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Ian Soady¹ said :-
Knee still preventing me riding. The seller is off on his hols now so have arranged for my usual bike transport bloke to sort out pickup and delivery. He's very reliable and quite cheap but tends to be busy so often there's a bit of a wait. He charged me £150 to collect the Steib from Wisbech and bring it over to Redditch. A lot of people wouldn't touch it.
This is him if anyone needs a bike moving.
https://www.motorcycletransportservices.co.uk/...
26/05/2026 10:06:05 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
First day ride of the year, tick.
62f's and sunny, it'll do.
Upt and Er'Indoors.
27/05/2026 17:05:28 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Anybody seen these with the corresponding road markings to assist with positioning. They were a new one on us.
Upt.
27/05/2026 17:07:13 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
A bit strange, seem to be suggesting staying in the centre of the lane. Mind you with some of the lunatic offsiding I see around, it might be a good idea. When I was coming back from seeing the little Herald* on Sunday there were some real clowns on the A41, and I had to tuck right in on a couple of left-handers (to me) to avoid prats apexing over the centre line in the other direction on the A41 near Whitchurch.
No idea why as the road was so busy with tracors etc as they could only get a clear run of a few hundred metres at a time.
*Herald arriving on Monday. The buyer of the C11 texted me to say he's had it running and was very pleased with it.
I like the Citroen black (grey) Maria. And as for 62 degrees - been 33 C here for a couple of days. Too hot for spannering.
28/05/2026 14:24:49 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ian me o'd mucka, the blue information sign is merely an instruction that road markings are coming up which indicate the correct positioning. The actual white lines, hopefully none slippy variety, move left or right to show the correct line. The signs don't show where the lines will actually be left or right of centre. It struck me that they think positioning is only important for motorcycles which I don't agree with.
28/05/2026 17:33:57 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Like this Ian, but you can make your own mind up if it's a help or a hindrance depending where you'd be positioned. But education has to be a good thing, no?
28/05/2026 17:38:42 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
With no approaching traffic, just a hazard centre line and with luggage on I think I'd be going just over the inner edge of the right hand line.
28/05/2026 17:40:59 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Here, or thereabouts.
But obviously only if I was paying attention to the job in hand.
Pffffffftttttt.
28/05/2026 17:44:36 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I've seen these things plenty of times on my travels. I figure they're there to encourage riders to keep to some kind of sensible road positioning rather than taking full on MotoGP lines. It's a bit like speed bumps - sensible drivers wouldn't be speeding in the sort of areas speedbump are used and daft eejits just bounce over them in their Chelsea Tractors. Sensible riders will likely be there or thereabouts with their road position, daft eejits will be wherever they feel will be fastest.
28/05/2026 21:46:51 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
"Education has to be a good thing" BUT.
Is it really education or more nanny state!
28/05/2026 22:02:09 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I don't think it's the nanny state ROD, more likely a box ticking exercise.
"So - what have you done to improve road safety in your area Council X?"
"More speed limits, more pedestrian crossings, speed bumps, sticky-out kerbs (traffic calming). Oh and we had a few quid left over so we did some of them road positioning things for motorcyclists."
I've no objection to them really - when I first saw them I was surprised that anyone had noticed motorcycles exist let alone be acknowledged on the roads. I thought it was a marketing thing at first! Anyhow follow them - or don't, there's no law about it (yet...).
It's speed bumps that really get my back up. Knowsley MBC where Sharon lives must have a few councillors that are "supported" by Suspension-Parts-R-Us Ltd.
29/05/2026 08:14:12 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Now on a totally different subject, just read a ride report on a QJ 650 Strom lookalike. Thought this sounds too good to be true, there must be a catch....right? I'll check out the price of parts I thought, they must get your hard earned wonga somehow. QJ will sell you a brand new Marzocchi rear shock for less than a hundred squid. That's a brand new Marzocchi rear suspension unit for less than a night in a premier inn, probably. Plus I wouldn't want to anyway but I might want a new rear shock.
This is the question, have I read the information right, it's not a given, if I have are we being taken as fools by the Japanese brands? I think I know the answer.
Maybe?
Upt.
30/05/2026 13:37:47 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
Upt, I think next year will be very interesting to see where the Chinese bike manufacturers pitch their products.
There are some interesting developments that will have all of the current motorcycle manufacturers clenching their buttocks.
Have you seen the 1000cc boxer GS lookalike with over 100bhp?
Where will they pitch the prices?
Probably very competitive.
30/05/2026 17:14:59 UTC
nab301 said :-
I assume the pricing is possible because of state subsidies as with all Chinese exports?
Living in Ireland aka the EU, apparently from July individual line items on invoiced goods from outside the EU including the UK will have a charge of 3 euro per (line) item! ( on top of the processing charge already imposed by courier companies on multiline invoices) It's intended I think to counter the competition from the likes of Temu . Motorcycle wise for me the only reputable supplier of older Enfield parts is Hitchcocks in the UK , I guess I'll have to get myself a Classic European motorcycle going forward...
Nigel
30/05/2026 18:44:15 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Upt' as often has it right. It's very much like the British manufacturers in the 1970s who dismissed the Japanese bikes. Some reckoned their arrival was a good thing as it got people onto bikes and those same people would then "graduate" to the Tridents, Commandos etc. That worked out as well as might have been expected.
As for why theyre so cheap the old answer was low labour costs, but I don't think that's the case so much. It's more about better productivity as far as I can see. Anyway, very few Japanese bikes are actually built in Japan these days.
I wait to see what the quality of my little Herald is like when it arrives tomorrow. Although being 10 years old it's a previous generation bike, not like the ones being turned out now - many of which which I confess don't do much for me being as ugly as their competition.
31/05/2026 10:04:29 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Yes Rod, the ZXMOTO looks an interesting bike and is probably the bike BMW should be making. Plenty of power, hopefully less weight and about half the cost. Should be out next year. I was reading an article the other day where Vehicle Manufacturer Execs had been invited to a Chinese Car Production line and the Honda High Level Exec stated publicly that Honda couldn't match this factories production methods anywhere in the world. I really couldn't give a damn where my next bike is made, let's face it our Japanese/English/European/American bikes are probably made there anyway, or at least most of the component parts.
Upt.
31/05/2026 10:07:33 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Good morning Ian, just seen your post and it ties in nicely with the Honda comment.
Japanese crap just became Chinesium but who gives a flying ....!
Upt.
31/05/2026 10:10:21 UTC
said :-
I’m not out to purposely upset Ed but I now own this little Aprilia Pegaso 125. It took a while but I did eventually sell the TZR250 and decided to give bikes a wide berth for a while until I saw the Aprilia on EBay for £1k. I tentatively offered £600 which was accepted. I pick it up on the 11th June. How bad could it be? I bought it sought unseen seen.
31/05/2026 13:43:36 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Cute little bike and for £600 what's not to like? Good luck with it.
I could probably have paid less than the £1,000 for my little Herald but don't really like haggling.
31/05/2026 14:02:29 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Well done fella, someone likes GT750's.
Ring a ding.
Upt.
31/05/2026 16:26:19 UTC
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