Gas up - Let's Go!

Welcome along fella. They do seam to have a bit of a following the TDM's.

You are under no obligation to use these guys, I would insist that the bike is taken to my own trusted dealer for assesment. Have you considered someone like Accident Exchange ? There are many out there who's business is no-fault accidents, I used Accident Exchange when some nupty run up the back of my Landy, basicaly they take on the risk, provide you with a loan vehicle authorise repairs and bill the other parties insurance directly, no need to use your own insurnace company. Did you know even though it is not your fault, statistically you are more likely to be involved in another accident in the next three years, your insurance company knows this and your premiums will reflect this...... Not sure if Accident Exchange do bikes but they do take away all the hassle - I got myself a spanking new Disco 3 HSE for two weeks while mine was repaired ! Helphire Bike Assist will get you a loan bike and replace your lid & Leathers for a £10 premium, even after the accident! I've never used them, but there's no harm in a phone call - 0500 33 55 66

Seriously guys, this is the time to get out on the bike. I'm not suggesting you ride like barry sheen, just plod along and take it easy - you will see the rewards come the spring. Even just a 30-40 mile jaunt, you'll be a much better (technically) rider when the sun comes out. Then you can spend a couple of hours cleaning the bike..... The biggest downsied I'm afraid If the bike has any little niggles it gives you loads of time to sort them out before the reallllly good biking weather comes along, and as we only get a couple of days of this weather you'll want the bike in A1 working order. I passed my test in September 19xx and never got back in a car until well into the next summer.

It's only been crappy for a couple of weeks ! Just get out and ride, this is the time to do it - but stay safe

I though it was just me........ Funny how the winter riders alway wave/nod/flash/whatever at you, must be a kinda "hell, another looney" thing! Glad you guys managed to get out, just take care, the roads are still really slippy, what with all that salt they've been throwing around......

At least you're alive and walking (if a little AKA John Wayne!) - always a good accident if you walk away IMO. On the same or similar theme, yesterday up at Alston (Hartside Cafe anyone?) we had our first biker Airlifted to Hospital, don't know the details but take care out there guys, especially if you've had the bike laid up over the cold snap. The sun might well be shining, and the roads look dry, but there is a whole heap of salt still down the middle of the lanes and it's as slippy as hell. I was out on Saturday, did a 300 miler and there were a few occasions where the front slipped a bit, or the rear spun out. I'm on a XT660Z, which handles these conditions pretty well, and with a around 50Hp it's very well behaved on slippy stuff. It's still very dangerous on road tyres and a powerfull bike. Take care out there

Maybe you are right, I feel a reconnoitre coming on............

I tend to park the bike, and direct the steering dependant completely upon the ground orientation and conditions, sometime you need to go left, sometimes right, sometimes in gear sometimes not - it's all about getting the bike stable so it's not gonna fall over. There you go, completely useless information!

I called you one of them once, I'm still in that place you put me.... 'ere - AT ALL..... Oh no........ we're off...... Fight fight fight....... Sorry. Welcome along, Goff isn't so bad, she's OK actually, my kinda non-sufferer type of person. Jaffa Cakes - there's a clue in the name........

You see, as you say yourself, you live in a big wide open desert, try living over here where we have narrow roads and a boat load more traffic. When the truck at the front is travelling at 30-40mph on a road with a limit of 60mph, and a huge queue of traffic behind it you would understand why 'filtering' is not only usefull but actually a requirement to pass some of the advanced asesments me have over here. Slow moving trucks on the road are considered a hazard, and by sitting behind them, you are becoming the hazard and increasing it's potential. Frustration of motorists in slow moving traffic becomes a catalyst for some drivers to take risks they might otherwise not take (in reality it's mostly drivers of German cars). You have your little rant, fine - but try considering other countries too, and thier road conditions. I for one don't know you, so I have no opinion of you. With so few posts and being new, you might want to loosen up a bit, and post some constructive comments?? As do irrisponsible car, truck and bus drivers that hide behind the mass of thier chosen rides. Sorry, this is abit of a contradiction - are you saying that bikes go slow, or fast ?? Perhaps the rider is slowing you down because you just caused an incident, nearly killing him with your irrisponsible use of your Air Horns ?? Think about it...... Now, that's more like it. Yes you have every right to expect consideration within the law, remember though different countries have different road traffic laws. Try riding a bike through Romania, with bl00dy great UN trucks passing you on narrow tracks in a dust cloud with ruts and potholes the size of a cow. Oh, and the same thing coming in the opposite direction... It's not until you try to ride in an alien environment that you begin to understand how the world works and how the hell there aren't more people killed out there. (Also try Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria....) For a real life defying ride London scares the be-jesus out of me.... Everyone can have a rant, it's how you finish it of that counts. So, back to the topic on the post - Mods, I think I have it now. Moderators are all horrible people with two heads and spawn devil children ? is that about the level? Well, I know a couple of them , and OG is a sound bloke, donated some cash to help distressed Children - so I wouldn't say he is spawning devil children. Goff, Ah Goff, what would we do without Goff - she stikes terror into the eyes of anyone stupid enough to cross her, personally though I've never had a problem with her either, she comes over as prety fair and balanced, and besids, she has a big dog, or is it a horse? never was sure. Without the Mods the place would fall into a farce, the normal well adjusted members would bugger off somewhere else leaving all the idiots. So if they p1$s a few folk off, fine, no-one is being held here against thier will, Cyberspace is a big place, go find some like minded individuals and all play unhappily together. Can we have some love injected into this thread now ??

WTF is this thread about ?? I'm ly trying to work out what it's all about ? Total waste of bandwidth (I have 3 yamaha's - yes my opinion counts, my wife has told me it can.......... today)

Under test conditions. The human body cannot survive a dead stop at any speed greater than, I'm going to say 30mph, but it's fractionally less (OK in a former live I worked in an enviroement with a dynamic rigg, the thing they test seatbelts on) as your insided will exude through your rib cage. So these will act like a sort of crumple zone in certain acidents, but the statistics are just a blanket view and don't cover off the different sorts of acidents, when are we going to see these expanded out? then we can begin to make statements about what will and what will not work. These jackets aren't going to work when the truck runs over you, when you go head first into the side of the car that's pulled out, when you go through a hedge etc etc I'd like to see some opening up of the stats to say how many of the 20% of the road acidents would be have reduced effect with these jackets - the truth is we never will. I'm getting out of my depth with this one, but in my youth I rode moutain bikes, properly - up and down mountain (well you can't ignor them around here!) and in my many falls, the ones where you are tensed up hurt the most, when you fall ragdole fashion you normally walk away laughing - So why is it good to basically immobilise the whole body with these jackets ? I think what I'm trying to say is one size does not fit all.

Nope. It's just wrong, both are under the age of consent. Wrong wrong wrong wrong.

That's very true, but when things become complusory, it errodes an individuals choice. Where something can protect a 3rd party then that's good, after all it's not thier fault if they are involved (OK , so some idiot steps out in front of yuo without looking is, but you know what I'm getting at), but falling off and rolling down the road is going to hurt YOU, it is unlikely to hurt the truck/car/lampost etc that stops you rolling. Personally, I like to cover al angles and reduce the risk as best I can - but there are two sides to risk reduction, prevention and protection, and often over protection can lead to a loss in prevention. Here's a very extreme example, but it shows the point I'm trying to make :-> If you tell a new motorcycle rider to wear top to toe body armour, neck brace, knee braces etc, then ask him to carry out an emergency manouver, such as the one in the new motorcycle test he is going to find it much more difficult than if he had free moving clothing. Another example, ABS - since it's introduction how many drivers know how to avoid a skid in a non-ABS vehicle ?? Not controll a skid, but avoid. When safety devices are introduced it's human nature to push the limits a bit more, relying on the device to 'save' you. When these sort of things become compulsary, the prices become less competative, the only loosers are the motorcyclist. I have no issue with this type of equipment, and if the quality was right (such as keeping me dry, warm and comfortable) then I would consider it, my beef would be when someone in Whitehall decided it was what I should do, based on statistics (Lies, dammed lies and statistic - Wiston Churchill). Hence, Nanny State !

So whats your thoughts on this ?? http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technolo...000/7886427.stm

Hein Gericke sell leathers just for Kids, Cute as can be

Steve, It's all here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Buyin...hicle/index.htm You need to fill in a V62, you can print these out from the web - best to go into a DVLA office if you can, they are usually a bit more human that the call centre folk.

What that man said. They are precious, but you don't need anyone telling you that. Wish my daughter would get on the bloody back - wouldn't have to take the car as much....

Now there's an interesting question. I get flat spots on my trailer if I leave it in the same possition for more than a few months, never considered it for a bike!

Hiya Paul, Welcome along, Me I'm nowhere near 50, so no Saga for me....... How do you get your daughter to get on a bike? mine looks at me like I'm somthing that fell off her shoe when I suggest it!! Girls eh??

Bike Jumbles would be a good place to look. Have a google search and you'll find one.

Yes,,, and No. Confused? There are legal tints out there, they are a very light smoked lens, they work OK but not as well as something like an irridium one that all but blocks out the sun. However, after dusk you must change to a clear lens - if you want to remain legal. It's a ridiculous law, as the Police can make you remove your illegal visor and ride without one, which is just plain silly as you are more of a hazard without eye /face protection. You can wear dark glasses behind your visor, so why not have a dark visor? It would be much safer.... Two words,, Nanny State I use an Aria Tour-X, which has a peak, so the light smoked lens is fine (the peak stops the direct sun), I also have a Shoei Multiteck flip front and the light tint isn't very effective at all, so I wear sun glasses too. There are websites out there that give you the whole run down on what's right and wrong. Me, I'd rather not give the authorities the excuse they need to start poking about so I stay outwardly legal In the summer it's less of a problem as the sun is high in the sky, but this time of year it can be a bl00dy nightmare, especially if like me you ride East in the morning and West at night!

What's going on, have all the girlies woke up this week ?? Is this the fourth? Welcome along, it's about time there was some nice people on here, better than all those hairy ar$ed blokes...

It's never too early to ask, once you've told us all about your innermost thoughts - Oh no, wrong forum again.... welcome along.

I think you're right. Up here in Cumbria we have some of the best biking roads around, as well as one of the best driving roads in Europe, so it's a bit of a mecca for bikes. Normally from the first 'sunny sunday' of the year we have at least one death or serious injury every weekend. This probably influences the availibility of funds for this sort of thing, and they make a fortune on speeding, which has to go into road safety. It becomes sort of obvious really. The bikes the Police use are supplied by local dealers, and there are other sponsers too, so there is only the cost of the officers time and a bit of fuel to cover off.