, his (old) bike has a gear selection issue (actually I will just be glad if it is fixable), an oil cooler leak and one of the heated grips gone awol - dear oh dear. i don't recall my old toyota costing much at all over the 10 yrs or so i owned it, in fact it still had the same exhaust on when i sold it. but that's bikes i guess, they rev more and everything is exposed and of course they are much more fun than driving a bland car. stlll these are small matters i suppose in the great scheme of things and i should just be glad to have a generally reliable machine. got a case of the bike cost blues - all together about £300 i reckon. Knocks a bit of a hole in my project fund, another old motorbike.
  6. looks great https://youtu.be/4nRQ1-L54Yg too heavy and thirsty for me but i can't help but think what a beautiful beast that bike is
  7. i liked the two programmes last night, one at 8 and the other at 10 pm i think, the first was about a bonneville they found and the second a mower amongst other things. reminded me of the wheeler dealers format but a better watch than usual for sure. it also has a bit of salvage hunters about it, drew pritchard's series from north wales.
  8. iandouglas


    i wonder how lycra stands up to an off, not very well i would have thought, perhaps parts of a cyclists suit are reinforced with kevlar.
  9. 8pm - 9pm ITV4 - on shortly
  10. but actually they just do that, when it happened to me in a bad way on an xj600n there was a strong cross wind, thing is, apart from the recommendations above, to keep a reasonably firm grip on the handlebars when riding.
  11. iandouglas


    today i gave cyclists more thought than usual after this thread - so that is a good thing my new bugbear is lane hogging on the m25 - just joking, well - sort of, it is annoying
  12. Yes poverty is a terrible thing alright but it does concentrate the mind, if one only has so much then you channel it towards something you really want -meanwhile the day dreaming continues.
  13. Looking forward to the pictures
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