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other rubbish out there and hopefully my subs are helping with the fighting funds. Thanks again for a brilliant mag (sorry about the pun). Richard Battye
Snow riding
For the first time in years I had to miss our club’s Xmas dinner this year as the roads in Southend and the A127 were impassable as I ride a bike all the time and prefer it to being in a tin box. If the snow is like this in the future I will have to consider getting an off roader as they don’t seem to have such a problem with grip. Michelle
Technology
Over the last few years I've started to become more and more disillusioned with the way technology is being forced upon us motorcyclists. I understand the need for manufacturers to meet emission targets, though don’t get me started on the green issue! A few years back I had a Harley Softail with fuel injection, which once I’d had the obligatory stage one tune, never ran as well as my carburetted Sportster that went before it. Due to a growing family putting strain on the finances, I traded down to a 2004 GSX1400. Within a month it had developed a problem with the fuel injection light coming on intermittently. After much workshop time it transpired that it was the ‘second throttle body valve actuators’ (no, me neither) and according to Suzuki it was a rare problem and the only course of action was a new set of throttle bodies (at £1100 + VAT) – SOD THAT!
I managed to find a set from a reputable breakers for £300, had them fitted and all seemed well until a couple of months later and........you guessed it – same problem again! At this point I traded the bike in for a late, clean ZZR1200, one of the last big traditional bikes ie not massively overburdened with electronics and guess what? No problems yet. It starts first time, idles evenly and goes like a scalded cat to boot!
All the big bikes today seem to be relying on ever more complicated and intrusive electronic ‘rider aids.’ I can’t imagine what horrors lie in store for people two or three owners down the line with a few British winters under their bike’s wheels.
It will end up the way of cars, in that a perfectly good vehicle is scrapped because an electronic component has expired and it’s cheaper to scrap than repair! Surely that’s a bad thing for motorcycling. I for one, love old bikes, even ones from the ’80s and ’90s)but I fear that modern bikes are becoming disposable commodities. I’d be interested to know the feelings of other members on this subject. Manny
Last AGC We just wanted to congratulate the organisers of the last AGC.
The location was perfect, central as it was for everyone to get to. The venue was great, with a
24 The ROAD
room that accommodated all comers but was the right size to hear and see everything that went on, plus the staff were friendly and the food was excellent. Add to that the fact that there was an evening do with camping and it was the perfect recipe for a successful meeting (without this evening do I suspect attendance could have been lower).
As long-standing MAG members we were also pleased to hear that the whole event cost next to nothing to host because South Brum MAG negotiated brilliantly on MAG’s behalf. Perhaps even the first free AGC? We hear a lot in the letters pages about what MAG ‘should have/could have/could be doing, so let’s congratulate them on a job well done. Well done South Brum MAG Jakki & Pete Francis, Life Members
Ed: The AGC is in Yorkshire this year though we invite members’ comment on location Any region is welcome to bid for the opportunity to host the AGM for 2012. It’s not too early to make a bid.
got to be cheaper than paying all the injury and damage claims.
Stuart Morrissey aka madrider1961 Cotswolds hazards
Potholes
Down here in Devon some of the roads are that bad, folk actually divert from some routes so they have less chance of damaging their vehicles. In Plymouth there are pot holes in nearly in every street. Some of these are four feet wide and yet when you report them, nothing gets done. I came off after hitting a pothole (pictured) and injured myself, as well as damaging my bike. I suffered injury to an arm and a leg, had pulled neck muscles, a terrible head ache and severe bruising. My helmet took a knock but I was lucky that I always ride with the correct gear, rain or shine, I ride padded up, (better to sweat than bleed). I reported the accident to the Police and the pothole was reported to the Highways Department. I was told it would be put on the urgent repair list. Well three days on, the hole was still there and there were no markings to indicate that anyone had been to assess it. Did you know that once a road defect is officially marked, it relieves the council of its liability to pay compensation if someone then has an accident because of it?
Apparently most of the websites for reporting road defects have not been put up by councils but by other bodies as the councils don’t have the funding. So where does all the road tax and fuel duty go?
The council claim that the state of the roads is down to lack of manpower. Well isn’t it time that the councils employ people to go out daily with a street map pin-pointing pot holes and then getting them fixed? Surely employing people has
I live in the Cotswolds which gets at least 15 million visitors per year and this area has a fast rising population of old people in new cars. Painswick has become the Cotswold retirement village which makes riding dangerous in any weather but cold weather is worse as this reduces the brain capacity of some aged people. On passing his CBT my son said that whilst passing cars on his moped (which in itself is a miracle), he would get car drivers hooting madly, some pulling out on him to force him off the road. This made me study driver behaviour as I rode my 100RT and I did notice erratic driving, with some drivers hooting as I overtook. One evening, as I was about to pass a Mini, the driver hooted wildly and as I came past, the car shot out into the middle of the road in an attempt to force me off the road (a trunk road). I pulled in front of the car and slowed down to about 20mph and pointed at the driver as a sign that I was not being intimidated by these actions. This has been happening quite a lot in this area over the last couple of years. It has happened to other people, especially those on small bikes. In one case a kid was killed due to an idiot police officer turning in front of the moped on an empty road in the early morning. Her recollection of the incident was vague (Stroud Life 24.11.10). She didn’t get prosecuted even though the impact threw the kid off his bike into street furniture and killed him. How many other kids have been injured or killed in this way with no report about the other driver’s behaviour?
So if you’re in the Stroud/Cotswolds area, watch out for these hazards:
• Dodgy drivers hooting and swerving all over the road. • Weirdo truck drivers. • Very old people at very low speeds. • Foreign drivers unfamiliar with the Highway Code.
• Foreign drivers reading mph limits as Kilometres per Hour.
• Cars not stopping at junctions or roundabouts. • Mad cyclists running traffic signals on single lane roads.
• Very old people just walking out into the road, especially in Painswick.
• Mad tractor drivers paying no heed to long queues behind them and weaving around as their steering racks are wrecked. • Driving whilst under the influence of prescribed drugs. • Mobile phone use. • Idiocy & Senility. John Rhodes
Ed, Sorry but I’ve had to dramatically cut your letter John as you were rambling all over the place. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that. I have to say I am surprised by your observations because I’m a regular visitor to the Cotswolds as my brother lives there and I often invite myself. I’ve never had any of your problems but then maybe that’s just me. Mind you I don’t see
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