Hi Pete ! Awww. Thanks for the mention and the best wishes buddy, really kind of you ! It's a strange one with me. I'd say that the cough is just about gone, my chest finally feels clear but I can feel fine one day and then tired with aches the next 🤷‍♂ But I can kind of deal with that. I'll just take it easy on the bad days and on the good days I think I can do pretty much anything. I find that much less annoying than the constant coughing anyway ! "Liveablewith" is what I'd call it now 😝 It's always a pleasure listening to you and your glorious sounding 8S Pete. Please keep sharing your rides, it doesn't have to be any "kind" of video at all 👍🏻 Take care mate and thanks again for taking the time to wish me well in this one ! Garry & Ruby ❤🐕

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

That is great to hear... I saw the other day it was the weather stopping you getting out rather than your health which is good (sort of). Hopefully you'll be playing bikes again soon. Cheers mate, this channel has always been a random vloggage kind of channel rather than much else, but sometimes it is a bit more coherent and structured! 😀

Good on you riding around those tricky conditions & doing a ride commentary. This requires full attention & skills. Riding the fantastic 8S does help & sounding great🤙

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

It is a lovely motorcycle 🙂👍

Nice little fang out Pete, the bike sounds great and it's lovely to see how you can let it rip now, well bedded in!!

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Aye, I love the full exhaust on it... and yup, got almost 1700 miles on it now I think.

That's right, no traction control before, "we just got on with it"!!! I only have 1 bike with full up modern electronics. Warranties are always tricky....I generally never do them. But I did have a warranty pay off once upon a time but usually never.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

It is the gamble isn't it... I'm hoping I've made the right decision extending it

I enjoyed this very much, always good to ride vicariously with a buddy. Perhaps in real life later this year?

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

I'll be down at the WSWR again later in the year mate

Great to hear you’re still loving the 8S! I think I like the looks of the 8R version more, and as best I can see from photos, the ergonomics are nearly the same. They’ve announced they’ll be racing the platform in the twins class here in the States this year. It’s going to be fun to see how it does against the Yamaha R7 and Aprilia RS660!

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

It'll be good to see it racing, I imagine it'll make it into the Mini Twins or Super Twins racing in the UK too 🙂👍

My himalayan is the first & only bike I've had with abs. That was a nice view. I haven't been for a decent ride in ages. Really feel the need for a ride

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

I go a bit bonkers if I don't get a decent amount of bike time, would rather go out in the rain/cold than have prolonged absense of motorcycles! :-)

Sounds amazing mate.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

I love that exhaust 😁

Lovely sounding bike that Pete 🙉

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Cheers dude

Oh, it's good to be put and on drying roads too

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Roll on spring mate 🙂👍

Heated grips and heated gloves? You're taking the **** now 😉🤣 Not a bad idea about the extended warranty, you never know when you might need it I really want to try out the new GSX-8R, that bike does look really cool. Hope the cough buggers off soon mate. Hope you're well.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Haha... yeah, I'm turning into a right softy 🤣 Am hopefully having a go on the 8R soon... I think you'd miss the power of your current beasty though 😃 Cheers RB, it seems to be lingering a tad annoyingly

A lovely auld road, and a locely auld bike. Hahahaha yeah modern tyres really are plenty good enough all on their own eh :P Mitts too warm eh. I think extended warranties make a lot of sense for something newer and more expensiver. I do love the Tuareg :) Id watch a review with interest:) I know you riding this one about has really made me interested in the GSX-8R. I do like the look of that a lot. 130mph eh, howd hou figure that one out? :P Dont answer that. I didnt know that. Thats cool.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Aye, I love the part of the world I live in, am very lucky. Aye... they are and just having a respect for the conditions should be all we need... but the CEO of Bosh thinks otherwise... and soon enough even 125cc bikes will have un-needed traction control. I ended up extending it another 2 years, even if I sell it, the warranty is transferable so is a plus point 🙂 The 8S is a cracking bike... should be test riding the 8R soon too. They are quite dinky bikes, but plenty of go!

When purchasing a used bike or trading one in with a transferable warranty adds value to your trade in or selling the bike. One larger electronic or mechanical repair will easily exceed the cost of most extended warranties. Labor costs added up quickly.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Aye, I think you are right mate 🙂

Cool ride. The exhaust sounds great! I think you said elsewhere it is a full system. Not tempted by the 8R?? It's a Suzuki, nothing will go wrong...

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Cheers Paul. Yeah full Akrapovic exhaust with decat. The 8R is a lovely bike, but I wanted a fun naked bike, which the GSX 8S ticks that box perfectly!

My 8s is the first bike I've had with modes, TC, Abs, etc. My default ride settings are mode A, TC=2. I find it useful at the lights because I can give it a handful when the light changes and my front wheel doesn't come up, even if I am a bit over enthusiastic.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Aye, it works as a very good wheelie control, even in 1 🙂👍

@tonyjourneyman1944

4 ай бұрын

@@HippoDrones Indeed, unfortunately I need to ride in inner city traffic, I'm allowed to lane split, so often I'm in pole position at the front, between cars. It's reassuring to know that I can give it a good squirt to get away.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

@@tonyjourneyman1944 yup, last thing you want in that situation is a wheelie

Yeah the electronics is a bit much sometimes, on the other hand, the bikes nowadays put the power down much better than years past and at a much lower RPM to boot. Man that quick shift blip sounds pretty dern good. Well I should have got the extended warranty so I would agree with you in getting it on the Aprilia.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

I'm definitely a fan of the electronics on bikes, but it does make me laugh sometimes The quickshifter is awesome... another bit of electronic equipment that gets my thumbs up 😁

Gees it sounds nice hey

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Haha... yeah... the full Akra with decat wakens it up a lot... and gives it a nice bit of pep to the performance too when it's used! 😀

Surely if there was gonna be an issue with the bike it would have cropped up by now 😬 famous last words aye hehe

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Haha aye... I extended it 2yrs in the end, will help if I sell the bike too, so not totally dead money if nothing goes wrong with it.

I don't think these electronic assistance things would be bad to have, just never had them. If I will one day get a bike with abs or some other fancy stuff, who knows if I could still ride old bikes after that. Best not to s(p)oil myself yet 😛

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Haha... yeah don't make a mess 😀 I do wonder with the talks about even 125cc bikes getting mandatory ABS and TC in the UK if we will end up with a lot of people who can't ride without them should an emergency happen on the road in front of them etc.

@theodorstravels

4 ай бұрын

@@HippoDrones yes, we already have car drives, who refuse to drive to workshop themselves because abs light is on. Can't have that on two wheels. We need to keep up the big bad biker image 😆

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

😀@@theodorstravels Grr Grrr, roughty toughty me 😀

Small naked bikes are awesome.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

Very much so... although 800cc almost is not that small... but the bike feels far smaller evven if it has the go and grunt of an 800 still 🙂

@CalmBiker

4 ай бұрын

Hehe! I was thinking more physically small than engine size 😀 My Honda is physically way bigger than my Kwak but the Kwak is definitely a tad quicker! @@HippoDrones

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

@@CalmBiker it is quite a dinky bike, I love it... it fits me and my little legs well 😀

@CalmBiker

4 ай бұрын

​@@HippoDronesSimilar to my Kwak. One of the very few bikes I can flat foot.

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

@@CalmBiker I loved my street Triple 765R as I could flat foot both feet on that, it was the low ride height version, but the geometry changes, even though were factory, really hindered the bikes handling, especially as the tyres got worn. This little 8S though is great, 810mm seat height and it hides it's 200kg weight well.

Traction control is right wrist. Unless you've got somthing completly naughty MT10 sort of naughty I don't think you need it. If its a slow time of year for them they might cut you a deal on the two year, When I brought the first CB500X they sold the two year for either the price of the one year or it was touch dear than the one year. I can't quite remeber it was back in 2015. Heck I'm editing stuff from 2021 and I'm remembering stuff I fogot 🤣

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

You really need to catch up on your editing mate!

@LoneWallyUK

4 ай бұрын

@@HippoDrones nealy there. Only 3 more to go

@HippoDrones

4 ай бұрын

@@LoneWallyUK 🙂