The Bikeshite Thread

[Fabergé Greggs]

I can’t shake the want for a CBR600 or similar. Just feels like the kind of bike I need to try. Would need to be ULEZ compliant so thinking of a ~ 2005 CBR600F4. How horrible are they on the motorway/in town? Does it matter? 

[Iamgroot]

Freshly painted, loving the new look, custom paint colour mixed by the bodyshop..

[Dave_Q]

1 hour ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

I can’t shake the want for a CBR600 or similar. Just feels like the kind of bike I need to try. Would need to be ULEZ compliant so thinking of a ~ 2005 CBR600F4. How horrible are they on the motorway/in town? Does it matter? 

It's all relative, I have decided that pretty much any clip on handlebar bike isn't that comfy for me and I'm limited to about an hour at a time. I am 6'3" which probably adds to the level of pressure on the wrists.

Motorway might be a bit better than town as you have the wind lifting you up a bit.

Compared to modern sportsbikes the position isn't as extreme, lots of people find them comfortable.

You'll just have to buy one to find out.

[straightSix]

Did my theory test today and pleased to say I passed. Full marks in the multi choice and 68/75 on hazard perception. Cannot wait to get my DAS done later this year now

[straightSix]

Actually, with regards to doing the DAS, is it possible to have lessons like you would learning to drive a car and book NOD 1 and 2 when you're ready or better to just do an intensive course?

[Iamgroot]

10 minutes ago, straightSix said:

Actually, with regards to doing the DAS, is it possible to have lessons like you would learning to drive a car and book NOD 1 and 2 when you're ready or better to just do an intensive course?

Absolutely, basically do whichever suits you better.

With regards to MOD1, you sign a form to say the bike you are using for taking the test is insured for it, but they don't actually check.... Just saying.., if you have a compatible bike available and get it there without riding it, it's about £10-15 for a MOD1 test and £70? For a MOD2

Bike sure , be Moto and someone else I can't remember can give you insurance to ride your own bike while in radio contact with your instructor or examiner, so if you have a compatible bike for the test classes you want to take, this can be cheaper, if your instructor will let you use your own bike, if you use an instructor rather than just repeatedly taking the tests...

Oh edited to add, congrats on the theory test.

[straightSix]

34 minutes ago, Iamgroot said:

Absolutely, basically do whichever suits you better.

With regards to MOD1, you sign a form to say the bike you are using for taking the test is insured for it, but they don't actually check.... Just saying.., if you have a compatible bike available and get it there without riding it, it's about £10-15 for a MOD1 test and £70? For a MOD2

Bike sure , be Moto and someone else I can't remember can give you insurance to ride your own bike while in radio contact with your instructor or examiner, so if you have a compatible bike for the test classes you want to take, this can be cheaper, if your instructor will let you use your own bike, if you use an instructor rather than just repeatedly taking the tests...

Oh edited to add, congrats on the theory test.

Amazing thanks for that! Definitely increased the temptation to get a bigger bike 😆

[Dave_Q]

I reckon I would have got better value with hourly lessons rather than an intensive course. 

It was a 5 day course I think with day 1 CBT and day 5 mod 2. 

On day 2 and 3 when we were actually training, I reckon that between the coffee breaks and fag breaks I actually got about 4 hours tuition in a "day" and buying them hourly would have cost less (but taken longer)

[warren t claim]

2 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

I reckon I would have got better value with hourly lessons rather than an intensive course. 

It was a 5 day course I think with day 1 CBT and day 5 mod 2. 

On day 2 and 3 when we were actually training, I reckon that between the coffee breaks and fag breaks I actually got about 4 hours tuition in a "day" and buying them hourly would have cost less (but taken longer)

Instructor fag breaks are there so you can be supervised practicing your slow speed exercises. 

[warren t claim]

Things are better now!

[warren t claim]

42 minutes ago, Iamgroot said:

 

Bike sure , be Moto and someone else I can't remember can give you insurance to ride your own bike while in radio contact with your instructor or examiner, so if you have a compatible bike for the test classes you want to take, this can be cheaper, if your instructor will let you use your own bike, if you use an instructor rather than just repeatedly taking the tests...

Oh edited to add, congrats on the theory test.

ALL instructor insurance policies cover the learner on any bike. I've taught a fair few pupils on their own bikes. My only caveat was that I'd take them to the DSA U Turn road and perform the maneuver myself on their bike to see if it could be done easily.

[Iamgroot]

43 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

ALL instructor insurance policies cover the learner on any bike. I've taught a fair few pupils on their own bikes. My only caveat was that I'd take them to the DSA U Turn road and perform the maneuver myself on their bike to see if it could be done easily.

But they won't ALL tell you that!..

[warren t claim]

1 minute ago, Iamgroot said:

But they won't ALL tell you that!..

Yes we will! We'd rather you drop your own bike practicing U Turns than our own!

[Bradders59]

On 2/21/2023 at 6:50 PM, Fabergé Greggs said:

I can’t shake the want for a CBR600 or similar. Just feels like the kind of bike I need to try. Would need to be ULEZ compliant so thinking of a ~ 2005 CBR600F4. How horrible are they on the motorway/in town? Does it matter? 

They are superb bikes. Close to the perfect all rounder in my opinion and ultra reliable. I had a year 2000 model for several years and loved it.

Revved it to the red line in every gear all the time and never had any kind of problem with it. 

[warren t claim]

1 minute ago, Bradders59 said:

They are superb bikes. Close to the perfect all rounder in my opinion and ultra reliable. I had a year 2000 model for several years and loved it.

Revved it to the red line in every gear all the time and never had any kind of problem with it. 

Coincidence or what?

[Iamgroot]

6 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

Yes we will! We'd rather you drop your own bike practicing U Turns than our own!

I'm not saying YOU wouldn't, but if they ALL did, I doubt there would be so many internet threads about how to insure your own bike for training and tests.

Certainly in my experience and that of at least two of my friends, it wasn't offered as an option, that's with different instructors in different areas.

If it was, I wouldn't have bothered my lazy arse to get the quotes, my instructor in fact gave me the number of an insurance guy "who his candidates who want to do it usually use"

[warren t claim]

3 minutes ago, Iamgroot said:

I'm not saying YOU wouldn't, but if they ALL did, I doubt there would be so many internet threads about how to insure your own bike for training and tests.

Certainly in my experience and that of at least two of my friends, it wasn't offered as an option, that's with different instructors in different areas.

If it was, I wouldn't have bothered my lazy arse to get the quotes, my instructor in fact gave me the number of an insurance guy "who his candidates who want to do it usually use"

Oh, the instructor policy is always TPO. You bend it. You mend it.

[5speedracer]

On 2/15/2023 at 1:30 PM, andyberg said:

Rumour has it that Kawasaki and Yamaha are closing many of their plants due to declining bike sales. 🏍🛵 Apparently, the Baby-Boomers all have motorcycles, and Generation X is only buying a very few, and the next generation, the Millennials, aren’t buying any at all.🕵

A recent study was conducted to find out why.

Here are the reasons why Millennials don't ride motorcycles and why sales are down:

1. Pants won't pull up far enough for them to straddle the seat.

2. Can't get their phone to their ear with a helmet on.

3. Can't use 2 hands to eat while driving.

4. They don't get a trophy and a recognition plaque just for buying one.

5. Don't have enough muscle to hold the bike up when stopped.

6 Might have a bug hit them in the face and then they would need emergency care.

7. Motorcycles don't have air conditioning.

8. They can't afford one because they spent 12 years in college trying to get a degree in Humanities, Social Studies or Gender Studies for which no jobs are available.

9. They are allergic to fresh air.

10. Their pajamas get caught on the exhaust pipes.

11. They might get their hands dirty checking the oil.

12. The handle bars have buttons and levers and cannot be controlled by touch-screen.

13. You have to shift manually and use something called a clutch.

14. It's too hard to take selfies while riding.

15. They don't come with training wheels like their bicycles did.

16. Motorcycles don't have power steering or power brakes.

17. Their nose ring interferes with the visor.

18. They would have to use leg muscle to back up.

19. When they stop, a light breeze might blow exhaust in their face.

20 It could rain on them and expose them to non-soft water.

21. It might scare their therapy dog, and then the dog would need therapy.

22. Their man bun wont fit under a helmet.😁

This also seems to apply to bicycles. When I was a kid in the 70's we all had bikes and roamed about everywhere on them with our mates or even just hanging about we had our bikes. You never seem to see a bunch of kids on a mixed bag of bikes just hairing around for fun now.

[Cavcraft]

New carb seems to have (mostly) done the trick.  Was hoping for the dizzy heights of the speedo indicated 39mph, but the A41 is only 204 miles long.

[hairnet]

Parked in kway

[hairnet]

Today - not cheap

Cush rubbers needed but that'll wait

[Iamgroot]

Got before and after the paint job pic..

[martc]

Well, I took the Zero out for it's first trip on Sunday and it's absolutely bloody ace. I can't describe how ace it is. It's silent, there's no vibration at all and it's so smooooooth. And the torque, blinkin flip.  This is definitely the future; it's how I imagined transport of the future would be like.  It's also a very different experience to an IC bike. Obvs it's a twist and go and I couldn't help reaching for the clutch occasionally (particularly when almost stopped to prevent a stall) but the silence, the continuous power delivery and most notably the regen braking are completely different. It has excellent J.Juan brakes (the Spanish quality brake company no-one has heard of -look them up) which are hardly needed. It also handles very well (Showa suspension, Pirelli tyres), contrary to most ideas around US built motorbikes!

Of course not everything is perfect - the riding position is a bit too 'sporting' for my liking, but I was tense and it was very cold so the slight leg ache should improve. 1" lower pegs from the SR/S are available for a mere £29 if I need them (or a higher 'comfort' seat, but that's £lots). The cruise control (yes it has cruise control) button is about 2 thumbs distance away and therefore completely useless as you need to loosen your grip on the throttle and the engine braking then knocks about 10 mph off before you can grab it again. No revving at traffic lights!

The elephant in the room - range. Well it was cold  at 6°C, but with the wind chill it felt -2°C (according to Metcheck), and as I know from the e208 range suffers quite significantly with cold so I didn't expect too much but suffice to say I would just have made it to work and back (95 miles) using 'eco' mode, sticking strictly to speed limits and not using the dual carriageways.

PS anyone spare a penny guv? (still haven't received the inheritance that was supposed to pay for it...)

[Iamgroot]

That's a very interesting real world review, thanks, I'm intrigued by these and to be fair it's not that often I go for more than a 100 mile ride. by the time I was in the market for one, I think the range would be improved by far enough for me or electric vehicles would have been superseded by then, but I am thinking about booking a test ride on one of zeros tours if I see one come up.

[MiniMinorMk3]

They had a test of three electric commuter bikes on Fifth Gear Recharged the other day. It looks like the range is the biggest draw back on them as they do not go much further than about 60 miles. OK if your daily commute is 20 miles or so, but a bit of a pain if it is longer. Also not much fun if you want to go for a Sunday ride. One think I did like is that the batteries can be removed and charged in-doors of a 240v socket. That's also quite a good anti-theft device to stop opportunists riding off on your machine.

The bike test is in Episode 8 of Season 2.

Fifth Gear Recharged | Shows | discovery+ (discoveryplus.com)

[martc]

1 hour ago, Iamgroot said:

That's a very interesting real world review, thanks, I'm intrigued by these and to be fair it's not that often I go for more than a 100 mile ride. by the time I was in the market for one, I think the range would be improved by far enough for me or electric vehicles would have been superseded by then, but I am thinking about booking a test ride on one of zeros tours if I see one come up.

If your purse can stretch a bit further the SRF and SRS have larger batteries in them giving a bit more range. Mine (the SR) has the 14.3 kwh battery, upgraded to 17.3 kWh (for free, special offer), the SRF and SRS start at 17.3 and can be upgraded to 21.  All 3 'SR' bikes can have extra batteries fitted (into the dummy fuel tank) adding a further 3kWh, this will cost about £3000 and you lose the handy storage space. The DSR/X tourer also has the bigger battery, not sure if an extra one can be fitted to this.

I had a look at Energica electric bikes, which have a longer range, at the NEC  but, although I am a confirmed Italophile, the design of them is very fussy, the seat slopes forward, the quality of the plastic work was poor and they cost several thousand pounds more than the Zero. Also they are chain driven (so last century) and you can't fit a centre stand.

Hardly Dangerous's attempt is laughable and not even worth considering.

Or you could look at an Arc- made in the UK, 260 odd miles range and a snip at something ridiculous like £90,000 ++. https://www.arcvehicle.com/

[Cavcraft]

Yesterday's collection:

Today's collection:

The Lexmoto has done 31,000 miles, and the Superdream has sat unused for possibly 23 years.

[andyberg]

Never disliked the superdream. They were never thought of as cool. Almost bought a dream 250 but the bike wanted to constantly turn left, I guessed at the time a bent frame ( I was about 23) wouldn't say no to one now though. A good buy in my opinion.

[Cavcraft]

22 minutes ago, andyberg said:

Never disliked the superdream. They were never thought of as cool. Almost bought a dream 250 but the bike wanted to constantly turn left, I guessed at the time a bent frame ( I was about 23) wouldn't say no to one now though. A good buy in my opinion.

Had one years ago because I needed cheap transport at the time. They (obviously) weren't a patch on a 2T/sports 250, but as a commuter they were spot on. Great on fuel, reliable, light enough to whizz in/out of traffic and enough poke to make it easy. A worthy big brother to the CG125 as how I remembered it. 

[wuvvum]

Fuck me, someone managed 31,000 miles on a Lexmoto?