London roads today?

[bex]

Anyone been out? Is it ok or all icy again? :nash:

[Gadget]

I just got in after a short test ride to the shops for brake cleaner and other supplies..
It is really nice out although a bit nippy but in the sunshine very pleasant.
The bike is all cleaned and oiled and ready for another week.:mand:

[bex]

Nice one cheers, didnt fancy finding out the hard way.

The bike is all road spattered and dirty... fancy cleaning mine too?:chuckle:

[Gadget]

Not really. The Kettle is on and the roast is in the oven.
I was surprised at how clean she was given the weather last week.

[bex]

worth a try!

I've got to admit since the tail chop I get the biggest load of muck on the rear end and up my back/backpack!

[Gadget]

Mine 620 has a tail chop as well.

My jacket is absolutely filthy it is hard to see the colour of the back of it. Mainly sand from the grit that has been laid down recently.

No soap and water used just an oily rag used on the flat surfaces and the wheels and lots of WD40 on the engine. It came up a treat.

[bex]

Sounds good, I think I now have a long overdue mission for this evening...

[kneedown]

i;ll not bring mine out till it is warmer and no salt ;if things carry on the sameway will have to sell for something cheaper

[He11cat]

I got ice here in the back yard .. roads look to be ok .. main one's fine.
I could go out and just sweep it away.. but I am being lazy..

I think if you drop anything in the ice its going to be pretty much the same all round to fix ie ouch pounds..
I use the tatty 125 most of the time. Cost me £250 and if it gets dirty so be it ..
Don't really want to trash a monster and an grey import bike for the sake of it as long as I can ride and get about thats fine by me.

Kneedown can't you pick up a cheapy bike to use like I did??? Don't sell the monster silly !!!

[yantheman]

Bex, the roads are nice and dry although it is a bit chilly, lots of gravel as well.

I will be cleaning my bike this afternoon as well. My bike is so dirty that I have to clean it first before fitting the exhausts I got from you. And the spacers are a bit weird in sizes as well, trying to figure it out what size and numbers I should use... :D I am very confused at the moment.

If you fancy coming up this way to wash your bike give me a shout.. :thumbsup:

[bex]

&%^$ing hell I've just regained feeling in my hands and feet. Its so cold out there.

Where you do you live again Yan? I cant spare the time for it today afterall, unfortunately mine will have to stay dirty for another while, but maybe another time!! That and its toooo cold. As you can imagine its a pain to wash in that parking garage I showed you...

[yantheman]

Yeah.. I will have to brave the cold and wash the bike :D as I need to see what sort of spacers I need to fit the exhausts.. it is a bit cold out there and washing the bike in the cold doesn't help lol...

by the way I live near 2 mins off Seven Sisters tube/train station... There is a big Wickes near by.

[MrsC_772]

Had wondered about going out today after the frost cleared, but my hands were so cold after 15 minutes in the garage fitting new clutch lever and gearshift lever to replace the ones I bent when I dropped the bike last weekend that I decided against it. Almost needed my winter gloves just to hold the metal socket set ratchet handle!

[pegboy]

I just spent the afternoon cleaning the salt, grid and crap build up on the bike, and it is still no fully cleaned. the amount of crap build up it was a nightmare to clean, next time its the jet washer.

[rac3r]

I gave mine a quick clean last week and added some ACF!

Has anyone noticed how much worse the potholes have become since the snow/ice went? Some are like huge craters! :thumbsdown:

[bex]

Yes!!

I noticed several craters on Holloway Rd that I knew werent there a while ago, took me a while to work out how they'd appeared. Worse bit is when you're in the traffic your front tyre's already in it by the time you've seen it!

ps cool bike pic rac3r

[pegboy]

I gave mine a quick clean last week and added some ACF!

Has anyone noticed how much worse the potholes have become since the snow/ice went? Some are like huge craters! :thumbsdown:

you are not wrong, it thought it was just me, and never noticed them before, the other night leaving work coming down a country lane no street lights hit this pothole don't know how i stayed on the bike.

apparently the theory behind it is that when the tempreature drops below -2 the bituman deteriates and lifts up!!!!

[bex]

Yeh and something to do with puddles forming then freezing - water expands when it freezes so its the constant freeze-melt-freeze-melt that messes up the surface and I suppose allows big chunks to lift out like you say.

[gary tompkins]

Had wondered about going out today after the frost cleared, but my hands were so cold after 15 minutes in the garage fitting new clutch lever and gearshift lever to replace the ones I bent when I dropped the bike last weekend that I decided against it. Almost needed my winter gloves just to hold the metal socket set ratchet handle!

Oooh.. that brings back memories - not all of them pleasant

I spent 5 month building the trike over the winter of 2004/2005. During January and February the daytime temperature hit minus 6, and I could only manage hour long stints in the garage before retreating indoors to thaw out :cry:

Trying to grind, fabricate, mig weld or use spanners in those conditions was a joke, and the low point of the build for sure. It eventually floored me with a serious bout of flu/lurgy, and I had to quit for about 3 weeks, but the end result was worth the hardship. I doubt I'd undertake a winter build again unless I had better (heated) garage.

[kneedown]

:chuckle:why is it they can build roads all over the place where it is much colder more snow etc and there roads are fine ie the states ;and in this great:rolleyes:country we can not ????????

[BluprintZ]

worth a try!

I've got to admit since the tail chop I get the biggest load of muck on the rear end and up my back/backpack!

Hey Bex, this was my answer to the problems of spray after the tail chop, deffinately made a difference, cheap`n cheerful (ish).
A piece of perspex from B&Q.

13636

G ; )

[He11cat]

crap roads because they can't be arsed to do a job properly .... although I do note vans have taken over from the tea huts I recall as a young girl lol!!!

We had new surface laid here that cream gravel stuff.. day one it didn't stick to the road and someone skidded and crashed on it...
Day two they shut the road again and tried to squish it in..had only taken 6 weeks to do this job! Oh at night so poor people got no kip for weeks and then just left the road shut anyway..

Now the new section is falling apart and hunks of it coming up. One bit is like a trench and on a bend that has had a lot of people drive into a big wall ..

My Mum had 3 huge potholes in her road.. they filled one.
She said what about those two next to it???
He said no just got an order to fill that one today just a docket for that one there (ffs!!... ????? er wot??)..and then did a half hearted job left a mess and cleared off.

Quite shocked my Mum did not grab him by the ears and say finish the job young man while welding a shovel at him!

[bex]

Thanks, nice idea! If I ever get around to cleaning it I might even attempt something similar!

[rac3r]

On the whole pothole thing it's knows as 'freeze thaw weathering' :look: That's what Geography A level did to me

Thanks for the comment on the pic, my lil bro done it :eek:

[gary tompkins]

On the whole pothole thing it's knows as 'freeze thaw weathering' :look: That's what Geography A level did to me

Thanks for the comment on the pic, my lil bro done it :eek:

Careful.. we'll be discussing scree slopes, glacial erosion and plate tectonics next :eek:

GT

O level geography - grade B