S.O.N well that was a farse.
what did you do to your cbr500 today?
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Stayed up all night last night. Went to bed around 7 AM. Slept until 6 PM. Fitbit said it's the best sleep I've had in at least a month.
I like to think that I was born a night owl. But actually computers keep me awake. For a while, I was battling mental health this year so I was always in bed by 9 or so (and sober). I slept great and felt great. But I didn't have time to do anything fun. Work. Responsibilities. Sleep. Just a zombie. A slave even.
I'm back to my usual shenanigans. Still cutting back on alcohol, but losing ground as time goes on. More than making up for it too in cannabis. Snoop Dogg is now my cousin. Except I'm usually sober while I work, and always if I want/need to drive. Haven't come across Snoop yet actually. Otherwise, I'm like a bird.
Anyway I started writing chores out on the chalk meal plan that my wife needed on the wall and is never used. My wife has started the classic, "I do everything around here," bullshit. It's not a competition though. I normally don't keep track. I don't track when she does things either, nor do I care what she does. If something needs to be done I have to do it. I don't mind. If she wants something done "girl right" she better do it herself.
Anyway, since both alcohol and cannabis impact your memory and I don't track it, when she accuses me of doing nothing I can only remember a few items. Having the items written down lets me at least assess my own contributions objectively. Even if I can't know if she's fabricating the list. I don't think she is.
Also having a checklist written down is motivating. You get to score up your accomplished goals. And you can't forget. I added a CBR oil change to that list (along with changing the oil in everything else).
The other day I checked off an item. It felt great. I went outside to barbecue, and when I came back in I looked at the list again for a dopamine hit, but my wife had already erased it. 😡 I wondered if she had caught on to me, and countered my move. I didn't stand for it. I pointed it out. And asked her not to. So far so good.
After waking up late in the evening I decided to tackle some items. Recycling outside. Garbage outside (wife packed it though). Changed the furnace filter. Then I opted to change the oil in the snowblower and CBR. I was going to just use what was left over from a previous 4 l bottle of 5W30 synthetic for the cars in the snowblower, but the partial bottle I thought I had must have been disposed of a couple of months ago.
I decided to do the snowblower another day because now I need to go buy oil. I already got the oil and filter for the CBR though. The only problem is its 4 degrees Celsius outside, and feels like zero. And it has been raining for hours without letting up. My wife went out with a friend. I checked the hourly forecast and it seemed not to get any colder. I decided to chance it. Probably my last ride for 6 months.
The ride was pretty uneventful. Other then getting flanked by the fire department at the start, it was a pretty normal ride in the cold rain. I was afraid to lean the bike in a few corners. Using my visor's crack feature came in handy again. My hands were cold after about 5 minutes so I came home. I thought maybe I'd fool around for an hour, but there's no way without warm gloves or heated grips. Oh, a Mazda RX-8 revbombed the railroad underpass. I wasn't in it yet so it sounded great to me, but the cars in the tunnel probably burst their eardrums. But I was already trying to get around the slow traffic to reach this car so I responded by trying the same. Kinda didn't twist enough. It was pretty pathetic. Alas, I was distracted and didn't realize the RX-8 switched lanes in the tunnel to go straight. I had to turn right. Shortly thereafter my hands were cold and I came home.
I started writing this while the hot engine cooled. I've been burned too many times. When I got home safe I went inside to gather beer and cannabis supplies and the basement CO detector, headed back out to the garage, fired up a propane heater, and pulled out my S10+, loaded this thread, and started recalling the ride. I was wearing my hi-vis Kilimanjaro jacket over a domestic raincoat and long sleeve. I put my Alpinestars pants over my jeans. Warm and dry. Comfortable other than my cold hands.
After writing for an undisclosed time I thought to check the engine. It might be too cold now.. Fortunately, it was still warm, but not by much. I started the oil draining and returned to write. Then I took another pause to reinstall the drain plug and remove the filter and let that drain. Once that stopped I reinstalled the new filter, and made an attempt to wipe up the spilled oil on the exhaust headers.
That's when I remembered the parts guy had used scotch tape to attach the new crush washer to the filter. I checked the new filter, but it's gone. I tried a search of the bag, garage, and truck, but no luck. It's gone. I disregarded the chances of this happening at the time. I regret that now.
I decided to check the oil drain pan to see if the new washer fell off while I was screwing the new filter on. I found A crush washer, but no tape. It's probably the used one, but I figured better than nothing. I thought I forgot to put the crush washer on in Spring too. And it's a brand new oil drain pan.
I had to take the drain plug back off of course to install the washer. I was surprised to find at least a cup (250 ml), if not 2, of old oil come flying out onto the floor. 🤬 It's so clean still that I doubted for a second whether I had already filled it. I guess from taking the oil filter off and on and allowing air into the system this oil got released somehow? I threw cat litter on it to soak it up. Then reinstalled the washer and plug.
Filled the engine with oil, fired it up, and let it idle. Then after 3 or 4 minutes I brahpt on the throttle a few times, I must admit. Made up for my weak effort in the tunnel too. It took just a hair more. One more thing I can check off.
I like to think that I was born a night owl. But actually computers keep me awake. For a while, I was battling mental health this year so I was always in bed by 9 or so (and sober). I slept great and felt great. But I didn't have time to do anything fun. Work. Responsibilities. Sleep. Just a zombie. A slave even.
I'm back to my usual shenanigans. Still cutting back on alcohol, but losing ground as time goes on. More than making up for it too in cannabis. Snoop Dogg is now my cousin. Except I'm usually sober while I work, and always if I want/need to drive. Haven't come across Snoop yet actually. Otherwise, I'm like a bird.
Anyway I started writing chores out on the chalk meal plan that my wife needed on the wall and is never used. My wife has started the classic, "I do everything around here," bullshit. It's not a competition though. I normally don't keep track. I don't track when she does things either, nor do I care what she does. If something needs to be done I have to do it. I don't mind. If she wants something done "girl right" she better do it herself.
Anyway, since both alcohol and cannabis impact your memory and I don't track it, when she accuses me of doing nothing I can only remember a few items. Having the items written down lets me at least assess my own contributions objectively. Even if I can't know if she's fabricating the list. I don't think she is.
Also having a checklist written down is motivating. You get to score up your accomplished goals. And you can't forget. I added a CBR oil change to that list (along with changing the oil in everything else).
The other day I checked off an item. It felt great. I went outside to barbecue, and when I came back in I looked at the list again for a dopamine hit, but my wife had already erased it. 😡 I wondered if she had caught on to me, and countered my move. I didn't stand for it. I pointed it out. And asked her not to. So far so good.
After waking up late in the evening I decided to tackle some items. Recycling outside. Garbage outside (wife packed it though). Changed the furnace filter. Then I opted to change the oil in the snowblower and CBR. I was going to just use what was left over from a previous 4 l bottle of 5W30 synthetic for the cars in the snowblower, but the partial bottle I thought I had must have been disposed of a couple of months ago.
I decided to do the snowblower another day because now I need to go buy oil. I already got the oil and filter for the CBR though. The only problem is its 4 degrees Celsius outside, and feels like zero. And it has been raining for hours without letting up. My wife went out with a friend. I checked the hourly forecast and it seemed not to get any colder. I decided to chance it. Probably my last ride for 6 months.
The ride was pretty uneventful. Other then getting flanked by the fire department at the start, it was a pretty normal ride in the cold rain. I was afraid to lean the bike in a few corners. Using my visor's crack feature came in handy again. My hands were cold after about 5 minutes so I came home. I thought maybe I'd fool around for an hour, but there's no way without warm gloves or heated grips. Oh, a Mazda RX-8 revbombed the railroad underpass. I wasn't in it yet so it sounded great to me, but the cars in the tunnel probably burst their eardrums. But I was already trying to get around the slow traffic to reach this car so I responded by trying the same. Kinda didn't twist enough. It was pretty pathetic. Alas, I was distracted and didn't realize the RX-8 switched lanes in the tunnel to go straight. I had to turn right. Shortly thereafter my hands were cold and I came home.
I started writing this while the hot engine cooled. I've been burned too many times. When I got home safe I went inside to gather beer and cannabis supplies and the basement CO detector, headed back out to the garage, fired up a propane heater, and pulled out my S10+, loaded this thread, and started recalling the ride. I was wearing my hi-vis Kilimanjaro jacket over a domestic raincoat and long sleeve. I put my Alpinestars pants over my jeans. Warm and dry. Comfortable other than my cold hands.
After writing for an undisclosed time I thought to check the engine. It might be too cold now.. Fortunately, it was still warm, but not by much. I started the oil draining and returned to write. Then I took another pause to reinstall the drain plug and remove the filter and let that drain. Once that stopped I reinstalled the new filter, and made an attempt to wipe up the spilled oil on the exhaust headers.
That's when I remembered the parts guy had used scotch tape to attach the new crush washer to the filter. I checked the new filter, but it's gone. I tried a search of the bag, garage, and truck, but no luck. It's gone. I disregarded the chances of this happening at the time. I regret that now.
I decided to check the oil drain pan to see if the new washer fell off while I was screwing the new filter on. I found A crush washer, but no tape. It's probably the used one, but I figured better than nothing. I thought I forgot to put the crush washer on in Spring too. And it's a brand new oil drain pan.
I had to take the drain plug back off of course to install the washer. I was surprised to find at least a cup (250 ml), if not 2, of old oil come flying out onto the floor. 🤬 It's so clean still that I doubted for a second whether I had already filled it. I guess from taking the oil filter off and on and allowing air into the system this oil got released somehow? I threw cat litter on it to soak it up. Then reinstalled the washer and plug.
Filled the engine with oil, fired it up, and let it idle. Then after 3 or 4 minutes I brahpt on the throttle a few times, I must admit. Made up for my weak effort in the tunnel too. It took just a hair more. One more thing I can check off.
1. Take care, bambams. My mental health is not great and riding is the main tool I have to help so this year has been incredibly difficult.
2. How many people have to be seriously injured to stop a dangerous speedway meeting? Almost three. My interest in the event was already lessened by the horrible 4-3-2-0 point system. Completely unfair and disincentivizes racing, I absolutely hate it. I paid no attention to the Speedway Best Pairs just because of that. The speedway equivalent of a T20 and not a test match.
Supposedly the weather was supposed to be dry in Poland today, not sure if it was, but instead they forced a meeting last night in bad weather, causing mostly poor racing, not a single grading break just making the track get more dangerous, si they could not finish it because it finally caused a three-way crash.
Not much else can be added to what you said, ADIOS600. The only people who are happy after that are the money counters and Russian fans. And probably Danish fans.
3. What I did to my CB500F today, which is third because I like the community feel of this thread as we are all more than just our bikes. Firstly without heated grips I got out my old heated liners.
On my old 125 I did not know if it could cope with accessories, but was not confident adding any anyway. So I bought some heated liners I could wear inside my gloves. They are not great because they add a bit too much material around the hand, although not so much that you can operate the bike safely. But also being battery powered they only work for so long.
Having not used them for a few years I am sure the battery life has lessened, but going out in the morning when the thermometer was showing around 30 °F with the windchill, they made a difference. I did not feel the heat like I do with the grips, but I stopped feeling the cold like I did before putting them on. And they do have one benefit over grips, the heating element goes around the fingers so they warm the outside of the hand, where the wind hits, and not just the insides.
More gremlins. As much as I rewired my G.P.S. cradle as part of generally cleaning up my wiring, it was also to try and fix a problem. Some time ago when riding the TomTom kept saying it was shutting down because the power had disconnected. I was not sure of the cause, but the wiring was the only bit I did, so for the time being I just turned off the "turn off without power" feature.
No problem on the trip to my dad's, so I assumed that had gone away. Until it happened today. And I kept having to press cancel on the shutdown. Until I stopped to disable the feature. Although that also gave me the opportunity to put the glove liners on too. The annoying thing is that when I got home, the battery was still showing as fully charged so I am not sure there is even a problem.
The device has been rather glitchy since I resumed riding this month. The screen seems to shut down for one to several seconds for no obvious reason, the lane display at junctions does not fill the screen, a few times only half of the screen displays. Then when almost home today it started leaving long pauses in instructions before finally rebooting. So it would say "in 300 yards," followed some time later by "cross the roundabout," then finally — when already the next junction — "take the second exit."
That was also around the time where I forgot where I was and nodded at a pizza delivery scooter! The shame.
Ideally I like to buy petrol at supermarkets because they mostly have pay-at-pump. This matters to me a lot at he moment with my health conditions and the Covid situation. But I also have a O.C.D.-ish type thing that once I noticed that since buying the bike I had only once visited the same petrol station twice, I cannot use one I have used before. Up to 195 visits to 194 stations now. The problem is there was only one unvisited supermarket on my route today.
So I decided to visit that on my way home, but this morning I would stop at an Esso station and try their app. The big four chains all have pay-by-app features but Esso is the only one who say you can use it on a motorcycle, the others say it is too dangerous to use a phone on the forecourt. But every time I went through selecting the pump and payment details it would sit on an "authorizing payment" screen. At least my assumption they will not be busy on a Sunday morning in case I do have to pay in the shop was right. Just one person I had to wait behind, and they were buying milk, potato waffles, and bleach. They must have had quite the party last night.
I made a couple of stops, one on Portsdown Hill, a favourite location which looks down over Portsmouth. It also has a big naval history, and was where Dwight D. Eisenhower was based for the D-Day landings in WWII. During lockdown I bought a new camera lens, so this was my first chance to try it out. Though by "new" I mean second-hand of "well used" quality, but the price made it worth buying. It is only a Canon 15-85mm so not the best choice for a distant cityscape on a gloomy day, but it is where I was.
After a bit more riding around I ended up in a car park that almost backs onto the Southampton Water, which connects the English Channel (and so North Atlantic) with the port of Southampton. One of the biggest ports in the world for cruise liners, at one time one of the vessels sailing along there was the Titanic. I say the parking almost backs onto it, but there was a small stony because between the water and the tarmac. I did not stop for more than ten minutes. But…
![72579]()
The beach had breached a little farther down river, leaving my bike in a busy shipping corridor. The entrance was completely dry when I entered, but now looked like this:
![72580]()
Someone who parked next to my bike said before leaving her car that she grew up in the area and never know tides as high as that one. And that was before it breached the car park.
A pretty uneventful ride otherwise. The sun came out. On one road I ended up going a bit too fast, on others in front of me were far too slow. A few cars pulled out right in front of me. I passed a field full of pumpkins, something I had ever seen before, where people were "picking your own."
As can be seen in the photo, I still have not attached the lights to the mount points on the crash bars, I did not feel up to doing anything yesterday. So my projects for this week, finish the wiring and lights, and give it a good clean as it is covered in a muddy spray. Then I can consider booking a service and getting the grips looked at. It need an M.O.T. by the end of next month, the annual roadworthyness test, and that is already after getting a six month extension as it was originally due during lockdown.
2. How many people have to be seriously injured to stop a dangerous speedway meeting? Almost three. My interest in the event was already lessened by the horrible 4-3-2-0 point system. Completely unfair and disincentivizes racing, I absolutely hate it. I paid no attention to the Speedway Best Pairs just because of that. The speedway equivalent of a T20 and not a test match.
Supposedly the weather was supposed to be dry in Poland today, not sure if it was, but instead they forced a meeting last night in bad weather, causing mostly poor racing, not a single grading break just making the track get more dangerous, si they could not finish it because it finally caused a three-way crash.
Not much else can be added to what you said, ADIOS600. The only people who are happy after that are the money counters and Russian fans. And probably Danish fans.
3. What I did to my CB500F today, which is third because I like the community feel of this thread as we are all more than just our bikes. Firstly without heated grips I got out my old heated liners.
On my old 125 I did not know if it could cope with accessories, but was not confident adding any anyway. So I bought some heated liners I could wear inside my gloves. They are not great because they add a bit too much material around the hand, although not so much that you can operate the bike safely. But also being battery powered they only work for so long.
Having not used them for a few years I am sure the battery life has lessened, but going out in the morning when the thermometer was showing around 30 °F with the windchill, they made a difference. I did not feel the heat like I do with the grips, but I stopped feeling the cold like I did before putting them on. And they do have one benefit over grips, the heating element goes around the fingers so they warm the outside of the hand, where the wind hits, and not just the insides.
More gremlins. As much as I rewired my G.P.S. cradle as part of generally cleaning up my wiring, it was also to try and fix a problem. Some time ago when riding the TomTom kept saying it was shutting down because the power had disconnected. I was not sure of the cause, but the wiring was the only bit I did, so for the time being I just turned off the "turn off without power" feature.
No problem on the trip to my dad's, so I assumed that had gone away. Until it happened today. And I kept having to press cancel on the shutdown. Until I stopped to disable the feature. Although that also gave me the opportunity to put the glove liners on too. The annoying thing is that when I got home, the battery was still showing as fully charged so I am not sure there is even a problem.
The device has been rather glitchy since I resumed riding this month. The screen seems to shut down for one to several seconds for no obvious reason, the lane display at junctions does not fill the screen, a few times only half of the screen displays. Then when almost home today it started leaving long pauses in instructions before finally rebooting. So it would say "in 300 yards," followed some time later by "cross the roundabout," then finally — when already the next junction — "take the second exit."
That was also around the time where I forgot where I was and nodded at a pizza delivery scooter! The shame.
Ideally I like to buy petrol at supermarkets because they mostly have pay-at-pump. This matters to me a lot at he moment with my health conditions and the Covid situation. But I also have a O.C.D.-ish type thing that once I noticed that since buying the bike I had only once visited the same petrol station twice, I cannot use one I have used before. Up to 195 visits to 194 stations now. The problem is there was only one unvisited supermarket on my route today.
So I decided to visit that on my way home, but this morning I would stop at an Esso station and try their app. The big four chains all have pay-by-app features but Esso is the only one who say you can use it on a motorcycle, the others say it is too dangerous to use a phone on the forecourt. But every time I went through selecting the pump and payment details it would sit on an "authorizing payment" screen. At least my assumption they will not be busy on a Sunday morning in case I do have to pay in the shop was right. Just one person I had to wait behind, and they were buying milk, potato waffles, and bleach. They must have had quite the party last night.
I made a couple of stops, one on Portsdown Hill, a favourite location which looks down over Portsmouth. It also has a big naval history, and was where Dwight D. Eisenhower was based for the D-Day landings in WWII. During lockdown I bought a new camera lens, so this was my first chance to try it out. Though by "new" I mean second-hand of "well used" quality, but the price made it worth buying. It is only a Canon 15-85mm so not the best choice for a distant cityscape on a gloomy day, but it is where I was.
After a bit more riding around I ended up in a car park that almost backs onto the Southampton Water, which connects the English Channel (and so North Atlantic) with the port of Southampton. One of the biggest ports in the world for cruise liners, at one time one of the vessels sailing along there was the Titanic. I say the parking almost backs onto it, but there was a small stony because between the water and the tarmac. I did not stop for more than ten minutes. But…
The beach had breached a little farther down river, leaving my bike in a busy shipping corridor. The entrance was completely dry when I entered, but now looked like this:
Someone who parked next to my bike said before leaving her car that she grew up in the area and never know tides as high as that one. And that was before it breached the car park.
A pretty uneventful ride otherwise. The sun came out. On one road I ended up going a bit too fast, on others in front of me were far too slow. A few cars pulled out right in front of me. I passed a field full of pumpkins, something I had ever seen before, where people were "picking your own."
As can be seen in the photo, I still have not attached the lights to the mount points on the crash bars, I did not feel up to doing anything yesterday. So my projects for this week, finish the wiring and lights, and give it a good clean as it is covered in a muddy spray. Then I can consider booking a service and getting the grips looked at. It need an M.O.T. by the end of next month, the annual roadworthyness test, and that is already after getting a six month extension as it was originally due during lockdown.
It will soon be winter here in the UK. The hardest time of the year to keep yourself motivated. I too have a list which never gets any shorter. I may get the odd ride over the next few months until spring. I do little upgrades to the bike over the fall to keep my things interesting. So keep writing your little stories and it will help us all get through this potentially miserable time of the year.👍
I suppose it depends on whether Eurosport's new deal for British speedway is pan-European or just domestic. If it does include showing it in Sweden and Poland it is probably worth the B.S.P.A. and them working together to play the season without fans but streaming the non-televised meetings.
Although I would be very surprised if the government are not allowing fans by then, even with everything else still being the same. Just need some England cricket to be arranged now to keep things going over the winter.
I have only been to the Isle of Wight once, a family holiday I can barely remember. I have checked before and I reckon a day trip from London of riding around the island is possible, but the ferry is just too expensive. I have been considering camping for longer trips, which would also work for there, but that is for a summer, and probably not until 2022 now.
But the I.o.W. hoverport in Portsmouth is just a section of the beach that is separated with a wire fence, so you can see the hovercraft as they arrive and depart. Which is pretty cool because to face the correct way when they arrive, they spin around 180° on the spot. Which is a pretty impressive sight with no turning circle.
Anyway, my bike's weird fuel economy continues. I forgot to reset the trip after filling up today, both times, but from calculating it manually my last four readings have now been 70.53, 81.55, 72.61, 85.44 mpg. (U.K.)
Although I would be very surprised if the government are not allowing fans by then, even with everything else still being the same. Just need some England cricket to be arranged now to keep things going over the winter.
I have only been to the Isle of Wight once, a family holiday I can barely remember. I have checked before and I reckon a day trip from London of riding around the island is possible, but the ferry is just too expensive. I have been considering camping for longer trips, which would also work for there, but that is for a summer, and probably not until 2022 now.
But the I.o.W. hoverport in Portsmouth is just a section of the beach that is separated with a wire fence, so you can see the hovercraft as they arrive and depart. Which is pretty cool because to face the correct way when they arrive, they spin around 180° on the spot. Which is a pretty impressive sight with no turning circle.
Anyway, my bike's weird fuel economy continues. I forgot to reset the trip after filling up today, both times, but from calculating it manually my last four readings have now been 70.53, 81.55, 72.61, 85.44 mpg. (U.K.)
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1,663 Posts
My wife tried adding Vacuum to my checklist on Saturday evening. I went to bed late again, around 4 AM. I told my wife to wake me up whenever she wanted though because I didn't want to sleep all of Sunday away too. And I needed to get back on track for Monday. Normally she loves to wake me, but she didn't. She went to visit her aunt for the first time in a couple of months so they had a lot to catch up on. I ended up waking myself up around 2 PM, and got up on my own because it was already later than I intended to sleep. I moved the Vacuum item from chicken scratch in the bottom right corner to be more prominent on the Sunday slot. I don't mind vacuuming.
I went and bought oil for the snowblower (and the lawnmower, cause why not). Also restocked on half-beers, and picked up some pill boxes so that I can more effectively track whether I've taken my antidepressants. Got home, alone still, opened the garage door and decided to run the CBR again to make sure the oil level was stable. I still needed to empty the drain pan into the used bottle, but I wanted to make sure I had used as much of the good oil as I'd need before mixing them. In the meantime I tried to fire up the snowblower. Poppycock. It doesn't want to run. I'm pretty sure I treated the snowblower gas tank in Spring with some stabilizer, but bad gas seems like the best explanation for why it doesn't want to run now. Speaking of which, we got hail/snow yesterday so it may be time to add some stabilizer to the CBR tank too.
I tried everything I knew to get the snowblower running, but so far no luck. I don't think I ever ran it with the stabilizer in Spring so maybe the carburetor is just gummed up. I guess my next order of business will be to keep pulling on it to ensure the stabilized gas is getting through, and if I can't figure it out to call my dad.
In the meantime my wife came home. I fought with the snowblower some before giving up for the night. Eventually I came inside to help figure out what to do for supper. My wife explained that we didn't have any meat defrosted, and she was too exhausted now to go back out, so I remained sober to drive to the grocery store. My wife has been baking broccoli and chicken breasts for her work lunches, and typically does this prep on Sundays. She was busy with that when I got back from the grocery store with some ground beef for homemade American-style tacos. I asked if I should start cooking the tacos right away (in the 6 years we've been together I've probably done 80% of the cooking, which I never get credit for since she started taking over in the new house), but the stove was busy so I had to wait.I decided to pull out the vacuum and try to check that off at least. Our Rottweiler mix, Watson, looks to be short-haired, but he makes up for it in shedding. I probably spent close to 30 minutes just in the living room trying to get all of the fur off of the floor and couches. At some point I took a break to urinate and discovered my wife had changed into some sexy times outfit. She said that my vacuuming had turned her on. I don't know if that's true or if she was just consciously trying to encourage me to vacuum more often, but nevertheless good times were had by all. This checklist thing is starting to really pay off. I've vacuumed before, but it has never gotten me anything. You guys should consider a prominent wall checklist of your own. 😁
I don't do vacuuming or indeed any housework whatsoever, I may have to empty the dishwasher on occasions but I draw the line at that. I may have to add the vacuuming now though.My wife tried adding Vacuum to my checklist on Saturday evening. I went to bed late again, around 4 AM. I told my wife to wake me up whenever she wanted though because I didn't want to sleep all of Sunday away too. And I needed to get back on track for Monday. Normally she loves to wake me, but she didn't. She went to visit her aunt for the first time in a couple of months so they had a lot to catch up on. I ended up waking myself up around 2 PM, and got up on my own because it was already later than I intended to sleep. I moved the Vacuum item from chicken scratch in the bottom right corner to be more prominent on the Sunday slot. I don't mind vacuuming.
I went and bought oil for the snowblower (and the lawnmower, cause why not). Also restocked on half-beers, and picked up some pill boxes so that I can more effectively track whether I've taken my antidepressants. Got home, alone still, opened the garage door and decided to run the CBR again to make sure the oil level was stable. I still needed to empty the drain pan into the used bottle, but I wanted to make sure I had used as much of the good oil as I'd need before mixing them. In the meantime I tried to fire up the snowblower. Poppycock. It doesn't want to run. I'm pretty sure I treated the snowblower gas tank in Spring with some stabilizer, but bad gas seems like the best explanation for why it doesn't want to run now. Speaking of which, we got hail/snow yesterday so it may be time to add some stabilizer to the CBR tank too.
I tried everything I knew to get the snowblower running, but so far no luck. I don't think I ever ran it with the stabilizer in Spring so maybe the carburetor is just gummed up. I guess my next order of business will be to keep pulling on it to ensure the stabilized gas is getting through, and if I can't figure it out to call my dad.
I decided to pull out the vacuum and try to check that off at least. Our Rottweiler mix, Watson, looks to be short-haired, but he makes up for it in shedding. I probably spent close to 30 minutes just in the living room trying to get all of the fur off of the floor and couches. At some point I took a break to urinate and discovered my wife had changed into some sexy times outfit. She said that my vacuuming had turned her on. I don't know if that's true or if she was just consciously trying to encourage me to vacuum more often, but nevertheless good times were had by all. This checklist thing is starting to really pay off. I've vacuumed before, but it has never gotten me anything. You guys should consider a prominent wall checklist of your own. 😁
Living alone all chores are mine, which is why they often do not get done. So I make to do lists all the time. And ignore them all the time. For things that are urgent I write them on a post it or a sheet from the note block and leave it by the laptop so it is impossible to ignore.
Just over a week ago I wrote "email hospital Rx" to make sure I contact the hospital to get a new prescription before I visit my dad. I then made sure it was left prominently placed for when I got back from visiting him. I finally emailed them last night at 1am. And that job was for a situation which is causing constant pain, so good luck to the tasks which I can legitimately procrastinate over.
I did nothing to the bike today, nearly bought some inner bags for the panniers as Motea (a German retailer) had some Givi compatible ones listed and a 10% off voucher that expires today. But with a wait of a least six weeks on them I did not bother. Either I will need them sooner to visit my dad, in which case I can get some Givi ones from eBay now for only a little more after delivery, or because of the Covid situation I will not be able to visit to need them. And with London now in tier 2 it makes it illegal for me to visit him until we go back to tier 1. Which may not even happen until there is a vaccine.
Besides which, today has already been a little expensive as my prime Day purchases arrived. A damaged box lens that worked out at 40% off because of a missing manual. And a damaged box bread maker that was reduced from £90 to £88.20. Not sure what the point is of £1.80 saving, but the Prime Day discount was 20% on Warehouse items so it worked out at £70.56.
Both were specific things I had been wanting to buy, so I was just taking advantage of the discounts buying then. The lens is a newer version of my favourite one, adding a faster focus motor and image stabilization.
I had a bread maker long ago and was not a fan; the bread was cakey and the paddle always made a big hole in the middle. On this one the paddle blade flattens so that should partly solve one problem, now just a small hole from the spindle. But I still have low expectations of the bread.
Because of Covid I am still doing my grocery shopping online, which means I only get to have fresh bread for the first half of a week and then nothing until I need to do another full grocery order. So the option of anything will be better than nothing. And I do not have it in me to go through the effort of manually kneading and proving dough.
I really need to work on the bike tomorrow rather than keep putting it off. The thing about chronic pain is that you can get so used to it that it becomes unnoticeable at times, but it is very tiring. I have measured the length for the cable I need to crimp onto the lights, then just need to attach bullet connectors on those. The light switch cables just needs bullet connectors crimping as they are already the perfect length. I still need to measure the lengths to route from the front of the bike to behind the battery, and that is where it gets messy as I need to crimp terminals for the relay blocks and then deal with fitting in the relatively large mass of cable for such a small space they will cause.
Just over a week ago I wrote "email hospital Rx" to make sure I contact the hospital to get a new prescription before I visit my dad. I then made sure it was left prominently placed for when I got back from visiting him. I finally emailed them last night at 1am. And that job was for a situation which is causing constant pain, so good luck to the tasks which I can legitimately procrastinate over.
I did nothing to the bike today, nearly bought some inner bags for the panniers as Motea (a German retailer) had some Givi compatible ones listed and a 10% off voucher that expires today. But with a wait of a least six weeks on them I did not bother. Either I will need them sooner to visit my dad, in which case I can get some Givi ones from eBay now for only a little more after delivery, or because of the Covid situation I will not be able to visit to need them. And with London now in tier 2 it makes it illegal for me to visit him until we go back to tier 1. Which may not even happen until there is a vaccine.
Besides which, today has already been a little expensive as my prime Day purchases arrived. A damaged box lens that worked out at 40% off because of a missing manual. And a damaged box bread maker that was reduced from £90 to £88.20. Not sure what the point is of £1.80 saving, but the Prime Day discount was 20% on Warehouse items so it worked out at £70.56.
Both were specific things I had been wanting to buy, so I was just taking advantage of the discounts buying then. The lens is a newer version of my favourite one, adding a faster focus motor and image stabilization.
I had a bread maker long ago and was not a fan; the bread was cakey and the paddle always made a big hole in the middle. On this one the paddle blade flattens so that should partly solve one problem, now just a small hole from the spindle. But I still have low expectations of the bread.
Because of Covid I am still doing my grocery shopping online, which means I only get to have fresh bread for the first half of a week and then nothing until I need to do another full grocery order. So the option of anything will be better than nothing. And I do not have it in me to go through the effort of manually kneading and proving dough.
I really need to work on the bike tomorrow rather than keep putting it off. The thing about chronic pain is that you can get so used to it that it becomes unnoticeable at times, but it is very tiring. I have measured the length for the cable I need to crimp onto the lights, then just need to attach bullet connectors on those. The light switch cables just needs bullet connectors crimping as they are already the perfect length. I still need to measure the lengths to route from the front of the bike to behind the battery, and that is where it gets messy as I need to crimp terminals for the relay blocks and then deal with fitting in the relatively large mass of cable for such a small space they will cause.
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1,663 Posts
Regarding bread I have found that most bread machine recipes are very sweet. Probably to make the product tasty to a wider range of people. That said, you can probably find recipes online that are less sweet and more akin to what you expect of bread. You can also try tweaking the recipes yourself to come up with something that works better for you.
As for the chronic pain, that leads me to wonder if you are using cannabis at all to manage it. It's nowhere near as effective as opiods, obviously, but it's a whole lot safer (and probably cheaper too). Presumably you'd be able to get a medical pass from your doctor. Sounds like recreational cannabis is still illegal in the UK, which is outrageous, but not surprising. In that case, if you aren't willing/able to access safe sources in the black market then I suggest pushing your political leaders for change. The science is in. Cannabis is WAY safer than alcohol, and is not in any way responsible for hard drugs (in fact, cannabis is an effective way to stop hard drugs). The side effects are also generally much less than alcohol or other drugs, and it's far less addictive. Perhaps something to research.
As for the chronic pain, that leads me to wonder if you are using cannabis at all to manage it. It's nowhere near as effective as opiods, obviously, but it's a whole lot safer (and probably cheaper too). Presumably you'd be able to get a medical pass from your doctor. Sounds like recreational cannabis is still illegal in the UK, which is outrageous, but not surprising. In that case, if you aren't willing/able to access safe sources in the black market then I suggest pushing your political leaders for change. The science is in. Cannabis is WAY safer than alcohol, and is not in any way responsible for hard drugs (in fact, cannabis is an effective way to stop hard drugs). The side effects are also generally much less than alcohol or other drugs, and it's far less addictive. Perhaps something to research.
The cakeyness of bread was more with the texture. I am not sure how you have bread in Canada, but I know American bread is very sweet compared to the way we have it in Britain and Ireland.
There was a court case in Ireland recently where it was ruled that Subway do not use bread for their sandwiches because the sugar content is too high. They were challenging having to pay sales tax on their sandwiches, because staple foods such as bread are not taxed. However the law says that the sugar content cannot be higher than 2% of the weight of flour and I think theirs was about 10%.
It reminded me of an earlier case in the U.K. where crisps and potato snacks are one of the few foods to have a sales tax. So to similarly avoid tax Pringles argued that they could not be considered one because what they produced was something "not found in nature" and should be considered a cake as they are made from dough. But the judge ruled they were made from enough potato that they are obviously a potato snack. I love crisps but do not like Pringles, so I would have accepted the claim they are unnatural.
Anyway, looking in the bread maker manual the basic bread recipe calls for 2 tbsp of sugar for both the 1½ lb loaf (3 cups of flour) and the 2 lb loaf (4 cups). So maybe that is only as much as needed for the yeast rather than for taste? I suppose it can be experimented with if too sweet. It will be a few days until I need to try to make my own as I had a shopping delivery on Saturday, partly to buy the bread flour and yeast in readiness.
As for pain I just have a repeatable co-codamol prescription, it is not that beneficial. And I guess despite taking it for about six years I do not find it addictive as I often forget I have it to take. So when I do it is usually as a prevention, such as before riding, more in hope it will make a difference than belief. I was also recently been prescribed a maximum strength ibuprofen gel for my fingers, which helps lessen it but not enough really. That though was more aimed at preventing my fingers locking up.
And I take immunosuppressants, which not a pain killer are supposed to prevent the pain developing. Maybe they work and it would be worse without them, but I have gone through the full range of options due to various adverse effects so there is nothing else to try in their place. At least they hopefully prevent further joint damage. The prescription I needed to request was for them, but at my last appointment injections were offered and so I wanted to ask for those too.
There is now limited legal use for cannabis as a pain killer here, but still very difficult for its use to be sanctioned. There is a medical effort pushing for its allowed use, but with a conservative government I cannot see anything changing any time in the remaining four years of their term. That they allowed even limited use is too much for some of their supporters. Ideology trumps science for them.
They are the party which thinks it makes sense to require 30 children together in a school classroom (you can be fined for not sending you children to school), but after school it it is too dangerous for more than six of them to be together outdoors (you can be fined for letting too many children gather together).
Just looking, this is the current guidance:
There was a court case in Ireland recently where it was ruled that Subway do not use bread for their sandwiches because the sugar content is too high. They were challenging having to pay sales tax on their sandwiches, because staple foods such as bread are not taxed. However the law says that the sugar content cannot be higher than 2% of the weight of flour and I think theirs was about 10%.
It reminded me of an earlier case in the U.K. where crisps and potato snacks are one of the few foods to have a sales tax. So to similarly avoid tax Pringles argued that they could not be considered one because what they produced was something "not found in nature" and should be considered a cake as they are made from dough. But the judge ruled they were made from enough potato that they are obviously a potato snack. I love crisps but do not like Pringles, so I would have accepted the claim they are unnatural.
Anyway, looking in the bread maker manual the basic bread recipe calls for 2 tbsp of sugar for both the 1½ lb loaf (3 cups of flour) and the 2 lb loaf (4 cups). So maybe that is only as much as needed for the yeast rather than for taste? I suppose it can be experimented with if too sweet. It will be a few days until I need to try to make my own as I had a shopping delivery on Saturday, partly to buy the bread flour and yeast in readiness.
As for pain I just have a repeatable co-codamol prescription, it is not that beneficial. And I guess despite taking it for about six years I do not find it addictive as I often forget I have it to take. So when I do it is usually as a prevention, such as before riding, more in hope it will make a difference than belief. I was also recently been prescribed a maximum strength ibuprofen gel for my fingers, which helps lessen it but not enough really. That though was more aimed at preventing my fingers locking up.
And I take immunosuppressants, which not a pain killer are supposed to prevent the pain developing. Maybe they work and it would be worse without them, but I have gone through the full range of options due to various adverse effects so there is nothing else to try in their place. At least they hopefully prevent further joint damage. The prescription I needed to request was for them, but at my last appointment injections were offered and so I wanted to ask for those too.
There is now limited legal use for cannabis as a pain killer here, but still very difficult for its use to be sanctioned. There is a medical effort pushing for its allowed use, but with a conservative government I cannot see anything changing any time in the remaining four years of their term. That they allowed even limited use is too much for some of their supporters. Ideology trumps science for them.
They are the party which thinks it makes sense to require 30 children together in a school classroom (you can be fined for not sending you children to school), but after school it it is too dangerous for more than six of them to be together outdoors (you can be fined for letting too many children gather together).
Just looking, this is the current guidance:
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1,663 Posts
It's worth noting that "Subway" bread is not "American bread". It's corporate bread from a food industry that values money more than health. Every time I eat a Subway sandwich I find that my hands are so oily that washing them several times is insufficient to get the smell off of them. As with other food corporations, like McDonald's, I think that they've designed their food to be addictive on purpose to encourage frequent purchases. I can only speculate on what Subway tastes like in the UK (some food corporations change products to suit local tastes), but based on your description I'm betting it's similar to here.
It might still be worth asking your doctor about cannabis even if it isn't likely to happen. Hopefully they'd be professional about it and not judge you. You might even encourage them to research it and get behind it. Sounds like the co-codamol is limited in its strength too so cannabis would probably be a good alternative, and it might even be safe to combine the two (but verify with a real doctor please).
In general, unlike alcohol (which I'm addicted to), I am able to take cannabis with over the counter drugs (Tylenol, Advil, etc.). I just read too that cannabis may actually offer additional benefits over codeine (sounds like co-codamol is basically codeine mixed with Tylenol). Whereas the codeine is apparently only altering the way your brain and central nervous system interpret pain, cannabis can "interact with receptors all over the body" to reduce "inflammation, nerve pain, and spasms". The downside being that it can otherwise depress parts of the central nervous system, which I think is doctor speak for you should not drive. You may get sleepy, or you may not want to move for hours.
The only major caveats to cannabis that I am aware of are that somebody with a known risk of mental illness (especially psychosis) may accelerate their decline (so heed that if necessary); and it can be addictive for some, though that appears to mainly impact teenagers and young adults whose brains haven't fully developed yet (or people with existing opiate addictions).
I've been using cannabis for 2 years straight with increasing frequency. It's difficult to say if I am addicted or not because of adverse effects from my alcohol addiction. That said, I did quit short term a few times this year, and I found it very easy. I have never really craved cannabis, as far as I can recall, but I do miss it if I have nothing else to treat my anxiety with. I don't miss it the same way that I miss alcohol though.
Paranoia is a real thing from cannabis, but if you keep your wits about you, go slow, and recognize and treat it then it's really not a problem. In 2 years I can only count maybe a handful of times where I've been "uncomfortably high".
Another caveat, though it seems less serious, is that your tolerance builds very fast and so you do require more and more to get the same effects. This impacts me more as a daily user than it would for somebody who selectively used it medicinally (unless it was so effective that you wanted to always be stoned, but I guess that would be a win anyway).
You cannot overdose on pure cannabis flower. The amount that it would take is just impractical to smoke/vape. I'm not sure if it's even possible with concentrates, but I suspect it's also an insignificant risk (sugar is purportedly more toxic, for reference). You can still take "too much". It won't kill you, but you'll have a shitty time. You may find yourself extremely paranoid and "couch locked" (cannot move, can't even really gain control of your conscious thought), but with experience this can be avoided. Modern cannabis is potent stuff. A hit or two is likely more than enough for a newbie. The expression is, "start low, go slow". If you aren't familiar with the strain/method/product then approach with caution. Once you know your way around then it's easy to know how much you can tolerate.
As long as you don't drink alcohol too (that's my problem) you shouldn't have any trouble controlling your intake. Even then, I'm an experienced drinker too so I am able to manage both pretty effectively most of the time.
Short term memory loss is very common, but I find that it mostly impacts me while I'm stoned. After a few hours when the effects have worn off I seem to remember things as well as I ever do (34 years old, a decade into an alcohol addiction).
It seems CONservatives are the same everywhere. Things are working pretty good for them so don't change it unless it's to make their lives even better. Hopefully your population can learn from this 4 years and fix it in afterward. As with most "democracies", the problem isn't just the stupid people that got elected. It's the stupid system that elected them. Hopefully there are also activists arguing to fix the flaws in the system, as are needed here and in the US too.
It might still be worth asking your doctor about cannabis even if it isn't likely to happen. Hopefully they'd be professional about it and not judge you. You might even encourage them to research it and get behind it. Sounds like the co-codamol is limited in its strength too so cannabis would probably be a good alternative, and it might even be safe to combine the two (but verify with a real doctor please).
In general, unlike alcohol (which I'm addicted to), I am able to take cannabis with over the counter drugs (Tylenol, Advil, etc.). I just read too that cannabis may actually offer additional benefits over codeine (sounds like co-codamol is basically codeine mixed with Tylenol). Whereas the codeine is apparently only altering the way your brain and central nervous system interpret pain, cannabis can "interact with receptors all over the body" to reduce "inflammation, nerve pain, and spasms". The downside being that it can otherwise depress parts of the central nervous system, which I think is doctor speak for you should not drive.
You may get sleepy, or you may not want to move for hours.The only major caveats to cannabis that I am aware of are that somebody with a known risk of mental illness (especially psychosis) may accelerate their decline (so heed that if necessary); and it can be addictive for some, though that appears to mainly impact teenagers and young adults whose brains haven't fully developed yet (or people with existing opiate addictions).
I've been using cannabis for 2 years straight with increasing frequency. It's difficult to say if I am addicted or not because of adverse effects from my alcohol addiction. That said, I did quit short term a few times this year, and I found it very easy. I have never really craved cannabis, as far as I can recall, but I do miss it if I have nothing else to treat my anxiety with. I don't miss it the same way that I miss alcohol though.
Paranoia is a real thing from cannabis, but if you keep your wits about you, go slow, and recognize and treat it then it's really not a problem. In 2 years I can only count maybe a handful of times where I've been "uncomfortably high".
Another caveat, though it seems less serious, is that your tolerance builds very fast and so you do require more and more to get the same effects. This impacts me more as a daily user than it would for somebody who selectively used it medicinally (unless it was so effective that you wanted to always be stoned, but I guess that would be a win anyway).
You cannot overdose on pure cannabis flower. The amount that it would take is just impractical to smoke/vape. I'm not sure if it's even possible with concentrates, but I suspect it's also an insignificant risk (sugar is purportedly more toxic, for reference). You can still take "too much". It won't kill you, but you'll have a shitty time. You may find yourself extremely paranoid and "couch locked" (cannot move, can't even really gain control of your conscious thought), but with experience this can be avoided. Modern cannabis is potent stuff. A hit or two is likely more than enough for a newbie. The expression is, "start low, go slow". If you aren't familiar with the strain/method/product then approach with caution. Once you know your way around then it's easy to know how much you can tolerate.
As long as you don't drink alcohol too (that's my problem) you shouldn't have any trouble controlling your intake. Even then, I'm an experienced drinker too so I am able to manage both pretty effectively most of the time.
Short term memory loss is very common, but I find that it mostly impacts me while I'm stoned. After a few hours when the effects have worn off I seem to remember things as well as I ever do (34 years old, a decade into an alcohol addiction).
It seems CONservatives are the same everywhere. Things are working pretty good for them so don't change it unless it's to make their lives even better. Hopefully your population can learn from this 4 years and fix it in afterward. As with most "democracies", the problem isn't just the stupid people that got elected. It's the stupid system that elected them. Hopefully there are also activists arguing to fix the flaws in the system, as are needed here and in the US too.
Nothing, it rained all day so my plans to do something with it were postponed. I also had not recovered it, though they may be for the best as it needed a good clean.
Instead I cleaned the kitchen up, then this evening I used the new bread maker. The results could have been better, but they could have been a lot worse.
As it was my first time I followed the standard bread recipe exactly for a 1½ lb loaf. The end result in the pan looked maybe okay-ish?
![72588]()
But as well as looking underdone in the pan, it also looked a bit soggy inside after emptying it out and removing the paddle. Although the hole was not too big compared to long ago previous experience. So the flip-down paddle definitely helped.
![72589]()
Stupidly I decided to put it in the oven for a little longer, which meant waiting for it to pre-heat. Only once it was in did I realize I could have put it back in the tin, and used the still warm bread maker's "bake" setting.
Aside from resembling a pie rather than a loaf of bread, comparing the before and after it did look better for the added cooking time.
![72590]()
![72591]()
Not a good idea to cut it while still warm, as hot bread lumps up, but after a while I could not wait. I was curious how well cooked it was inside, and it definitely needed a bit long at least it was not inedible.
![72592]()
It is still more cakey in texture than airy, maybe the French bread recipe will be better for that, but it tasted okay. Not sweet at all, just a bit chewy from needing to be cooked longer.
The instructions say if the bread it too soggy in the middle it is due to too much liquid. It was not so much the middle that was the problem, or sogginess, but I will try reducing the amount next time and hopefully it will properly cook through in the correct time.
One final slice after it had cooled to see how it cuts then, and you can really see where it did not properly cook on the bottom. Though I have occasionally bought bread from actual bakers that looks the same.
![72593]()
Excuse the horrible halogen kitchen lighting which has made the colour seem a bit off, the bread did not look as bad as the photos make it seem.
As I said before, I got the bread maker because a lot of the time in the Covid era my choice was no bread, and this was definitely better than that. Yay!
Tomorrow should be mostly dry, so will try to work on the bike then. Saturday is due to rain, but Sunday may be okay. Or may not. But I will also try to plan a trip in case I can go out before the weather gets too cold for my hands.
I have been looking at hand guards, the best for wind protection seem to be the Givi or Puig ones, but neither are cheap at £80 to £90 when I am not sure they will even fit my bike.
www.motorcycleplanet.co.uk
puig.tv
Both mount over the stock bard ends, replacing the bolt. But because I replaced my bars with stronger, but thicker, Renthal ones I cannot use any standard bar ends due to the narrower diameter. So instead I have reused the Honda ends, with my own bolts, and an expanding anchor bolt inside the bar.
It was a good idea at the time, but the anchors seem to have stuck tight now. At least the right one has, though I can still unscrew the bolts from them.
So in theory either set of guard should work just so long as I have a suitable length bolt. But it assumes the ends stick out of the bars the same amount as they would on stock ones. Which would make it an expensive purchase if they do not fit.
Or I could take a risk on a pair from China for just £20, which at first I thought looked a bit cheap before realizing they look exactly like the Givi ones! Unlike most other cheaper ones, they seem to go over the stock ends. But they do not add much extra thickness that my existing bolts should probably work with them unless they need larger heads.
www.aliexpress.com
Instead I cleaned the kitchen up, then this evening I used the new bread maker. The results could have been better, but they could have been a lot worse.
As it was my first time I followed the standard bread recipe exactly for a 1½ lb loaf. The end result in the pan looked maybe okay-ish?
But as well as looking underdone in the pan, it also looked a bit soggy inside after emptying it out and removing the paddle. Although the hole was not too big compared to long ago previous experience. So the flip-down paddle definitely helped.
Stupidly I decided to put it in the oven for a little longer, which meant waiting for it to pre-heat. Only once it was in did I realize I could have put it back in the tin, and used the still warm bread maker's "bake" setting.
Aside from resembling a pie rather than a loaf of bread, comparing the before and after it did look better for the added cooking time.
Not a good idea to cut it while still warm, as hot bread lumps up, but after a while I could not wait. I was curious how well cooked it was inside, and it definitely needed a bit long at least it was not inedible.
It is still more cakey in texture than airy, maybe the French bread recipe will be better for that, but it tasted okay. Not sweet at all, just a bit chewy from needing to be cooked longer.
The instructions say if the bread it too soggy in the middle it is due to too much liquid. It was not so much the middle that was the problem, or sogginess, but I will try reducing the amount next time and hopefully it will properly cook through in the correct time.
One final slice after it had cooled to see how it cuts then, and you can really see where it did not properly cook on the bottom. Though I have occasionally bought bread from actual bakers that looks the same.
Excuse the horrible halogen kitchen lighting which has made the colour seem a bit off, the bread did not look as bad as the photos make it seem.
As I said before, I got the bread maker because a lot of the time in the Covid era my choice was no bread, and this was definitely better than that. Yay!
Tomorrow should be mostly dry, so will try to work on the bike then. Saturday is due to rain, but Sunday may be okay. Or may not. But I will also try to plan a trip in case I can go out before the weather gets too cold for my hands.
I have been looking at hand guards, the best for wind protection seem to be the Givi or Puig ones, but neither are cheap at £80 to £90 when I am not sure they will even fit my bike.
GIVI HP1176 Handguards for Honda CB 500F - Honda CB 500F (16-18) - GIVI Luggage
GIVI HP1176 Handguards to fit: Honda CB 500F (2016-2018) Specifically made for the CB 500F. Made of ABS Plastic, View Fitting Instructions
www.motorcycleplanet.co.uk
Handguards for motorcycle Honda CB500F 2016 - Motoplastic PUIG
Discover more about our product: Handguards for Honda CB500F 2016. Information on mounting, variations, availability… Welcome! - Motoplastic PUIG
Both mount over the stock bard ends, replacing the bolt. But because I replaced my bars with stronger, but thicker, Renthal ones I cannot use any standard bar ends due to the narrower diameter. So instead I have reused the Honda ends, with my own bolts, and an expanding anchor bolt inside the bar.
It was a good idea at the time, but the anchors seem to have stuck tight now. At least the right one has, though I can still unscrew the bolts from them.
So in theory either set of guard should work just so long as I have a suitable length bolt. But it assumes the ends stick out of the bars the same amount as they would on stock ones. Which would make it an expensive purchase if they do not fit.
Or I could take a risk on a pair from China for just £20, which at first I thought looked a bit cheap before realizing they look exactly like the Givi ones! Unlike most other cheaper ones, they seem to go over the stock ends. But they do not add much extra thickness that my existing bolts should probably work with them unless they need larger heads.
US $24.99 40% OFF|Motorcycle Front Handguard Hand shiled Guard Protector For Honda CB 500F CB500F ABS 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019|Covers & Ornamental Mouldings| - AliExpress
Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com
I decided to order the Chinese hand guards today, albeit via Amazon but still from a seller in China. It suddenly spooked me that from next year it might be impossible to buy things like that because of the government's bizarre Brexit laws.
In particular they will both remove the tax-free threshold on importing cheaper items whilst making foreign sellers responsible for collecting it. Even though that would be unenforceable, because a seller in another country is obviously not bound by British law. It has nonetheless caused various retailers to say they will stop selling things to the U.K.
Maybe it will change, but I just cannot think like this government to be able to second-guess them. The main news story today is that a Premier League soccer player is leading restaurants and other business all over England to offer free meals to poorer school children over an upcoming break because the government refuses to do so. One M.P. referred to feeding children as "nationalizing" them, as though they are an industry being brought under sate control.
If they are willing to starve children, I cannot relay on them to let me continue to buy cheap Chinese motorcycle accessories.
I have only done two things with the bike. I gave it a sort of wash with the water spray, definitely cleaner but still some muddy marks caused by the washing. At some point it would be good to get a professional wash, with a protective coating for the winter. The chain still looks okay so I just left it alone, hopefully will ride on Sunday so can oil it then. If I properly clean it, then it will need lubing or equivalent, which could then mess up with the chain oiler. I think I should put some of the scottoil in a spray bottle, that way I can manually apply it after a cleaning.
The other things I did was replace a bolt on the rear fender/chain guard which was rusting badly. I bought a pack of third-party ones on eBay which were much cheaper but said they are not exactly the same. It looked longer but fit okay. The head is a tad thicker but the main difference is they bizarrely take a smaller hex screw, which seems an odd thing to change.
I have been unable to work on the electrics, though, as I needed to order some new ring terminals. The blue ones I have worked with the 12 AWG cable that was part of a fuse holder, so as that is considered the equivalent to 4 mm² cable I assumed I could use that metric size as an earth cable coming off the battery. It did not. Apparently 12 AWG is only a 3.31 mm² cross section, so now I am waiting for a bag of yellow ring terminals.
But I am going to need to get the lights added as soon as possible though, as the clocks go back on Sunday morning, and sunset is already around 5:45 pm in London so that hour will be a lot of evening light to lose. It is getting colder, and wetter, and darker. Normally I like winter, but it feels very different after having missed all of summer being locked down.
Anyway, I tried my second attempt with the bread maker. This time I thought I would try the French bread recipe as it uses less liquid for the same amount of flour. It uses less salt too.
The difference was immediately noticeable, the first attempt mixed the ingredients into more of a batter, like you would expect for waffles. I just assumed that was something to do with how the bread maker or the quick yeast worked. This time it immediately formed into a thick dough, like you would want if making bread. I was a bit worried that I did not have enough liquid as it the dough was so thick it just seemed to sit on the paddle as a big lump, knocking the sides of he tin as it spun that I thought the machine would jump off the counter.
But when it was finished what was in the pan looked like a loaf of bread. I used the 2lb loaf this time, and it filled the pan to the top instead of sitting heavily at the bottom. After it cooled I cut a slice off and it looked like bread inside too. Lighter and not too cakey, properly cooked through. It was almost perfect. The only complaint I had was that it tasted bland, it needed more salt. Next time I will use the French bread recipe but with the amount of salt from the White bread one.
I did make some toast from the original loaf, which ended up looking like the inside of a crumpet after spending a night in a bread bag in the bread bin that I dared not eat it raw. Because raw is probably what it was. So what was left went straight in the dustbin, as there is no way I could demean the new loaf by letting them stay in the same bread bin as each other.
![72596]()
In particular they will both remove the tax-free threshold on importing cheaper items whilst making foreign sellers responsible for collecting it. Even though that would be unenforceable, because a seller in another country is obviously not bound by British law. It has nonetheless caused various retailers to say they will stop selling things to the U.K.
Maybe it will change, but I just cannot think like this government to be able to second-guess them. The main news story today is that a Premier League soccer player is leading restaurants and other business all over England to offer free meals to poorer school children over an upcoming break because the government refuses to do so. One M.P. referred to feeding children as "nationalizing" them, as though they are an industry being brought under sate control.
If they are willing to starve children, I cannot relay on them to let me continue to buy cheap Chinese motorcycle accessories.
I have only done two things with the bike. I gave it a sort of wash with the water spray, definitely cleaner but still some muddy marks caused by the washing. At some point it would be good to get a professional wash, with a protective coating for the winter. The chain still looks okay so I just left it alone, hopefully will ride on Sunday so can oil it then. If I properly clean it, then it will need lubing or equivalent, which could then mess up with the chain oiler. I think I should put some of the scottoil in a spray bottle, that way I can manually apply it after a cleaning.
The other things I did was replace a bolt on the rear fender/chain guard which was rusting badly. I bought a pack of third-party ones on eBay which were much cheaper but said they are not exactly the same. It looked longer but fit okay. The head is a tad thicker but the main difference is they bizarrely take a smaller hex screw, which seems an odd thing to change.
I have been unable to work on the electrics, though, as I needed to order some new ring terminals. The blue ones I have worked with the 12 AWG cable that was part of a fuse holder, so as that is considered the equivalent to 4 mm² cable I assumed I could use that metric size as an earth cable coming off the battery. It did not. Apparently 12 AWG is only a 3.31 mm² cross section, so now I am waiting for a bag of yellow ring terminals.
But I am going to need to get the lights added as soon as possible though, as the clocks go back on Sunday morning, and sunset is already around 5:45 pm in London so that hour will be a lot of evening light to lose. It is getting colder, and wetter, and darker. Normally I like winter, but it feels very different after having missed all of summer being locked down.
Anyway, I tried my second attempt with the bread maker. This time I thought I would try the French bread recipe as it uses less liquid for the same amount of flour. It uses less salt too.
The difference was immediately noticeable, the first attempt mixed the ingredients into more of a batter, like you would expect for waffles. I just assumed that was something to do with how the bread maker or the quick yeast worked. This time it immediately formed into a thick dough, like you would want if making bread. I was a bit worried that I did not have enough liquid as it the dough was so thick it just seemed to sit on the paddle as a big lump, knocking the sides of he tin as it spun that I thought the machine would jump off the counter.
But when it was finished what was in the pan looked like a loaf of bread. I used the 2lb loaf this time, and it filled the pan to the top instead of sitting heavily at the bottom. After it cooled I cut a slice off and it looked like bread inside too. Lighter and not too cakey, properly cooked through. It was almost perfect. The only complaint I had was that it tasted bland, it needed more salt. Next time I will use the French bread recipe but with the amount of salt from the White bread one.
I did make some toast from the original loaf, which ended up looking like the inside of a crumpet after spending a night in a bread bag in the bread bin that I dared not eat it raw. Because raw is probably what it was. So what was left went straight in the dustbin, as there is no way I could demean the new loaf by letting them stay in the same bread bin as each other.
Joined
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141 Posts
Because of covid i didn't take the bike out of storage until a few day's ago so did oil change,lubed chain got it inspected and went for first drive since last october and it felt great.To cold now so put it back into storage until next spring unless covid is still around.
Went for a ride. Odd day.
I checked the forecast yesterday, then again today before setting off. Possibly rain passing over as I leave London but otherwise just one light shower on the radar so long as I get home before the evening. And there was indeed some light rain as I left London, nothing much really.
But there was some heavy rain last night, yellow warning worthy. Lots of wet roads. Then I went around a corner, saw a puddle in front of me, and slowed down.
I misjudged it slightly, went too fast. Turns out my new waterproof boots are waterproof. They kept a lot of water inside. After that it started raining too, and I was on a bendy road with wet leaves everywhere. So I was being cautious, could not see clearly through my helmet, cold and wet, and I had a car right behind me that it messing with my confidence. As soon as I found a safe place I stopped so the car would pass. It also allowed me to take my boot off and pour the water out. And take the sock off and wring it out. It really does soak up water. Boot and sock because for some reason on my left foot got soaked.
I decided that given the weather and how I felt physically, cold and wet, that when i reach a main road I will just head home. But when I did I thought I would ride just a little more and turn back when I reach the city. By then it had stopped raining, I was drying out, and I thought I may as well continue my trip to the coast.
When I did reach the coast I parked my bike, and as I was just about to leave it an Italian woman offered me a balaclava. Her partner was a biker and sadly died last year (not bike related) so she had some items in the garage to get rid of, and felt I would put them to use. She also gave me some socks, which was interesting timing as after the puddle I had decided I need to carry a pair of clean socks with me when riding. And she gave me a screen, which is still in the bubble wrap so I have not looked yet to see if it would fit my bike, but it felt rude to say no.
Luckily I have my panniers with me to carry them. And it literally fills the top box completely, that the lid only just closes. I bought a smaller bag thinking it would fit, but even that was pushing it. The problem was that I bought a 150–600mm lens early in the summer, which is pretty long so needs a big enough bag. Today was my first time trying it out, I have not checked the shots yet but it was not a photographic location, particularly being a dreary overcast. But the level of zoom is amazing, and it felt reasonably hand-holdable. Although again that needs checking.
Anyway, it meant I had to move some items from the top box to the panniers to make room. These are the things I normally take in the top box when riding:
A travel towel, for wiping down the bike rather than me but being a travel one takes pretty much no space.
Hi-vis vest, for obvious reasons.
A small holdall and a small backpack, both are very thin and take little space but give a little extra storage for when the top box is full (I suppose no need to take them now when I have the panniers).
A cargo net, so the small holdall can be strapped to the pillion seat.
Spare gloves, in summer I wear vented gloves and take my waterproof ones, in winter I wear the waterpoof ones but take my old, also waterpoof, pair. Because waterproof only applies for so long.
Alarmed disc lock and chain, added security although I only use the former when I do not have an alarm fitted and have never used the latter.
Small compressor, for the tyres.
A bag of bits, pad and pen, utility knife, coins, battery pack and charging cables, small bike cleaning spray, other bits like that.
And (in summer) a bag of toiletries, deodorants, sunscreen, moisturizer, and a cooling spray.
It does not use up that much room in total than, until today, it had never been a problem. That is in addition to what I have under the pillion seat: Honda tool kit, two adjustable wrenches, tyre plug kit, small set of sockets and hex bits, electrical and duct tape, small first aid kit, torch, and secret money (so I can buy petrol to get home if I forget or lose my wallet (I did forget it once, it was the only time I have used Apple Pay)).
When I left to start the convoluted journey home the sun came out, some of the. roads dried out, and the riding was quite enjoyable. Saw a sign which said "Kortill Vanster," which is an oddly illiterate way of saying "Kör till Vänster," the Swedish for "drive on the left" You get signs saying that in English, German, French, and Swedish near ports.
I stopped off in Colchester to buy petrol, after which the TomTom said to turn left when I was sure I needed to turn right. It was wrong, and then kept telling me to do a u-turn somewhere to go back. But the roads form a ring around the centre so I just carried on the same way, hoping that at some point it would just pick the shortest option to get back to the planned route. It did not.
Knowing I needed to head south I just took a left turn to head in the right direction. That became a one-way street heading north, but it had a bus lane heading south and it allows motorcycle, so that was a nice surprise. I was able to go straight though the centre on an empty road but for one bus.
Also today I had some deer running in the road to contend with, and then a load of turkeys (I think) just standing around. By the time I got back to London the estimated arrival time had gone up, so I let the TomTom pick a quickest route. Amazingly it did, and saved me half an hour., back to the original time Given how useless it is most of the time, I was shocked. It has normally only steered me into more congestion.
Finally back home, I realized I have no idea if or how I can put the bike on the centre stand with the panniers attached. I just could not find anywhere to get a grip on the rear of the bike.
Now I am wearing clean socks while drying out my boots and gloves
I checked the forecast yesterday, then again today before setting off. Possibly rain passing over as I leave London but otherwise just one light shower on the radar so long as I get home before the evening. And there was indeed some light rain as I left London, nothing much really.
But there was some heavy rain last night, yellow warning worthy. Lots of wet roads. Then I went around a corner, saw a puddle in front of me, and slowed down.
I misjudged it slightly, went too fast. Turns out my new waterproof boots are waterproof. They kept a lot of water inside. After that it started raining too, and I was on a bendy road with wet leaves everywhere. So I was being cautious, could not see clearly through my helmet, cold and wet, and I had a car right behind me that it messing with my confidence. As soon as I found a safe place I stopped so the car would pass. It also allowed me to take my boot off and pour the water out. And take the sock off and wring it out. It really does soak up water. Boot and sock because for some reason on my left foot got soaked.
I decided that given the weather and how I felt physically, cold and wet, that when i reach a main road I will just head home. But when I did I thought I would ride just a little more and turn back when I reach the city. By then it had stopped raining, I was drying out, and I thought I may as well continue my trip to the coast.
When I did reach the coast I parked my bike, and as I was just about to leave it an Italian woman offered me a balaclava. Her partner was a biker and sadly died last year (not bike related) so she had some items in the garage to get rid of, and felt I would put them to use. She also gave me some socks, which was interesting timing as after the puddle I had decided I need to carry a pair of clean socks with me when riding. And she gave me a screen, which is still in the bubble wrap so I have not looked yet to see if it would fit my bike, but it felt rude to say no.
Luckily I have my panniers with me to carry them. And it literally fills the top box completely, that the lid only just closes. I bought a smaller bag thinking it would fit, but even that was pushing it. The problem was that I bought a 150–600mm lens early in the summer, which is pretty long so needs a big enough bag. Today was my first time trying it out, I have not checked the shots yet but it was not a photographic location, particularly being a dreary overcast. But the level of zoom is amazing, and it felt reasonably hand-holdable. Although again that needs checking.
Anyway, it meant I had to move some items from the top box to the panniers to make room. These are the things I normally take in the top box when riding:
A travel towel, for wiping down the bike rather than me but being a travel one takes pretty much no space.
Hi-vis vest, for obvious reasons.
A small holdall and a small backpack, both are very thin and take little space but give a little extra storage for when the top box is full (I suppose no need to take them now when I have the panniers).
A cargo net, so the small holdall can be strapped to the pillion seat.
Spare gloves, in summer I wear vented gloves and take my waterproof ones, in winter I wear the waterpoof ones but take my old, also waterpoof, pair. Because waterproof only applies for so long.
Alarmed disc lock and chain, added security although I only use the former when I do not have an alarm fitted and have never used the latter.
Small compressor, for the tyres.
A bag of bits, pad and pen, utility knife, coins, battery pack and charging cables, small bike cleaning spray, other bits like that.
And (in summer) a bag of toiletries, deodorants, sunscreen, moisturizer, and a cooling spray.
It does not use up that much room in total than, until today, it had never been a problem. That is in addition to what I have under the pillion seat: Honda tool kit, two adjustable wrenches, tyre plug kit, small set of sockets and hex bits, electrical and duct tape, small first aid kit, torch, and secret money (so I can buy petrol to get home if I forget or lose my wallet (I did forget it once, it was the only time I have used Apple Pay)).
When I left to start the convoluted journey home the sun came out, some of the. roads dried out, and the riding was quite enjoyable. Saw a sign which said "Kortill Vanster," which is an oddly illiterate way of saying "Kör till Vänster," the Swedish for "drive on the left" You get signs saying that in English, German, French, and Swedish near ports.
I stopped off in Colchester to buy petrol, after which the TomTom said to turn left when I was sure I needed to turn right. It was wrong, and then kept telling me to do a u-turn somewhere to go back. But the roads form a ring around the centre so I just carried on the same way, hoping that at some point it would just pick the shortest option to get back to the planned route. It did not.
Knowing I needed to head south I just took a left turn to head in the right direction. That became a one-way street heading north, but it had a bus lane heading south and it allows motorcycle, so that was a nice surprise. I was able to go straight though the centre on an empty road but for one bus.
Also today I had some deer running in the road to contend with, and then a load of turkeys (I think) just standing around. By the time I got back to London the estimated arrival time had gone up, so I let the TomTom pick a quickest route. Amazingly it did, and saved me half an hour., back to the original time Given how useless it is most of the time, I was shocked. It has normally only steered me into more congestion.
Finally back home, I realized I have no idea if or how I can put the bike on the centre stand with the panniers attached. I just could not find anywhere to get a grip on the rear of the bike.
Now I am wearing clean socks while drying out my boots and gloves
Joined
·
1,663 Posts
You shouldn't need to avoid riding to remain safe during the pandemic (unless you're in a congested metro region maybe; you Southern Ontarians keep your disease down South!
). If you're in Nova Scotia I imagine it can't be too congested to ride safely. Just wear a mask if you need to go inside to pay for gasoline. Otherwise, there's really nothing stopping you from riding unless the province passed a ban on it or something. That does little good for this season, but there's always next season! Unless of course you're vulnerable due to a weakened immune system (or are caring for somebody that is). I'm not active enough to keep everybody's stories straight. If you're vulnerable do take the necessary precautions. Glad you touched in anyway! 
Joined
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80 Posts
Yes, driving itself should not cause one to be infected with Covid. Entering stores and gas stations, you need to take precautions. Same if staying at hotels. I.e. use hand sanitizers to clean hands and/or use gloves. And of course wear a mask when around other people so you don't spread Covid to others.
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