Motors Motorcycle Mayhem

Insurance is always ludicrous for the first year, but it drops dramatically. I went a year with no claims and it more than halved for the next year. Had I continued it would have dropped again - so your £500+ will turn into about £180 pretty quickly, so long as you don't crash

 

I think you must be doing something wrong, I'm only paying ~£320 on my 850 and I'm 23 and just passed my test living in Bristol. I'm with bikesure. Some things will have a dramatic effect on the premium, increasing the excess will lower it, some sort of tagging (datatag/smartwater etc) and proper security ( I use an Almax series3 and with a particular lock you get £25 discount)

Moriquendi

 

Something isn't right there, as when I did mine I only had a CBT so the premium would be higher. (which reminds me, I should probably tell them I have a full licence now)

Things to consider:

Where do you keep it (mines locked in garage)
Age of bike (9 years)
value of bike (£600 ish)
bike security (none)
Total Excess (£150)

I've also got a full car licence which I've had for 2 years, but I really can't imagine any of those things making THAT much difference

 

Information I used for my quote:

Where do you keep it (on the road)
Age of bike (<1 years)
Value of bike (£3000)
Bike security (datatag and disc lock)
Total excess (£250)

 

Hmmm, I suppose the £3000 value and keeping it on the road will put the price up, but I still wouldn't have expected it to go up by that much

 

Actually it doesn't surprise me to see the R125 having a high premium. I think the market it's aimed at (17 year old wannabe Rossis) plus the fact they can lump it into the R family of bikes is probably what does it.

 

Insurance was about £150/160ish fully comp from Carole Nash. It helps living in Cornwall and riding a bike forged when the earth was still flat. Your job, miles per year and use all contribute to increasing insurance cost as well. If you're a commuting journalist, expect to pay more.


Where do you keep it (locked garage)
Age of bike (25 years)
Age (27)
value of bike (£750 ish)
bike security (Oxford Titan Disc lock)
Total Excess (can't remember, £150)
Miles per year (5000)
Use (Social, Domestic & Pleasure)
Job (Computer Technician)


Personally, I don't like Bennetts. Last time I asked for a quote the lady kept repeating certain questions (points on licence, no, criminal record, no,) then when she finally gave me a quote, berated me for not taking it straight away (I've been working in insurance for 20 years, blah, blah.)

Urgh, called Carole Nash back, had a little bit of a bitch to their call centre person about the lady at Bennetts and they were all like, 's cool bro.

 

I seem to get consistently good quotes from ebike, FWIW.

 

I have no loyalty when it comes to insurance, cheapest/best quote wins. Considering none of my vehicles are worth a great deal, and I only have third party fire and theft, insurance is more of a formality/legal obligation rather than something I'll ever use by choice

 

I went and bought all my gear today and ended up with...:

Arai Viper GT, which I got at trade price. As the saying goes, it isn't what you know, it's who you know £430 helmet for £270? Yes please


Dainese 'Seymour' jacket and matching 'pants' (all gore-tex)... except in grey/black, not the colour shown below. Both have removable thermals. I keep finding new features in the jacket


Daytona 'Roadstar GTX' boots, again fully gore-texed. These are un-sexy as hell compared to some of the stuff by Sidi/Alpinestars, but they're comfy and fit me really, really well. These seemed to be no brainer, especially for commuting. The warranty is superb and every single bit of the boot can be replaced. Worn out the sole? No problem. Inner shoe perished/smelly? No problem. You get the picture.


Last but not least, a Forcefield 'Pro L2' back protector. I decided to get a separate one rather than a jacket with one built in, as the separate ones protect much more of your back (neck to coccyx), can be worn with anything (rather than just the jacket it came with) and because, allegedly, the ones that come in jackets are about as useful as a cheese sandwich.



Not a cheap day by any stretch of the imagination, but you can't beat good quality stuff

 

Nice kit, frigging expensive though innit! I try to avoid thinking about how much I paid for mine. I'm interested to hear how you get on with the back protector, mainly is it comfortable to wear? My jacket has an integral back protector but as you say I trust it about as much as I trust a piece of soggy cardboard to protect me if I have a spill.

Moriquendi

 

That is some sweet kit there. I can't vouch for all built-in back protectors, but I know mine works a treat, granted it doesn't cover the same area as a separate one, but the one that came in in my jacket is the same amour as is in the shoulders, elbows and knees. When I crashed the shoulders and back both took the worst of it, and did a great job.

I imagine the cheese sandwich comparison was probably talking bout the jackets that actually come with cardboard or foam in the back, people buy them thinking its got back protection, but the cardboard/foam is just to hold the shape.

I really need some new boots, I got some really good ones with the gore-tex lining, but they've got laces instead of zips, takes bloody ages to get them on and off

 

I'll definitely let you know, I'll be riding with it a week tomorrow
It's made of stuff that is nice and supple until it is impacted, when it firms up. Most of them are like that I believe, but some (more expensive ones I might add) I looked at were just basically big blocks of plastic which were not comfy to say the very least.

Not all are cheese sandwiches obviously. I was also looking at Hein Gericke gear and their armour is SaS stuff, which is very good. By contrast, the "protectors" in some Frank Thomas stuff I saw did appear to be just a big piece of foam

D'oh. I'm just trying to break mine in. Might go for a short walk round the block

 

I've not worked on bikes before, but i've done a few ride on lawnmowers in the past, with similar problems.

The water drain can become block with road dust washed into it aswell as fuel deposites. What i usually did use fill a syringe will DOT 5 (brake fluid) fit a small tube to the syringe that was also able to jam down the drain hole.

Then flush it, being a hydraulic force going down it, it eventually forces it all out aswell as degreasing it. Oh remember to take any filter off at the bottom of the drain hole, if there is one, sometimes i place my finger over the vent to block it which can help increase the pressure inside. the beauty is you have control unlike compressed air.


Water in the fuel isn't a bad thing it increases the density by a tad and thus increases the comp ratio within the cylinder, big bangs! Lol! im joking water is to only be added via water injection, usually used in high end turbo'd cars at low RPM before turbo spin up. Resulting in more power 'off turbo' and reducing the effects of turbo lag.

I have been thinking about a bike for a while, but my commute would envolve a few long hills, so a bike with a bucket load of torque would be needed, im 6ft which isn't a problem, but weight is i am about 85Kg and would have a good 10Kg of gear on me aswell. So overall the load weight would be in the region of 100Kg everyday and too cope with a 2 mile uphill section which only increases in gradient.

Also my weight is going up due to training, so i cant see a little 125 coping too well on a day to day basis. I also hate everything moped! I have seen a Honda CBR125R which i love the look of, bikes need fairings in my view.

 

Thanks for that Burnout, I'd never thought of doing it like that. Am I right in thinking that DOT5 is one of the new brake fluids that doesn't destroy paint on contact?

The reason I want the drain unblocked is that I don't want the tank to corrode plus, if I really throw the bike around when the tanks low, it gets picked up and kills the engine which is not good.

I weigh around 85/90 Kg and the CB125 I used during training was OK with me on board as long as I didn't want to go above about 45mph. So if your commute is mostly in a city I would say go for it, you wont beat the fuel economy (training school reckoned on 120MPG). But if you have to deal with fast A roads or motorways then do the training and go with something bigger.

Moriquendi

 

I weigh approx 130kg (the weight limit for the bike ) and my bike is 150kg, not sure what my gear weighs but I manage fine on the 125 though I do yearn for more power now that I have been riding since last June, as mentioned I bought a cheap Chinese bike which has less than 11bhp hills on the way to work are no problem but if there is a strong wind I struggle to go over 45mph, I'm quite large but bike will typically run at just over 55mph (an indicated 70mph, dodgy Chinese ) for most of my route in good weather, I basically run flat out for 20 miles a day and it does 65mpg (get ear plugs BTW) , it'll do more if I cruise at lower speeds.

If you had a decent 125 from the likes of Honda then it would easily achieve better speeds and cope well with your weight I reckon.

BTW, Just passed my motorcycle theory today, woo hoo, hopefully I can do my practicall sometime next month and get me a nice torquey cruiser

 

DOT5 will eat your paint, but its what i keep on the shelf. lol

 

Congrats. The hazard perception bit is a load of rubbish, isn't it?

 

I don't know if its rubbish or I am as I didn't score well at 55/75, I can see the point of it but I can also see where you might see the hazard before they start scoring it or not know when is the appropriate time to do the emerging hazard, do you do one click or keep clicking as its going on???? bit odd really, I also thought the odd clip started in quite a hazardous place and was clicking right away.

reckon it would be better with hitboxes using the touchscreen rather than random clicks.

I found the theory surprisingly difficult as it included stuff that I've not covered like first aid (did not by a new highway code, do revision or anything like that )

I mean blimey how should I know how to breath when doing CPR on a small child, or how many breaths per minute etc.

fortunately it was mostly common sense and my lack of revision still netted me 47/50 but I was sure I failed until my cert. was handed to me as so many questions could have been answered another way.

 

I had much the same experience - not really knowing if I should be continuing to click, and whether I should be identifying potential hazards, or only those that actually become one, or both?! It's a good idea and I can see the point, but it's so poorly executed. There's no sound either, and the camera just looks forward with a small field of view. Hardly indicative of real life

In other news, I cancelled my training and instead enrolled on an intensive DAS course with post-test training (assuming I pass). This time next week I should, all being well, have an unrestricted license. I'm somewhat nervous already