Well after a couple of months of it being sititng in a box, I finally got round to sorting out a Garmin 2610 I'd bought from another chatroom second hand. The kit was always intended for the bike and nothing else, it came with a load of bits and looked very new, it was loaded with V8 of their software and the unlock codes to access V9. Part of the kit was a very sturdy RAM mounting kit. A missing bolt stopped me fitting it initially and then I had to wait for the bike to go for a Service for those very nice men at BMW to hardwire it into the bike's loom. Anyway job done yesterday and after fruitless hunt in two local hardware shops for a bolt (an AF thread would you credit it !) I found the original on the floor of the garage as I was about to unleash a hacksaw on the metric replacement that cost me all of 45p for three.....

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Garmin are a very big name in portable sat-nav and I think that's where there downfall is.....

Anyway the 2610 is considered the cat's whiskers of Sat Nav for bikes, it is compact, waterproof(ish) and easy to use with gloves and they are very sought after by bikers. TomTom was designed from a basic idea rather than evolved from previous incarnations as I suspect the Garmin is, consequently the Garmin isn't as user friendly as the TT in many respects including the on-screen menu, it has no internal power source so has to be used either in situ or plugged into the mains at least a TT can be used as a handheld if you need to. To me the 2610's menus are too complicated for use whilst on the move but route planning seems pretty simple and I like the feature of pre-programmed way points (to find fuel especially). The display on the TT is also far superior but the Garmin does work. I tried it out in the car last night and the sound seems more tinny than the TT's mellow warble. One big advantage of the Garmin is that you can set it in dashboard mode, i.e., you get MPH (or KMH which is useful in itself) in a nice big fat display along with compass, mileage and speed data now that is truly useful and miles (sorry) better than the TT's feeble MPH display and finally for my bike gives a true Head up capability to enabling me to watch speed as well as other road users. I've had a banging bit of kit for under 200 pounds, and they keep their value as well despite being discontinued they still have a ready market amongst bikers. Read more

The Daimler pictured just to the right here being sold at June 7th's Brooklands Tradition sale will be a terrific bargain for someone if it only sells for the £12,000 estimate (assuming this is not a mistake). It's quite an elegant thing in that florid Hooper style. The reason it's cheap of course (if it is) is that if I am not mistaken it is based on a 2.5 litre chassis, not the straight-eight such bodies were usually made for.

Still if in sound condition it would be a charming vehicle to drive, not fast but refined, with that wonderful pre-selector gearbox. Will also have very nice fixtures and fittings.

Preferred Mulliner and Park Ward myself, but still, a well tasty practical classic for someone, virtually if not actually unique. Read more

One of the other threads has reminded me of something, that although nearer 18 years ago, left me wondering what to do at the time and still has me thinking i might have been out of order.. so i'll ask the opinions of those on here.

had sold my car and was relying on girlfriends...when hers got stolen (mk1 Escort 1300E), which wasn't difficult as the doors could be opned with a ten pence piece and she refused my offer of putting Yale locks on it.......but that's another yarn

went to an auction and bought the cheapest, best value car there.....which was a Volvo 244DL.......well clean and tidy, 66,000 miles on clock, 7 years old, no history and only a recent MOT. I wrote to the previous owner, enclising a SAE and asked about the history and a very nice man wrote back saying the car was a 'good un', but as it was approaching 120,000 miles he thought it was time to send it on its' way.....

Which then meant i knew the car was clocked. I'd only ever intended on keeping it as a temp measure as a man in his 20's didn't really want a Volvo 240.....but how to get rid? I didn't want to lie to anyone or do anything dodgy, but neither did i want to lose too much on the car either. So in the end i let a relative sell it for me privately, made no comment about the mileage, instructed them to state that their relative was selling it and they did not know much about the history (which was true) and leave it at that.

'Out of order' or 'necessary evil'.........i await your comments with bated breath Read more

I've seen increasing numbers of them towing small cars. I thought the whole point of a motor caravan was that it's a caravan that you don't have to tow, so why tow a car with it? Surely if you don't mind towing you'd just tow a caravan with your car.

Or have I missed the point...? Read more

ok ive had a easy bleed kit for years , ive always got ok results , but last year i had the oppertunity to borrow a 12v pressure bleeder from a garage when i couldnt get the pedal right. the 12v bleeder got the pedal rock hard in matter of minutes

now i no longer have access to the 12v machine from the garage , and no way can i repeat the results with my easybleeder, i can get it good but not fantastic

so my question is ....is the easybleeder a average machine and thats all i can expect from it? or am i using it wrong?

pretty sure i use it right, 20psi in the tyre as stated, load valve cranked open ...ive even been round several times and get very little air out, i did notice the 12v bleeder seems to hoof more fluid out , where the easybleeder just trickles

any ideas? Read more