Biker's Cafe Chatroom

[Hades]

I didn’t enjoy learning to drive a car, however I did enjoy learning to ride a bike.
It’s not been easy for me, my grandfather was killed on one so it’s utterly taboo in my family.
The ‘guilt’ has been one of the hardest things - constantly waiting for ‘I told you so’
Despite all this, I’ve loved every minute of it.

That must be hard.

Death had the opposite affect on me. I took a bike test in the 90's and failed. I never got around to re-take it. But I've lost a lot of family in recent years to illness including my parents. I also had a serious illness myself a while ago. It's made me realise how short life is, especially as I'm in my 50's now. So one day I decided life was too short not to learn. "If not now, then when?" and here I am with a YBR 125 in the garage and a goal of getting my full license and a bigger bike. It's taking longer than I expected because of the pandemic. But I'll get there.

 

[SkodaMart]

That must be hard.

Death had the opposite affect on me. I took a bike test in the 90's and failed. I never got around to re-take it. But I've lost a lot of family in recent years to illness including my parents. I also had a serious illness myself a while ago. It's made me realise how short life is, especially as I'm in my 50's now. So one day I decided life was too short not to learn. "If not now, then when?" and here I am with a YBR 125 in the garage and a goal of getting my full license and a bigger bike. It's taking longer than I expected because of the pandemic. But I'll get there.

I never met him, he died before I was born.
I’ve never been a football sort of guy, I’ve loved messing with engines and mechanical things all my life. I don’t get as much enjoyment from cars anymore, they are over complicated, over priced and hard to work on.
Motorcycles have filled the gap that was missing for me. I was born to do it.
I enjoy tinkering as much as I do riding.
I would much rather meet Allen Millyard than any footballer or film star, you could care to mention.

 

[Shimmy]

Gonna be hanging up my lid for the foreseeable.

Had my 3rd bike stolen over the weekend in the last 4 years. Both from 'secure' underground parking with covers and locked plus CCTV and once from a garage.

Solution would be move to somewhere more rural with substantial security, but partners job means we need to be close to a train line into London.

Sad state affairs of bike crime unfortunately Just as I had a summer of riding to look forward to as well!

 

[Drangueos]

Gonna be hanging up my lid for the foreseeable.

Had my 3rd bike stolen over the weekend in the last 4 years. Both from 'secure' underground parking with covers and locked plus CCTV and once from a garage.

Solution would be move to somewhere more rural with substantial security, but partners job means we need to be close to a train line into London.

Sad state affairs of bike crime unfortunately Just as I had a summer of riding to look forward to as well!

That is a shame, I never had one stolen, but I'm always worried as well.
What kind of security were you using on the bike?

 

[Luke]

Test rode a BMW XR900 today. I've looked at them since they were launched with interest but never got round to trying one. My friend was test riding a 1250GS and bullied me into test riding alongside him!

First impressions were poor. The seat was rock hard and paper thin. Thought it might ease during the ride but it didn't. No adjustment in it for height at all so presumably a thicker seat is the only option for changing it.
The next revelation was the leg position. Now bear in mind I'd come from an R-nineT which is physically lower than the XR I was staggered to find it had less room than the R9T. The pegs were higher and my hips were at a more acute angle. This became increasingly more painful during the ride.
On a positive note, the engine is sweet. Responsive, torquey and sounded nice with the stock exhaust. The gearbox was also very smooth and the quickshifter worked really nicely.
Despite having more fairing than the R9T the wind buffeting was severe above 60mph, really severe. The adjustable screen did nothing at all at either setting. After 5 minutes in the motorway I was knackered.
After 50 minutes riding it on a mix of roads I was uncomfortable, cold and cheesed off. Couldn't wait to hand it back.

I suspect for a shorter rider this could be a great bike, but at 6'1 and 13st it was cramped with no wind protection at all.
I was overjoyed to be back on my bike!

 

[CrazyGreggy]

Test rode the new 3rd generation Hayabusa last Friday and loved it. Had a 2nd gen that was smashed out from under me by a cager driving in his slippers

Big concern was would the plate in my knee allow me to get into the sports riding position after almost 2 years riding nothing more adventurous than a Versys 650, but it was absolutely fine and I slapped the deposit down as soon as I got it back to the dealer. Roll on the summer!

 

[davejh666]

Test rode the new 3rd generation Hayabusa last Friday and loved it. Had a 2nd gen that was smashed out from under me by a cager driving in his slippers

Big concern was would the plate in my knee allow me to get into the sports riding position after almost 2 years riding nothing more adventurous than a Versys 650, but it was absolutely fine and I slapped the deposit down as soon as I got it back to the dealer. Roll on the summer!

Nice. I want one in a few years time when my kids are old enough to be left at home for weekends and the wife can get on the back of a bike again and we can bugger off for a weekend somewhere. Can't think of too many better bikes to be doing some long touring on.

 

[davejh666]

Gonna be hanging up my lid for the foreseeable.

Had my 3rd bike stolen over the weekend in the last 4 years. Both from 'secure' underground parking with covers and locked plus CCTV and once from a garage.

Solution would be move to somewhere more rural with substantial security, but partners job means we need to be close to a train line into London.

Sad state affairs of bike crime unfortunately Just as I had a summer of riding to look forward to as well!

Sorry to hear of that, some people deserve their hands chopping off.

Have you thought about or looked into self-storage? I know it sounds crazy but I have my bike in one. Admittedly we don't live in a big city so our crime rates probably are not as high. I have 24 hour access via a keypad. It has CCTV as well. So, the bike is inside a locked 'shipping container' and then chained via 2 locks to ground anchors inside that. And all of that inside a locked building. Costs me £45 a month and it has no electricity which means I have to take the battery off in the winter.

I don't have a garage so thought about renting one, but to be honest renting a garage was going to be more and no half as secure. The self storage is 3 miles from my house, declared on my insurance. Might be worth looking at if you have something similar near you?

 

[Shimmy]

What kind of security were you using on the bike?

Chain and padlock with cover.

Have you thought about or looked into self-storage?

Hadn't thought of that, I would consider it if I had one in walking distance.

My premium will be ridiculous now anyway, plan to come back to biking once I have my own garage that I can properly secure.

 

[Drangueos]

Chain and padlock with cover.

I was asking more specific which chain and padlocks

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Hoping to go grab a nice little 1994 CBR 600 F2 this weekend.

Needs a little work, but hopefully not too much. Looks like its fairly low mileage, and mostly recoverable.

 

[Captain]

Put a holding deposit on a 2021 Honda CBR1000RR-R SP today, going over to view it tomorrow.

 

[Drangueos]

Put a holding deposit on a 2021 Honda CBR1000RR-R SP today, going over to view it tomorrow.

Make sure you buy the black model, take good care of it and I will buy from you in 4 years

 

[Captain]

Make sure you buy the black model, take good care of it and I will buy from you in 4 years

Didn't turn out to be the bike i wanted, i wish dealers would be more honest about the condition, a scratch along the tank is not something i would class as 'immaculate'

But there's always tomorrow, going to view a 2020 matte black 1000RR with a QS+AB, full exhaust system and 600 miles.

 

[CrazyGreggy]

600 miles sounds a bit suspicious. Something wrong with it discovered on first service or it’s been ragged and the first service was more or less a funeral for the engine?

 

[tom_e]

600 miles sounds a bit suspicious. Something wrong with it discovered on first service or it’s been ragged and the first service was more or less a funeral for the engine?

Doesn't seem overly suspicious for a summer warrior weapon that only had a chance to get out to the café a couple of times during lockdown.

 

[Captain]

600 miles sounds a bit suspicious. Something wrong with it discovered on first service or it’s been ragged and the first service was more or less a funeral for the engine?

Not really, I’ve bought new bikes with less miles than that before, it’s through a Honda dealer so it’ll have been checked over.

The dealer on the phone said it was traded in against a Aprilia RSV4 just a few days ago.

 

[Scythe]

See it quite a bit, people buy a bike (usually without test riding), find a few rides/months down the line that they can't get on with it and trade in against something else. I find it madness that some people waste money like that, but some people do it.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I have bought every bike I own without riding it, or even another example of them.
Usually they are not rideable when I buy them though...

 

[CrazyGreggy]

I just get suspicious about the similarity between the current mileage and the usual first service mileage. It’s the cynical ******* in me