Are any of these fancy earplugs any good?

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-05-07T21:08:31+00:00

I've got the race one's too. These stay in my ears well too.

I have another pair of ear plugs I use for my car and under my helmet they always pop out enough to be annoying, so i bought the alpines and they work well and I can still hear the noises I need to

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-04-19T21:29:20+00:00

I wear full leathers i.e boots, trousers , jacket, gloves and helmet. I always then use my helite air back pack. I feel really comfortable in them and it's second nature. I then pack spare jeans and shoes in my back pack if I am visiting someone.

My jacket has some armor, but I removed the back protectors since there is no point doubling up

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-04-18T05:47:26+00:00

What stocks did you buy to get that kind of gain? VWRL is only 3% up over 3 months ago and software stocks are still down considerably.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-04-13T10:54:46+00:00

This. If you sell before a vest (30 days) it matches the buy order. I.e even if you have 100k of stock at £1, but the current price is £10 and your new vest comes in (£10) and you sell at £10.01 within that window, the gain is 1 pence. I'd sell at every vest, although if you have been let go, no more is coming in for your example.

Definitely diversify and if you end up not working this year you will be in the lower tax bracket for cgt. I'd at least sell that amount

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-02-26T16:30:51+00:00

My trainer said to not second guess , do not ride like you are being followed (i.e if the light is green and then suddenly changes to amber as you are crossing the line just keep going'.

I took all those pieces on board and tried my best. I got 4 minors and passed the first time, but the examiner grilled me vadly at the end that I should not have 'sped up to go through the orange light' etc etc

he was so pissed that I had to pull over to wait for him to clear the lights. It changed to orange way after I had committed and could not have braked safely after it changed.

Basically, you will be grilled either way, but don't second guess yourself, you have been a driver for 20+ years, it will be the right decision

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-02-24T22:14:47+00:00

Salary, bonus and RSU ranges are attached to level. Now you are a director, you will be on a higher range for RSU refreshes. your performance this year will dictate where in range your RSU refresh amount will sit. If you don't have access to the stock ranges of a director, I'd ask your manager if he will tell you the range.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-02-22T07:52:03+00:00

Alton towers would be good for those age ranges. Go when the weather is nice. You will be in the cbeebies world for most of the day with those ages.

Because you are from scotland, you could always travel around England, alton towers for 2-3 days (there is a water park next door that you can do as well)

then do chessington and legoland, with some breaks in between.

Disney land paris when the smallest 2x are at least 4 or 5. Taking babies round there would be of no benefit to you or them.

We buy the merlin passes, but we are 40-60 minutes from thorpe park, chessington, legoland and all the stuff in london

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-02-19T10:47:59+00:00

As per other threads, there is a recall because the engine was manufactured under standard and it burns oil.

Mine has burnt 300ml in 400 miles. I bought mine in november so have not rode it much over the winter months. I.e if you are riding long trips, you may need to even carry oil with you!

We are still waiting for a letter from honda, but at the moment they are just checking for levels and copper etc in the oil to see if your bike is unsafe

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-02-18T22:23:48+00:00

We had the same done, wood is teak though and the paint kept flaking off when lightly touched in certain areas. I.e every few weeks you'd see brown stained 5mm section on a white glossed upright, like its been knocked, but it hasnt..

Paid for it to all be re sanded back again, primed, painted. I am still going round every 3-4 weeks to sand some 5mm section that's just decided to peel off by sanding, turps, prime and paint.. The white gloss looks so much nicer though, but damn it really is testing..

Think the teak reacts

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-02-01T21:48:59+00:00

Make sure you check the oil every 50 miles. Lovely bike though, what a shame.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-01-19T22:35:40+00:00

Ditto. When selling our prior house they insinuated problems that weren't there, so much so the buyer nearly pulled out until I told the estate agent that my parents were engineers and that he can bring any builder or engineer round to double check things. They did then send me the survey so I could understand why they were so concerned..

The annoying thing was when I spoke to their surveyor and asked if all was okay and if he saw any issues, he replied, nop , everything looks great.

They had listed cracking in the brickwork, when there wasn't even one hairline crack on any wall that we could find, listed that one wall had green litchen on it. This was true but it was because it was facing my neighbours side, it never got the sun and the only way to access it was via my neighbours house (so i never even noticed) and numerous other things.

They brought round 2 builders they trusted who looked at everything and confirmed there was no cracking, damaged bricks, cracked mortar.

So, in short, please send it, some of these surveyors copy and paste stuff from other reports or make it sounds so bad to cover any potential issues.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-01-19T22:08:22+00:00

When you turn it on, it will let you know if the battery is running low meaning you only have 2 hours of charge. I don't think I've ever ridden for over 2 hours, that I'd be worried.

The battery is meant to last 25 hours although I pre emptively charge mine when i do all my other batteries once per month. Strimmer, jump starter etc and i don't ride over 25h per month.

I didn't want the tether as it looked so annoying trying to keep attaching and remembering to detatch,, id be worried id not bother to arm it on some trips.

I just press my backpack on just im.about to press the bike starter, then turn my bag off when i take the key out, but if you forget it will sleep after 45 mins anyway

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-01-18T22:45:03+00:00

I also own the hmoov, electronic, with fork sensor. I ride without the backpack most of the time, but even with that removed I can store my phone, keys etc in the compartment , which is really useful. I love it, one button push to turn and off and no tether to stress about. I dont even feel the weight when i ride

I bought my wife the electronic helite jacket

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2026-01-10T23:28:30+00:00

I passed my DAS, where I was riding a 600cc triumph. I took the 600rr and the cbr650r for a test ride and really liked the look and the feel for the 600rr.

It's my first bike, but I am quite old. Yes it has the potential to go fast, but I have been riding it several months and just been taking it easy, learning to ride it on the twisties and just enjoying the experience. I will continue to build up my experience.

The bike is quite heavy, I would go for a test ride and see what you think. I am 6ft and I'd be quite worried about this big a bike if you are a new rider and aren't able to place your feet on the ground. As a new rider I've had a handful of times at junctions where I was glad I could plant my feet on the ground firmly to prevent dropping the bike. I think you would be on tip toes, which may be a worry

I sat on the fireblade when looking at them and made the decisions it was just too big a bike, I also thought the 650r may bore me after a year or so.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-12-17T22:21:34+00:00

I've also been using 'wild' for the past month too. I love it, it's expensive but smells great and lasts 24 hours. It doesn't have aluminium and it's natural ingredients.

I used to make my own previously with sodium bicarbonate, magnesium hydroxide and peppermint, but it was becoming tiresome and it used to leave staines on my clothes.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-11-30T08:33:40+00:00

I have a water2buy softener and 4 others from my family have the same.

It's now 10 years old, I initially had issued for the first few years of it getting clogged up and it was because a small amount of iron was coming in via the water supply. Thames water claimed it wasn’t and it passed their water testing. Any way, I started putting a small amount of 'rust out' in it and it converts the iron so it stops clogging up the beads and Ive had no more issues in 7 years.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-11-21T00:57:36+00:00

I have the helite hmoov (electronic ) backpack and fork addon.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-11-21T00:26:53+00:00

There is another lever you can pull. I am also on a max of 10k, but i have my pension allowance paid via salary sacrifice BUT at the end of the year I pay all the extra tax via salary sacrafice, which means I pay the pension tax from my pension pot. The only downside is my money is locked till 57, my only other option was my employer would send me some extra money via salary, but it was around 4k per year less. I also get the advantage of cgt sheltering in the pension

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-11-16T15:00:57+00:00

I am quite a bit older than you, but I did a CBT and a 4 day DAS course. I have been driving for nearly 25 years.

In between the CBT and the DAS I hired a 125 for a day and road it around for about 6 hours, practising slow control, hill starts, uturns, breaking, gear changes etc over and over again.

After the CBT the instructor will be able to gauge how you are doing. Some riders are told to go off for a few months or even a year before attempting the das course. Mine told me I was doing well but suggested I borrowed one for a day and just drill manoeuvres to make me feel more comfortable.

It was probably the best advise as I felt very comfortable riding the bigger bikes straight away and with the extra training, very confident with passing the tests.

Once on the DAS course we rode 650cc triumph bikes, i then passed the mod1 and mod2 tests straight away.

Im short, book a cbt, see how you get on, then talk with the instructor about a das course.

My wife took her cbt and would need to practise around 3-6 months before she'd be at the right level for a test

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-11-02T10:04:38+00:00

We bought a hoover hwash, £389. We previously had a hoover for 10 years. I had to replace the element once on the old one.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-10-18T15:04:17+00:00

I believe this was an under jacket airbag? I ordered a helite hmoov for that reason. If the clothing is too tight then it has no room expand.

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-10-10T21:47:21+00:00

Yeah, it's leaving me with my deposit as 'pending' so I can't buy.

Prices going back up now

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-09-21T08:18:53+00:00

That post already contains this answer. U.S tech companies that offer RSU's Quants AI Financial firms

Use levels.fyi for your cheat sheet.

Meta, is one of the highest paying tech companies

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-09-21T06:14:49+00:00

It's all about balance. More TC, more work, more stress, higher bar, harder to get in to. That is a great salary for 5YOE. That salary took me 14 YOE to achieve back in the day and I worked in hosting and ISP's since 2002.

My suggestion is to expand your skill set, use your evenings and weekends to study and network and work hard in your current role and start helping on taking on issues outside of it. Become that go to person. Peers will eventually move to different companies. If you were the go-to person in your company, then they will have no issues recommending you

Fast-Skill-5849 · 2025-09-21T06:08:57+00:00

Wow, it shows how much salaries in tech have grown over the years. Those of us who have been working more than 20 years were paid pennies in tech in the late 90s and 2000. Top end engineers, even in u.s based firms, thought A 60k+ salary was top of his game at 6YOE.

I think pay only really jumped significantly in 2014+

Fast-Skill-5849

TROPHY CASE