The Bar

Hi all I'm new to biking and need to buy all the gear. First on the list is a helmet. I'm leaning towards an open-face one as it seems to be the best compromise in terms of protection and look for my XVS125. Unless you know of a full-face that wouldn't look out of place while riding this bike I'd appreciate if you could recommend one with good side protection, that looks cool and doesn't break the bank. Thanks in advance.

For my first 3 years of riding I never wore ear plugs, didn't like cutting out noise of traffic as I liked to have all my senses working. I then read a study in one of the Bike mags about damage to hearing, some study showed that the vibrations caused from the wind over your helmet at motorway speeds cause a level of noise that can potentially do permanent damage if you are exposed to it regularly. Worst case is you can end up with tinnitus, a permanent wining in your hearing that cause cause sleep deprivation / depression etc. Anyhow got me thinking, my ears do whine after my 30minute motorway commute to work, so I tried plugs. Was very strange at first, but now i fi…

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a member of the Truth Squad, whose primary function is to monitor Internet abuse. An individual posting on this forum has been guilty of grossly misrepresenting himself. In other words he's a liar. I have listed quotes from various posts made by this person. If you wish to verify their authenticity, just click on his username and search for all posts by him. You'll find many more embarrassing examples. I call on members to be very wary in dealing with this individual, who posts under the name of scrapedplastic. I'm 19 and have just bought my first 125, before that I had a DT50R. I've been riding a 125 for a few years now and wan…

Hi Everyone Went out on my new bike for the first time on Sunday morning, i went for a leisurely 1 hr ride down some nice wide country roads and through a few little villages. Brilliant start to the day. As for the bike it's amazing, i have to say though that i don't think i took it above 8000rpm, it's my first bike so i'm not going to go silly, i've got a hell of a lot of riding to do before i'm evening compatent but i'll just take it easy to start, anyway here's a few pictures.

just a bit of fun ,and here to start is mine. i know it's small,~(the wife don't think so) ,but i manage to get around ok...show us yours now.

Been running my new engine in now strictly adhering the manufacturers instructions. It basically says only use a third of the throttle for the first 300 miles then increase to half a throttle until you reach 500 miles after which you can ride as normal. I have been reading online about different methods and it comes down to the 'ride it like you stole it' method, which means ride it as you normally would (in my case) or the recommended by the manufacturers 'nice and easy' don't accelerate hard or use more than a third/half of the throttle. I am now up to 300 miles and have had enough of pretending to be a Honda Melody. I'm just going to ride my bike as normal. Accord…

Been itching badly to replace the YBR for a while now, and I've located a couple of XJ6s [through dealerships]... But dilemmas! This weekend is looking to be a bit dreich down [up?] here and I still need to finish off the finance on the YBR. I can't even justify part exchanging it - if they'll even allow it, due to different finance companies - because dealerships offer effective pennies for it ): [i asked elsewhere, and they only offered £1k for a '12 YBR 125, when I could sell it privately for £1600. Although, HPI may prevent that] I could get both, but I'd then have 2 bikes, and less ability to pay off my YBR faster! How do I cope?!

Taken it out for a short spin so far. Wow. Needing to stop putting the same sort of twist of the throttle compared to the YBR. I'm at 30 before I can even blink!

Hi guys, Was talking to my colleague at work who's interested in doing his CBT and I said that we can attend the same training school some time next month when I go for my DAS. As we were quietly chatting away, a few of my other colleagues rudely butted in and started to put us totally off bikes and lecturing us like we were stupid kids! They were saying that bikes are dangerous as cars can easily knock bikers over (This is true, but can't put us off bikes because there's W&NKER drivers around) and they said they can't see us riding a bike for more than 3 weeks!! (How insulting!!! :evil: ) What the hell wrong with them! They kept putting doubts in our heads sa…

Hi guys, I'm bored shitless at work at the moment, just wondering what you guys do for a living. I'm a computer programmer in Manchester working for Sharp Electronics. Wish I was out on two wheels at the moment! :cry:

The hot weather today got me thinking. I needed to nip out and thought shall I bother with my jacket and gloves as its only up the road. Then I thought about the states in the U.S.A. who allow riders to take the choice whether or not to wear a helmet. I think wearing one is the sensible thing to do and I must admit I do feel an extra sense of security wearing one,

My new bike is now officially run-in and serviced, so today I braved my first trip into work. The reason I hadn't done it sooner is because: A. I live in Glossop, and work in Leeds. So for those of you who don't know, that's a 50 mile one-way trip when I drive on the motorway and a 38 mile trip on back roads with my CBT and a 125. A total of 100 or 72 mile round trip, depending B. It's a hilly ride so with a 125, revving can't be avoided and I didn't want to over-rev a new bike C. It's taken a while to save up and buy clothing suitable for a cold ride over the Pennines in the morning D. I'm new to riding, so I've been focussing on building up my confidence on two wh…

Seriously now, I've just retired at Easter. Am currently riding a 600cc Diversion, which has been fantastic over the last eight years getting me to work and back in all weathers. But now I want to do more mileage as in Motorway and A roads up to 100 miles each way especially on a Tuesday night when the local football season starts. Most of the time it will be only me on it but I must cater for me + 1. Although I would prefer a Yam I would seriously think of another make as I will still keep the Divvy. A bit of info from Bippos Tiger would help.

alex i got danielle joining just for u

Chaps, As a fairly free thinking group, I'd like your opinion on this. Recently there was a report on the BBC news about a bike thief who died while riding, and crashing a stolen bike without a helmet on. On another forum I posted the link and made a comment that I had no sympathy for him, and also, in my opinion the police should persure these people with extreme prejudice. Now these comments caused one or two responses, mostly in agreement, along the lines of 'what goes around comes around', and 'thieving scum deserve all they get' However, one or two people found this post, and the comments 'obscene' I have tried to understand thier opinion, but so far …

Hi all To those of you that might be interested in a cheap(ish) DIY GPS tracker. All it requires is an Android phone with GPS (even better with A-GPS) that would need to be hidden somewhere on your bike. A way to keep the phone powered 24/7 (12v to USB adapter). Android Lost, a free Android app (with a free online account). https://play.google....com.androidlost http://www.androidlost.com/ A "How-to" using a similar app called InstaMapper: http://www.instamapp.../diy.html#step4

Forwarded message: "All Some help please, I am currently running a camp in Helmand Province in Afghanistan and I would like to get as many people as possible to send my blokes( many are v keen motorbikers) your read bike mags. I appologises for the direct approach but due to having to cater for everyones tastes bike mags are not delivered as part of our Operational welfare package. The postage is free (up to 2kg), all it would cost is the envelope. The postal address if you would like to help is: QM TFH Lashkar Gar BFPO 715 Any help will be greatly appreciated and all mags will be read many times. Thanks, Major Andy Lothian"

yes I know I'm guilty of over doing the banter when it comes to the Grouch sometimes I just can't help myself, but it is only banter and i wouldn't do it if I didn't like the guy, a lot of it is just to get him to pull his finger out, anyway he's not been online for 10 days and I was wondering if anyone on here new him or had contact details to see he's alright ? I know he's a very popular member and I always enjoy reading his threads and the forums aren't the same without him come back Grouch yer dumb fuck see just can't help myself

well yesterday, i went out on my bike for a spin, decided to pick this girl up, was dropping her off by her friends house, as i was about to stop, was ghoing about 40 mph into a nasty bend, my brake pad decides to fall out, what a scary momeny when you have a girl on the back of you who has no helmet on, didnt crash tho, just skidddddded on my chunky monkey tyres, anyone know whast would have caused my break pad to fall out? thanks lovelys

Hi Guys, bit of a downer, just been told I'm redundant last day = 31st October 13 years with the company, great just before xmas