Looks like my answers were on the right lines but a bit incorrect in the details about the gears... apologies.

I know I found "L" very useful going down the steep side of Ditchling recently, so they're worth using.

Yes, just that. They're gears designed to lock the transmission into either just 1st gear (L1) or 1st and 2nd* (S2). Hence useful for steep hills, and the like. But they come with the handbook warning of not engaging them at high speeds, for obvious reasons.


*edit - or it might be just 2nd, I'm ...

Is it quite easy? Am I right in thinking it's a case of draining the oil (or pumping out with a pela pump), then just unscrewing the filter?

(Do excuse the newbie question! I can happily strip down and rebuild my mountain bikes and get everything working *just* right, but when it comes to cars ...

Might it be worth getting it disconnected then? I'm 6'7" which means my knees tend to get places in cars where other people's don't

So we have the engine warmer switch, and twin batteries. I understand this is some sort of cold-weather option fitted to some Bongos from northern Japan. But the manual we have (the NZ one) describes it but doesn't explain exactly when I might need to use it.

So, is there likely to be any use for ...