fatshoutybloke

And they never are! I suppose alloys aren't strong enough without reinforcing ribs of some kind, which inevitably means nooks and crannies but if they're solid the wheels are too heavy and it's way too expensive to build them hollow. 8th gens aren't too bad though!

By the way, I've seen pics of one the other way round, white with red wheels. Looks OK but to me it seems to say (and why would it?) "I wanna be a 900SS!"

I lived for 16 years with these wheels. My bike is out there every day in everything except snow, so the only time they ever looked clean was when they'd just been washed and hadn't yet dried. I'm not super-picky about having a spotless bike but I'll never have white wheels again!

That puts a bit of perspective on stuff. Good luck, stay safe!

To be fair, I've worked there five and a half years now and it's the first time I've ever seen it like that. Smoking's banned outside the designated areas, as it's an airport they're very strict on that!

We're a load of rough, tough, all-weather bikers where I work, obviously. It had been raining a bit, but...

Congrats on the new bike! Black ones do indeed look good. Re the light on the heated grips, they've been replaced, maybe because the rubbers wore out and exposed the heating element (like mine) or maybe because they were damaged somehow. Honda changed the colour on the later years and those are the only spares you can get now so my light has also gone from red to green. The rim stickers are non-standard and, if you compare with the fairing etc, the earlier version of the VFR logo.

Here in Essex too, especially this time of year. I saw a video of someone who hit one at speed on his Fireblade, split his visor, gave him vertebral whiplash damage and totalled his bike when it ended up in a ditch. PS, I love "brain-free pie-fillings", stealing that!

A minimum of third-party insurance is compulsory in the UK so you're covered for damage you may do to other people who then claim against you, and it's extremely rare to find a company that will ensure you 'third-party only' instead of 'third-party, fire and theft' so most people in the UK would be covered if their bike is stolen, like the unfortunate HareBrain, or spontaneously bursts into flames.

On the annual Essex Air Ambulance charity ride yesterday, Mr Honda not looking bad for 5 years and 40,000 miles. Shame the same can't be said for the bloke up top who is considerably older and higher mileage than that.

Yes, my left one does that too.

That's what I have too...

I use these from Speedy Fasteners in the UK, work much better than the ones that just open out because they're closed at the top and bits don't snap off when they get old and the plastic hardens slightly. https://www.speedyfasteners.com/M6_6mm_Scrivet_Screw_Rivet_Fairing_Screws_p/sf191.htm

Bronze is just fine for me. After living with two of these for 18 years I'll never have white wheels again until I'm not riding to work every day. They only ever looked clean when I'd just washed it, as soon as it dried they were accumulating grime again!