Car (or bike) Chat!

[Macca]

I don't know a thing about bikes but that looks pretty serious.

Is the gear change on the handlebars?

[Pigmy Pony]

No, as with most bikes bigger than a moped the gearchange is operated by the left foot, with left handlebar lever being for clutch and right one for front brake. Accelerator is right hand twistgrip. So pretty much the complete opposite to a car's controls.

It's supposed to be very easy to ride, but being longer, lower, and 100kg heavier than my Fireblade, as well as having weaker brakes and piss poor ground clearance, it might take a bit of getting used to. But riding something that'll slow me down might be just what the doctor ordered

[dave2010]

Chargeplace Scotland "strikes" again.

Yet another SNAFU from Chargeplace Scotland. Now they have changed their payment provider, but seemingly as usual, trying to make sense of this or get any kind of information from phone help lines fails.
I generated a new password, thinking I could put in the new payment details - as indicated, but almost needless to say it doesn't seem to work. I spent 45 minutes yesterday hanging on a phone wondering if I would ever get to speak to a sentient being.
Gave up and had dinner instead.

I noticed recently that a [hopefully] well respected German scientist, who has in the past recommended electric cars is now recommending hybrid cars, as she says that the electricity networks aren't going to be capable enough in the relatively short term.
Further, she admits that she has recently replaced her old car with a petrol car! Reason - wherever she lives in Germany only has one acccessible public charging point - and presumably she does need to travel more than a few km down the road most weeks for shopping etc.

We mostly manage with home charging - which works fine for local trips - but the occasional longer trip requires more planning.

Not only is the EV charging network fragmented into different niches, and chargers are often too slow, or occupied, or out of order, but the overall administration is still pretty bad.