Forum

[Riggers]

Years ago (1976) my mate had a Ducati 750 Sport (the yellow one - bet he wishes he still had it) with a kph only speedo. That year a gang of us went on holiday to France where we all got stopped for speeding. Of the six of us my mate was the only one to get a ticket as the coppers deemed only he knew he was speeding. So Alan if you don't change it don't go fast in France!

[Alan R]

Hi guys and thanks for all that input. I think for now I'll stay just as things are ie Kph only, with the 30mph and 60 mph equivalent markers fitted. I've just had a look at the current certificate and the previous one. This years' shows the 25471 as miles in print, whereas last years(different test station) shows 25031 miles as printed, then overwritten as Kms and initialled by the tester !!!------but both passed with no advisories. I think "Let sleeping dogs lie" is the order of the day with this one. During all this A.N.Other thought came to mind---headlight dip ?? Again---I assume all is well----but will go and check, just in case. HM Gov. Rules & regs. eh ?? Women faint whilst strong men weep !! Have a nice---legal & authorised ---day.

[simon]

Cracks me up that you chaps in Blighty never really managed to metricate. I remember living in Somerset in the mid 80's doing up MOT failures and flogging them to the locals for a few quid profit. The nastiest vehicle it was ever my misfortune to buy was a T Reg Morris Marina which require three sets of spanners metric, AF and whitworth for the gearbox. Poor thing was assembled from so many different eras of vehicle it never stood a chance.

[Les H]

Hi Simon. Everything apart from Mileage has been changed to the Metric system in the UK. Can't see why Miles have to be changed too....BTW...how many hours in day? Do you think we should have 20 then? If it ain't broke why fix it? I like miles...Don't like Kilo metres...note how it should be pronounced....not pronounced KILLOMMETERS...that bugs me no end...shows an ignorance of the Metric system......

[Alan R]

----------let's go American Military and call it "Cliks" !!....SIMON, since the divorce I've been metricating for years.(naughty-naughty !).... LES}--- Hours in the day ?? Well it's not 24 !! Mid-day is shown as 12.00Hrs but there is no 24.00. It goes from 23.59 to 00.01. We've been had yet again. ALL Morris Marinas' are nasty !!...My first underbody view was a back axle with "STANPARTS" cast into the diff. housing. For those not in the loop---that was the spares section of the old STANDARD-TRIUMPH CAR company. We already had metric in the UK. The standard unit of liquid is the GALLONA and there are 10-2 PINTOS for each one. My name is Allan Ben Hussain and I've highjacked my own thread !!...... What a guy !!

[Les H]

Well Alan if there is not 24 hours in a day then I am 22265 seconds younger than I thought I was.

[Les H]

Just gave your digital clock some thought Alan, there must be something wrong with it...all the ones I've seen go from 23:59 to 00:00 then 00:01 etc. etc....do you have to re-set it often?

[Chris [Stockport]]

Les I agree with your sentiments, but there are still pints for beer and milk, miles and chains on the railways which I believe ARE to be kept unless anyone knows otherwise, 8' x 4' sheets of 12mm ply and a lot of examples in Europe such as computer screens and tyres in inches.... translated to Zoll in German or pouce in French or whatever. I even took photos while in the German equivalent of B and Q on holiday. This didn't find complete favour but was better than the soft furnishings department which I had a lucky escape from being persuaded to visit.... I believe that while Indians describe their weight in kgs,, as in Europe, newborn babies are still in LBS. By the way is that chicken mentioned elsewhere at O degrees C or 32 F ?

[rado53]

Hi everyone,
There are still lots of things that we still mark with imperial measures. Road signs can use metric but must also display imperial but imperial is fine when used on their own. If where you live in England and Wales (not sure about Scotland and NI) and you see a road sign in metric only then you can write to the local council and get them to amend/change it. Signs must dislap imperial too.
Another odd one is tyre sizes. They are an amalgam of metric and imperial measures. Very odd!
regards,
Alan

[Riggers]

The good thing about the old imperial measurments was that they were designed to fit around people who used them. Hence a yard was an average stride. A foot was what it says. An acre was what an average man could plough in a day. 12 can be divided up more ways than 10 (usful if you've got 6 hungry mouths to feed), etc etc. Since the petrol pumps in the UK have been measuring in litres I've never known what the hell the car's doing on a gallon (the only measure that makes any sense to me). In my mind knowing how many litres are being used per kilometer is utterly meaningless. Incidentally Britains first decimal coin was the florin (worth 2 shillings and hence 10 to the pound). However this first attempt at decimalisation was abandoned due to lack of interest, or the first world war may have got in the way of things.