How have rising fuel prices changed your behaviour?

No

I routinely switch off my PC & ADSL modem at night. With work, I can be
away for periods of 48 hours at a time too. Doesn't seem to make any
difference to the service from Virgin via a BT line.

http://www.speedtest.net/ consistently reports a line speed of around
4200kbps

 

Hokay...

My P-reg 885cc carburettor-equipped Tiger would give 45 mpg, mixed
riding (generally gunning it away from the lights and lots of
stop-start traffic). It wouldn't improve much on a run, usually
because I would sit at 85-plus and I have the aerodynamic properties
of a barn.

I once got it down to 40mpg, when I was late for a ferry and took a
risk and did the M20 at 100 to 120.

The light usually went on at 150 to 160 miles, when it would take 15
or 16 litres. As it had a 25 litre tank, I frequently left it until I
had 200 miles showing, and still had plenty left.

I did test the range to empty and got 245, without trying.

If that bike had better wind protection and belt or shaft drive, I
doubt I would have parted with it.

 

??? servos ????

 

Service station, aka petrol station, I reckon....

 

My T-reg 885-FI one managed 206 miles two-up with luggage and was
running on vapour.

 

I'm about to bugger off again, _but_ I was given a present of a bottle
of Chateau Musar '79 recently - if you should find yourself in this
neck of the woods within the next wee while... ;-)

 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:38:28 +0000, Paul Corfield

[of public transport]

Well, I'm sure you're right. I do use trains but only rarely, and even
then only for things like nights out in a city.

Commuting by public transport for me is, I'm sure, technically
possible but would be an utter nightmare. 24 miles to a destination
that's the *other* side of Cambridge and not in any town or village.

Given that I have a variety of vehicles that are taxed, insured, MOT'd
and quitely depreciating even as I type, I have no incentive
whatsoever to walk in the wind and rain to wait in some bus or train
shelter that smells of piss, in order to then pay yet more and take a
slow, boring journey that goes only part way to where I want to be.

If one lives in a city then it's OK. I lived in Hong Kong for several
years and the public transport system was generally quite satisfactory
apart from the fact that one spent a lot of time standing because the
buses were so crowded. The weather was warmer, so standing around
waiting wasn't quite so unpleasant, provided it was dry.

 

Ah, of course.

 

Indeed, I am still stunned by quite how much worse that seems than mine.
I thought my MPG was shit. (48 if the computer is to be believed). Both
the Triple and the Bandit cost virtually exactly the same in fuel for
that run as the Sprint. Which struck me as odd.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:38:28 +0000, Paul Corfield

As Champ said - it doesn't go anywhere I want to go. I would have to
walk 20 minutes into town, or catch a bus there (20 mins on schedule),
to catch a bus to go horse riding every weekend. It takes me 20
minutes to drive there on a Sunday morning, with no waiting around
when I'm cold and soaked to the skin.

There genuinely isn't anywhere I want to go that public transport can
get me to quicker, cheaper or more easily than the car. The only
places where it goes where I want (to work) I would prefer to walk or
cycle.

Not round here they aren't. They're forever chopping bus services
because "not enough people use them". Of course the big problem is
that flexible working culture means that people don't all want to get
to their employers for 9am, they want to get there from 7am onwards.
That dilutes the numbers. They don't put smaller vehicles on, though,
they just do away with them when the subsidies end. And then 100 or
more people who used to use the park'n'ride and the service connected
to it have to start driving into town again.

I have a non-driving friend who lives in Stroud (where I have recently
been considering moving to). It takes her two bus journeys and over 90
minutes to get to work. She's now joined a car sharing deal and it
takes her about 30 minutes.

Lots of people I work with choose to live somewhere they can afford a
home. Unfortunately that usually means they also get shitty public
transport.

I'm not afraid to say it.

I don't want to use something that makes me feel sick, takes twice as
long and isn't flexible.

I used to use public transport when I lived in Enfield. It was fine
there. Frequent, cheap, whatever. If I still lived there, I wouldn't
have a car.

 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:49:35 +0000 (UTC), "Dr Ivan D. Reid"

I expect it will tone them, but I find horse riding helps with the
grip side. Just as well, or I'd be posting this from A&E 8~/

 

As I said the PC, cordless phone and the broad band router are powered
from a non switch feed. ie: they are left on all the time.

 

I'll say it.

2 GBP to travel 2 miles and take 20 minutes on a clear road doing it
is a joke - and there have been 5 fare rises since!. (No way I was
walking in the rain that was falling, that day!)

The vehicles are genuinely filthy inside - some of the seats look like
they were shat on and the cleaning process was to scrape the worst off
and leave it to dry. The seats also seem to be designed to accommodate
small children only and the heating seems to be on "roast in the pit
of hell", while the windows are jammed shut.

The ride quality is appalling. I get seasick, FFS!

The drivers seem to be trained to shove their foot hard to the floor,
when accelerating (never letting people reach a seat), then hammer on
the brake about a yard from the stop.

There is nowhere I want to go to that I can't reach quicker and
cheaper (by a factor of at least 3) by using my car or bike - that
includes the cost of consumables, tax, insurance, etc.

 

BGN wrote:

Saves me the trouble

Why? The Sprint is a big bike. I only wish it was a *smidge* bigger. Bit
longer to the bars, bit longer to the pegs. FWIW my panniers weigh a
fair old chunk as well, especially when full of laptop, lunch, phones
etc etc. And of course there is my (currently annoyingly) 16 stone bulk
as well.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Back bone of the company I'll have you know!

Anyway, it's the cleaners who bring them up. To be honest, we watch
telly on the rare occasion we hit the messroom. Jeremy Kyle, etc...

 

Sarah commutes in to Bristol via the lovely First[1]Bus. The cost is £2.70
each way[2], or about twice the cost in fuel of a journey by car, and takes
between two and three times as long. The busses are ill-kempt and poorly
maintained[3] - if they're maintained at all. The drivers appear unversed
in the most basic rudiments of their profession[4], and even the regular
ones seem not entirely familiar with their route. Busses are usually quite
late, often considerably late, and only very rarely approach punctuality.
There are also factors like extremes of temperature, filth, overcrowding.
There's also some sort of change ticket scam going on at the moment - I'm
not yet sure whether this is down to knavery or incompetence. And the
ludicrous and expensive shenanigans at the bus station are a whole other
story.

This abysmal service is a significant factor in our current plans to move
into Bristol.

[1]or "Frist", according to a recent letter from them.
[2]£27.00 for a 10-journey travelcard
[3]I've travelled on one bus where the driver would stop every half-mile or
so to abuse the emergency exit door, in a vain attempt to get the alarm
hooter to shut up. This bus was still operating with the same fault several
days later. Another bus collided with a tree branch, denting the roof and
knocking the upstairs front window inwards (without breaking the glass).
Months later, this bus was still operating with a little bit of bent tin
screwed on to prevent the window falling any further into the bus.
[4]The drivers seem to delight in attempting Alveston Hill in the highest
gear possible, only deigning to change down when the engine is struggling on
the brink of stalling.

 

Surely you mean Londo?

--
Lozzo
Suzuki SV650S K5
Honda CBR600 FW trackbike
Yamaha SR250 Spazz-Trakka
Suzuki GSXR750 L
Suzuki TS50X
Suzuki TS50X

 

For drinks and a game of Roulette, presumably.

 

You haven't found top gear?

 

Gets my vote

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk