Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Cheers

OK so for the "darkest" and "full tint" people I'm guessing you're using around an 80%?

I was looking at the pin locks - especially as they have variable ones as well.

The reason I'm curious is because I've whittled my helmet choices down to the AGV Veloce and the Scorpion Exo-510. Anyway the AGV* doesn't have a drop down sun visor so I was looking at tinted visors and wonding what level of tint people were running.

Also just in case anyone is looking at helmets, on balance I was impressed with Shark (although the sizing doesn't quite work for me).

*the K-5(?) does but it's shit and doesn't come down far enough

I have an AGV K-3 SV Rookie - great helmet, although bit noisy - don't tend to use the sun visor with tinted visor on - would try SHOEI next time

did you try any carbon helmets? bell , shoei

I almost always run tinted, but carry a clear visor in a case that I can fit around my waist should I end up in darkness or limited visibility.

haha, brilliant. i picked up one of those cases at a flea market a while back. i didnt realise that they were meant for carrying around ones waist. makes perfect sense. thanks for that.

Darkest iridium Shoei since about 1996 - never had collar felt. I just flip it up and ride slower at night as I'm practically night blind anyway.

If you have a middle size budget I suggest this, I have one and it's excellent:

http://www.caberg.it/en/helmets/flip-up/duke

You can use it with the drop down dark visor and when it's summer you can remove the two screw that holds the flip-up helmet part and use it as open face helmet. It's light in its category and quite silent.

I don't really trust flip fronts enough. If I was just riding in London I wouldn't mind, but my route takes me on duel carriage ways every day.

They are excellent value though, even more when you look at the SHARP rating. Provided it fits, it will probably be what I get my other half.

@coppiThat - shoei ≠ my head and I guess I always think of Bell as just being open faced / fashion retro jobbies.

The AGV Veloce is a composite hybrid thingy. I can fit a S/M and what I really like is that it feels really small compared to other helmets (as well as all its other pros).

Bell for sure make open face for the Harley , scooter and cafe racer mandem but their selection of full face helmets are top notch. I think I've gushed about the bell @Markyboy has before. They also do carbon if weight is a major consideration.

1 Attachment

Lolz $1k can >>>>>>>>>>>>>

I went on a ride safe course last week and on of the coppers was very dismissive of cheap helmets. But I've got to say from my research and the ones I've handled I've been really impressed by what ~£150-250 buys you.

I thought the Shark Vision R (mk 2) was excellent in the flesh.

When I did the bike safe course, they mentioned tinted visors. One of the coppers said that there were three things they look out for:

1. Tinted Visors
   
2. Little or Non-Standard Numberplates
   
3. Loud Exhaust
   One out of three you'll get away with. Two, and you'll have to be riding in an otherwise perfect fashion, and with all three, you're getting pulled over...
   

number plates that flip are definitely out then :-)

Still fucking dithering! :(

Just ordered the AGV Veloce whilst wearing the Scorpion at my desk. On my jays. Like a knob.

Guess it'll be good to try them one after another. Without the distraction of a sales rep standing on a 30yo Aria spouting some guff.

I'd recommend the bike safe. Some interesting stuff. Plus all the guys on my course were pretty chill. The tl;dr of my assessment was I should probably ride faster though.

Aren't they normally non refundable?

The tl;dr of my assessment was I should probably ride faster though.

Sounds like the IAM taster session i did. I havent been back.

Ha - the last time I got pulled in the UK I had black visor, loud pipe and no plate. They pulled me because it had fallen off - rather awkwardly they had to chase from the Wandsworth roundabout to the Putney roundabout before they caught up. Bit of an uncomfortable silence during the inevitable do you know why we stopped you question....

365 days to return to sportsbikeshop. Obvs not wearing it riding and the stickers are still on.

@M_V in fairness I think it's symptomatic of riding through London for so long rather than country roads.

I like the idea of IAM and RoSPA but at the moment I think it would be a bit like doing an MBA after your A Levels. Once I've spent more time on the road, on a bigger bike I'll think about it.

Ha! Such a bad ass thing to have it... Anyway, I'm just curios, what do they do if they caught you with that mechanism?

For me it was that the IAM seemed to focus purely on doing the speed limit.

I was on a klr 250 with a recently rebuild topend so was cruising at 55-60mph (on the motorway) and was backing off a bit for wet out of town single cariageway corners since the bike had proper knobblies on and holding the 40mph speed limit would have been suicide.

The instructors didn't care about my engine on the motorway or that I was driving to the conditions on the country road, they wanted to see 70 and 40mph and not 1mph over or under it.

On the visor theme I finally ponied up for some light reactive lenses in my prescription. Should have done it years ago, ended up with the extra active ones which darken properly behind uv resistant glass (windscreens etc.)

Before I got the glasses I ended up preferring a flip down dark visor in the lid, had dark/iridium etc on lids but the flip down is always there when you want it gone when you don't. Iridium is the coolest though. Biggest risk I've seen is low winter sun, you get that full in your eyes with no shades or visor and you're riding near blind or covering your eyes with your clutch hand.

250 race bikes are some of the nicest looking things to have been produced, and some of the purest racing bikes. Tech3's TZ from 2000 is still one of the raddest machines to have graced the MotoGP paddock imo
(2nd pic has 1999's fairing but shows the artwork of the lovely pillion bodywork. Smooth, curvy lines everywhere as apposed to today's pointy, angular things)

As for superbikes, some come close but ultimately none will beat the Ducati 916 for beauty. Neil Hodgson and John Kocinski's 1996 machine among some of the most spectacular.

I still wish I bought a TZ or RS250 before they got silly bollocks expensive and parts became so hard to find. Proper 2 stroke GP bikes are utter wonder. I'll get round to reconditioning my old RS125 one of these days.

KTM or someone could clean up sticking a tuned 125 lump in a dumbed down Moto3 chassis and selling it as a track toy. The 4 strokes are OK but they cost such a lot of money to keep working.

Thanks guys, this is really helping me to let go of my TZR! Been servicing the front brakes on the BMW R80 in prep for the Mot as I need to tax it in order to keep it on the road.

If no one wants to come and kick the tyres on the TZR it may well end up in bits in my flat. Anyone who wants a cheap entry to the 2 stroke life get in touch.

Pics will follow once the Beemer is sorted.

I fly out to Chicago on Saturday to start a month long bike across the US. Today is my last day at work before October.

So. Excited.

/boastpost