Bladerider

I've been pulled three times in the last nine years for having a smaller than normal plate. I've always kept in the car, a printout of the regulation covering the size and spacing of characters on import vehicles. I had my plates made up to conform exactly with these regulations. The following is an extract of the document; “Size and spacing of characters: special cases 14A.—(1) This regulation applies in relation to any vehicle imported into the United Kingdom which— (a) does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval; and ( is so constructed that the area available for the fixing of the registration plate precludes the display on the plate of a registration mark in conformity with the requirements of regulation 14. (2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies— (a) each character in the registration mark must be 64 millimetres high; ( the width of each character of the mark, other than the letter “I” and the figure “1”, must be 44 millimetres; © the width of every part of the stroke forming a character in a mark must be 10 millimetres; (d) the spacing between any two characters within a group must be 10 millimetres; (e) the vertical spacing between groups of characters must be 5 millimetres; (f) the width of a margin between the mark and the top and lateral sides of the registration plate must be not less than 5 millimetres; (g) the space between the bottom of the mark and the bottom of the registration plate must be not less than 13 millimetres; but, within that space, the space between the bottom of the mark and the top of the name and postcode of the person by whom the plate was supplied must be not less than 5 millimetres.”(a) Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport. David Jamieson Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, 24th October 2002 Department for Transport (a) As to European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval, see Council Directive 70/156/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (O.J. L No. 42, 23.2.70, p. 1), as last amended by Council Directive 98/14/EC (O.J. L No. 91, 25.3.98, p. 1). See also regulation 11 of the Motor Vehicle (EC Type Approval) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/2051). 2

I've had 64mm size letters on my plates for about seven years. I've never been pulled even once in all that time. I keep a printout of the regulations just in case. size and spacing of characters ___________________________________________ Size and spacing of characters: special cases 14A. — (1) This regulation applies in relation to any vehicle imported into the United Kingdom which— (a)does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval; and (b)is so constructed that the area available for the fixing of the registration plate precludes the display on the plate of a registration mark in conformity with the requirements of regulation 14. (2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies— (a)each character in the registration mark must be 64 millimetres high; (b)the width of each character of the mark, other than the letter “I” and the figure “1”, must be 44 millimetres; ©the width of every part of the stroke forming a character in a mark must be 10 millimetres; (d)the spacing between any two characters within a group must be 10 millimetres; (e)the vertical spacing between groups of characters must be 5 millimetres; (f)the width of a margin between the mark and the top and lateral sides of the registration plate must be not less than 5 millimetres; (g)the space between the bottom of the mark and the bottom of the registration plate must be not less than 13 millimetres; but, within that space, the space between the bottom of the mark and the top of the name and postcode of the person by whom the plate was supplied must be not less than 5 millimetres."

I disagree. Each time he sent anything to me, he supplied me with the couriers trackable consignment number. It was the one time he didn't that the package was allegedly returned to him as undeliverable. My personal opinion is, he takes on too much work and can't deliver when promised. The courier issue is just an excuse.

I've had a less than favourable experience with Godspeed. I bought a pair of disks off him for £340 which didn't fit my mounting bells. (This bit was my fault as I didn't know which model of 4 pot AP calipers I had) To be fair though, the disks arrived in less than a week. So I thought I'd get a new pair of mounting bells and a a set of pads (another £255). Now this is where things started to go downhill. I sent him a mounting bell for him to copy the dimensions. He told me a delivery date, but they never arrived. Seven weeks later, the new bels eventually arrived, but they didn't fit the disks he made earlier. Next thing was, I had to send him down a caliper and mounting bracket, as well as the disks and bells, and he'd take it from there. I was given a delivery day of Tuesday or Wednesday the following week. Of course they didn't arrive. I gave it another couple of weeks, then I asked for my money back. A week later I got a message from him telling me they were sent out the previous week, but were returned to him as the courier was unable to deliver. There is someone in the house at all times, so I know the courier never tried to deliver. Total cost for disks, bells, and pads was £595 and the time taken was 4 months. Meantime my car was sitting in a friends garage unable to move. I had to buy an alternative set of front brakes in order to move my car. The quality of Ian's work does look good, I can't fault it. However his "customer relations" needs a lot of improving. He never answered any of my emails. The only way I found to communicate with him is by a private message on Scoobynet. If you want something which is a standard "off the shelf" replacement part then by all means buy from him. If you need something made to order, be prepared for no communication from him, and a long wait. I personally will not be dealing with him again. I have a set of AP 4 pots for sale, with brand new Godspeed disks, mounting bells, and DS2500 pads.

My engine had 43K when I got it. It now has 138K. I have no intention of replacing the car it in the forseable future. So what does it tell you if a car has a high mileage? Reliability that's what. Less time in the workshop and more time on the road. Hypothetical situation; Two identical 5 year old cars for sale. One car has less than 1000 miles on the clock, the other has 40,000 miles which one would you go for? Would it be the car that's only been used occasionally for a run down to the shops, without ever warming the engine up properly, and with all the corresponding wear and tear. Or would it be the car that's been used properly. I know which one I'd go for.

I saw the prototype of this ultimate boy's toy many years ago on "Tomorrows world". Looks like it's finally been perfected and is now in production. http://www.gen-corp.jp/Sozai/photo/Sun_n_fun01/Default.wmv I wish I had a bit of spare cash lying around. Only US$31,000.

Hitting fuel cut could be likened to hitting a brick wall but without the damaged front. What you're experiencing discribes exactly what used to happen to mine. I tried loads of things. It sort of went away after I started using NF octane booster, but it came back again. It disappeared completely after I changed my ECU to a Z4.

I'm coming (I think). I haven't been to a local meet since the last time it was at a weekend (March). I'll be travelling up the road straight from work (south of Manchester) so I'm not sure when I'll get there. I've been to a few of the local meets down this way, including the Blackpool big one.

How about becoming a lift operator.......but maybe that job has its ups and downs. Or maybe you could become a fortune teller......but I can't see any future in it. Oh, I know, you should become a professional bra fitter...the wages might not be that great, but think of the job satisfaction.

Isn't that map is out of date? I remember "Railway" being renamed last year in memory of "Steve Hislop".

<< maybe i should take peeps out with me to show how fab my driving is! >> I've already been a passenger, and your driving is remarkably good actually. (I promise not to mention you going over the cross hatching on the aproach to the motorway).

I've seen how Sharon drives, and she's lucky to get as much out of a tank as she does. Foot to the floor until the engine bounces off the rev limiter, then its time to change gear. Good fun though eh! It's just as well you don't drive a turbo Sharon, or you'd be down to a single figure mpg.

Noel, good to meet you again mate. Did you go all the way to the other end? I gave up at around 9:30. I hate traffic queues. At the rate of half a mile in two and a half hours, I decided we had a previous engagement elsewhere and we went to a pub.

There is animal cruelty happening in every country all over the world and something needs to be done. I don't know how much good a petition will do but I've signed it. Although I think we need to look closer to home.with regards to animal cruelty. The picture in the Sun newspaper of the Dalmation pup being hanged, sickened me to the point that I could quite easily and without any remorse, inflict serious harm to the people that do this kind of thing. The evidence suggests it was a deliberate act of extreme cruelty and not a bizarre accident. Looking at the picture, I could just imagine the innocent little pup happily being taken for a walk in the woods not realizing the fate it was about to receive.

The final details have just been posted in the Northern section on the other place's website. The meeting time has been brought forward to 6PM.

I'm going Billy, but it's only a 25 minute run for me. I'll see you there!

Many thanks to all those who PM'd me with an offer of garage space. A great big special thanks to Derek (Seevers) and Kate, I can now sleep easy at night knowing my bike is safely locked up in his garage. Cheers guys David (The mother in law is still hanging in there, she's a strong woman).

I live in Ayrshire (working near Manchester) but I'd be willing to travel to anywhere in Scotland with some spare garage space.

Hi guys, I?m desperately seeking help. I need somewhere to keep my motorcycle over the winter months while I?m working away from home. Here?s the story; Last week I brought the bike home because I have no idea how long this job will last, and I didn?t want to have to ride it 250 miles home in winter conditions. When at home, the bike sits on the pathway at the side of my house. I?ve done this for over twenty years. There is a security camera aimed at it, and there?s only ever been one other problem before getting the camera last year. My partially disabled wife (Elizabeth) heard a slight noise last night, and opened the door thinking it was the cat. She got such a fright to see somebody run down the steps. Someone had been tampering with the camera. Being really scared, she called round at her friends house and the husband (Collin) came over to see what was happening The local neds etc. know I?m not there right now, and one of them (Darren) was caught red-handed stealing the camera. Darren had seen my wife leave, and had gone back to steal the camera when Collin caught him. Apparently, he admitted to being paid £50 to steal it. The camera only cost me £18 from Ebay. The police were involved, but as luck would have it, the tape was on rewind at the time. Darren couldn?t/wouldn?t give any names. I can only assume that my FireBlade has been targeted by bike thieves. To compound matters further, as if she isn?t distressed enough, Elizabeth received news that her mother was rushed into hospital and isn?t expected to live past the weekend. This hasn?t been a good week for us albeit a memorable one. Does anybody have a few feet of garage space going spare? Cheers, David

I have a spare set of classic WRX seats going cheap if you're interested. (Plus STi door cards.)

I'm definitely going, although I haven't put my name down for it yet. But then, I go to Blackpool most weekends as I live only 20 minutes away now. I have a spare room if anyone needs an overnight stay.

st3ph3n, thanks for the advice. I'd say I was reasonably confident what's wrong with it since I helped develop that particular laptop. It's entirely possible the graphics (AGP) chip could work perfectly well on an external monitor but not on the internal LCM or vice versa becuse the RGB (analogue) signal which is sent to the external monitor is completely seperate from the digital signals sent to the LCM, even though it comes from the same source. Replacement of the graphics chip is a specialist job since it's a BGA device. It's certainly not a write off, but it could be for insurance purposes. Phone me, do you still have my number? If cetain files play and others don't, I'd reckon it's likely just a matter of re-installing their driver files.

I could fix it if you can wait till the next time I'm home. Looks like you've broken the golden rule, "Don't consume liquid beverages near a computer". That happens to be the number 1 most common fault I get to see. If it works on an external monitor then you won't be in a desperate hurry. ('cos you really don't want to pay extortionate repair costs if you can get a freebie, right?) Sticky keys; If you take the keyboard off, and give it a wash in warm (not too hot) soapy water (yes really!), that should sort out the sticky key problem. Just make sure it's thoroughly dry before using it. If that doesn't work, I could supply a new keyboard. (maybe a different country code, but the key covers are a replaceable snap on fitment Anyway it sounds like you've blown the AGP chip (ATi Radeon mobility P). The cheapest you could get that fixed for comercially, would be the cost of the part, plus 2 hours labour. (About £200 if you're really lucky) If you want to wait till I get home to fix it for you, I could supply you with a temporary replacement laptop while yours is getting fixed (it's better than the one you have, and your hard drive will slot sraight in). The cost for all this professional service will be 2 pints down the nearest pub, 'cos I don't work entirely for free ( maybe I should tell that to my boss). Do you stiill have my phone number?

I could have helped, but I live near Manchester now. If you describe whats wrong I could maybe point you in the right direction what to do. I come home for a weekend every now and then, so if you aren't desperate, I could look at it next time I'm home. Is it still the same laptop you have?

It's a great idea Ian. Do it sooner rather than later, I'll meet ya'all when you get there. There's loads of B&B's advertising vacancies for only £10 or £12 per night, so a few drinks could be had if you were to organise an overnight stay. Most of the B&B's have their own residents only car parks, otherwise you could be paying a pound an hour to park. If you were to post this in the north England regional events section, your idea has the potential to escalate into something big. I'm working down that way at the moment, only 38 miles further south from Blackpool. I do the trip home every second weekend. Every other weekend I go to Blackpool if the weather's nice, or the "Three Sisters" race track which is only 10 minute's away. (If you have a spare £1200 you can learn to drive a formula one car here)