Gyp

It uses the navigation app on the phone, but the positional information from the car. It took me a long time to discover this. For months I'd been convinced that the problem I was having was a generic GPS issue as the position was off whether I was using the car navigation or the android auto navigation, but later discovered that when connected, android auto uses the car GPS signal and there's no way I've found of getting to to use its own

Please bear with - I post images so infrequently I always seem to struggle...

My Sportline has what I guess is called the Columbus (I used to under stand which radio was which) and has an interesting "feature". Whilst the navigation system works, the location is sometimes a fair way away from where it should be. By which I mean if I'm driving along, the system might place me somewhere adjacent to where I actually am. It doesn't happen constantly, but it does happen a lot. In the example here, the car things that I'm off road about 50m away from my actual position (shown by the black arrow) https://i.imgur.com/GSB40fo.jpg Whilst I can generally work out where I actually am this can be quite frustrating when I'm perhaps driving along a main road quite happily and the system is going mad trying to navigate me out of the adjacent housing estate. Using Android Auto the effect is the same because when the phone is connected to the car, it uses the car GPS position as opposed to the phone GPS. When I use the phone disconnected it gets the position correctly, and I can also navigate correctly with my 20 year old Garmin sat nav sat on the the dash. When I first took it in to Skoda, they deep a "deep reset" of the sat nav system which, other than giving me a new Sportline splash screen on start up made no difference. Since then they have replaced the roof antenna and it seems a little better but the problem hasn't gone away - the pic above is with the new antenna. Anyone else suffering the same? Anyone else solved the problem?

Pirelli are showing the original Cinturato P7 as the current fitment, and I'm sure my somewhat leisurely driving style wouldn't highlight any difference between the different versions

That was definitely my thought regarding the alignment. I've been quite happy with the original fitment Pirellis so would have no issue with fitting the same again

Last night I was getting Chrome's "Aw, snap!" error message in response to every search I tried. This morning it's not as bad with it only happening on about a 1/3 of my searches. Searching Briskoda through Google is working 100% fine though Odd.

I suspect this has been answered many times but the search function on the site seems to be broken at the moment :-( My Sportline is in to see if Skoda can work out what's wrong with the sat nav, and while it's in they have done an "inspection". In addition to a few things that I knew needed doing, they have also highlighted that the car should have the wheel alignment done... at a cost of £144. Now, with all the pot holes near here I'd not be surprised if the alignment is out so fair enough it should be resolved, but £144 sounds like an awful lot for clamping the steering wheel, clamping the alignment jig onto the 4 wheels then tweaking the steering rod ends to get the toe in right. Is there anything magical or complicated in doing the Superb III wheels or will the free check and alignment if required from my local tyre fitter do the same job? At the moment my local Skoda dealer is quoting £190 more for 2 Pirellis and alignment than the local, and very well respected, tyre fitter.

Whilst the mount won't fit, this might be of use

Welcome to Briskoda First thing to note is that the phone mount doesn't fit the same as the PID mount even though the dash hole is the same outline. Our car has the PID. We'd prefer the phone holder, but it's not a simple swap. So we haven't.

Years back there was the 500 mile then 600 mile Citigo tank range challenge which was excellent fun (except for those stuck behind the competitors). I can feel the "what's the daftest thing you've got on the roof of a Citigo" challenge is just around the corner! (could you lash the front of the kayak to the towing eye?)

If they offer that, bite their hand off! I'm thinking £2,800-£3,500.

They are going to update me on Monday. We've got the Citigo and the MX5 to potter about in in the mean time.

aaaaand it needs a new Mechatronic. Which is on backorder. With no confirmed delivery date.

one month on and it's back in for the same fault. Seems that rebooting the gearbox isn't the solution Skoda would like it to be.

50 (Sorry, couldn't resist - but when I did google it appears to be actually only 34, but a change from 3-valve to 4-valve heads and an extra 10bhp)

It doesn't look like we have key protectors... Did the Versys not work out? I note that it's still for sale.

I'm a great fan of Ctek battery chargers and, in particular, their "comfort" connectors. If you connect a comfort indicator to the battery you can see at a glance if the battery needs to be charged and connect up the charger. In the UK, they are very popular in car dealerships where they can check on the condition of the car batteries in the showroom and keep them topped up. I don't use them on the car as it is in regular use, however I do have the connectors fitted to my motorbikes so i can check on them easily

The ramp would be far more useful if it hadn't had an R65 sat on it for over 5 years!

Might be worth refreshing as it's taken me about 7 attempts to get them to display

The sensible bike that's taken me from Lands End to John O'Groats in one go, and to Monaco and Spain... The one I need to fix... The one I bought a couple of years ago, I've spent a fortune on making just the way I like it, is poor in every measurable way but is an absolute pleasure to ride as I stopped worrying about specs ans just enjoyed being out and about. It reminded me of why I started riding and I completely love it... Oh, and this is being collected Good Friday...

Most sales people want to talk as they can be persuasive (and the sometimes scant details and a phone number for more aligns with this), whereas I much prefer doing everything by email etc as that way there's a written record of what's been offered and what's been agreed. A clear email stating what the offer for the bike is and conditions makes it clear for both sides. If the salesman says no, and sets different conditions that may still be acceptable, but either way it's all recorded.

Yes, I really don't get that "admin fee" charge. I'd offer to fill out the V5 myself and write a receipt for them to sign. ...or charge them a viewing fee

bonelorry has covered the distance selling stuff well and in more detail that I ever could. Whilst you can reject without giving a reason, I don't think it's reasonable to consider the 14 days to be an extended test drive, but instead a period where you can unwind the deal simply if the bike is not as good a condition as described etc. Most that are doing delivery are being clear that you can reject the bike if it's not as expected on delivery, but your rights do it seems extend well beyond that. The R1200R Sport that I sold privately to fund the new bike was all done remotely too - lots of photos and description from my side, buyer agreed the price and arranged for a courier to collect it. He's quite happy which is good news. Whilst the showrooms aren't open, one of my local dealers was happy to roll a couple of bikes out into the carpark for me, retreat inside and allow me to sit on the bikes and give them a good looking over. I couldn't run them or ride them however. It could be worth contacting the dealer in Preston and seeing if they would do the same for you so you can sit and bounce.

I wish I was a Kawasaki salesman - the commission would come in rather useful at the moment! From an ergonomics perspective, an adventure bike does a good job of spreading the load between bum, arms and feet, whereas the cruiser riding position puts more weight through the bum. It can feel fine for a while, but as that's doing most of the supporting it becomes waring after a while. The cruiser position is more car like, but there the weight is basically spread all the way from behind the knees right up to the top of the spine. There is a huge difference in suspension travel between the two bikes with the Versys having almost twice the rear suspension travel than the Vulcan S. That results in the Vulcan needing much firmer suspension so it's not bottoming out all the time, but this makes the ride harsher, which puts more force through your bum, which is already where the weight is being supported. You can see where I'm going with this... Don't get me wrong, the Vulcan will be brilliant and if you're rarely going more than 20 or 30 miles will likely never be a problem, but if you want to get on the bike and ride to the South of France you'd want to take the Versys. I'll always remember a two bike test many years ago in Performance Bikes, where they pitched the two 250 Kawasakis against each other; the super sporty and hugely desirable 60bhp race inspired 2-stroke KR1-S against the somewhat uninspiring 45bhp 4-stroke ZZR250. The KR1-S was exciting and fun and felt fast but measured round their real-world 60-mile or so road test circuit was actually slower than the relatively gutless, softly suspended ZZR. The Harley? Yes, looking forward to it and have bought many bits and bobs for it already. You will of course note that it's a cruiser with all my weight on my bum and only half the rear wheel suspension travel of the Vulcan S (HD 54mm, Vulcan S 89mm, Versys 145mm) and my first ride will be over 300 miles. but it is definitely a bucket-list purchase rather than a sensible one. Oh and yes, £1000 off is ok, but it's a lot easier to achieve that buying a £20k used bike in December in the middle of a pandemic than it is buying a £5k used bike in the spring nearing the end of lockdown.

I'll admit that I've not ridden the Versys, but can say that adventure bikes, especially the mid capacity ones, make excellent every-day bikes. Comfortable, sensible riding position, well suspended and luggage to bring home some shopping if need be. Surprisingly, adventure bikes are generally quicker than sports bikes over traditional British A and B roads because of the better visibility and ability to cope with the road conditions If I was sensible, I reckon the Versys could well be the one bike I'd actually ever need.