Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

I'll whore some photos if there's any good ones.

I promise I'm not braking in that last photo, it has to be the sun.

Nice job Jambon - Brands Indy used to do track evening in the summer. Great fun for a blast after work!

Thanks, LFGS *motor*cycle track day?

Looking good there matey! The only thing urgently required is a black visor...;)

I'd be keen as mustard but I'm a bit too far away these days. Good idea though - Rockingham (fun track) does saturdays which is also pretty handy.

^^^ You couldn't be braking or the bike would be sitting up. Personally I don't like track days, find them a bit monotonous - like a sort of giant Scalextric. And jambon be careful with your comment about offs, it can happen to anyone and it's not always a result of poor rider input.

Although to be fair the only times I've ever crashed in over 25 years of holding a full bike licence (including being a courier for West End despatch) was when I was showing off and being a tit.

Top causes of crashing at trackdays...

-Cold tyres. Tricky one this as dawdling round for a couple of laps doesn't put a lot of heat in them either. Hard accelerating and braking does but keep it in a straight line
-Running off the track. Getting distracted, panicking and standing the bike up....concentrate on where you want to go and not the track in front of you. If in doubt, lean over more....
-Running out of tyres. Really easy for enthusiastic participants to roll off the edge of the tyres, particularly on newer sportsbikes without ground clearance issues. In ye olde days something hard and metallic used to hit the ground with a clang before this happened (often leading to more spectacular offs.) You'll go quicker and with a much greater margin for error if you hang off. That's a full cheek and a bit, too....

Offs are inevitable if you're trying to pick up speed. Should be almost entirely avoidable however if you're happy to stick within your comfort zone. Depends entirely what you want from a trackday!

(speaking as one that has lobbed it on multiple occasions at most racetracks in the UK...)

And jambon be careful with your comment about offs, it can happen to anyone and it's not always a result of poor rider input.

I didn't mean to cause offense, my comment was directed at the two riders on the very first sighting lap that came off. I'm confident that most who had offs were more experienced than me, so I'll avoid passIing judgement. I've ridden motorcycles short/long enough to know offs are par for the course unfortunatly.

I didn't mean to cause offense, my comment was directed at the two riders on the very first sighting lap that came off. I'm confident that everyone who had offs was more experienced than me, so I'll pass judgement. I've ridden motorcycles short/long enough to know offs are par for the course unfortunatly.

No offence dude and glad you enjoyed it. I was more being grumpy / concerned about your safety, pride comes before a fall and all that. Looks like you had a blast though :)

Found a bunch of photos on an old memory stick today of a display of vintage Italian motorbikes that was in SFO airport a couple of years ago. Photobucket has jumbled the order a bit so some detective work required to match the text with the bike.

Album link

Shite picture but this flew past me yesterday:

Rear tyre was well over a foot wide.

cool ,, there's something like that , that lives in greenwich. the man that rides it always looks so cool. momentarily i wish i was him when i see him and then i remember................... i dont have (or want) the required wardrobe for that style of motorcycle :-)

old school bmw FREVVER

Ha. You'd look magnificent on it, G...

The guy did look very cool and I looked a bit / a lot silly in comparison.

The thing about Harley is that if they spot a trend then they will launch a bike to meet it. The rear tyre on the Breakout constantly fascinates me. One of these days I'm going to book a test ride just to see how the thing actually rides.

The rear on the bike I saw was probably another 50% wider, even that that. It had an almost square profile.... reminded me of this:

either some wanker hit my bike with a car, or some punk pushed it over, just found it lying on its side this morning, complete and utterly disgusted...dented tank, broken lights, mirrors and prob. fucked up forks, MOT booked and due tomorrow, what fucking bad luck i just had....

kkkkkkkk, sorry to hear that

thanks, i guess that's the risk of having it outside, luckly its mostly fixable

I feel for you. People of office next door dropped my motorbike a few weeks back, this is so annoying! I hope damage won't cost you too much / stop you from riding for too long...

was actually hoping to sell it and upgrade after the summer T.T since i moved very close to school and don't use it enough, and cycling is fun, just generally annoyed, going get it checked for misalignment in case it did get hit by a car tomorrow, fun pushing it to the garage tonight:)

Hi guys,

My close friend is selling his Vespa 06 plate. I am not sure of the model but it is a 4 stroke and in black.

I test rode it today and it felt pretty shakey compared to my Piaggio Fly. It has 32K or 20 K miles. Is it likely in for an engine rebuild?

Cheers.

That is some special shit right there. Keep coming back.

I had the intermediate trial for my case of driving without insurance last Friday. Unfortunately the procurator fiscal intends to go to full trial on May 14th. My brief says I still have a strong case with two distinct lines of defence. One is that the the 2 PC's spoke to 'somebody' in a call centre at the Motor Insurers Bureau who advised that I didn't have commuting on my insurance policy is hearsay and inadmissible

The second is the definition of commuting - regular travel to and from a place of work - if I can satisfy the judge that it was a one off journey on that vehicle I may get off it

I'm preparing for a fine and 6 points, plus costs though

Honestly all the wastes of flesh driving around in knackers with 12 points and no insurance and they're picking on a helpless little scooterist!

well it's fucking petty!

I had the intermediate trial for my case of driving without insurance last Friday. Unfortunately the procurator fiscal intends to go to full trial on May 14th. My brief says I still have a strong case with two distinct lines of defence. One is that the the 2 PC's spoke to 'somebody' in a call centre at the Motor Insurers Bureau who advised that I didn't have commuting on my insurance policy is hearsay and inadmissible

The second is the definition of commuting - regular travel to and from a place of work - if I can satisfy the judge that it was a one off journey on that vehicle I may get off it

I'm preparing for a fine and 6 points, plus costs though

Did you tell either of the PCs that it was a one off trip? Did you have a genuine reason why it was a one off trip? Can you prove that it was a one off trip? For example if you normally use your Oyster on public transport to commute you can get a record of the last three months of travel via TFL. You'll need to prove it if it is the case and if you are telling the truth and can prove it you might be OK.

These points will be important using the second line of defence.

I'd be wary of the first line, as if you don't have commuting on your insurance (which from what you said before I don't believe you have) this would be the first question of any Magistrate. Regardless of whether or not the PCs got the name and contact details of whomever they spoke to in order to check. This is simply legal 'box-ticking' - especially if you don't actually have commuting on your insurance.