Fozzie

We've had similar threads to this in the past.

It is no secret to the 'old school' members of this site that wonkers that ride (or drive) without insurance are one of my chief pet hates.

If you modify a bike so that it has more power than either 1: your licence entitles you too, or 2: is more powerful than your insurance certificate caters for your insurance becomes invalid.

Nobody would like their own vehicle to be invloved in an accident and find that the other person was not insured. We have all spent hard earned cash on our bikes, and more often than not they are our pride and joy.

Therefore, to ride with invalidated insurance turns the culprit into a social lepper.

So, any of you prats that are thinking of modding your bikes, grow up, and get your full licences, and/or properly informed insurance cover.

Bikers are usually a very tolerant people. But I for one, would be less than tolerant in this sort of scenario. Most people will feel the same.

I have to agree with you there. Thankfully if our friend only gets a 5 HP increase with the mod and has a full licence then he will be in the clear and if the insurance company asks then he should tell because the mod is removing a component so his premium would probably not even increase. Even if he didnt tell the chance of them noticing are very very slim as they dont take the engine apart they just look around and poke at it to see if there have been any additions. My friend had it with his RS125. It was race tuned, he had an accident and even though the insurer would have seen the arrow exhaust he was still insured.

Hehe, looks like I crossed the line there a bit. Ok, don't do any modifications (if you can call it that) untill you've done your test and you allowed to ride anything withing 33BHP. It will be perfectly acceptable then. I don't see why there would be any trouble with insurance companies as it isnt a race mod and the power increase is very insignificant and your well within your restriction.

If the insurance company asks then tell them, if not then you may as well not bother saying anything as you wouldnt be violating what your licence restricts you to.

My bike is currently pumping out a collosal 12 HP!!!!

Lol might get 5 more unrestricting it!

With 5 more horses your still 16 horse power away from 33HP. If the insurance company don't ask if you have had any modifications then it isn't your fault. Avoid insuring with those who say, "is there any modifications" because what your doing hardly counts anyway. All your doing is taking out a component. I've never been asked if there were modifications so your in a good position if they catch you out. They did not inform you and pulling that over you would be illegal because of lack of informed consent so you could threaten them with that.

How much power would this modification give your bike any way??? If it doesnt take it above 33HP then i'd still do it. If it does....then still do it .

Your insurance would possibly be invalid yes but then again the chances of them noticing are low. And the chances of you actually properly shunting the bike is pretty low (touch wood). The most someone your age will do is drop it as long as your not one of the silly riders out there. . I'd go for it, you only live once.

If you tell the insurers more likely than not your premium goes up. Thats not what you want and the modification isn't that bad so i'd keep it to yourself and there is no way an insurance man would notice it anyway. You could also say the last person that owned it must have done it and that it isnt your fault for not noticing.

By the way when you were sliding what happened precisely? Did you apply power and the back end went and you held the throttle or did it just lose all traction. I've had a similar problem loads of times because I always use the back brake on wet days to avoid losing the front end because if that goes no matter how good you are, you are going down.

The back end should of snapped back in place unless you were winding the throttle on.

Hi guys, Met a guy on sunday who works for triumph bikes, got talking and he said I can unrestrict my 125cc eliminator for more power.. he said there is a nylon tube between the card and engine which has a washer in it that I can take out... Shall i try it????

I've seen friends de-restrict bikes illegally but after a crash the insurance people came and had alook but didn't notice even though it had a race exhaust still on it. Fact is they are told to look for modifications on the engine but they dont tear the thing apart. they come and assess the damage and the costs and bugger off.

Do it but keep it quiet. And if you do shunt it then don't mention a thing to the insurer. just keep it quiet and say its standard and 9/10 times they wont notice. If its a 4-stroke then can i recommend that you just put different cams on so that the valve is open for longer letting more fuel in or is it Fuel injected???

Just googled that Reiju thingy and it looks sweet

Hell yes. Just a shame it only does 80mph though. Fast compared to others in the same class but Rieju would send their sales sky rocketing if they made a bigger, more muscular 400cc - 600cc version. Every young rider would want one.

only one bike can be reliable but offers the levels of fun an rs125 does. The Rieju RS2 125. Its reliable and wont die on you like the rs125. It goes very fast and will do your 50 mile trip easy.

 

Are you sure you don't flog these things for a living

You have got to be kidding

A Rieju? fast?

and they really are made out of monkey metal

Very fast as 125cc 4-strokes go. Monkey metal!!! You can't be serious. The Rieju uses a similar rigid alluminium frame that the RS125 uses. Partly because they copied it but it works great. I don't flog them, I just hate all other 125cc 4-strokes apart from maybe the new yamaha that came out. Rieju is the only manufacturer of 125cc 4-strokes that I would ever recommend.

18....Why I'm speaking in relative terms. A 125cc 4-stroke has didily squat compared to even a 125cc 2-stroke. Just, in comparison with a Honda CBR125 the Rieju is much more powerful.

only one bike can be reliable but offers the levels of fun an rs125 does. The Rieju RS2 125. Its reliable and wont die on you like the rs125. It goes very fast and will do your 50 mile trip easy.

If your buying a 4-stroke 125cc then go for a Rieju RS2 125. Cheap because its spanish. But it has 17 HP if you go for the pro version and it handles like a dream. It has a big bike sound and it is very well sized. The engine comes from yamaha which means it will give plenty of speed and it can easily be tuned as its a ttr engine so 160cc kits can be put on the bike.

The cbr is dull looking, its ugly. It makes a lot of noise but only has 13HP so thats 1 more than my RS50 if you see where i'm going here. My old RS50 beat one in a straight race. It doesnt handle very well and it cant take hills very well at all. The Rieju RS2 on the other hand left me at the starting line in a race and went all the way to 80mph before it leveled out. It now goes 100mph with the 160cc kit on it and bigger sprockets, carb and a power valve on the exhaust. Its very light, very good looking, very fast and is good for long trips and has the torque to take 2 people. It was designed for 2 people looking at the large pillion seat and their rare in this country so you have some exclusivity.

I read an article on the GT650. They had bad words for it but when they did the long term test on it they found that the brakes began to work alot better and it has that awesome power band that you don't find untill you go into 2-strokes.

The bike can handle high speeds very well, the acceleration is good and the top speed is comfortable for most. It does look like the bike got a *** start report. Good but lacking in some areas.

I saw no mention of bad build quality common in the chinese motorbikes so thats a good point. There was nothing wrong with it so it didnt get given a mention.

I'd have one over the suzuki but tbh i dont go near suzuki's after a little stunt they pulled on my child hood dreams.

Bike (ie the magazine) had one in there long term test fleet .....

It didn't seem very popular

How long term was that?? I think the problem is that the bikes various bolts can rust but only to a certain point and then it all stops. I know a dealer than can sell me any size nut or bolt in stainless steel so for less than £10 I could make the bike get a glowing report in build quality. They don't give it a full in depth analysis i.e the materials the bike is made of and too many assumptions are made.

This is why I want to be a motorbike journalist lol. So I can put these rumors to rest with nothing but sheer knowledge.

If it were made of cr@p then why would my friends last for over 2 years and cover tens of thousands of miles without failing or breaking apart???

I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole

None of them have had glowing reports in the press.

Depreciate like a lead balloon too.

Apologies for the lack of tact.

Yes but they only depreciate so far. When you get the 250 its usually a long term commitment because they are long term bikes with exceptional reliability no review could point out, (They just make assumptions...as usual) and the bike can easily be modified to give more power so after it gets boring it can be tuned up. Its fuel injected to performance chips are an option.

The reviews say nothing. They make general assumptions and related the bike to other chinese manufacturers even though it can compete with Suzuki and Honda in terms on performance and reliability. The straight fact is the bike is underrated and rare on the road because of this. This means cheap insurance and that compensates for the depreciation.

hey iv recently put a deposit down on a hyosung gt, its a four stroke and looks massive unlike most 125, so im trying to keep the bigger big image. now i was told that any race can/exhaust will fit on any bike as long its a slip on...... does this mean i can get a massive R1 jobby??? has any one seen any nice one that are slip on??? thanks

Don't get the GT125R get the GT250R otherwise you will regret it. The 125 is to heavy so it wont pull past 75mph.

The GT250R EFI model is brilliant. It handles brilliantly, its built like a big bike and it goes like stink. I had a friends at 115mph on an old runway. Does 0-60mph in 5.5 seconds and whatever you've heard about its build quality is wrong.

It was designed and built by 2 chief engineers from Suzuki and the claim was based on some rusty bolts, which to be fair will rust on any bike because if their not holding the entire bike up and giving it structural support then they dont need to be rust resistant.

To be honest I think it would be just easier to get a set of nice new clocks just to make it your own. They are easy to set up. If they are new clocks then there are usually instructions to help you hook it up. If it is just a set of clocks for the same model then just simply connect the wires to the same place the other speedo was connected to.

Tell the guy to fix the speedo otherwise you won't pay full price. Simple say "look, i know your busy but you did say you would fix it up, i'll give you full price if you fix the speedometre". Just keep it simple and civil. Just to change their mind. 8)

I'm down to three bikes

1) Aprilia RS125 - new model

2) Aprilia RS125 - old silver/grey limited edition model

3) Cagiva Raptor 125

4) Aprilia RS250

Still thinking about it hard. The Raptor is great for taking 2 people which i will be doing alot with friends living all over the place and taking an extra person always comes up. The old RS125 is great because it can be sporty but carry 2 people easily and comfortably and the new RS125 is great for one person but not so good for 2 people.

Last time I had one it came with a pretty good decal that said "K&N Filter Charged". Fancy words but well written because the bike felt like it had a turbo charger on it. It was 2-stroke though....It had a deeper note and the mid-range was much better and the top-end was mind blowing in comparison.

They really work on the little strokers.

Try to find a cagiva dealer. I'm sure they can get the parts in. A Cagiva planet is basically the same as a Cagiva Raptor. If not phone up various garages and ask if they can get the parts in.

Hope to see you riding one day when I get my 125cc 2-stroke

Buying a new choke cable will be easy to fit. Its easier when you get a new lever with it for easier fitting but you can just put a new cable in where the snapped one was. Also the lights that aren't lighting up on the panel is due to a bulb failure. My neutral light failed to. I just went down to Halfords and bought a new one for £2. And its worked for over a year so far. The panel doesn't detect when there is something wrong apart from low fuel or oil. Its usually you that finds out something is wrong when the bike plays up.

I recommend Oxford Sprint luggage holders. They have some that can attach to the tank and even better some that attach to the pillion seat. They are a good size and don't get in the way. You can also add sections to a rear bag as well just in case your going on a big trip.

I used one and they come with a headphone port so the radio was in the bag and i was talking to my dad without the lumpy radio in my pocket that made lying flat on the tank at speed really uncomfortable.

Some parts can't be seen as being visually in need of replacement. The crank case seals for example. Mine blew, there was a sudden loss of power and the rear wheel locked up momentarily making me drop gears quickly and pull in.

The only advantage is to this happening is that your bike will still function but it will stutter past 7000rpm and won't gain power and half speed will be lucky. So you can wait for the seals to go but its more risky because the back wheel can lock up under the severe decceleration so just be prepared to suddenly brake and clutch in. Pull over then limp home.

If the top end blows then be prepared to push it home. If you look after a 2-stroke properly which it sounds like you have then give it a top end rebuild every 15,000 miles or so and the engine will just keep going.

Taking it apart is a good idea especially to decarbonise the cylinder, which is easy to DIY every 5000 miles. Its a one hour job.