Motors Motorcycle Mayhem

I always nod back, I love the respect bikers all have for each other. It's like if a biker ever sees another stranded on the side of the road they'll almost always make sure they're ok, I wonder what percentage of car drivers would do that for each other?

 

i do like the respect bikers have for each other, i allways nod, and stop if i see a bike stopped. id like 2 say a big thank you 2 all car drivers that pull over 2 let bikes past, it helps alot, and you get a wave lol

 

Lots tend to do it by marque/model. I used to stop for Novas whenever I saw one, and still would.

 

And that's one of the most satisfying things that a biker can do - I always move over, and get extremely irritated when they don't wave (when they could, I understand it's not always possible, e.g. in heavy traffic etc). A little politeness goes a long way.

 

Try it on a Harley in US. Nods, thumbs up, everything.

What was cool to me as a person was the way I got treated wearing my Hell's Angel colors. With the colors people would hide their children. With a suit and tie for day work little old ladies would talk to me on the streets. Same guy different look. Brother Hell's Angels teaching 8th grade math to my own stepsons. LOL.

Nexxo will probably have something to say about perception of an individual.

Twas fun.

 

My lil' 125. I'm hunting around for better pictures still. I miss it, had to leave it at home - the northwest is just too cold for biking without faring

 

Lancaster isn't that bloody cold, and especially if you're a student, you can wait until the afternoons!

 

Quick question: I'm possibly going to buy a 1996 Bandit 600 this weekend, just wondering if anyone here has had any experience restricting one of them?

I know V-twins tend to handle the restrictions better than inline 4's, and I don't wanna buy the bike, get it restricted and then find it sucks to ride.

Also, does anyone know how much it would cost to get it restricted?

 

One thing that I've been told regarding restrictions is that insurance companies don't take it into account when calculating premiums making it pretty astronomical compared to what it would be on a 125. The reason given to me for this is that people often remove the restriction, it would be well worth getting a quote from an insurance company before you buy a bike you cant afford to insure.

I've never ridden a restricted bike so I cant help you there sorry.

Moriquendi

 

I'm a geek, I have a mediterranean disposition! The real reason was, it's a 4-hour journey from home to here, and doing it on the bike's just too hard in winter. There's nowhere to store it here either, I had it in the underpass for a few months and it suffered, badly.
Then I had it in my bathroom for a couple of weeks until the landlady found out - I'm trying to find the pictures of that, it owned

 

Just completed/passed my CBT

Next thing to do is get some lessons booked. I'm going to do a good few hours of lessons to get some time on the bike under my belt, and then do a DAS course.

The other next thing to do is to get myself some gear of my own.

Happy days. CG125s are totally, utterly hilarious, btw.

 

I've decided not to get the bandit now anyway, didn't even view it, decided I'd be better off waiting until I've sold the 125 before rushing out and buying a big bike.

Yeah, it's a pain in the ass the most insurance companies don't care about restrictors, but it's because they're so easy to remove, and most people do remove them.

To be honest, I want the restrictor 'cause I know going from a 125 to a 600 will be a huge jump, but I'll probably go unrestricted before my 2 years are up.

 

To be honest I didn't find the jump between a 125 and a 500 to be that big, yes you've got much more power but that doesn't make it harder to control IMO. I found low speed manoeuvring much easier on the 500 because the weight keeps it steadier. The jump from a Honda 500 to my BMW 850 felt much bigger but that's more down to the weight and the BMWs dry clutch behaving differently, that and with it being my bike its much worse if I drop it...

Congrats on the CBT, I agree completely that the CG125 is hilarious, particularly if you're over 5'6 or 8st.

Moriquendi

 

I have a vaguely related question about motorcycle accidents: there are a lot of urban myths and stories about dismemberment in morocycle accidents, and one infamous set of photos of a guy supposedly ripped in half in a collision with a metal telegraph pole in Hungary (I'm not linking the pictures, they're horrible). With my understanding of the human body I find it hard to imagine this would happen unless notably sharp edges were involved somewhere, does it really happen?

Sorry to bring a morbid tone to the thread, it's just something I'm losing sleep over.

edit - and why's everyone laughing at my CG125, I had to start somewhere

 

I imagine that kind of thing *could* happen on a very rare occasion, and I think some sharp edges would have to be involved. And I imagine the dismembered people were stupid enough to be riding without full protective gear on.

I think the gear is the main factor, I recently had a meeting with a concrete road at 30mph, I got up and walked away a couple a bruises and my shoulder hurt for a week. I'm pretty sure that would have been so much worse if I hadn't have been wearing all my bike gear.

And 125s are just comical bikes, I look like quite a tool on my GN125, but then I am 6'4. I've got my sights set on a CB500 now, bulletproof engines and great first big bikes.

 

The best defence against coming off is not to ride beyond your limit.

Otherwise, a motorcycle helmet with an ACU Gold sticker and kite mark. Armoured jacket with shoulder pads and a spine protector. Over trousers with knee pads or Draggin' Jeans. Gauntlets and armoured boots.


The only accidents I know about in real life where the rider was dismembered, happened through the rider driving too fast. Last summer a couple of guys were racing along the A30, something went wrong and they collided with traffic. The impact was great enough that the police attending needed to call in the sniffer dogs to find the rider's head. The speed involved was far, far beyond the legal limit for that road.

 

We're not. They're brilliant

Question to those who did a DAS course - what training did you have previously? Did you do a CBT then straight onto a DAS course? Was your CBT part of a DAS course? Did you drive a car previously? If you did a CBT then DAS straight afterwards, did you pass first time?

 

I'd been driving a car for 6 years when I started doing motorbikes, I went straight from CBT to DAS, IIRC CBT took two days on a CG125, then another day (or maybe two, cant remember) on the 125 to start the DAS, then a half day off road on the CBF500, then a half day on the road on the 500 then a full day and then a half day followed by test in the afternoon. It was all split up because the weather got in the way (riding in snow is not fun). Since passing I have done two days more training on my BMW, I would recommend post-test training to anyone doing DAS and riding a big bike, it really helped improve my confidence with cornering and motorways, you can also get a certificate (Enhanced Rider Scheme) which can lower your insurance premium, I'm supposed to be doing a couple of hours night riding training sometime soon. Before doing the CBT I must have spent all of 15 minuets on a motorbike in my whole life.

Moriquendi

 

Ta Moriquendi. I was flirting with the idea of finding a school that'll take me on for a 5 day intensive DAS course but I've decided against it. I've just booked some lessons recurring weekly instead, probably spend a while on a 125 then progress to a 500.
I think if I was a car driver already I'd just go for an intensive course, but I'd rather take things a little more slowly and when I've got some proper road/riding hours under my belt, then do the intensive thing with the test at the end.

The question is, do I get a little 125 in the mean time? Hmmm :v

 

I'd recommend getting a 125 if you can, it's always best to get as much practice as you can. I only had about 6 lessons before my test, I wouldn't have passed if I wasn't riding my 125 regularly.