A ton of questions from a total n00b

so cold that the fuel froze...
i used muffs, disposable gloves, woolen gloves, normal gloves and heated grips (well grip...)
my hands stayed warm, and the controls didnt freeze, inside the muffs stayed in the plus even overnight!

 

oh and see the blue frozen puddle? thats frozen anti freeze.... yeah... that cold....

 

Whoa! I don't think it ever gets that cold in London.
Having said that, last week was a bit nippy, mostly because of the wind, but hopefully, we're on our way to spring now. Patricia is behaving well and taking me through the city with ease. I need to give her a wash this week, as she's been rained on quite a bit. What do you guys use for it?
Some special gunk, or just plain old Fairy liquid dissolved in water?

 

An all year winter suits me fine. Hate spring and I hate summer more, nothing worse than being stuck at traffic lights with the hot sun baking me to death in my helmet and jacket.
Fairy liquid is fine for plastics but no good on metal, it has a lot of salt in it and salt and wet doesn't go well with metal. Cheap poundshop version of muck off is good stuff, Mr sheen is fantastic for keeping the plastics clean and shiny and its silicon based so fine on metal as well. I wipe my bikes down with a blue roll and Mr sheen regularly and every now and again use the pound shop muck off I got for an all round clean but I only really so that in the summer.

 

Just make sure you get in to the fiddly bits around the wheels/forks/brakes to stop any build up of salt and general road dirt especially in the winter. The plastics are much easier and a wash with any car shampoo is fine.
In the warmer months where you just get light dirt I use the spray on wipe off type "waterless" type cleaner/polish if you want to keep it sparkly but no problem with household furniture polish as long as you wash off the dirt first.

Have you cut down your commuting time now?

 

AND DON'T JET WASH IT!!!!

 

Thanks, guys - that's really helpful!
And yes, it takes me about 40-45 minutes to get to work now, depending on the traffic. I discovered the fastest route, with a long stretch of bus lanes where motorcycles are allowed, so I'm all good now.
Speaking of route-related questions, does anyone here know if filtering inside Blackwall Tunnel is legal? I see people doing it all the time, but the "Get in lane" sign and the solid double lines make me think maybe they shouldn't.

 

Solid lines are your answer there. Tunnels have strict lane discipline so they like people to stay in one lane all the way through. This helps smooth flow and avoids accidents which can gridlock a tunnel. Filtering can only be done if you dont cross the solid line. However i imagine most bikers do it if the tunnel is slow and its probably safe and efficient to do so if done properly however a crash will likely be blamed on you because of those white lines. Filtering is legal, crossing solids is not.