martinskin

Recently I started to ride outside of the town on dual carriageways (not motorways!) and started to think about safety gears. I’ve never owned a proper motorcycling clothing before. My current jacket that I’m wearing is a normal Timberland jacket which I’ve never felt cold in it and it is so comfy, warm, waterproof and fashionable but it doesn’t have ANY protection and body armour.

So I decided to go to the J&S and try their jackets. I don’t like the look of non of them, yeah I know it’s not about the fashion it’s about the safety but come on , I go to see my girlfriend and bunch of friends with my motorcycle and I don’t wanna look like a stormtrooper! Also I don’t feel comfortable in them, I tried many sizes and brands but I can’t move my arm comfortably also the jacket itself is so heavy!!

So my question is; as a new rider is it really worth it to take the risk and stick to my own normal jackets or it is too dangerous and I have to wear proper clothing?

Ultimately it's your choice, but if you have a slide, Riding in every day clothes puts you at serious risk of injury. A 30mph short slide on tarmac will shred your clothes and take skin down to the bone in no time.

If you're wearing non-protective gear like nylon/man made clothing, it will melt in slide because of the friction from road surface and you may get burns.

Which do you value more: looking good or your skin?

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It's not a solution, but if you can't find a solution, deal with the symptoms.

. I don't know how accessible the pivot points are for the headlight, but if they are accessible, fit a two position adjuster for one or two up riding.

Doesn't have pivot points. The two headlamp units are in an upper fairing.

The beam is adjusted up/down on a hex headed bolt; one for each lamp.

Takes about 10 minutes to adjust each headlamp up or down the required amount, with arm down inside the fairing, providing I can see what I'm doing and don't drop the tools. Not what I want to be doing late at night after dropping my pillion home.

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If all else fails, modify headlamp so you can adjust it easily.

Explain?

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They are probably made for a 9stone rider with gear and soaking wet!

You would probably benefit from a progressive spring check out hyperpro and see if they do one for your bike

Thanks

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Cranking up preload makes little diffrence.

1 full turn of preloads is about 1mm of travel.

Get a stiffer spring if you do alot of 2 up

 

Did wonder about the spring. Yet with OEM in place and only 17,000 miles of mainly just me (86kg) it seemed unlikely.

 

Age and mileage has nothing to do with it unfortunately

The spring will probably struggle just with your weight

Hey Stu - are you called me overweight?

But seriously what weight do the manufacturers expect guy's to be? Skinny as a rake?

And where can I find what spring the bike would have been fitted with and what (& where) I can get to replace it???

Thanks Stu (and others).

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Cranking up preload makes little diffrence.

1 full turn of preloads is about 1mm of travel.

Get a stiffer spring if you do alot of 2 up

Did wonder about the spring. Yet with OEM in place and only 17,000 miles of mainly just me (86kg) it seemed unlikely.

Increase your rear preload - assuming you have adjustable rear shock?

Preload at full, but makes no difference to headlamps beam, just makes a hard ride for me and harder for the pillion.

My Suzuki V-strom 650DL with ABS.

The annoying thing for me is that with a pillion, the headlamp dipped beam becomes like a main beam and main beam lights the trees above my eyeline. I have tried cranking the rear preload to maximum, but this makes no difference to headlamp beam but a very uncomfortable ride for pillion and myself.

I've heard someone say adjust my headlamp beam, but I am wondering if the bike suspension is just not designed to take a pillion.

If I adjust beam alignment for the times I will have a pillion, when I don't have one I cannot ride at night as the beam is too low. Sometimes I will drop my pillion off and then continue my journey home, swapping beam alignment on the two headlamps in the pitch dark at 11pm is just a pain.

This is my 6th bike in 25 years and never had this problem before.

Comments please.

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Courses to continually improve your riding are Bikesafe, RoSPA and I.A.M.

I did mine with I.A.M. and my IAM club also does rideouts, foreign trips and social events.

https://www.iamroadsmart.com/courses#

My Suzuki V-strom 650DL with ABS. Bike OE specs say 33psi front and 36psi rear with rider only or 42psi with pillion.

Always seemed odd that the front is always 33psi. Surely a pillion weight would affect front and rear??

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A friend bought a well used (probably abused) Honda CLR125 CityFly.

Needs some work but roadworthy, however the other night it was exceptionally windy and it blew over and has bent the handlebars.

The bar has a definite kink in it that might snap if tried to straighten, THEREFORE looking at replacing. An original part is looking about UK -£60... Is there another that is good enough to do the job?

How would I find and where to source from please?

Am I asking too much?

I recently had an off and my 15 year old Frank Thomas Defender jacket got sliced through the arm.

Additionally, when I had my off, I was wearing leather jeans that wore through, the leather tore about four inches and the double stitching started to come apart. Consequence I got a nasty friction burn that wept for a week and a month to completely heal...

Can you guys suggest a replacement Jacket?

Essentials:

• Dual front zip to allow extra layers beneath in winter.

• Black leather preferred.

• Full leather without fabric insert panels (they let wind and rain in).

• Vents to allow air through cos ride in Spain sometimes and England most of the year.

• Price (under £250), location, website, etc please

What replacement jeans make would YOU recommend:

• Black leather preferred.

• Full leather without fabric insert panels (they let wind and rain in).

• Price (under £250), location, website, etc please.

I cannot really afford to have different bike gear for different weather conditions.

Thankyou