Pbassred

Go watch the Ryan F9 video on "Invisibility training". I wear a Bright yellow helmet an my clothes are black with Hi Viz. There are things you can do to the bike though. I have extra white pin lights on a "flicker" module and extra reds at the rear. Also some coloured lights inside the fairing. Light clothing is tricky on a bike since it gets dirty so quickly.

I didn't vote for Brexit. I didn't vote for this Government. More than 50% of the people reading this did and THEY are responcible. I definetly did not vote for the current Transport Minister who is my MP. This is not a set of created problems that I voted for. This have been imposed on me by others and I am tired of being a nice guy about it. Last saturday I waited in line in my wife's car, filled it and a 5 gallon jerry can to feed my bike. Done!

I ride every day. They are rock solid. The anti vibration mount seem to create more vibration though. The only downside is that you need one of their cases for your device but they don't sell cases for everything. They do sell an addaptor with a sticky pad that you can stick to your existing case. Be careful what you try and stick it to. Nothing sticks to silicone.

Don't sweat it. The Log book is only a DVLA record of the "registered keeper" not the owner. If you have a reciept, you own the bike.

On my last Mod 1 practice I dropped the bike and broke the foot peg. The school was fine about it. I passed Mod 1 with no minors.

Mike, If you live in the USA you should look at the local licencing laws. In particular look at taking the MSF course. Training Statside is nowhre near is complete as in Europe. The US laws are far more relaxed. 300CC is a starter bike. The same size as most MSF courses use. Its a good option. I would recommend that you ride at least 5000 miles before you trade up. Your ego will tell you otherwise but you will develop skills more quickly. Watch Dan dan the Fireman on you tube. Its mostly crash videos but seeing how they happen will educate you about what they SHOULD have done. Riding will give you freedom, get you to Highschool/collage/work whatever. Buy protective gear, buy a disk lock. Don't drink, don't speed, Don't scare the crap out of girls on the back. Good luck.

Squeezing between 3 lanes of traffic on the North circular Road the other day some impatient guy came up behind me and starts rev-bombing. I don't know what he expected me to do. Wedge my bike between trucks? Pull over just for him? I've seen bikers do this to cars that have nowhere to go. I don't get it. We all want to get where we are going. Some (most) car drivers aren't spacially/ situationally aware, but then that's not part of the car test and not taught. Its a fact of life. Filtering is our super-power, but its a curtesy not a right. I have never seen a car moved by a rev-bomb or a horn. They might move over if it becomes convinient. What this attempt to intimidate deffinetly does is put people's backs up. That makes them hate ALL of us. Why are we trying so desperately to piss people off?

Thats the point isn't it. Most light trailers when combined with a car are less than 3500KG. Most trailers weigh less than the car that is pulling them. A 3 foot general purpose trailer or a sailing dingy was never part of the equation except that the 3500Kg needed to be split between trailer and car. That means a 2 bike trailer and a Audi A4 is about your limit. Raising the limit means that a Rangerover with a lot more power becomes a practical possibility. To the guy who witnessed an accident once:- I take you point, but that can happen to a driver with a licence too. It might have just been a poor driver. The big takeaway is that people thought that they couldn't pull trailers at all. At least they might practice now. ..... Maybe.

LOL! I don't think a VFR would be a good idea. Anyway, she's so short that she would never get on it.

I don't know any bike manufacturer that quote a maximum rider weight, so there is no scientific basis for that statement. If you start the conversation with "hi, I'm really heavy", the company is going to get shy. Rugby players ride motorcycles. My wife is short but weighs in at 17stone. It not that bigger deal. Just turn up somewhere an let them figure it out..

My wife has her intensive DAS course booked for November. She has been rideing on a CBT for a couple of years. Although she's not what you might call a "natural rider", she's competent enough on a 125 and she drives a car. I'm lucky enough to have passed mine only 3 years ago so its still fresh. We've been on a few rides together and I'm trying to get her to practice figure of 8s and swerves. I didn't do an entensive course for my DAS. What can she expect? What can I do to give the best possible chance?

Its like this. The idea that you can die on a 600 or a 1000 is misleading. Both can far exceed the speed limit. There is nothing you can do on a 1000 that you can't do on a 600. The difference is that a 600 corners better, it burns less gas and parts will be less expencive. The concept of betting the biggest bike you can afford is a bragging rights fashion from 40 years ago when a 350cc and doing a ton was a bike deal. A2 bikes will do 100MPH+. There are some absolutely georgeous 600/650s out there. The question is; do you want to enjoy the ride or spend you time "managing" the bike? How much does peer pressure and ego matter to you? When you pass your test the learning does not stop. You will become a better rider if you learn to fully exploit a 600cc for a couple of years or 10,000 miles.

There is no such thing as "move up later". Upgrading from A2 to A requires a whole new test. Mod one and Mod 2. You would still need a bike with the same limitations and you still couldn't get it insured unless you involved a school and you would have your money tied up in 2 bikes.

My wife is ..... verticly chalanged with a stiff hip. So much so that she is pretty much limited to street bobbers. Its almost impossible to find a school with a low enough "A" bike. Also the out front controls style of most cruisers doesnt help and rules out being able to simply drop I foot to the floor. the Honda Rebel has ideal ergonomics but its only an "A2" bike. Today I saw a Harley 833 sportser. Personally not a fan of Harleys but the fit looked right. Obviously there is a challenge regarding using your own bike at a school, but what do you folks think about an 833 as a bike to take a DAS on?

I practiced for hours on my 125. It sux that you have to pay for lessons but then there is more to learning than practice. That's why teachers exist. It also sux that in a couple of years you will need to take the test all over again for the bigger bike. Unfortunetly no one is campaigning to change that.

Gears are just another control. I don't know why people get obsessed with it. Disengage the drive train, shove a different cog in and reconnect. Talking about it makes people apprehensive.

The argument that; using the earth natural recources to create jobs solely to sustain other jobs is beneficial to the economy, is nonsense. What if we didn't do that? We wouldn't be paying people to do those jobs. We wouldn't have to work to earn the money to pay people to do things that don't need to be done. We could instead, work less hours for the same standard of living minus the wear and tear. Example: I have a job that was 40miles away I worked our that it cost me around £3500 a year to commute, but to earn that money I needed to earn even more to pay the income tax. I took a job 2 miles away that paid £4000 less. I ended up with more disposable income, 7 hours a week more free time, and fitter. All this by eliminating work that didn't need to be done. I notice the quoted guy who suports the argument works for a bank! Back on topic; Electric bikes are here to stay but they don't make the bikes that suit their advantages. What would sell? Low power, short range scooters for office comutes, delivery riders, local shopping. There is a market for low running cost, low maintenance transport, but manufacturers are focused on trying to out sport the sports bike. I recall that the largest selling bike of all time is the Honda C90 they should make the E90.

Get a CBT get a 125 - a cheep one. Do some miles. Practice slow manuvers on with a bike that doesn't matter. Its not Mod2 that screws everyone up; its Mod1. One foot down and you're toast. There is a clutch/ throttle/ brake dynamic that takes a while to learn. I did 2000mile on a 125 before I did my test. After the 125 the main difference is weight. The other thing that served me well is NOT buying an 850. It depends on the power that 850 can make of course but its a 150MPH bike, you have to ask yourself why. I bought an A2 bike that was still capable of 100MPH. and it taught me bundles before I had to "manage" a VFR.

I'm thinking about a Nitron R1 shock for my VFR800. The spring will be tailored to my weight instead of a 75KG Japanese guy. The damping adjustment might actually do something. Its combined rebound and compression, because I don't thing I am sensitive to notice the effect of individual knobs. Now, Ohlins would have been the no brainer if money was no object, so that leads me to another thought. Aside from the pretty colours and the number of controls, how do you know if one brand is any better or worse than any other? Even customer reviews don't help much, because, who buys more than one custom shock?

I won't kid you that its night and day. I pulled out some of the garage's 10W and replaced it with 5W, so its closer to 7.5W. So, less movement but gets there quicker. Going to linear from progressive I had expected a slightly harsher ride or low level vibration. There is none. You would be pushed to tell the difference. What I achieved is less fork travel. I have 20mm in reserve instead of 5mm and that's with half the preload wound out. There is is still some apparent nosedive under hard braking but I think its more a case of the rear lifting, because well, the nose isn't diving as much. I notice the back either sliding or compressing though. For posterity: its a K-tech linear 9.5N/mm spring and I weigh 95 KG all up. The Bike is a VFR800. All testing done on a full tank. Having exposed the deficiencies of the stock shock, I feel a new thread coming on..........

Husio and Kiwibob got it right. When I investigated what they had done, I measured the oil in the forks wrongly. In fact; there was 50mm too much in the left fork and 100mm too much in the right. His excuse on the phone was that they measure oil by volume not height. Aside from the fact that there is no final check, he must have got his arithmetics wrong to get it out by different amounts. As for why don't I take it back for them to fix:- In order to figure out what was wrong, I had to put it right. Its fixed now. This is not the first time that I've caught a big mistake by a "trained mechanic". There is a long game case for investing in doing more of my own wrenching.

Guys, You didn't read the post. I put the old springs back in, so viscosity isn't the issue. They should be back to stock. I'm looking for something else.

I had my bike booked in for a service anyway so I got them to change the fork oil and fit heavier springs. - It was horrible.; far too stiff even though the numbers were right. Ok, I thought, never mind. Swapped the springs back. Still far too stiff! So the new stiffness is nothing to do with the springs. I tried re-settling the wheel, but its to stiff to allow me to pump the forks. What could they do to a bog standard right-side-up fork? Is there something that they could put in wrong? upside down? Ref:- VFR800 2009 25000miles

You didn't read the original post. I had the spring installed at my mechanic. He did the oil change. This was about just swapping springs. That being said. This has escalated and needs a different post .........

I have bog standard right-side up forks. Assuming I can get the oil level correct.... Is it possible without launching a missile? The back ground is that I bought what should have been the correct spring for my bike/weight. I had my local bike garage put them in so I didn't look at them. They are far too stiff. I can't set the static sag even with the preload wound right out. I want to look at them to see if I have the right springs, but without the faff of taking everything apart if I can avoid it.