DJP

It's similar for me. I instinctively drive every vehicle where it's smoothest. My main bike is a Bandit 1250 and its “Smooth zone” coincides with any road legal speed and well beyond. I like it. For a while I owned an MT07, another parallel twin. Very different to the Bandit, but even so its “Smooth zone” coincides with most road legal speeds and so it was easy to ride. But the Africa Twin engine is different: Gutless and vibratory at most road legal speeds, it only seems to make sense when you're thrashing it. Fun at times, but day-to-day just not for me.

It's different strokes for different folks, I guess. In fairness, I should point out that I don't go off road and this isn't the kind of bike that I'd ever buy. Also, my criticisms would probably apply to most big twins rather than to the Africa Twin specifically. Don't get me wrong: It's good fun and I'm enjoing it, but I really don't "Get" this bike. I am much perplexed!

I got this on long(er) term loan after my Bandit 1250 went in for repair. First impressions: The Africa Twin is one tall motorcycle. I'm 6'1” and with its 870mm seat height it's a challenge even for me to get my leg over (f'narr, f'narr). But once in the saddle, it's a different story: The saddle is plush and comfortable, the riding position wonderfully spacious for the taller rider and I can quite easily get both feet down flat. (And I'm sure that shorter riders would be fine too, although getting on and off might be precarious). I was also surprised to read that the Africa Twin has a claimed weight of 232kg because it feels way lighter than that just pushing it around and on the move it's very nicely balanced and hides its weight extremely well. The controls are logical and well laid out, although the digital dash is a bit busy for my taste (but then most of them are). And the slipper clutch and gearbox are superb, although the clutch lever itself seems a tad short: I don't exactly have massive hands but my little finger seems to keep ending up on the ball-end rather than fitting into the usual part of the lever, but that's a minor gripe. Being a modern bike of course the Africa Twin has various traction control riding modes. And being an old fashioned biker, of course, I turned them off.. The engine is pretty much the opposite to what I'd expected from a modern 1000cc twin: At the bottom end it has neither torque nor refinement, requires a surprising amount of revs to pull away cleanly and is surprisingly vibratory. That said, it's brisk enough short shifting at 4,000rpm that it leaves most traffic in it's wake, without ever feeling like it's doing much. The refinement does improve with speed but even at 80mph in top it's still not exactly smooth. And that's a shame because the Africa Twin has the almost perfect touring chassis, capable of covering hundreds of miles a day in comfort. Except that I can't see many people wanting to do that kind of mileage sitting on top of that engine. And there's the problem: If you approach this motor as you expect it should be, in this chassis, it's a bit rubbish. However, if you grab it by the scruff of its neck and rev the motor towards the red line then it changes dramatically. And there it is: The top third of the rev-range is where the magic happens, the motor smooths out and the bike makes for the horizon at an indecent pace. And the noise... Lordy! Proper motorbike noise. Brrrrmmm! Brrrrmmm! And, as you roll off the throttle a hugely satisfying pop, pop, bang, bang on the overrun. Seriously, this is the best sounding standard motorcycle engine I've heard in probably decades. But it wants to be revved and it wants to be thrashed. And therein lies the problem: The tall, spindly chassis is clearly optimised for off-road use. The riding position and comfort are clearly optimised for touring use. And the engine is clearly optimised for sports bike use. It's like nun and a 12” dildo – they're both great at what they do, they just don't go together. But maybe, just now and again, it would be hilarious if they did. And that's what the Africa Twin is really all about. On the face of it, it's an “Adventure” bike. In reality, it's a hooligan bike pretending to be sensible. And there's nowt wrong with that. It's an interesting and fun machine for sure. I'm just not sure who it's really aimed at.

Unless you have an agreed value policy, it's irrelevant what value you put on the bike since an insurer will only pay out the "Market" value in the event of a claim. Indeed, the insurance ombudsman service discourage insurers from asking the value of the bike for that very reason. So you can say that your bike is worth £10k, and they'll charge a premium based on that, but when it comes to claim time if the book says £6k then that's what you'll get.

I've owned half a dozen new bikes and I've never "Run in" any of them. I just ride normally - don't labour the engine at low revs and don't bounce it off the rev limiter. Other than that I ride the same whether it's done 10 miles or 10,000 miles.

I went from litre plus bikes to an MT07 (basically the same bike as a the Tracer 700) and it was a great bike. I did test ride the 900 triple in various guises but never liked it as much as the twin. The 07 is just a very well balanced bike, a perfect blend of power, torque, weight (very little) and economy (lots). It was just a very light hearted machine. I found that the 900 seemed to take itself a bit too seriously yet was somehow lacking. Heavier and less economical than the 07 but with neither the torque of something like a Bandit 1250 nor the outright power of a litre bike. Probably just me, and as ever YMMV.

I'm pretty sure that it is.

Over the last week or so my Bandit 1250 has become reluctant to start from cold. The symptoms are: The starter spins for longer than usual. When it does start it makes a “Chugging” sound, as if it's running on three cylinders, which goes away after a few seconds and then it runs normally. During start up the clocks reset to kph. The 1250 is notorious for starter motor problems, and these symptoms are otherwise identical to a dead starter. However, I've fitted a brand new starter and it's still doing it (and I've stripped the old starter and can't find anything wrong with it). The spark plugs and air filter were changed 1,000 miles ago. That leaves me thinking it's the battery. However, my smart charger shows the battery having a full charge. I'm also reluctant to blame the battery as it's only 4 years old and the bike gets used every day and I've never had an OE battery go bad this early. (I'm not saying that it isn't the battery, but...) The bike starts fine when it's hot and otherwise runs normally. Any ideas please?

I've found that flux, and plenty of it is the key to successful soldering.

72mph top speed, roughly equivalent to a 125cc but nigh on £13,000. So for the same money you could buy a 125 and about 150,000 miles worth of fuel (except that most of us would never use that much fuel in the bike's lifetime so the electric bike would never actually pay for itself). They will get there but probably not until the mainstream manufacturers get all over it.

Nicely done, I've had a few of those over the years.

I fell off on my first day of moped ownership, nearly 35 years ago. Then I rode for 30 odd years without incident until a couple of years ago when a drunk pedestrian ran into me from the side.

I'd go with that. On my way to work there's a patch of road surface with an odd texture which always seems to make the bike wobble. It never does it anywhere else.

I changed the spark plugs and air filter yesterday, went for a long ride along the south coast today and then changed the oil & filter on my return. That's the bike serviced for winter.

It's probably a combination of bike model and inexperience. I live in London and pay £135 fully comp on my Bandit 1250 and that includes commuting. However, I am 49 and have been riding for over 30 years. Oh, and BTW, don't go anywhere near RCIB - they are out & out scammers. See here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/rightchoice.com

I had similar issues with an MT07. An O2 eliminator sorted it. Could be well worth a try for twenty quid.

I bought an MT07 brand new and that was rusting merrily after the first winter. None of the Yamahas I've looked at since appear to have been any better finished. My current steed is a Bandit 1250, also bought new. That's been through three winters now and seems to have fared better with just a few crusty fasteners which I'm gradually replacing with stainless ones. Not too bad for a budget bike.

I'm in the "Buy something cheaper" camp. Get an older 600 and get some NCB. Let's be honest here: It's your first big bike and you're likely to end up dropping it. If it's an expensive bike, you'll end up claiming on the insurance and that'll push your premiums up to stratospheric levels. Buy something older and cheaper and repair it with used parts if (when) you drop it. Something like a Bandit 600 would be a good first big bike with plentiful and cheap spares.

These days I just brush chainsaw oil onto the chain. Best lube I've come across.

1) Never buy through the comparison site: Your details don't always transfer properly onto the actual insurers website (and you don't want to find that the details are wrong after you've paid). 2) It's often cheaper to go direct to the insurer anyway. For example, this year I ran my details through the “Bike Insurer” comparison site, and the best quote was £165.00 with Express Insurance. Seemed reasonable. I then went direct to Express's own web site and the quote dropped to £135.00! Far better than my existing insurer who came back with a renewal of £280.00 which takes the pee considering that most of my quotes were well under £200.00.

I owned an MT07 for three years and it's a perfectly good bike for the OP's purpose. Review here: http://deejayp999.atwebpages.com/yamahamt07.html And for the record I'm 6'1" and 14 stone.

Torque is largely a function of engine size and power is essentially just torque x revs. Engine configuration has little effect on torque and a V twin is not inherently more torquey than an inline 4. A 600cc engine is a good illustration of how it works. A 600 could be a single, twin, triple or 4 cylinder. All would make much the same torque (around 40 ft lbs). However they would have very different power outputs. The single would red line around 6000rpm and make approx 45 bhp The twin would rev to around 9000rpm and make around 65 bhp The triple would go higher still and make around 90 bhp The four might rev up to 15,000rpm and make well over 100bhp In riding, they would feel very different. The single would feel quickest off the mark. Open the throttle, even a bit, and it feels like it wants to leap away. The four would feel flaccid low down with nothing much happening below 8,000rpm but at higher revs would leave the single for dead. Can you really “Feel the torque”? Probably not. Most “High torque” motors develop all of their power and torque within a narrow range at low revs. Open the throttle and wham, it's right there. But try to rev the thing and you find that it has nothing more to give.

You only need to declare a change of colour, engine or frame number to the DVLA. They don't care about most other mods. Insurance is a different matter. They probably wouldn't pay you if they find undeclared mods after an accident. They would still have to pay the 3rd Party but they could only pursue you for the costs if they could prove that the mods caused or contributed to the accident.

This, a Yamaha QT50! http://classicmopedparts.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Picture_120.30473801_std.jpg Oh the shame! Although to be fair, I did get it for free and I was only 16. The first proper bike was one of these: A Honda CB100N.