A place dedicated to the brave souls who ride in the deadly British weather

Hi, wondering about booking a direct access course after my CBT, theres none available in Northern Ireland (where I’m located) but wondering if it is a good idea to go across to England/Scotland and get it there? Im talking about the 4-7 Day intensive courses.

Are they worth the extra upfront cost? Or just go with a 125 for a year and then try my full license?

If I wish to get a 125 scooter between the choices of PCX (exlucde 2025 version), Nmax or SH125i, it's quite hard to make a decision:

I ride a Honda Vison 110 at the moment, but I wish to get something bigger. I also rode the Nmax when I was doing my training. I feel the Nmax is pretty bumpy compared with the Vision, so I am not sure if it is the suspension or becauase of the smaller wheels or anything. I also found that the Nmax was jerky when start accelerating from zero. I never ride PCX or SH125i before.

My use case for the scooter, food delivery in inner London (Zone 1-3) in extreme bad weather. I am 163cm tall, with short legs and arms, so legs room is not a problem.

So my questions are:

1. Are rear-wheel ABS important? Because older PCX don't have...

2. How do you choose between bigger wheels and smaller wheels 125 scooter?

3. Is it normal for the Nmax being jery when start acclerating from zero and bumpy?

Hello guys! I’m a massive MotoGP fan and I’m interested in just riding for fun. I’m 26 years old.

I do karting every few weeks but that one is obviously much easier just to try out. But is it possible to get some training and just casually train on motorcycle or motor cross for fun? I am not interested in street riding, at least not yet.

Is it possible at all to do something like that, or am I out of luck? If it is, what kind of budget should I prepare for it? Thank you for all help!

shit happens

Sorry if I'm being stupid but I've never used a bike ramp before. I've moved house since my last bike and I've just bought one, waiting for it to be delivered and ordered a ramp to help with access. I'll need to push the bike down the ramp (bike facing forwards) as I have a narrow path at the side of the house to get it around the back. Is it ok to do it this way, all videos I've seen online roll the bike down the ramp backwards. I'll be able to turn it around once around the back of the house and push it back up the ramp. Bike is a GSX S1000 and the step is about 18 inches high. TIA.

Found my first biker in distress today. Side of the road a dual carriage way with the hazards on. Poor girl had her chain come off and couldn't get it back on the front sprocket. Handy little Oxford biker toolkit to the rescue!!! I've got her chain back on and rode the rest of the way to her work as her tail gunner because it was SLACK. It came off again on the way. She got to work safely. She'd only just started riding. I got to work 45 minutes late, she was well over an hour late.

Please stop for other bikers guys, you'd want them to do it for you!!!

The battery is charged but the electric ignition doesn't start the engine (it just makes a clicking noise) , any idea of what could be wrong ?

I’m just wondering if having No baffle voids passing your MOT, or if it just stays as an advisory for noise?

Hi guys,

I passed my test back in 2012. I have had an Aprilia SX50, a Yamaha YBR125, then a Suzuki SV650s, and a KTM duke 390 (afraid I didn't like it). The positioning feels weird, and maybe compared to the Suzuki, and the cars I have, get to drive for work, it feels slowwwww (don't worry not police).

I have secretly been preparing for a getting a bike from the OH (she worries about me in general)... I have been away from the bike scene for a few years...

I am looking for a bike, that is a) Comfy to ride (relatively). I have a few discs in my lumbar spine and also facet joint paint. So forget a R6, or GSXR600 or some super-sports thing. More upright is my game.

b) Fun, on the lighter side, and nifty. Something that I can fit crash bungs too, (touch wood never been needed,) more scared of a slow speed, or even stationary drop due to not being the tallest (5,9) or indeed the strongest of blokes.

c) Has some safety features, like ABS etc.

I am afraid I've been away properly for bikes a few years.

Years ago, I'd have considered the Suzuki GSR750, the Kawasaki Z750, the new Suzuki SV650 etc. Even the triumph bonneville - albeit to get one in my price range i'd be lucky.

I have a KTM duke 390, that has a couple hundred miles on, a budget of in the region of 5k, give or take a thousand. If its 7k, it really has to blow my socks off.

If anyone is interested in the KTM, they are welcome to it, at well below dealer price. Any inspection welcome, by a mechanic, the RAC (If they offer that service) on even at KTM. (At your cost, unless any fault is found, to the point I am so confident i'd reimburse you for the inspection).

I live in a relatively safe part of London (well as far as it goes).

I have a torc anchor in situ, with a Pragmasis 19mm chain and Squire Lock ready.

Having just read that Pragmasis - one of the best security companies (in my humble opinion) was closing, (who I believe are far superior to almax):

I bought a 2m 13mm chain with roundlock. The idea being there must be some sort of way to carry the chain on the pillion seat etc.

10 years ago they were nicking bikes using refrigerated vans on cloned plates, scaffolding poles. Etc.

Now is seems like 15 year old tossers, nicking them for fun, simply pushing them, nabbing a life off others, to get the bike going, and carrying an angle grinder.

Should I be getting a likelock X1, put it on the rear wheel?

The roundlock as a disc lock for the front wheel ?

I'm not sure the 13mm pragmasis is practical plus in a minute or two an angle grinder will be through. It weighed more than I expected.

If I leave the chains at home. Should I be getting either an alarm or immobiliser? If so what would you recommend?

I'm not sure I want a tracker, once its gone, its gone and I hope the little ***** have an accident with no innocent party involved. We can spare the "Johnny was such a good boy, he had made friends" - who also nicked bikes, were old enough to know better, and road having nicked a bike etc.

I have a 2018 Yamaha YS125 which has a rear drum brake.

Taking the cap off the handle bar reservoir; the fluid could do with changing.

There are tons of videos on how to bleed disk brakes, which seems straight forward.

Although, I am struggling to find any instructions on how to bleed motorbike drum brakes. If this is even required?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Can anyone recommend a dyno specialist in the South East (I'm in Thurrock)? Would happily travel for a couple of hours if need be.

I've fitted a PC5 and will be putting a full system on my GSX-S this weekend and would like to get it setup properly in the new year. Not fussed about power gains to be honest, just want to get the fuelling properly sorted.

TIA.

Hey dudes! My name’s Holly, I’ve been riding for over 18 years now.

I want to come to the UK for 2 weeks or a little over and rent a motorcycle and ride around as much as possible.

Is one week and a bit in the UK and one week in Ireland possible?

I’m used to riding around 400-700k each day. I want to stay in cute bed and breakfasts and maybe stay with some Bunkabikers around the countries and just enjoy riding, comfort food and good drinks.

Also will be visiting the bike shed in London obviously.

Is there a rental spot that you guys specifically recommend? Is it fine renting in London or would it be better to rent from a smaller town or city? Interested in renting a cafe racer, scrambler or something a bit more classic looking (I ride a z900rs cafe, and have ridden all manner of road bikes).

Are there any specific towns or roads I HAVE to stop at or ride on?

So i’m 16 and i’m lookin to get the WK Scrambler 50cc and was lookin at cbts and they all use 50cc automatic mopeds. Then i found about Gear CBTs, but i realised they were for 125s. Can i do the automatic CBT and still be able to ride a geared 50?

Got some slip in baffles for an exhaust system which was extremely loud (quoted “whys everyone gotta hear your piece of shit”) and would like to make it quieter so my little tnt125 doesn’t piss everyone off too much ideally if at all. I saw that the main guy from RaceFit was talking about Acousta Fil as his packing of choice and was more concerned with whether I could possibly be strangling my engine from releasing the exhaust pressure out the exhaust by causing too much back pressure with the packing?

Apologies if this is a silly question but I’d love to know before I go about doing it. Any advice is much appreciated🙏🙏🙏

Can anyone help me find parts i’m trying to find a after market air filter and exhaust. But i don’t think anywhere makes these for these chinese bikes ???

I’ve only been riding just over a week and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been cut up on roundabouts or pulled out on or people slamming the breaks to make a last minute turn. Still at the stage where I’m scared to filter through traffic so I’m stuck waiting behind people doing half the speed limit and missing the lights

I passed my Mod 2 last week, YAY!

I've been given an opportunity to buy a Yamaha FZ6 for a really good price from someone I know and trust.

Just wondering pros and cons from people who've owned them and whether it would would make a very good first bike.

Pros: -It's well maintained and low mileage -Makes a good multi-use bike (touring and work commute) -I've always wanted to do modifications on the fz6 turn it into a cafe racer (when I'm done with it as a first bike)

Cons: -i'm short and can get my toes on the floor so it will need lowering

One of my intergrated rear light indicatirs dint work what could be rhe problem?

I know the wiring dosent seem the best but I will be fixing it up as soon as everything works

I am wanting to get some new clutch and brake levers for my Kawasaki Z500 but didn’t know which brand to get. Any general information on what to get would be much appreciated. Getting a lot of bits done to the bike so trying to learn as much as I can.

Hi all,

Looking to buy my first bike and I want it to be an Benelli Bn 125.

I know if I buy one brand new I’ll lose £500 on it at least, but is that not likely to also be the case if I bought one for £2000 from the dealer and sold it by the end of summer 2025?

I found a second hand one for £2000 but it has a few scratches on the exhaust and body work. I’m thinking that if it’s likely that I’ll lose £500 either way that I may aswell go with a brand new one.

What should I do?

Hi just a quick question to gather some opinions, has anyone bought any third party visors of ebay etc? I’ve always just ran a clear visor but was looking at getting a tinted visor for my agv k1-s which are like 70 quid off the agv website, so i had a glance at the cheaper ones on ebay that are like 20 quid but i was just wary they are quite possibly crap, so was just wondering if anyone has an experience with them and the quality of them. Thanks in advance!

Morning all

I was hoping I could some clarity on this as I’m getting slightly different views from the internet and people I know.

A little background first: my father-in-law unfortunately lost his fight with cancer last month. We’ve of course been sorting paperwork, insurance, vehicles and whatnot.

He owned a couple of bikes, his Harley that he rode regularly and a chopped up old Kawasaki that had been SORN for years. Now my understanding was that the SORN vehicle wasn’t a problem, we could just transfer the ownership to his wife (she doesn’t have a bike license) and keep it SORN. The Harley however, because we wanted to keep it on the road, insured and ultimately ridden, we have transferred the ownership to myself (I have a full bike license). I thought from my research around insurance, that this is what we had to do - rather than transferring the ownership to his wife and having me keep it as it were.

Question is, was I right in doing things this way round? My mother-in-law is obviously very protective of the bike and has been told by a couple of people that we didn’t have to do things like this, and she could have just taken ownership. Any thoughts on this would be great!

I just want to make her and the family feel as comfortable as possible, and know that the Harley is being taken care of.

Thanks all

I'm 18 and got my CBT and I know you have to be atleast 19 to get A2 licence but is there like a certain amount of time and do I need to get my A1 licence first

So I had my CBT this weekend, I went and bought thermal lined richa pants jacket and thick gloves to keep me warm. I was warm enough but doing the slow speed manoeuvres after not being on a bike for 15 years was impossible so I had to take them off. I have my mod 1+2 at the end of December with some lessons in december so I'm just wondering if there's any decent winter gloves that aren't so thick a beginner will struggle with throttle and clutch at the slow speed manoeuvres or is it just a case of getting used to it with the thicker gloves?