Gyp

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.

I'd already negotiated over £1000 off. I'm sure if I'd paid the asking they'd have delivered for free.

From the dealership it's about a 600-mile round trip. Because they do their own delivery rather than an independent transporter, they deliver directly rather than collecting and delivering round the country. With the 10 hours plus driving and then the loading and unloading they were budgeting for 2 days with an overnight stop. Looking at it that way it sounds like a realistic charge; 2 days labour, 600 miles on the van and a night in a Premier Inn (allowed as the delivery is a commercial activity) The lad and myself will have to do the round trip in a day as COVID rules do not yet allow us to have a hotel room or stay with friends, but it'll be an adventure... Even doing it ourselves with a fairly economical car it'll cost about £150 in fuel, and with a couple of detours we're taking on the way back we'll be driving about 1000 miles that day between us. Actually, all of a sudden the £330 doesn't seem that bad!

OK, as we got the Kent variety of the virus announced on the day after I slapped down my debit card and we then went into lockdown, delivery didn't happen in January. Nor February. And not March either. Now planning to collect from the dealership (saving £330 delivery fee) on Good Friday. If it's snowing at Easter, I apologise. It's my fault.

I own motorcycles and have spend a fortune on unnecessary trinkets (and unnecessary whole bikes to be fair) so I'll not criticise too loudly :-)

I expect so, and might make sense if being done in addition to a front brake, suspension and wheel/tyre upgrade but on their own not necessary. You also hit the issue of modified car insurance, which I remember was a headache when I wanted to upgrade the brakes on my Yeti.

plus the cost of the specialist pipes (or are they cables) that need fabricating then the fitting cost so likely nearer £750 all in.

It looks like a nice enough kit, but my main question would be "why?" The Citigo/Up! doesn't feel underbraked and there's no noticeable problem with front-rear brake balance. Unless I'm mistaken even the Up! Gti has drums. The only issue I have is that the pads can get stuck to the drums if parked with the handbrake on for an extended period. If it 's for style when looking through alloys then fair enough, but it seems to be trying to solve a non-problem

I previously got caught with their 12 year (IIRC) anti corrosion warranty - I got rust, it got repaired under the warranty, the rust reappeared but was no longer covered as the repair was only covered for a year...

As Skoda have been involved in the process - dealer called skoda to ask advice on how to resolve problem - I'm comfortable that I can push skoda to resolve if the problem recurs

Yes, still under warranty for another 4 or 5 weeks.

It's a 2018 car with about 25,000 very gentle miles on it (perhaps that's the problem) Yes, it's a 1.4TSi so it would be the DQ200. I'm guessing that it's fairly rare in a Superb as most go for the larger engine with the different gearbox

Having had a "gearbox in emergency mode no reverse gear" message and fun at the dealership last week I thought I'd pop in here to see what the mood was. Seems like there's a lot of discussion about the Mechatronic in the Octavia/Yeti/Fabia subgroups but not in the Superb group. Odd. No idea why, anyway, having had the car for a few days, the dealer nor Skoda found anything to replace so did a gearbox reset and sent me on my way. Glad it happened and was recorded with Skoda just before the warranty ran out rather than after, so if it happens again I can go and give them my best Paddington stare.

Great news, thank you I alway like having Driving data -> Range displayed on the Maxidot. When using adaptive cruise and stop start, every time the engine restarts (in stop start traffic), the maxidot moves to the next one of the driving data displays; range -> av consumption -> consumption -> speed ->avg speed -> distance -> travelling time -> range Pity

Does the bumper/tailgate have captive nuts for the numberplates? I'm looking to change my plates and want to know if it's a 2 minute job or a half day scrabbling around in the cold. Can I stop the vehicle information display changing when using the adaptive cruise? Every time I stop in traffic and restart it skips to the next display. Any way of showing the ODO rather than the trip when cruise is on?

Not sure this was the right week to add a large capacity touring motorcycle to the fleet. Delivery in Jan

Confirmed this morning - drove to work and within a mile or so the oil temp gauge started to move above 50C and the water temp gauge on the digital display didn't move even though the water temp on the clocks rose happily to 90. A quick flick from the dials to the (ridiculous) lap timer and back and the water temp was then showing 90. Driving home after lunch, I fiddled around with the gauges after starting the car, and within 2 miles the water was at 90 and the oil was about 60. So I now know the oil and water both warm up nice and quickly but the fancy display doesn't work reliably. Ho hum.