j0hn

That's exactly what I have at the moment. Don't really like the oval shape, hence why I'm looking at the Oxford range. I might just have to risk £34 for a pair and hope they fit .

I think their basic breakdown cover means you can only be picked up if you are over 1/4 mile from your home and if they are unable to fix at roadside, they will only tow to a maximum of 10 miles to either a garage or your choice of destination. I upgraded to their next cover which means they can tow me anywhere nationally and not limited by miles. Was only like £30 something. Not really sure where you got the 20 miles thing

Really sorry to hear about this. It must be devastating. Have you taken any action yourself and gone around asking near by areas if they have seen anything? If there are shops nearby with CCTV cameras and if you've got a rough idea the thieves went in that direction, you could ask the shop owner if he is willing to look back at the footage. Good places would be petrol stations, assuming these thieves haven't an ounce of a brain. Gets harder if they van'd your bike. I know this is really for the police to deal with but they aren't really the fastest and by the time they actually make an enquiry, it's probably too late. As tgsm7 stated, best way would have been through the back wheel and if you've got a long enough chain you can put it through the actual frame for an extra piece of mind. Just a question about data tagging, is it really worth it? For what it claims to be, the price isn't too bad (around £70 on Amazon). I'd think the most effective piece in their kit would be the visual deterrent and if the price of the full kit is too much, you could probably get the tamper proof label off eBay or something. Hopping there is a happy ending and you are reunited with your bike again. Best of luck.

You would need a relay or resistors for the LED bulbs due to power consumption only being around 0.3W. As far as I know, you won't require anything for the number plate light since it's constantly on. The only worry there would be that the power being too much for the LEDs but I doubt that would be that much of a problem.

I don't really mind if it's LED or not, I just don't like the shape of my indicators

sparky67, If it's LED, you'll need a new flasher relay or resistors. I would personally change the relay so I'm not having to place resistors anywhere (if not built in). I came across this relay on eBay, should be OK by the looks of it: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150951373786?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Damn 8mm bolt fixing, is this the standard size or have I measured the bolt size wrong on my XT?

Does anyone own a set of the Oxford LED Indicator range? I'm trying to figure out if these would be compatible for my XT 125 X. I emailed Oxford but haven't had reply. I know the indicators state that they are universal but I'm not sure how accurate that is. The thread size (diameter) on the current indicator bolt is only 5mm. Was wondering if anyone that already owns a pair could confirm the thread size.

On my hunt for insurance, MCE was the cheapest with more than £500 less than the next insurer. They are pretty good, free breakdown (roadside) cover with RAC too.

Totally agree with Grouch, such a great resource this site has been and love the crowd ! Happy New year to you all. My prediction for 2013: See through helmets!

Thanks for the tips and feedback It's great looking back on it afterwards because at the time, I didn't notice the Skoda moving over but I do remember how tight it was getting through the next set of cars.

Good point about not drawing attention to yourself by hand signals but I guess it does come with a slight risk. That being said, I'm not sure how many drivers actually pay enough attention on the road to notice hand signals. Wow, I was unaware that VOSA had the power to stop you at roadside.

Yea got it all sorted that day. By the looks of things, if your motorcycles came with indicators and you take them off, then you will only get a daytime MOT certificate. Source: http://www.ukmot.com/bike/1-5.asp

If you're going to buy a new battery, I suggest you get an AGM type. I recently replaced mine with an AGM and it's been great. Not sure if I'm too late in posting this but this is what I bought: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0070WTTGC As for getting shafted by the Audi driver, good luck winning your case if it goes any further. Investing in a helmet camera would have been ideal in these situations.

I'm also currently in this dilemma and I want to stick with Yamaha. I'll prob be investing in a new bike next summer and I went through a similar cycle to Grouch but I think I've finally settled on a XT660Z Tenere.

I'm not really a fan of the older bike styles (not sure what these would be called) but there is something about Drewpy's flat tracker making it so damn irresistible.

Wooo, my first attempt at filtering through slow moving traffic on the motorway .

Well from what I've gathered, If the bike came with indicators fitted, they must work or else it's illegal. If it were to undergo a MOT then it would fail, thus illegal to be on the road. If the former rule stands then the exception is made if the bike is on route directly to a garage to have the indicators fixed, in which case hand signals must be used. Similar to the exception made to the going to/coming back from a MOT centre without a tax disc scenario. The only way to pass the MOT would be to take off all the indicators and a small modification to the indicator switch to show that it's non functional. I'm not sure if this would only get you a daytime only MOT certificate but as far as I know, you would only get that if you don't have head/rear lights. I guess if you were to get stopped then you could play the "I only noticed they were not functioning while on my ride" and depending on the officer at the time, the worst possible outcomes being a £30 fixed penalty notice or a vehicle defect rectification notice - the latter being the worst imo.

What a genius idea to switch the working to right hand side. I had to do to clutch pulls whenever signalling right. Yea I will be getting a set of 4. The annoying this is, a week ago I stocked up on all the necessary bulbs for the bike apart from the indicators .

Just noticed this morning that one of my my indicator bulbs was out and I was searching online to see what the law against riding with a blown bulb but didn't really find anything solid. I recall during my CBT, the instructor said that it's still legal to ride providing you use hand signals. I know the best course of action here is to get the bulb replaced as soon as possible, just really bad timing. I'll have to ride early tomorrow morning and back home at night one more time before I can replace them. So I'm wondering what the law is with riding only using hand signals for a period of time and if that applies to night time riding too.

So I applied some of that Tyre-Grip stuff and I can definitely notice better traction. One of the more difficult parts of my commute is actually coming out of the driveway and crossing the frozen footpath. I used to notice slight rear wheel skids before but after applying Tyre-Grip, I didn't feel any skidding. Though I don't know if this is because of some placebo effect. I was also able to go around 57mph riding up an inclined section of a motorway which usually max around 45 - 50 mph. I guess I'll know how good they really are when I come across more ice ahead.

I use a combination of rainx Rain Repellent on the front side of the visor and Gator FogX Anti-Fog cleaner for the inside. I haven't really experienced freezing fog yet but the visor seems to be fine through slight fog.

I assume you are talking about the Spada pair. Yea, they are a great. As mentioned, not too great at keeping your hands warm on its own but with a thin liner it's good. That being said, I do have a set of heated grips fitted which are pretty much on full blast these days so you might feel the coldness if you don't have any fitted. If you have no plans fit any and going to solely rely on these gloves, a thin liner and your wind deflectors for "winter protection" then I suggest you look for something higher up in the price range and actually invest in "winter gloves". I like them because they seem good for general all year round riding, looks pretty good and good protection in all the important areas. Also comes with a visor wiper attached to the left hand thumb. I don't really wear hi-viz jackets so these gloves do make up for my carelessness ever so slightly.

I've got a pair of Sparda WP gloves for £60. They aren't good for keeping your hands warm on their own though. Like jimmy stated, what makes the difference from freezing hands to cold hands is a pair of these silk thermal liners. Got them from Amazon for about 10 quid (incl. postage). I've also got wind deflectors and R&G heated grips and with this combination, my hands are always warm . You could, if you've got cash to splash, go for a Gerbing T5 which are heated gloves and I think they come in around £150. Read a few reviews and seems to get rated pretty high. Review here:

I'm not really a fan of the Enduro raised front style to be honest and swapping it over seems like a hassle with all these speedometer calibrations etc. Would the bike benefit from replacing just the rear tyre to a Trailmax or is that just going to make it look a bit odd. I guess Nev and Cynic is right about SMs having slick looking tyres but I wouldn't mind compromising a little of the looks for better grip on bad road surfaces/conditions.

Was thinking of getting some good on/off road tyres for my XT 125 X after Cynic mentioned how good the Bridegestone Trailwings are but I'm not quite sure which combination of tyres to get since 17" front tyres are pretty impossible to find. I've read that it is possible to run on two rear tyres so that is what my hopes are. Yamaha XT 125 X (2008) Tyre specifications from the owners manual: Front: 100/80-17 52S Rear: 130/70-17 62S The clearance between the spokes for the front tyre is around 125-130mm so I'm guessing a typical 120mm rear tyre is going to be pretty tight in there. The only 17" Bridegestone Trailwings tyre is a 4.60-17 62P which equates to 116.84 mm (width) so in theory, it should just be able to fit the front with enough space left on each side? I think the width for the Trailwings as a rear tyre compared to my current is a bit too small so I was thinking maybe a Dunlop Trailmax 130/80-17 65S should fit ok? I really don't know much about tyre fittings and their sizes and whether tyres should match the sizes listed on the owners manual exactly and if that's not the case, I would love to go for 140/80-17 69H in the Trailmax range offered by Dunlop since the clearance for the rear exceeds 150mm.