Getting a motorcycle

adouglasmhor

tbourner wrote: »

Yeah I was thinking the Lambretta had gears, wasn't sure though, must be my age!

Classic vespas as well (which you can still buy - there was an auto version but it's rare)

tbourner

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

You MUST wear gear. Even coming off when stopped can cause some pretty nasty injuries.

For something a bit more gruesome : http://www.600rr.net/vb/showthread.php?t=96269

Someone who doesn't wear gear is known as a squid. It's lower than newbie.

Those kind of accidents (the pickup ramming the bloke at the lights and the car blowing out and swerving etc.) are pretty odd and rare though, I know I need to account for them happening, but the majority of bike accidents are caused by bikers not paying enough attention (I know bikers will say it was the car that pulled out on them, but at the end of the day if the biker had seen the car waiting and been prepaired it wouldn't have happened). You could be in your car and have a truck blow a red light and t-bone you, you don't go out in full race suits and helmets in your roll-caged car though!

dizzybuff

tbourner wrote: »

Those kind of accidents (the pickup ramming the bloke at the lights and the car blowing out and swerving etc.) are pretty odd and rare though, I know I need to account for them happening, but the majority of bike accidents are caused by bikers not paying enough attention (I know bikers will say it was the car that pulled out on them, but at the end of the day if the biker had seen the car waiting and been prepaired it wouldn't have happened). You could be in your car and have a truck blow a red light and t-bone you, you don't go out in full race suits and helmets in your roll-caged car though!

On country roads maybe , but inner city and city roads it tends to be sorry mate didnt see you or some nupty eating his breakfast , or bird putting makeup on.

Or in the case of my hubby this morning some twonk in a white van trying to ram him off the road because he filtered.

tbourner

Something like these then maybe:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290490700653
As I've noticed in my first few commutes that my head, body, hands and feet are all fine but my legs get bloody freezing!! Would be worse on a geared bike as well.

Nixer

tbourner wrote: »

but the majority of bike accidents are caused by bikers not paying enough attention

Um, they're not actually - well not accidents involving a bike and a car anyway. I found an online study ages ago, which I will try and find again, into accidents involving bikes and cars and more of them were caused by the car driver than by the rider.

The thing that put me off getting my bike licence (partner rides, I am pillion) was that you have to be a very very good defensive rider to not come a cropper due to some car driver's momentary lapse, and whilst I drive defensively anyway I wasn't sure I would be absoloutely top notch on a bike.

On the clothing: I was at superbikes at Thruxton once, which was attended by many a numpty riding in jeans, trainers etc, muffin topped pillion in stilettos perched on the back. In one race a guy came off right in front of us, bounced on his bum a couple of times and when he got up we could see his boxers cos he'd worn a couple of buttock holes in his leathers. It's not just painful, having skin protects you from infection so if you haven't got much you are still at risk of dying even if you've stopped bleeding.

Cash-Strapped.T32

tbourner wrote: »

Although having said that, I'm leaning towards a geared bike much more now I've realised my stupid big head means my stupid big helmet won't fit under the seat!! grrrr. CG125 with top box for sale?

Don't much like drum brakes here, years ago I had a brake rod wrapped around the wheel hub & since then they frighten me (no harm done apart form a bit of unwinding ).

Nice bike otherwise though I don't mean to sound pessimistic, or hows about a GN125?
Nice bike, ideal to put yourself through the test on & I think they look very nice..


Personally I ride a Gilera DNA 125 (do Google it if you can be bothered, it won't let me post pics or even links here..), absolute Tonka-truck of a bike;
Ridden along muddy tracks & through ground I wouldn't take a mountain bike across in order to get to work, 5/6 days a week for a couple of years now & never let me down seriously..

Traditional motorbike frame & layout, but it just uses the same 125 4-stroke scooter engine & transmission from Gilera's range of "sports" scooters (I know, I know contradiction in terms, kinda) - And the same engine used in some larger maxi-scooters like the Gilera Nexus & that 3-wheeled Piaggio MP3.

For now it will handle motorways as long as I'm happy to only overtake HGVs or folks with time on their hands; I also have a second identical bike as a project which I plan to transplant with a 2nd hand 250cc engine from the same maxi-scooters above (they use common mounts, & share much else so it's not such a difficult, or crazy sounding idea & has been done before successfully).


Just to say that these things do exist in the world, I'm sure that the above poster is correct about unsafe 70's & early 80's bikes from back when nobody took anything seriously (or at least it seems so from some of the stories I've heard - once around the block for your bike test, those were the days!.. ), but if you google for something like the Aprillia Mana you'll see that there are *some* nice examples of fully auto bikes though I'll agree still a massive minority in comparison.


However all that said; from a standing-start I would still agree 100% with your choice to take the manual test, and therefore buy a geared bike to learn on - but I just wanted to provide the info as it's not something you often hear talked about..


Best of luck whatever you get mate; It'll take you maybe a month or so to really get an ideal routine for clothing & other logistics to do with taking a bike rather than a car, but it's very doeable.


Backpacks are your friend - JJB sports or some other chav-trap will kit you out for most work luggage.

2 pairs of trousers are more than 100% better than just one (I could have done a thesis on exponential trouser-theory).
With winter coming, personally my hands are the only thing that suffer when the weather turns *really* bad, but a pair of latex gloves underneath do absolute wonders, as do a pair of carrier-bags in your boots, and surprisingly you don't notice them after a few mins riding.

I've found that cramming a pair of woolly gloves underneath your main ones is very hit & miss - Sometimes you end up restricting movement to such a degree you do more harm than good, and they end up feeling colder because they can't move, but obviously if you only have flimsy gloves to start with morel layers always beat less.

I've made all this sound very long-winded, but it's really not. :cool:

Ps: Those kegs look jusr fine, much better than mine & will probably last you a long time if like me, you only use them for the daily commute.

Ps2: Sorry for another essay, but I learned a lot of what might seem like simple stuff - the extremely hard way & if any of this scatter-shot info helps then I'm glad.

missile

tbourner wrote: »

Something like these then maybe:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290490700653
As I've noticed in my first few commutes that my head, body, hands and feet are all fine but my legs get bloody freezing!! Would be worse on a geared bike as well.

They look good. Not great protection, but a little is better than none.

tbourner

Nixer wrote: »

Um, they're not actually - well not accidents involving a bike and a car anyway. I found an online study ages ago, which I will try and find again, into accidents involving bikes and cars and more of them were caused by the car driver than by the rider.

Yeah but studies only look at facts and figures, obviously you're right and in the eyes of the law the car driver is in the wrong for pulling out or whatever, but like I said in my brackets; if the rider was paying attention he would have seen the car driver, probably recognised the signs and slowed down or been ready to move. Bike riders know the problems with not being seen, they know drivers are half asleep, so it's up to them (in real life terms) to look out for themselves and be more aware of what's going on. It's no use lying in hospital waking up from a coma saying "He wasn't allowed to pull out there, I hope he got 3 points.".

Kilty_2

tbourner wrote: »

it's no use lying in hospital waking up from a coma saying "he wasn't allowed to pull out there, i hope he got 3 points.".

+1. Spot on.

:T:T

BikerEd

You're right. A lot of accidents can be avoided. Anyone who has passed their bike test should immediately move on to a Bikesafe course with the police and then IAM and/or RoSPA.

Even if you haven't passed your test you can learn an awful lot from the likes of Mike Waite, a former police instructor. His DVD is probably the best £15 you will ever spend on bike-related stuff. http://www.mikewaite.co.uk