Any motorcyclists on here as well?

[Rockron]

Failing Yamaha headlights are one thing. But I can balance a one pound coin on the crankcase of my mighty 125cc Yamaha YBR single cylinder, blip it to 6000 revs and the coin remains upright. Well I'm impressed even if no one else is! Was once a feat Rolls Royce used to boast about regarding their V8s, back in the day.

 

[Botus]

that RR V8 only died out last year !!!

when the world was getting wobbly and somehow BMW V8s took over, as the 6.75 v8 wouldn't meet future emisons etc. they mean the accounts felt there stuff was cheaper... its funny when I was a lad I was told they have developed 4 valve heads for it. But then the customers all complained the BMW RRs were gutless...

queue the fun and games where VW was stitched up believing they bought the lot - but only ended getting the factory, the workers, the Bentley brand and a year's License of the RR name. VW then threw the BMW engines in the skip brushed the dust of the old V8 and have been usung with cyl deactivation and turbos until the death of the last good "RR worth having the Bentley Mulsanne".

looked different in my day (but I gather basically much the same) in pic below inside the turbo chest was a 4 barrel carb !

 

[DSK]

INSURANCE - I've been insured with MCE insurance for years but got an email saying my insurance will be cancelled on 31st Jan as the provider has gone into administration etc. So I can't access my policy documents, can't get hold of anyone at MCE either.

I need another insurer who can probably consider I can't access my documents from MCE to prove my NCB or track record. Any recommendations?

 

[Blobcat]

INSURANCE - I've been insured with MCE insurance for years but got an email saying my insurance will be cancelled on 31st Jan as the provider has gone into administration etc. So I can't access my policy documents, can't get hold of anyone at MCE either.

I need another insurer who can probably consider I can't access my documents from MCE to prove my NCB or track record. Any recommendations?

Bennett’s or Carole Nash are pretty good. MCE underwrote a lot of their own policies which is why so many are having their policies cancelled since they’ve gone to the wall

 

[DSK]

Just managed to get through to a human on chat via the sales option. Anyway got a chat window and email confirmation of my NCB as used that as proof of NCB with insurers before.

@Blobcat - I will give them two a call tomorrow.

 

[Blobcat]

Just managed to get through to a human on chat via the sales option. Anyway got a chat window and email confirmation of my NCB as used that as proof of NCB with insurers before.

@Blobcat - I will give them two a call tomorrow.

I’ve just renewed my multi-bike with Bennetts, it was high last year £550 for the 2 as the GSA cost so much… this year renewal was £480. Getting a new quote with same coverage £280 so the new law that prevents insurance companies charging existing policy holders more than a new customer is t exactly working…
Although I expect they’ll advise that there is some material difference which is why the price is so different…

I‘ve dealt with Bennetts for a claim as well and been happy with their handling.

 

[DSK]

Good to know the service worked for you even though we all hope one never has to use it.

 

[Botus]

I’ve just renewed my multi-bike with Bennetts, it was high last year £550 for the 2 as the GSA cost so much… this year renewal was £480. Getting a new quote with same coverage £280 so the new law that prevents insurance companies charging existing policy holders more than a new customer is t exactly working…
Although I expect they’ll advise that there is some material difference which is why the price is so different…

I‘ve dealt with Bennetts for a claim as well and been happy with their handling.

BM insurance is supposed to be cheap - when i had my GS 1200 LC adventure Carole Nash were funny "we don't insure bikes over 15k" well the full Monty is 21k now so thats not an issue is it...

 

[Blobcat]

BM insurance is supposed to be cheap - when i had my GS 1200 LC adventure Carole Nash were funny "we don't insure bikes over 15k" well the full Monty is 21k now so thats not an issue is it...

>£25k if you spec it correctly…

 

[vmaxash]

I'm with BeMoto bike insurance I've a yamaha vmax 1700 yamaha MT01 yamaha xj600 Honda CBF1000 fully committed
£380 for all 4 bike give them a go

 

[DSK]

MCE were a pita to get through to but managed it to get proof of my NCB. Whilst I waited I did their quote thing online which came out at £155 fully comp, compared to £350 ish I was paying for TPF&T. They put me through to a human so for ease I just went with that for the sake of not having to faff with documents.

Not the slickest service going forwards but I will look to change next year now as I only really take the bike for an MOT and a little trip to Matlock bath every year.

 

[Botus]

I didn't write up my latest KTM fun...

got a freebie rear shock

- its the last "current shock for the 2017 1290 SAT with the white spring", with the third edition of the damper body, plus just checking parts listing the same electronics module I have, but I guess running different garbage that can't be worse than the rubbish they've flashed at the bike 7 times between two dealerships

as they never bothered (as I knew they wouldn't) to process the rubbish shock that never worked from new, under a warranty claim (as explained in many posts above), and with the second newer spec shock being worse than the original, again never working, I asked for my old shock back so I could work out what KTM and or the dealerships have never managed. With the intention of getting the rear of the bike to actually have what is called "suspension".

But with covid delays, they've lost it - the boss then said but we have another - a warranty job they didn't need back - you can have that ? - so I agreed something to hit, would be better than nothing. They sent it in the post and it turns out its in very good condition and the complete unit - can't see much wrong aside from a tiny bit of rust around the top and bottom coils where the high quality KTM paint obviously doesn't like metal.

So I thought can't be too hard, lets put it on, throw the whole bikes electronics in a tail spin of incompatible lunacy, get 3000 error message on screen and trash the bike forever (after all thats got to be better than how they made it !)...

And the end result is - it works - does more than the last two socks - and now the back almost notices the rear its supposed to move over bumps !
Oddly I seem to have active trash in all modes - this morphing madness randomly wandering between rubbish to worse damping control - its only supposed to be there in one mode - but overall its still better then how they made it.

I don't get active suspension on bikes. Its so agricultural you have to ride much slower, leaving an additional 20% safety margin to cope, whilst you discover under braking and tip in what the suspension thinks it wants to do this bend. And then ride around its utter incompetence all the time. With conventional suspension it a known feast, and you can always ride to the limits rather than go slow and wait to find out just how bad the new mess is. The whole idea of active rot and electronic adjustment the way they do it, is just some madman in the marketing department wanting to inflict pain upon your wallet. And I guess sell more bikes, because you just threw another one down the road.

I also don't understand the stupidity of KTM's electronics, but then nor does KTM or the two dealers near me. Somehow the back's brain impacts the front suspension. And now I seem to have stiffer damping on the front closer matching the rear in whatever they call the grown up mode, next one don't see a change, I guess comfort is fractionally less stiff, and off road changes the front with an almost imperceptible change at the back (all sounds very familiar !!!!!!). But if I ride at 20 mph and bounce the suspension the back is now moving up to 120mm - when with the original I could just get 30mm of suspension travel at the back, and the correct replacement they fitted would only move 20mm if you threw it off the empire estate building

The active death suspension feature remains as incompetent as always - changing from OK for fast use at slow speed with reasonably firm damping, and then all damping on the front just vanishing as you go faster - the exact opposite of how it should work ? - well done Austria - those Italian neighbours electrical skills must be rubbing off...

The back must be softer, as the tank slapping madness they gave back from the last dealer visit seems to have gone - these guys are the ones that actually got the electronics in the front to notice they were fitted on the bike, after that went walkabout for a year's holiday when a previous dealer fitted the new rear shock. What this second dealer gave back was quicker (with a fair bit more go), the front damping functioned once again, but the bike now had this random wheelie feature, where it might get a meter and a half of air, or it might not lift it at all - no matter how hard you tried.

It liked to offer this interesting lucky dip. It was often as if it monitored your riding and would surprise you doing the exact opposite of what was appropriate (aka active death 2). It would progressively get out of shape when nailing it through the gears, almost going lock to lock by 200kph and this seems to have gone. But I expect its just waiting for a good moment to pop back - trouble is this is probably a designed in time software feature to sell a new bike - by writing itself off. But I guess KTM didn't reckon on me hating it enough to stay on and just giving it a dam good kicking so it always ends up submitting under the pressure

 

[Tony sirett]

just got back from a run out to Belgium and have noticed one of my fork seals is leaking on my Honda VTX 1300s, booger, oh well next weekends job is to remover said forks and fit new seals, fingers crossed should only take an hour or so.......

 

[coxyhog]

Brabus bike anyone?....Only 154 made & sold out in less than 2 minutes.
A tad under £35k in the UK.

BRABUS 1300 R Masterpiece Edition

www.brabus.com

 

[DSK]

Saw that yesterday but didn’t get time to read the article. Limited stuff always sells out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[s5tuart]

My last bike was a Dragstar. I gave that up not long after having it as I found biking had changed significantly since my previous Enfield Constellation days in 1963. (When the RAC man used to salute you)
I did have a two minute go on my friends Ninja recently and decided biking still wasn't for me anymore
In my day I had a few nice bikes.
Gold Star, Thunderbird, Speed Twin, Constellation. I even had an Ariel Arrow for a while. I quite enjoyed it!

ETA...Oh! I forgot the ex-Post Office Bantam that I picked up for £1

 

[A.J.]

I used to until I did a Fire Brigade course on motorcycle injuries , gave up that week after 20 years of London commuting .
Hopefully you will of course remain injury free , lovely Suzuki by the way , I maxed out on a Honda CBR1000 .

In my Biking days I maxed out with a DB34 Gold Star. B@stard of a thing, used to dismantle itself as you were riding it and was a sod to start when it was hot. However in its day it was considered as being the mutts nuts

 

[S.Speed]

I have a 2017 Triumph Explorer 1200
Loads of grunt and great handling.
S

 

[A.J.]

I have a 2017 Triumph Explorer 1200
Loads of grunt and great handling.
S

In my day the Triumph wasn’t the greatest handler hence the incarnation of the Triton. In the early 2000’s I was dealer principal of a Triumph dealership and they had certainly come a long way from then. It was good that they still did all of the old retro stuff too though. Sold a surprising amount of Rocket III’s around here too

 

[coxyhog]

In my day the Triumph wasn’t the greatest handler hence the incarnation of the Triton. In the early 2000’s I was dealer principal of a Triumph dealership and they had certainly come a long way from then. It was good that they still did all of the old retro stuff too though. Sold a surprising amount of Rocket III’s around here too

I had a Meriden Bonneville in 1983 & it seemed to handle OK except when you got to around 70mph it tried to vibrate itself to bits.That & the habit of conking out for no apparent reason were it's main drawbacks.I sorted the conking out by replacing the twin coils after getting some advice from a specialist.