mike1949

Unfortunatly not free, a replacement about ten years ago was £15.00 Admittedly up to now I have used a holder with a rubber ring holding the disc in which is very easy to remove, but as from today I have just bought an aluminium holder which you need an allen key to remove disc, but I think that if someone is determined to steal it they could break it off.

I honestly have never displayed my tax disk but keep it in my wallet just in case, been okay so far. That's what I'm doing at the moment, but what if you leave the bike unattended in a public place?

For the second time now I've had my tax disc stolen. Is there any traffic cops on this forum that can shed some light where bikers stand legally when riding without a disc. I would have thought that in this day and age with police cars fitted with automatic number plate recognition that can tell if the vehicle is taxed and insured do we really need to display a valid disc which is so prone to theft? The first thief who stole my disc altered the registration number to read his own but left Honda cycle on and put it in his car.

Don't try to be to clever and go too slow, they will fail you. I would think you must do between 25-30mph.

I hope it all goes well for your test next week, if it's any help when I took my test the emergency stop went something like this. Front brake, rear brake then clutch lever, trying not to stall the engine.

Rode on the M4 yesterday in extreme wind conditions 2 up. Kuuuriste was that scary, anybody with similar experiences ? Also have had extreme rain on the M5 where I couldn't see ten feet in front of me, had to stop under a motorway bridge, always wondered if a cop stopped would he have done me?

First thing he said when he woke up was "Are we there yet?"

Jim, I'm on your side and agree with you but what I am trying to do is enlighten all the younger bikers that aren't aware of the situation about the origional photo licence problems.

... I just cannot see the problem if you read the t&c's it tells you Regards Jim What are t&c's?

Also as well JimR if you turn up whith an invalid passport it not an offence, but if you ride a bike with an invalid driving licence it is.

"you didnt mention passports" No I didn't mention passports because everybody Knows that passports have an expiry date, but how many people know that a photo licence has an expiry date? Obviously you are a professionly driver so I would expect you to know, but what I want to do is make aware the majority of bikers that are of a younger age.

In all honesty I don't know, I'm one of the older paper licence holders but for some reason I received this as an e.mail from my breakdown recovery people and thought I would pass it on to the forum. Reading into it a photo licence only lasts for 10 years, if what your saying yours only lasts for 5 years I would certainly look into it. I'm not trying to scaremonger but I do think it ought to be made aware to all bikers. Also on the same note I remember some years ago that if you sent your photo licence of to DVLA for some reason i.e. to have points endorsed, when it came back the motorcycle qualification had been erased. This might have been resolved by now, but it might be wise just to check.

Your Driving Licence - Beware IS YOUR DRIVING LICENCE STILL VALID? Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photo card driving licences expire. Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence. They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photo card licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70. The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as they start to expire. Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life. They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed. Stealth Tax To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years. Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding. With another 300,000 photo card licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine. At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version. Just below the driver name on the front of the photo card licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered. Tiny writing Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means. The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'. Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday. A total of 25 million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years. £1,000 Fine Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

I wouldn't put this in the catagory of stupid, more scary. When coming back from Clevedon (Somerset) to Chippenham (Wiltshire) after watching football, on the M5 whilst crossing the Avonmouth bridge my son fell asleep on the back of the bike, in hindsite I should have slowly pulled into the hard shoulder, but what did I do? I shouted out his name to wake him up. As luck had it he didn't fall off the back and we got home safely, but years later I still have nightmares.

I did have a bee sting me in the neck once and had to ride home very slow with the sac still hanging out, when I got home I had to pull it out with tweezers so as to not let the poison into my throat. Ever since I always were a "boob tube"

Well done on passing your test. But, and this is a very big but, be aware that a lot of cars out there will not see you. Be very vigilant when on the road especially at roundabouts.

I get this with my front tyre all the time on all of the bikes I've had. Does the tyre wear on the right hand side of the tyre as you are sitting on the bike, if so it is most likely due to the camber of the roads.

Hi there. Have been watching forum the last week while on holiday and seems very friendly, so here goes. I haven't been a biker for long (for my age), only twenty years and mainly 250's but as my lad was getting older and heavier I needed a bigger bike so chose a divvy 600 which takes us everywhere (we follow are local non-league football club) The reason I was looking at the forum last week was the bike wouldn't start. After buying and fitting a new solenoid it still wouldn't start so I bought and fitted a new starter relay and it still wouldn't start, so I started doing a continuity test and although it wasn't obvious at first the cable that runs from the starter button down to the relay was corroded at the block connector therefore not connecting. So instead of paying approx 100.00 I could have fixed it for nothing. Mike