Tango

Cheers Clive.

Cheers Pete. Had my Covid-19 test today, which came back negative, so all systems go!

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists. Blaise Pascal

North Cape and the Atlantic Highway in Norway. Definitely on my bucket list.

Yeah, I vaguely remember it. Just as classy as Wimpy bars too! it's all greasy spoons and kebab shops in Dartford now!

It's in Calais now!

Is she now seeking asylum?

It flies by, mate! My eldest is 33 this year! Even the youngest is 27!

I tend to use Waze on the bike and in the car. Its routes are sometimes a little questionable, but the live updates of problems etc seems to be pretty good. I've used it for about 5-6 years, possibly longer, and it was pretty useful when I was doing a lot of driving for work. I may have to look into a QuadLock, but the limiting factor for me is that my main phone is a cheap Chinese smartphone, where there's not much choice in the way of cases for it, and my other phone is a Samsung S8, which obviously dates it!

I pay tax and social charges here in France at the moment. Interestingly, I have a medical travel card issued by the health service here which I need for medical assistance in the UK if I need any treatment there whilst on holiday or visiting there!

Not until I officially retire, Pete. At the moment I'm paying tax and social charges on my income in France. Once I start drawing my state pension from the UK I will need to get an S1 form from the DWP in Newcastle and then the UK will start paying my medical charges here.

I wince when I see an advert for a 20 year old bike that's "only done 10000 miles"! Instant red flag to me!

You should be thanking me for paying in for 46 years so that you could reap the benefits!

I like Allen Millyard's videos on his bike builds. He's a boring bugger, but a fucking brilliant engineer!

I watched his report on the new Honda Transalp 750 from the press launch in Portugal a few days back and agree that it was one of the better reviews.

Is that Neevesy from MCN?

Yeah, there was a guy (can't remember his name) in the other place that bought a pretty decent 1200GS, but the active suspension went down the shitter after a very short while and it cost him a fortune to get it sorted. My experience with BMWs, both bike and car, has been tainted, and they're generally out of my price range anyway.

Yeah, Missenden Flyer got a lot of flack over that Interceptor!

That's very true, but sometimes you need to narrow the search a bit, rather than test riding everything. Then there's the issue of, yeah, the bike is ok on a test ride, but is it likely to fall apart after a couple of months. So I quite like then looking at some of the longer term ownership videos, to see how the bike holds up to having a few miles racked up on it. RocketMan had a BMW FR900 from new for a short while, but he had several issues with it, which the dealer didn't seem too bothered to sort out, so he got shot of it. So, a test ride may tell you whether the bike suits you immediately, but longer reviews like his can raise possible red flags.

Itchy Boots seems quite popular for her travel videos.