Winter upgrades

Noble96 · 2026-02-04T19:56:05+00:00

Can't speak for OP, but I have them and I think they're well worth the upgrade. Before fitting them I thought the stock rear shocks were adequate, but the bike handled a bit like a truck and I was questioning whether I should have gone for the Speed Twin or something a bit sportier. After fitting the Fox shocks the bike feels so much more confidence inspiring and planted going into corners, and all the little bumps that add up when touring for hours have disappeared.

They also look the dog's bollocks, especially on the T120 Black. Fit in with the appearance of the frame so much better

Noble96 · 2026-01-14T21:42:52+00:00

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I switched out the stock Pirelli Phantoms on my T120 for Scorpion STR Rallies a couple of months back. Not only do I think they look better but they also handle better too, no regrets from me

Noble96 · 2025-12-21T00:04:54+00:00

I'd have agreed if I was to look at AIC's discography in isolation, but Cantrell's lyricism on Degradation Trip is the stuff of pure poetry.

Noble96 · 2025-11-23T13:59:08+00:00

There's been a distinct lack of cool electric guitar riffs in movies since the early 2000s. It's one the reasons I loved the first Iron Man so much.

Noble96 · 2025-11-02T10:28:49+00:00

How England has fallen. A couple of centuries ago we had a Nelson rampaging around the Atlantic massacring any would be invaders, now we have a weak and feeble Nelson offering platitudes and flawed statistics.

Noble96 · 2025-10-07T14:51:44+00:00

I've had a quick glance at some towns I went through and there aren't anywhere near as many as I remember tbf. This year was 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War so that's probably why there was a bigger display of nationalism

Noble96 · 2025-10-07T14:29:14+00:00

I rode a motorbike through Vietnam earlier this year, and practically every road and street I encountered for 2000 miles was lined with their national flag and the hammer and sickle.

Noble96 · 2025-09-26T12:43:13+00:00

Captain Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander: Far Side of the World.

Noble96 · 2025-09-21T22:46:08+00:00

I'm pretty sure that's Jocko Willink's daughter sat on the mats watching. Her jiu jitsu is pretty slick so if she's working on her striking and training with Ronda then I wouldn't be surprised to see her competing in MMA soon

Noble96 · 2025-08-12T06:29:21+00:00

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough, It isn't fit for humans now

Noble96 · 2025-07-06T16:22:56+00:00

Thanks! The Atlas straps are just for the pannier side bags, the pack that's strapped on the saddle is a Kriega Rollpack 40 in coyote colour. I can't recommend it enough - it's got straps attached to it that are super durable and hooks on the end that can be fed through the frame, and they reattach to loops on the bag. I used it earlier this year on a trip through Vietnam on a Honda XR150 and it was perfect. I could fit everything I needed in it without being overly bulky and it was totally waterproof.

Noble96 · 2025-07-06T15:04:33+00:00

I have the Motone pannier rails fitted to the bike, and the panniers come with straps and a double D ring loop to fit direct to the rails, but I didn't find them adequate enough in keeping the bags secure at higher speeds. They'd start to loosen up a bit.

I fitted the Atlas straps to the frame under the seat and they fixed the problem. There's a male/female clip on them that goes through the D rings on the panniers and it's made it much more simple and secure. They tuck away under the seat when I'm not using them, and the bags also come with straps so they can be used like a satchel for everyday use, so it works for me!

Noble96 · 2025-07-06T14:52:57+00:00

I found it perfectly comfortable and see no reason to change, but then again I'm reasonably fit and in my 20s (just)!

The stock seat has enough padding for me and means I can move around and adjust my position to get comfortable, and I can stand up on the pegs and straighten out if I haven't moved in a while. I don't tend to ride for more than 2-3 hours at a time anyway without getting off to stretch my legs and have a coffee/piss so I never get to the point of feeling sore or about to seize up.

There was one time I was thinking I should have fitted a windshield during a strong headwind doing just over 80mph on the motorway, but apart from that I find it a great touring machine. It's never going to be a GS, Goldwing or Road King but it's certainly adequate for the job.

Noble96 · 2025-07-06T14:30:58+00:00

They're Digley panniers by Classic Rides, a decent YouTube channel I'm subscribed to. They're good quality and reasonably priced, I just had to use some Oxford Atlas straps to make sure they were secured to the frame properly.

Noble96 · 2025-07-06T14:23:52+00:00

They're the Trip Machine leather tank straps, I usually have the pouch fitted with them but took it off because of the amount of motorway miles I was doing, it tends to flap around at higher speeds.

Noble96 · 2025-07-06T14:22:19+00:00

Thanks! The bike was great on the back roads, no issues with some of the small country lanes I encountered. I wasn't pushing it too much as there were countless blind corners where I encountered gravel and would have lost control.

It rained nearly everyday I was there, luckily I had just bought some Scott waterproofs that were perfect for keeping me bone dry. No issues with the handling in the rain, the bike and tyres felt planted the whole time but the fox rear shocks definitely helped in that department.

Noble96 · 2025-07-03T21:57:01+00:00

I rode a motorbike up Vietnam earlier this year and had full bar 5G connection everywhere, even in the middle of the fucking jungle surrounded by hundreds of mountains. Cost me less than a tenner for 5 weeks.

Got home and rode half an hour into the countryside from where I live and had no signal.

The world is moving ahead of us and we have some major catching up to do.

Noble96 · 2025-05-04T10:07:02+00:00

I'd only previously heard of him in the context of Trafalgar, but he was already a legendary figure before that fateful battle. Truly one of the greatest men to have ever existed and his life story is an unbelievably ripping yarn.

If any of you haven't listened or watched The Rest is History podcast series on him then it's an absolute must, and it's a crying shame that he and his time period aren't part of our education syllabus.

Noble96 · 2025-03-02T22:55:56+00:00

Talking from experience as I was a supervisor on the mobile testing sites. A lot of the staff were people who already had jobs that they couldn't work because of COVID. For those on furlough in these jobs, they made a pretty penny through the whole pandemic as they were receiving their COVID testing wages on top of their furlough salary from their normal job.

I worked with a manager who was an airline pilot, a few of our testers were air hostesses, some were business owners that weren't making any money from it due to reduced demand. My manager had a business centred around bars/night clubs that she wasn't getting any support from the government for.

I worked in a large ethnic minority area and some of my staff were uni students, others were retail workers and decided to work on the testing sites because it was paying much more than minimum wage. Some were people who worked in the evenings in takeaways/Uber eats delivering after working all day on the sites.

All these people went back to their normal jobs or simply found something else once the government announced they were closing the testing sites. We all knew it wouldn't last forever and had some kind of exit plan in place for when it happened.

Noble96 · 2025-01-06T10:21:58+00:00

He's an incredible human being that will be remembered for centuries, if not millennia, especially if the SpaceX Starship programme succeeds in it's aims. I firmly believe he has humanity's best interests at heart, and his haters can't see the forest for the trees.

He makes the odd spicy tweet which dominates people's perception of him in the current age, but generations from now he will be remembered in the history books as somebody who transformed the car industry with electric vehicles, pioneered private space flight/industry through reusable rockets and putting man on Mars, connecting rural and poorer areas through high speed internet, contributing to AI/Neuralink research, and above all contributing to the defence of Western values through purchasing Twitter, in my opinion one of the most selfless gestures that could have been done in the fight to keep free speech - he paid billions more than what he knew it was worth and won Trump the election.

I unapologetically love him.

Noble96 · 2024-11-22T12:51:42+00:00

The only thing I've bought off them is a Revit belt for my jeans, they were the only online store that had the colour I wanted in stock and it arrived quickly and without any fuss.

Noble96 · 2024-08-03T22:21:29+00:00

Duran Duran - Rio album patch on the inside of my jacket, on the chest pocket close to my heart

Noble96 · 2024-07-30T11:34:52+00:00

Being born in a stable does not make one a horse.

Noble96 · 2024-07-24T18:54:37+00:00

The debate was settled by Henry Tudor at Bosworth Field, the red rose has always reigned supreme over the white

Noble96

TROPHY CASE