Any Motörbike riders here?

gubble

There's a s/h biker clothing shop in Bournemouth. This weekend I purchased an Alinestars summer jacket - my normal textile jacket was unbearable in this heat even with the lining removed.

Much lighter and more comfortable on the bike.

Kevlar Jeans, Proper Boots, Decent Gloves

Given I'm now riding an Enfield i have recently also purchased an open face helmet. the increased visibility is fantastic and it fits the look of the bike better. Fully aware of the risks but for pootling around the new forest at a max of 40mph i'm enjoying the experience.

For a longer ride out etc I always use my full face helmet.

Dominic

p90fool said:

In most parts of the world bikes are a shorts and flip-flops thing, just like they are for me this week.

Head-to-toe boiling hot leathers is definitely a northern European obsession, partly because it's usually cold enough anyway, but my God I've seen some uncomfortable people this week. 

I agree with this totally although I wouldn't go as far as the Flip Flops !
The whole joy of a bike is a warm sunny day , a bit of cooling wind and freedom .....the minute you have to go through a dressing proceedure the spontaneous free feeling diminishes and the armoured- up fully clad restrictive clothing is like having to dress in a full saturation diving suit to have a refreshing dip in the sea on a hot day .........just spoils it.
 I've got all the gear ( and use it in Winter to keep warm ) but so often ,as I'm leaving/arriving at a meeting etc and have to go through the dressing/undressing ritual or just sitting riding in it I think ' Fuck ,can I really be arsed with this ' wish I'd  got a lift or taken a car.
  When I used to race I had all the appropriate clothing /Spine protectors etc ....I've also slid down a gravelled French road with a Harley on top of me after being knocked off at low speed wearing nothing but shorts and a vest . I left half my bum and back on the road and was still having gravel picked out of my back 4 years later after skin grafts so I well know the risks.
However, full face helmets and Power Ranger suits are not a Magic Cloak /indemnity  like some people think and give many a very false sense of security and the 'KEVLAR ' denim stuff is just a sales con ......it fares little better than any other jeans ( there are some interesting vids of people taking a belt sander to them alongside a standard pair of jeans and they only last a few seconds longer )
Of course ,you cannot account for other idiot drivers but ultimately the best defence is to ride very carefully , never fail to double check,anticipate ,read the road and replay a constant risk assessment /management strategy on a loop as you ride along ( and don't let the wind whip off one of your Flip Flops !
Interestingly ,I use a very busy high speed London road most days ......all the Big bikes ,experienced riders and people with huge BHP at their wrist progress sensibly /filter carefully etc but hundreds of Just Eat / Deliveroo scooters out-gun us , beat us off the lights and flick/weave through the traffic from lane 1 to 4 in a split second making us look like Grandma as they gun the twist and Go 125 cc for all it's worth (and some are quite quick ) .........no wonder that I see one splatted over the road almost every week and somebody's take-away laying in the fast lane !
 You can certainly minimise your own risk .

roundthebend

I bought one of these Viper F656 helmets to compliment the style of my Bonneville T120. I got lucky and picked it up for £70 and the fit is pretty good. If I'm just bimbling around it's my first choice helmet. Someone in a petrol station once commented "Love your bike, and the helmet looks perfect with it".

If I'm riding longer and on motorways etc I prefer my HJC IS-17 which is a more snug fit, less noisy and better protection from the wind.

TheBigDipper

Just finger trouble..  Nothing to say here... :-) 

roundthebend

BikeSafe course, review of Part 1 (Theory)

For those that don't know, BikeSafe is an initiative facilitated by police forces across the UK. I think it's an independent organisation, but police motorcyclists are the only ones who deliver it. Each force seems to take a slightly different approach, but it always costs £65 now. Ultimately, there is an assessed ride in which you need to demonstrate a competency in using the system of motorcycle control that they advocate, and indeed the one they use themselves for high speed response riding.

I went to Bedfordshire Police HQ simply because my local Cambs course was fully booked at the time.....they then released some more dates but I couldn't swap it. Never mind. I turned up to a sizeable crowd of people (15-20) outside the cop shop and waited to be greeted. The officer was very down to earth and not too much of a jobsworth which set a good tone for the session.
In Bedfordshire they split the course into 2 days - Theory, then the assessed ride a few weeks later. So today was all about theory.

We kicked off with a sales pitch from the local IAM rep. Then it was a slideshow and discussion for the next few hours. Mostly death by PowerPoint and just reiterating the same points of the system of motorcycle control in different contexts - junctions, bends, overtaking, roundabouts, hazards etc. The IAM rep made a good point that new riders (< 1 year) generally haven't generally got enough experience yet, and those who have been riding longer (10+ years) might have got into bad habits. I fall in between those points, and am an ex driving instructor and one of those saddos who actually takes pride in my riding and driving technique. So, it was a bit boring but the rest of the group seemed to get a bit more value from it. There were some really interesting anecdotes and points of advice from experienced riders, including the police officer himself, and I left with a lot of respect for the ability and manner of police motorcyclists.

For those that don't know, the system of motorcycle control is boiled down to the IPSGA mnemonic.

1. Information - Take, Use, Gather (scan further ahead and wider to be better informed)
2. Position - place yourself to gather more info, and to be more prepared for situations
3. Speed - adjust your speed so that you can stop comfortably within the space that you can see is safe.
4. Gear - once at the required speed, choose the right gear
5. Accelerate - now balance the acceleration or increase it if needed. Bikes are most stable when upright and under gentle acceleration.

Does anyone feel like they do this already? I certainly do, though I can lose focus sometimes, but it's closely linked to the Mirror/Signal/Manoeuvre mantra we were taught when learning to drive.

Regarding Information they encouraged us to practise commentated riding. This encourages you to look further ahead, and also set speed more appropriately. I'll be giving that a go.

They also made a strong point about attitude - to other road users, to your riding buddies, to your own riding. Tips such as - if you're in a group and someone goes the wrong way, it's often better to follow them and stick together rather than just going the right way.

Final thought was that the instructor was very pragmatic in that there is never a 100% correct way to ride a stretch of road. You are making constant decisions based on your interpretation of information, so the system is designed to give you a fighting chance of getting it "good enough, often enough".

AK99

Dominic said:
 

.I've also slid down a gravelled French road with a Harley on top of me after being knocked off at low speed wearing nothing but shorts and a vest . I left half my bum and back on the road and was still having gravel picked out of my back 4 years later after skin grafts so I well know the risks.

Ouch..

As my brother is prone to quip when we go for a spin together.. "I love the sound of gravel dropping into a kidney tray in the morning"

sinbaadi

I've done holidays on 40mph+ scooters with just a flimsy helmet and shorts and tee shirt, but in the UK on a "proper bike" I just feel so exposed with anything less than a jacket, gloves and full face helmet.  Certainly couldn't do shorts either.

guitargeek62

I do pop out in jeans and t-shirt occasionally, but never on long/fast trips at all. Again, calculated risk and all that - I make a point of riding even more carefully and relaxed if I do too. Weirdly, gloves are the one thing I will always ride with, it's psychological I'm sure but I could be fully armoured up otherwise and I'd still feel naked if I didn't have them on!


Most of my riding gear is pretty innocuous, I purposefully bought stuff that I could ride and wear into my office without having to change. Lots of single-layer armoured denim with removable armour etc (Resurgance, Knox, Rev'it, Pando Moto), I also have a nice armoured mesh Belstaff jacket for summer/warm use. UrbanRider.co.uk have a great selection of that type of thing if you're looking for any.

p90fool

Changing the subject slightly, my wife and I have just had a fantastic camping trip in the north of England - around 1200 miles over five days in the Dales, County Durham and the Lake District. 

My Interceptor and her Bonneville never missed a beat, although I did have to put a decent MosFet regulator/rectifier on the Bonnie a couple of days before we went. 

AK99

That's a lovely colour on the Interceptor. Reminiscent of the old Suzuki gold on their GT strokers back in the '70s in a way.

p90fool

AK99 said:

That's a lovely colour on the Interceptor. Reminiscent of the old Suzuki gold on their GT strokers back in the '70s in a way.

It definitely has a GT250 look about it, you're right!

AK99

Jzz.. you're not wrong..

p90fool

Anyone else thoroughly enjoying this fabulous weather? I'm really racking up the miles at the moment,  today I'm out with our singer and her Mutt Fat Sabbath

Kittyfrisk

^ You seem very taken with the Interceptor, it would be good to hear a review of your experiences with it.
Do you still run the Bullets ?

Haych

p90fool said:

Anyone else thoroughly enjoying this fabulous weather? I'm really racking up the miles at the moment,  today I'm out with our singer and her Mutt Fat Sabbath

I wish I had, but after coming back from the Peak District last week I haven't had much time to get out and enjoy the bike since.

The Peak District was awesome, though.  Only one morning of pretty bad rain and the rest was a lot warmer than I thought it would be.

Some fantastic roads up there and I got my Snake Pass, Winnats Pass and Cat & Fiddle cards stamped.  Made some new biker friends while having a nasty burger at the Derwent Visitor Centre, too.

I came back a slightly better biker and more confident travelling solo on the bike over longer distances.  I also learned that Beeline Moto is a pile of garbage and six hours on the bike isn't uncomfortable.  I'll stretch my wheels a bit further next time.

I'm hoping tomorrow afternoon I might be able to get out for a few hours.

In other news, Mrs Haych and I went shopping earlier today and she's now fully kitted out to go pilly.  Not sure if that's a good thing or not!

LastMantra

p90fool said:

Anyone else thoroughly enjoying this fabulous weather? I'm really racking up the miles at the moment,  today I'm out with our singer and her Mutt Fat Sabbath

First time I've seen someone wearing sandals on a bike!

My dad has ridden bikes all his life and the only injury he ever had was when he hit a piece of metal on the road that got thrown up and broke his foot. That was with old school but decent leather boots on.

p90fool

Kittyfrisk said:

^ You seem very taken with the Interceptor, it would be good to hear a review of your experiences with it.
Do you still run the Bullets ?

Yes I still do about half my mileage on the Bullets, but I really like the Interceptor too. 

Although the majority of my holidays and camping trips have been on a Bullet for the last 18 years or so I always keep a modern push button bike alongside it for long, faster day trips. Most of these bikes come and go and I rarely ride them for pleasure, but the Interceptor looks like sticking around for a while as it ticks so many boxes for me. 

It's fun on the sorts of smaller roads I like exploring but just about quick enough to blitz the boring roads in between them, it looks fairly cool for a modern cheap bike and it does nearly 20 miles to a litre, which is double mileage of the Suzuki it replaced. 

There are no real downsides for me, it's mechanically very simple, the electronics aren't too daunting to troubleshoot and parts are cheap. I've done 10,000 miles on it so far but have no fear of wearing it out as I can afford to rebuild it every few years, something which was becoming increasingly daunting on Harleys.

So yes, I'm really quite fond of it considering it's a modern, big selling cookie cutter bike. 

p90fool

LastMantra said:

p90fool said:

First time I've seen someone wearing sandals on a bike!

Someone on Facebook told me I wasn't wearing appropriate protection, although SPF50 seemed totally appropriate to me!

guitargeek62

@p90fool I’m all for personal choice vs ATGATT but surely it can’t be comfortable to shift up in those?

p90fool

guitargeek62 said:

@p90fool I’m all for personal choice vs ATGATT but surely it can’t be comfortable to shift up in those?

No they're fine, the toe strap lines up exactly with the shifter peg.

I used to ride my old foot clutch Harley in bare feet when I lived in France, but had to alternate feet like a lizard on the hot tarmac at traffic lights.