Gas up - Let's Go!

are you insane ? When they give you the CBT certificate it erases all knowledge of the previous 8 hours. (it's also in the Higway Code, which is where I took the quote from)

It kinda depends what you are riding/driving: [Laws RTA 1988 sect 42 & CUR reg 32] Tyres. Tyres MUST be correctly inflated to the vehicle manufacturer’s specification for the load being carried. Always refer to the vehicle’s handbook or data. Tyres should also be free from certain cuts and other defects. Cars, light vans and light trailers MUST have a tread depth of at least 1.6 mm across the central three-quarters of the breadth of the tread and around the entire circumference. Motorcycles, large vehicles and passenger-carrying vehicles MUST have a tread depth of at least 1 mm across three-quarters of the breadth of the tread and in a continuous band around the entire circumference. Mopeds should have visible tread. However, riding a bike with 1mm tread is not something I would condone. I normally change when it drops below 2mm as the last mm' tend to wear fairly quickly.

Hello, and welcome

No documents ? at all ? then the first thing you should be asking is where are they? then a HPI check before any price negotiation take place. Without any of that, maybe £10....... and I'd want a recipt with the guys name and address on it.

The instructor will be somewhere, as long as they are in radio contact it's accepted. I've even seen the local examiner following guys on test in a car! Without the instructor, it's a 50 at 16 and a 125 at 17 and above. With an instructor, doing DAS training, I think it's any size bike - so you could use your own R1 if you wanted to!

It really doesn't matter how loud your pipe is, it's chucking most of the sound to where you've just come from. When you learn to use the whole road to your advantage you will; a ) be seen (because you will also learn how to ride in a manner that attracts the eye to the bike) b ) Be safe (because you will understand the value of space, and escape plans) c ) Get from A to B faster, because you will see more of what is happening on the road ahead, and be in possition sooner to get past raffic in front d ) Stay alive longer, becaue you will have more time to react to the anticipated moves of the hazard Loud pipes do nothing to help with road safety, in fact quite the opposite. Speak to any Police Rider and they will tell you that drivers never hear anything, even a large bike covered in batterburg, with (directional, forward facing) blues 'n two's screaming won't be seen until the last second. It's the skill of the rider, not the noise they make that improves safety. If you want loud pipes, just admit it, you want pedestrians to hear you and impress Bike-illiterate people. Like the colour of bike you choose, it's just about what you like - don't try to justify it with calls of 'i want to be heard in traffic' Some bikes have awesome sounding pipes, but they aren't always loud, a well tuned pipe on a V-Twin is probably the best sound ever.

Good luck with that ! There is a scale, and at one end is a good road bike, the other is a good off-road bike, if you want dual purpose then you will have to make some scrifices. Tyres, with off-road tyres you get losts of noise, it squirms in corners (whicj is actually fun once you get used to it) and you go through them quicker than road tyres. What you fit depends on your budget, what is available for your wheel size and what type of riding you do. The normal dual sport stuff is fine for fast fire roads, gravel or intermediat rocky stuff, Dual sports are the easiest and best wearing tyres to get hold of. In mud they will slide about and you'll have very little grip, same goes for sand and grass. To fit a tyre to deal with these more extreme surfaces (than a road anyway) you'll need to go to something like a MT21, TCK, Enduro tyre but these wear much more quickly. If you are going to take the bike off-road, forget about it looking nice. the tank will become scratched where your knees hold it, the frame paint will wear down and the plastics will dull in no time - it's just dirt and sand, there's not much you can do. Having said that, riding a bike off-road is probably the best way to become a very good rider as it takes real skill (not just the ability to twist your right wrist). You might get this at a push with the R125, but you are never going to get up there with a bike setup for off-road. My TTR600E will stuggle to get past 70, but it will pull itself up a near vertial slope !

Actually,,,,, There is a system out there that is based on the old 'captains tube', it's nothing more than a tube between rider and pillion, can't remember fo rthe life of me what's it's called though - to early, need to kick start the old grey matter.....

StarCom1 Digital - it does everything. I have one for sale, but I think the shippping to the US might make it a little expensive! Of course there are cheaper options, I've tried these and IMHO you'd be better just setting fire to some greenbacks!

I've got two; The first is an older model that works most of the time, the other is a much younger one that is very hit and miss and has been known to over-power the door causing damage. They are very high maintenance though and I'm not sure if either model is value for money

Good old Parafin will clear away the chain lube, use a rag soaked in it and make sure you rinse it away with cold water and avoid geting your chain soaked in it or it will clean out the grease from that too!

These are a little less hassle, and even when you know it's going off, you find a little extra in your underwear! http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/ALARM_MINES.htm I have two of them 'protecting' my back fence (it's an open field and the scum have tried this way before). If you put a plastic plant pot over the top (with the holes taped up) it makes for an awesome effect and keeps the alarm dry...

Welcome. Did 'justed' get good mark on your bike test..... I've already got my coat, and I'm leaving.......

Yep, battery. If that doesn't work then you can look at the charging or regulator/rectifier.But the average life of a battery (without constant/daily use or optimate-type-constant-charge-thingy) is only around 2 years anyway, so it's due one!

I bought a new 125 when I was 17, a Honda MTX125R, the plain reason was that it was new in it's design, better than the DT's that were around at the time. I'd also got myself a job that paid well, so I had something to spen my cash on. Nothing to do with street cred, getting more power, I just liked the idea of something to show for my wages other than a pile of vomit and a hangover. I don't see anything wrong with buying a new bike, 125 or otherwise, but if you are going to try to tweek it, then buying new is a bit of a waste (warrenty, depreciation), but if it's your own money then fair enough. It takes people to buy new stuff otherwise there'd never be any second hand ones!!

Great description.... Remember the old 2 second rule, it'll save your bacon one day, but it only works between 30 (at which speed 2 seconds is too long a gap) and 70 (where the gap becomes too small). Try this in fast moving traffic; Use all the road to get the best possible view, don't discount the inside line either (although never rely on it for a full picture), If ther is no possibility of an overtake, back off, give yourself a 2 second gap, you'll get a much better view of the road ahead. When you see a gap in the traffic, close up the gap nice and smooth so that when the gap appears you are ready to pull out and get passed. Remember your lifesavers, they are called this for a reason! Read Roadcraft, the motorcycle version it will give you lots of very good advice. Learn the system of motorcycle control. Get yourself on a Bike Safe course, they are all starting up in the next month and will give you access to the highly trained Police Motorcyclist, and thier wealth of knowledge, Keep up on your low speed skills, and take as many opportunities to practice your emergency stops (big carparks on Sunday mornings are a good place) - the last place you want to practice this is in an emergency! The ability to carry out a feet up U-turn shouldn't be underestimated, it shows real skill not just the ability to move your right wrist, which any idiot can do!

We have a description of that type of road in the IAM (and so do the police) Three Lanes; Nearside, OffSide, and Suicide. The van driver could probably see more of what was going on ahead than the cage drivers (and there is a strong posibility they were all too close together anyway to see) could. At first I though the bikes relative speed was a bit high but on watching it again it was probably borderline. It's not about right and wrong but life and death. In slow traffic people drivers just don't seam to expect others to be passing, and there is a huge misconception about these three lane roads with the single white line, lots of drivers assume the (in this case) uphill traffic has some priority, truth is no-one does (yes there is a suggestion that downhill driver should give way to uphill, but it's not statue) It could happen on any piece of road, but in slow moving stuff drivers think even less than normal. Right and wrong aside, if the traffic is slow, then keep your speed down, it's only going to delay you a short time. Still, lucky for the rider, he walked away, and it's all on film so no debate realy.

I can't speak for you, but if my missus said that I'd chuck a tent, some camping stuff and I'd be off, where? no destination, just choose a direction at each junction and see where you get to. When it gets dark, tent up, bit of food and sleep, then do the same thing tomorrow, and the next day and the next, until I ran out of cash or I smell so bad that I need to go home and get clean...... but then,,,, my missus wouldn't be so daft as to make such an offer ! So now I plan my getaways,,,, 21 days to departure, then a whole two weeks in the mountains and parks of Portugal, Gib and Spain

It's true, when a bike leaves the factory there is a choice, soul or reliability....... (I've had lots of Hondas, I speak from experience) BMUU do boxe<r>s of them........

I hada run out on a XJ600 the other week, and I thought it was a superb commuter/first bike. There's just nothing difficult about it. Remember, you've only passed a test, all that means is you are qualified to start learning now. It's a great buzz that first ride but stay safe and remember it's no use being right if you are the one in hospital!

If you are going to SHOUT about it, perhaps you might want to get your ducks in order first ? Fuses are over-rated meaning that the suggestion of 36 watts is a maximum (based on the current fuse), and in all probablity the GPS is using something like 10 watts (A Garmin Zumo only draws 15 watts with bluetooth in opperation). As I have suggested on other posts, a relay should be fitted (so the argument on the current draw through the current harness is of little use here) and it's a fine line in any case. I would never recommend running accesories or any kind through OE wiring, always fit a fully fused auxiluary circuit. The argumnet is further flawed as there is an assumption that there is insufficient capacity to provide extra power, when this hasn't yet been properly established. Without the data on power consumption of the <electrical> components of the bike and the output of the stator then a power budget cannot be established. ----- Another option is to look at getting the stator rewound, you can gain some extra watts here, so long as your rectifier/regulator assembly can take the load. If you are replacing the main loom then this is an opportunity to upgrade the whole system and give you what you want.

So your GPS is using less than 36watts, bugger all in power terms (compared to 10 watts from a tail light) but you're going to struggle to recover this power by using LEDs. Indicator, sorry blinkers will either need a replacement flasher unit or in-line resistors to work correctly. The net result is you won't realy save any power (but they are much brighter), the only savings are going to come from the stop/tail light or headlight unit. There are LED headlight units you can buy, but the light these put down on the road isn't great - depends where you ride? Great for city or illuminated areas (from streetlamps) but crap on country roads, but it's an option open to you. One rule you could use to allow you the power is to only use the GPS when you don't use your headlight ? at least then you know you are safe (assuming the bike has the power to run all it's OE electrical items....)

Try these guys - I've just fitted a new digital dash to the TTR and it's a quality piece of kit.

I've no idea if this is the case or not, however, there are some things you can do to recoup a little power. By replacing as many bulbs as possible with LEDs you will regain a few Amps, it really depends on your GPS but generally they take very little power. A typical bulb will take around 10w, sometimes 5w so the gains are very slight but may just tip the balance between charging and draining a battery. To run a circuit you could just take a power feed off the battery, but you should install an auxiluary circuit (a relay that provides power when the bike is running). First you need to find out the power output of the stator, and the draw of the bike - I can't help you there, but a workshop manual would be a good start.

Oh yes, I understand now. We have them here too, in fact they all went out for a flutter yesterday - So I stayed at home, sat in the garden and had a few beers!