General chat thread... Links, pictures, banter etc

goodlad

Really depends on your commute i guess.
My commute has no traffic lights at all and 99% of the journey is on a motorway with no traffic.

zubair

Last year there was one day i decided to take the car in because of the weather. I regretted it half way down the road as I would have been grand.

Yesterday, my estate was the most dangerous part of the journey, put the foot down at a stop line and it started to slip, had to give a small amount of throttle to move away from it and take the weight of my foot. Something to watch out for.

Also, someone crashed into the missus on her 2 minute commute yesterday after hitting ice. That was in an estate as well.

Wonda-Boy

zubair wrote: »

Last year there was one day i decided to take the car in because of the weather. I regretted it half way down the road as I would have been grand.

Yesterday, my estate was the most dangerous part of the journey, put the foot down at a stop line and it started to slip, had to give a small amount of throttle to move away from it and take the weight of my foot. Something to watch out for.

Also, someone crashed into the missus on her 2 minute commute yesterday after hitting ice. That was in an estate as well.

You serious, hitting you in the estate. Prolly the neighbour you hate the most aswell :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Hotblack Desiato

Got a screw through the back tyre yesterday, was able to limp to a garage and patch it with string and pump it up to get me home, but it's not holding air.

Recommend me a place for bike puncture repair, Clondalkin area preferably?

Mesrine65

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Recommend me a place for bike puncture repair, Clondalkin area preferably?

Head down to Cotter's, they'll sort you out.

Hotblack Desiato

Thanks, dunno why I didn't think of them. Found a second puncture pretty close to the first one, and I can't successfully plug it, might have to replace the tyre but we'll see...

Richard tea

With my work shift pattern and cold weather upon us I have decided to lay the bike up till the new year. This gives me the time to fit the braided lines and remove the carbs and give a good clean & check readings.

Dont know which to tackle first. Fit the braided lines or clean carbs? Does it matter?

blade1

Richard tea wrote: »

With my work shift pattern and cold weather upon us I have decided to lay the bike up till the new year. This gives me the time to fit the braided lines and remove the carbs and give a good clean & check readings.

Dont know which to tackle first. Fit the braided lines or clean carbs? Does it matter?

Stick on your brake lines first!
That way you can be admiring them every now and again as you do the carbs!:pac:

goodlad

Awh yeah! Present delivery.

TRE mod just got delivered and my skid plate will be here next week.

Strom is off for a service tomorrow and the TRE installed and Secondary Butterfly valves being removed. Cannot wait till its done then off for a custom map and see what kindas beast the strom will be then!!

o2 sensor is also being disabled then we gotta figure out which fooking ECU pin to pull out as there is no sensor eliminator available for the vstrom 1000.

goodlad

This is wtf a TRE does incase anyone is wondering. Recommended for any suzuki bike really as they all have some kinda awful suzuki setup.

If i knew they existed my sv1000 would of had one installed as soon as i got it.
Will set it up so the ecu thinks the strom is always in 5th gear and doesnt restrict the bike.

Hotblack Desiato

goodlad wrote: »

o2 sensor is also being disabled then we gotta figure out which fooking ECU pin to pull out as there is no sensor eliminator available for the vstrom 1000.

Will just making it open circuit do the job? I thought the sensor eliminator had a resistor of a particular value in it (between ECU pin and ground, presumably) corresponding to what gear the bike is supposed to be in.

goodlad

Thats the setup on most bikes and a resistor is available to plug in instead of the sensor and then no FI warning comes on. With the DL1000 there is no resistor available as you can just disable the sensor by pulling the correct pin and then the TRE tells the ECU that I'm always in 5th gear which stops the ECU restriction and allows a custom dyno map to function correctly.

Kev.OC

Heard on the radio today, apparently if you don't wear your shiny new N-vest you can get two penalty points. That's kinda sh1t for new riders. I'm pretty sure the only time I wore my L-vest was for the test.

prunudo

Kev.OC wrote: »

Heard on the radio today, apparently if you don't wear your shiny new N-vest you can get two penalty points. That's kinda sh1t for new riders. I'm pretty sure the only time I wore my L-vest was for the test.

The penalty points system is becoming a joke, way too many offenses now, they'll be issuing them not wearing hi viz next.
I've heard that ad myself and it's misleading as you only need to display/wear a n plate for your first ever full license. So if you have a full cage license and then pass your bike test a few years later you won't need to wear the n tabard on the bike.

Paulw

Doesn't really bother me having to wear the L vest. But, I am glad I hold a full cage license, so won't need to wear an N vest if/when I pass the test.

Peanut2011

Yeah the N plate is a bit of a nuisance! Only time I wore my L was for the test few weeks ago which I successfully passed. No need to worry about any of that now!

DubVelo

Presume you can just staple some L's on a regular high vis, right?
I mean obviously I wear one all the time like most of us on learner permits do (:pac:) but just thinking it would be a pain if one was to get nabbed at a Christmas checkpoint.

Peanut2011

DubVelo wrote: »

Presume you can just staple some L's on a regular high vis, right?
I mean obviously I wear one all the time like most of us on learner permits do (:pac:) but just thinking it would be a pain if one was to get nabbed at a Christmas checkpoint.

I'd imagine they will clamp down on that to start but will be business as usual in the new year...

Hotblack Desiato

jvan wrote: »

The penalty points system is becoming a joke, way too many offenses now, they'll be issuing them not wearing hi viz next.

The next round of penalty point reforms:

Using foglights on a wet night - 20 points

Tailgating a motorcycle - 50 points

:pac:

Richard tea

I hate starting a job on the bike only to realise I dont have a tool for a certain part. Im going to do my carbs soon. How important is one of these http://www.ebay.com/bhp/carburetor-jet-tool and most importantly what size do I need for my cb400 ? Im nearly sure I read somewhere before about the size cleaning needle Honda use but I cant find the info now.

ShadowHearth

Guys, again me and again, no point in opening a new thread for few questions.

As I said before, I am looking to get A license for 2015. With your help here ( and good FAQ ) I know what I need to do for actual A license.

Just one thing I wanted to get advice on about actual Driving. I drive a car for 10 years now, but I just completely new to Motorbikes. I never had a chance even to sit on one. I dont know if its a great idea to go for proper driving lessons when I wont even know how to hold my balance ( in my defence, i did had bicycles when I was a kid! ).
Would it be a good idea to get a 50cc bike ( not scooter ) to learn the ropes? I know that I can use my full B license to drive one of those on public roads. When I learn basic driving, I could start my proper lessons, get Learners Permit and do that IBT etc.
Another idea is to get some very cheap bike of any CC that I could just scrap later. I could just learn the basic at my friends place. He has a yard in industrial estate, which would be more then enough for me to just learn basics. I would stay away from public roads as obviously there would be no Driving license or insurance on it. Same thing after like in first option, go get lessons, get LP and IBT.
In both cases I got a few friends who actually know how to drive Bikes and would teach me.

Any advice is welcome guys. I know these might be stupid questions, but I better ask, before actually doing something stupid. If you got a good examples of bikes (50cc or something dirt cheap ) feel free to share.

Paulw

IBT is designed to take you from no experience to being able to ride. IBT = Initial Basic Training. So, from an initial point of 0 experience to basic riding.

You may be very surprised how stable a bike is, once you get moving.

I had 0 experience when I started my IBT, and at the end was confident enough.

Just go get your learner permit and then get your IBT done.

Alkers

Paulw wrote: »

Doesn't really bother me having to wear the L vest. But, I am glad I hold a full cage license, so won't need to wear an N vest if/when I pass the test.

I don't think it works like that, you would still be required to wear the N-plates when driving the bike.

ShadowHearth

Paulw wrote: »

IBT is designed to take you from no experience to being able to ride. IBT = Initial Basic Training. So, from an initial point of 0 experience to basic riding.

You may be very surprised how stable a bike is, once you get moving.

I had 0 experience when I started my IBT, and at the end was confident enough.

Just go get your learner permit and then get your IBT done.

Right, so going for IBT as a complete "newby" is the actual way to go, great!

Just a question about getting my theory test done. I got my full license not in Ireland, so I am not sure how it works here. I presume it should be same as for full B? I could just grab a CD or that book from someone who did their test for car and dig in? Its same for A and B?

Paulw

Simona1986 wrote: »

I don't think it works like that, you would still be required to wear the N-plates when driving the bike.

Nope, once you hold a full license in any category (prior to 1st Aug 2014) you don't need N-plates in any new category you qualify in.

http://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Licensed-Drivers/Driving-licence/Novice-Plates-Introduction/

Paulw

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Right, so going for IBT as a complete "newby" is the actual way to go, great!

Just a question about getting my theory test done. I got my full license not in Ireland, so I am not sure how it works here. I presume it should be same as for full B? I could just grab a CD or that book from someone who did their test for car and dig in? Its same for A and B?

I started with nothing, no bike experience at all.

Get the book/cd (for motorbike). Do the theory test, for bike. Then apply for your learner permit. I think I have the book/CD at home, since I passed the theory test only 3 months ago. Drop me a PM and I'll send it on to you.

lostboy75

I agree with Paulw,
the IBT is designed for no skill level at all, so that's the safest way to go about it.
I got my first bike license quite a few years back, but didn't get around to doing the test or buying a bike etc. i did do training though (to see if i actually liked biking) the training was essentially the IBT, but before there was IBT.
bought first bike about 4 years later. and as I was legal on the road even though i didn't do the IBT off i went.
thinking about my own safety, and as I was thinking about getting a different bike anyway (had my babydero well over a year), I did the IBT to get unrestricted learners.
it worked for me, alternatively you could do what my brother did, chatting with a biker mate about getting a bike. his mate showed him the controls, then let him off down a very quite rural road (leads to a dead end so no traffic) brother got to the end of the road and dropped the bike trying to turn it. had to wait for his very pleased mate to come help him lift the bike. end of lesson! lol

Lost,

if you are unsure of which option i was recommending, its the get proper training one.....

ShadowHearth

Paulw wrote: »

I started with nothing, no bike experience at all.

Get the book/cd (for motorbike). Do the theory test, for bike. Then apply for your learner permit. I think I have the book/CD at home, since I passed the theory test only 3 months ago. Drop me a PM and I'll send it on to you.

Cheers. I'll pm to you m8. I'll drop a few quid by PayPal for it too.

Kev.OC

Another vote for IBT. I don't think I'd ever sat on a bike before I started mine, and it left me feeling well able to ride by the end.

This was back before the 5th module and the new licencing rules by the way. Also, I had about 5 years on the road in a car under my belt. Still though, I'd recommend the IBT to anyone.

Wonda-Boy

IBT is deffo the way to go but even more essential is the trainer you choose. They are not all of the SAME QUALITY.....choose wisely.