Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Must try to catch that!

Not my favourite colour, but if one came up locally I’d definitely go and have a play with it.

1 Attachment

Two bloody hours of adverts and Guy Martin for 10 seconds of jump. Laaaaaame

Great way to drop your helmet that

your a dropped helmet

Ha, after an hour realising how long it was I went to bed.

Arguing with the farmers about moving the Swiss border was funny :)

Watched the jump then the Hatton Garden job, they didn't escape either :)

So was in an accident on my scooter a few weeks ago, scooters been wrote off by the insurance company. I feel they are gonna offer me shit money, is it worth sending over examples of others for sale and ones sold.

Thanks

It's never been my experience that the payout is less than the replacement value. Last time I had a total loss I proved the purchase price, showed the improvements I'd made (new fairing pieces etc.) and gave an estimate of replacement value through the same channels I had originally bought it (ebay). The insurance company valuer agreed and paid me over book value because the mileage was very low for the age.

Basically, prepare your case with examples but also be reasonable about the cost of replacement. They will do similar research and they're not actually out to shaft you when you make a claim, we are all getting shafted when we pay for the insurance so they have that bit covered.

...and sorry to hear about your accident, I hope you weren't too badly injured.

Forum approved chain lube?

Before I fabricate or buy off ebay, does anyone have a sissy bar back rest in a parts box?

I have a plan to cut my seat in half and use the pillion space as storage, but I want to fix a backrest to push my ass against to stop falling off the back of the seat if the luggage isn’t bulked up.

Be careful with whatever you do. If you crash it could be nasty with something (homemade)

For sure. Trying to think through the best means to have zero nastiness in a spill.

Drawing up maybe cutting high density foam inside the seat as the backrest bump to avoid adding anything hard or sharp. Would prefer a nice smooth solid alu loop though.

I mean...

1 Attachment

I'll just leave this here ...

1 Attachment

Do like the axle stand - worried about the front caliper - nice tinsel.

Nice LC!

That LC looks mad!

Tl:dr update.

My GN125 has been getting some miles. Weather hasn’t been ideal for long days out, so only short trips to gain confidence and experience.

Since the carb/etc clean the bike has been getting better and better. I’ve been plying it full of Redex and 99 Octane Shell V-Power. Minimal extra cost for the 10L tank and all the detergents to try clean out old shit in the engine. After a new battery the bike starts and runs better, and it’s also got new Oxford indicators front and rear and new Oxford LED tail light. The tail light looks a bit naff til I get a new plate holder, but better than the shitty old non-oem lights.

With a bit of bending I got some metal-reinforced dirtbike hand guards to fit, so coupled with the Puig mini windshield/screen I am enjoying much-reduced wind pressure on my chest and minimal chill on my hands. The guards made a significant difference, though probably not as much as muffs would. I can feel buffeting on my helmet and increased noise at one tucked position at ‘speed’, but it’s not awful. Of course, speed on this little thing is like 50mph. It touched 60mph today...twice!

Covered just shy of 370 miles in the last month, mostly 30-50 mile trips to nearby villages and along narrow country lanes keeping off the fast roads. Lots of urban crawl/slow speed/junction practice too.

Slowly getting better with rev matching and smooth engine braking, and trying to leave shifting up a gear til later - before I’d shift quite early maybe 8k, I was barely ever touching 9k rpm, let alone the red line between 10 and 12. Generally I’m keeping it cruising at 6k, which sounds much healthier than ragging it like a kid on a dirt bike.

Had a fair share of idiots not giving way, or even looking, as well as a ped staring me right in the eyes as he walked directly at my front wheel to brake-check me. There was a little bit of a rear skid, but not as bad as the short squirrel-y skid on wet downhill toward a roundabout outside a petrol station. Live and learn, anticipate, don’t assume, cover front brake, etc.

Still going quite slow around roundabouts and some corners, and on unfamiliar roads I’m well below speed limit. Feels awkward doing 40 in a 50, but when strong winds are slamming me from the side, I don’t want to take risks. People can pass me if they want. Whenever I can get it over 50 I am, but there are so few stretches with clean and well-maintained road that I’m quite conscious of the shitty broken road on every turn.

Also grabbed some Richa gloves at crazy low cost from Mega Motorcycle. Got some amazing armoured ‘Evolution’ summer dirt bike gloves that have been comfortable on the bmx, and today the weather was so mild that the mid-season ‘Duke’ gloves were just warm enough on the motorbike.

Tl:dr? I’m enjoying a 125 motorbike.

Great to get a sense of your enthusiasm, I have had many winter rides in the past and it's so much better in the summer. You will feel champion in spring while the rest of the biker community starts dusting off the creaking bits.

I wouldn't take roundabouts too quickly this time of year either, only takes a patch of diesel mixed into the cold damp and there's little to no saving it. Look out for places like Wandsworth roundabout where the busses fuel up in the depot and then spill a little diesel from the full tanks as they go round the roundabout.

For sure! The bike running a Cheng Shin/Sava tyre combo lowers my confidence after years of riding fancier brands on road bikes, but then on the bmx Cheng Shin’s take some doing to lose traction. Taking no chances regardless, but certainly even more cautious than if I had some fancier winter-proof options. Tyre upgrade may come once I decide how long I keep the bike for*.

I doubt I’ll be hitting London til springtime, but for sure it’s an issue here in Wiltshire as well. I noticed thanks to the overnight rain and slow-to-evaporate damp roads lots of diesel patches. That wiggle outside the Shell garage was more than enough for a warning.

*Really stuck whether I can even afford to upgrade by the time I get the full unrestricted license. Probably I lose a little money on the resale, but gotta decide what’s best overall. Really do fancy a 125cc tour of Europe, but worried it might get frustrating after a taste of bigger bikes. MOT in March - not sure I want to invest too much more until I know if it will pass. 12month MOT is a lot more saleable than 1 month or fail, regardless of tyre choice. 12 month MOT and fancy tyres will be necessary before a tour of any kind.

...I’d love to have the money to keep this as well as have a ‘proper’ bike for serious riding. Would gladly strip it back to make a little cafe racer.

I stuck with my 100cc for a little while after passing the test. Just to spend the money on some better riding equipment and save up a bit. It's all pretty personal but I've never had a bike I didn't love regardless of price.

I once bought a TZR250 for £200 from a crack den in Battersea on christmas eve! Rode that up and down my street all day christmas day :) Went on to become 3 TZR's just to keep me supplied in parts. Most of my biker friends seem to go through 2 bikes a season, or at least 1 new one. I've had the same one for 16 years so I guess I'm lucky to have found something that suits me.

One thing about bigger bikes is all the bills are bigger, in some cases much bigger. I think it's also pretty serious if you get caught doing any silly shit when you've only just got your licence, and then the insurance is crippling. I like the 300cc class at the moment, enough power for motorways but light and smaller bills.

Crack den? Hmmm... well I’m in Swindon so there should be a surplus.

From the camera/longboard/bicycle obsessions it’s easy to understand how people would get buy and sell syndrome, and have a different bike every opportunity. Kind of trying to outgrow that though.

The cost is certainly a big blocker for me. When the trainer guy said he gets 30/40/50 mpg out of xyz if he’s being good, I’m pretty sure you can get that from most modern efficient cars. Suppose it’s not a fair comparison, a little hatchback to a litre bike. And yup, I have the fear it’s not just that running cost, it’s parts, tax and insurance. Something up to 400cc would be nice though.

The GN’s original rating was something like 87.5mph/2.7L per 100km. I’m certain I’ve been getting better than that, 100mpg at least. Makes cheap chilled touring seem doable.

Tax £20, insurance around £160 one-off including some add-ons. Bike £625, plus parts/maintenance which have probably pushed it closer to £800 to get reliable, and then a small chunk on top like the windscreen or whatever.

Short of a Lexmoto, I’ve struggled to find a single 125 for less than a grand on gumtree/ebay/autotrader/facebook. Almost guaranteed to need that £2-300 on top to get roadworthy whenever listed below £1500. For sure I want to find my crackden bike, but that may or may not happen in the future.

I’d said to myself if I can keep the total cost under a grand, then I can’t be too upset.

Still kinda want a litre biek tho.

The litre bike will come :) Modern litre bikes are insane though, there's really no need for it away from a track, it's almost impossible to use fully use them on the road now they can break the national speed limit in 1st.

You'll find out what you want a bike for and that cuts the choice down a bit. Unless you end up needing 2 or 3 to cover the bases which is pretty legit if you tour, commute and like track days.

When I bought my crack den bike it was because my neighbour was smoking it and thought I might be a touch for a few hundred on christmas eve. It was his junky mates bike. The deal went down at 10pm christmas eve in a dark garden in Battersea, not a traditionally busy time for bike dealers :) I had to pay for that bike per ride, every time I got off it it needed something replacing! Still loved it with a passion though.

The 400cc class is great. Main weakness with small bikes for touring that I found was weight carrying. They can have issues with the suspension if you load them 2 up and luggage. It's nice to cruise at quiet rpms on the larger bikes but that's a real expensive luxury. Ask most bikers for a touring story and it'll be the time they went to Spain on a 250cc that broke down every day, not last summer when they did it on a GS.

For sure. Since watching F9 on Youtube I’d consider something like a V Strom as a future desire, but only since I’d already been pining after a Royal Enfield Himalayan every time I went past the dealership.

I’d gone in some months ago to just feel out prices, and it looked way too big, the Continental GT and Interceptor looked more like my kind of bike. However already I’m wondering about those extra dirt roads I could one day travel, that my low little bike won’t survive.

The little GN125 is certainly a baby-sized cruiser. If I tour it’ll be like when i cycled to Berlin, with every gram considered. Going solo, after spares I’d only want a few kg of luggage strapped down tight. I don’t see the point in carrying a house.

Gonna stick some Hayabusa stickers on the 125.