The Beginner

"Shut Up..." Grumbles Ed from underneath an umbrella.

I've noticed that almost all motorbikes have horns that make a sound like my moped's and i wonder why they can't have more manly horns, does anyone know waht the laws are on getting better sounding horns or musical horns on a bike? Anyone know any funny stories about horns on motorbikes?

I've got a thing up in teh customs page about my dream bike and yeah there'll be plenty of stupid questions ty though

I just emailed this to my friends and one of them called me up to tell me how good it was and I couldn't hear him for teh laughing that one's really good

Very good I thougth you were beign serious at first :/ lol

Good idea, One more questions what's the realisticness of hving two sest of wheels? whitewalls for summer and plain rubber for witner? I don't know how easy it is to change them :S

If you do make a video section on here and people are interested in making their own on board movies, there is a camera called the "GoPro Helmet Hero" Which is designed to attack to your helmet/head and be used to record skiing and stuff, It's also waterproof to like 150m, I've been looking at one for when I go skiing but I think it'd be dead useful for motorbiking movies too EDIT: Here's a link to a review http://helmetcameracentral.com/2008/01/21/...ble-waterproof/

That national service idea is really good, use people who are forced to be there by law instead of prisoners who are.... damnit, I haven't really thought this through have I? still a good idea!!! you should think about it some more and write a letter to your MP lol

Hi and welcome I'm new myself but everyone here seems friendly Talk soon Ed.

I think that's the best idea I have absolutely no experience with bikes at all except for watching a guy putting the chain back on my classic whilst I held it up lol If I buy the tires from ebay would I tehn be able to take them to a tire place tog et them fitted? or would it be better to get the tire people to order them for me aswell?

I can find a Pair of avon Venom wide whitewalls fitting that spec for £95 and £50 but how should I go about fitting them to the wheel? or should I got to t tyre-person and get them to order and fit for me?

Thanks for the info, I found the Avon brand rear whitewall but couldn't find an avon brand one for the front :/ will have to look into it another time when I'm not with my girlfriend (watching X-Factor )

Thanks for the Hint at Avon, could you tell me what the measurements are for the Classic's wheels so I can check it out please? And you're so right!! she is a babe Looks like nobody else is interested in my shopping list

hehehe Sorry about the smileys. I'm trying not to use them so much (Just avoided typing 3 on that line alone ) Thanks for the advice, You've convinced me against solid wheels at least, but I'll probably mett in the middle and get leather throwovers. Going to have to look into the Classic model now, after looking on bike trader there are some that are cheaper than the custom and you're right, that's why i was hoping to get the back bit cos it looks much more cruiserish and i think will ultimately suit my posing style. As for cleaning whitewalls, I often find it's worth the effort, my dad's got a very clean '57 Chevy BelAir and I'm more than used to cleaning the whitewalls on that as before, I think it's worth it for the looks, and babywipes tend tog et most of the road muck off anyway. When you say "aren't cheap" how much are you talking about (ish?) Thanks very much for the reply and I'll have to stress how much I really do love Elvira

I'm not sure what the differences are about it tbh, I just used some synthetic stuff with a picture of a motorbike on the front... I've never had any complaints from my bike (i don't think...) But I like the sound of most expensive (within reason, don't get ripped off) Good luck and happy shopping!

Hey everyone, if you've seen any of my posts you might know that I'm pretty young and have never had chance to customise a bike before. I'm looking at getting a dragstar 650 when I turn 17 next January and I wanted to ask a few questions about the bits that I want to add/customise. I've read through all the posts on customs up to page 6 so I'm really sorry if I missed an answer and in some cases I am just looking for confirmation. Here goes :S 1. Seats - I get the impression that the stock seat isn't so great and have noticed this "mustang" seat coming recommended from some people, are they hard/expensive to acquire? 2. Pipes - I've heard stock pipes on the bike and I'm not particularly impressed A friend of mine (my "biker-dad" as my dad calls him ) Has a Harley but used to ride a Dragstar 650. He's getting it chopperized soon and has said I can have the old Harley pipes for the noise My only worry is about pipe-noise legality, how serious an issue is it? cos I always read about how you got pulled over by the fuzz, but never any punishments 3. Footboards - Are these useful for more comfortable riding? I seem to get that impression but wanted confirmation 4. Custom Paint - I was hoping to get my bike painted White with Red Scalloping like on an old hot rod, had considered chrome and red but decided that'd be too much effort for a lazy boy like me to keep clean 5. Tyres - Does anyone know where I could get whitewalls for my bike / how much they might cost? 6. Wheels - The spokes on the stock wheels seem to be a problem and after reading about 5 questions with not necessarily definitive answers I was wondering if someone could brief me on the availability of more solid/"cast" wheels 7. Panniers - I'd like to replace my jeep rucksack which might somewhat spoil the image (Cruisers are a bit posy after all ) and get my hands on some panniers but I've never actually seen some in real life. Are they lockable and therefore safe to leave on your bike? or is it more sensible to get some "throw-over" panniers which I can take off and carry when I arrive somewhere. 8. Classic "fenders" - If I were to get the regular drag star rather than the classic, would there be any chance of me still using the rear wheel part from the classic bought separately? because I very much like this style but have noticed that classics seem to be nearly a grand more in a lot of cases which is valuable customising money!! I THINK that's it Thanks so much in advance to any answers you might be able to give me I muchly appreciate it EDIT: I've decided I use FAR too many smiley faces whilst typing

I'm going to sound redicuously right wing here but i think this si something that they have got right... I personally would be more than happy to do a few year's compulsory national service so long as it sorts out all of the losers of my generation aswell, I'd be happy to sacrifice a couple of years of my life so that some of the other tossers clean up their acts and I can live my life more happily later on with less fear of getting ym bike nicked if i don't lock it up or of getting stabbed for looking at the wrong person. In these areas I'm not sure how much a foot massage would help anyone.

It's really funny at my school. If the lunchtime staff are having trouble controlling the kids, they kind of shoot a "help me" look to the nearby 6th Formers and then just leave teh area and get us to sort them out . It's completely unofficial but because they aren't allowed to give people a good telling off anymore and we are it's how they go about doing it when things get really bad. The only time we don't help them is the end of each year when the leavers celebrate and we have smoke bombs and massive water-baloon catapults firing into our quad (playground) But I personally think that the laws that restrict teachers and schooling staff from doing their jobs effectively are a load of crap. There's my 2pence worth

I might have to have a look at those then, Need to look into powering it though cos i've only got a little battery on my 50cc lol. I'll have a chat with a guy i know and see if he's got anything for me ty for the advice Jim

Are they completely legal on a bike? cos I might get a pair of them?

Congrats on passing your test mate!! I had to have a packed lunch on a playground where we'd been practicing!! lol I've also noticed the crappyness of the lights on my bike. Normally night riding for me is only on a road that i know like the back of my hand so I won't be taken by surprise by the corners and isn't very busy so I can ride with hig beams on all the time. but if I'm using my dipped beam it's like holding a bloody candle in front of me Have fun riding P.S. DON'T panic in a corner and grab the front brake cos nobody told you that it'll lock the wheel, It does and it'll mean that you go sliding with a bike between your legs my mistake on my first day lol. GZ again for passing

I've got RST gloves and jacket and they looked after me well enough when I had a spill. The jacket i've got has teh same kind of season-changeability, it's got separate insulating and waterproof linings, I persoanlly just ride without insulating though as without the waterproof the jacket isnt windproof either and taht gets bloody cold even at only 50mph!! lol The jacket cost less than £100 btw, I got some discount cos i got it from teh same place as my bike

Hi everyone! I'm Ed. I'm only 16 so try to go easy on me when i ask stupid questions about motorbikes I'm presently riding on an italian import Aprilia Classic 50cc (geared 5-speed) And I turn 17 in jan '09 and have every hope of getting a Yamaha Dragstar 650 limited so I can play with the big boys (and girls!!) I also enjoy skiing, but i didn't notice that category in the sections One thing I really want to do is to drive a bike to switzerland, ski for a weekend and then drive back!! I look forward to talking to you all and I'm sorry in advance for any particularly stupid questions/statements. Thanks for reading! Ed

Wasn't expecting that fast a reply thanks very much for getting back to me. Also, I'm not a complete beginner, I've got a year's driving experience on a geared bike with no claims, so it shouldnt be as bad i hope :S Also, I've got a friend who has brought me into motorcycling and he's getting his harley customised and said i could have his old pipes for my yamaha if it's got facory pipes on it, what do you guys think? he says they're straight through.] Ty again

I went to the NEC bike show i tihnk last year or the year before, and Honda had set up this software like a low-graphics video game but rather than use a keybaord, you sat on a "bike" that was fixed into position and rode with the gears and the brakes and everything, they were doing a kind of joke assessment and i got 100% except for the part where a guy cut me up and rather than panicking like they expected a 15 year old to I just held down the horn and flipped the screen the finger