Will motorbike use increase?

[Morrisman]

£800! Cost next to nothing when I did it in 1982 on my 1961 200ccTiger cub with hand signals and tester walking round the course.........

Same here, 1978 on a CB250 Honda, round the block twice, emergency stop, questions : what does a red stop light mean..... £17 out of pocket and been riding ever since. I don't think I've been without a motorcycle for more than a couple of years ever since.

 

[minimutly]

When you say test everyone I assume you also include car/van etc drivers in that.

Yes, them most. No, sorry, women in turbodiesels most. In fact everyone, everyone but me of course, I’m a very good driver....

 

[Rannsachair]

Same here, 1978 on a CB250 Honda, round the block twice, emergency stop, questions : what does a red stop light mean..... £17 out of pocket and been riding ever since. I don't think I've been without a motorcycle for more than a couple of years ever since.

I am similar: have had a bike without a gap for 43 years now.... Though have hardly ridden the last 2 years because of health issues. I find riding a bike makes me happier and reduces back pain, so it is therapeutic

 

[Morrisman]

I am similar: have had a bike without a gap for 43 years now.... Though have hardly ridden the last 2 years because of health issues. I find riding a bike makes me happier and reduces back pain, so it is therapeutic

Even when I left the real world in 1990 to back pack around it, I rented bikes in several countries. Then I bought a 250 Honda when my trip ground to a halt in Thailand, for a year. I did work in Singapore for 18 months after that, and never had a bike there, I must admit.

Thence onto the Philippines, where I bought an SR 500, which I owned for over 20 years eventually. It underwent several major rebuilds in my hands, and ended up looking far different than a stock SR500 ever should.

 

[Robotstar5]

I am similar: have had a bike without a gap for 43 years now.... Though have hardly ridden the last 2 years because of health issues. I find riding a bike makes me happier and reduces back pain, so it is therapeutic

I've done similar, 47 years but there was an empty space in the garage for about 3 months until I could stand it no longer and bought another bike

 

[Trevorleach]

30 yrs ago all I had was my bike licence, well eventually I got it!
All I can remember is the rain and the cost of tyres/brake pads and chain/sprockets, tyres lasted next to no time at all.

Current car tyres are on 35k and just about had it, try that on a bike.
List of ones I had, think forgotten some as well
CD175
GP100
Yamaha T80
CB250 dream
CB250 superdream
CB400 superdream
Yamaha four stroke twin think it was a 250
CJ360
CBX550
VF750FD

I liked Hondas, I really disliked their camchains, so bought a Kawasaki GPZ1100B1, got to be better I thought.
One twisted crank and a holed piston later meant it ended up with a Wiseco big bore kit, compression ratio so high I had to fit two base gaskets, so the starter would crank it.
When unleaded first came out it used to overheat in traffic.

Sometimes I think I should get another one, then reality kicks in.

 

[winchman]

Many years ago at a local Tyre place the bloke was fitting a tyre to my TS125 (remember them?) He told me in the 60's and 70"s every one bought a scooter or moped at 16 for transport and he sold loads of tyres but said in the 80's it dies off, I do wonder if this is true?
I see less people interested in scooters and bikes these days or is it just me?

 

[premmington]

Many years ago at a local Tyre place the bloke was fitting a tyre to my TS125 (remember them?) He told me in the 60's and 70"s every one bought a scooter or moped at 16 for transport and he sold loads of tyres but said in the 80's it dies off, I do wonder if this is true?
I see less people interested in scooters and bikes these days or is it just me?

Been looking at replacing my little Honda scooter. Honda 125s made in Thailand are £3 to £4k.

Honda SH350i made in Italy with a keyless topbox and heating grips is £6100 give or take a few pence.

Don't look like cheap transport to me?

 

[cr500dom]

My CR500 Supermoto.
Road legal
102kg fully fuelled (12L desert tank)
68hp at the rear wheel
Made 28hp in 1200rpm when it came on the pipe and would spin up the rear wheel at 80mph in top when it did
Crazy thing but epic fun, should never have sold it, they fetch crazy £££ now


Sold it and built this instead:
CRF450SM
Was faster 95% of the time because it was easier to ride

 

[Fiji]

I normally ride bike (BMW 650 Dakar or Honda CB1100) every day but after 14 days of it pi##ing down for at least half the journey I decided I'd go in the car today and guess what ? Yes, the BLOODY SUN came out. AAAARGHHHHH !! back on the bike tomorrow.

 

[redlig]

Yes, them most. No, sorry, women in turbodiesels most. In fact everyone, everyone but me of course, I’m a very good driver....

That makes two of us. We will be safe until we meet each other head on.

 

[stuvy]

When you say test everyone I assume you also include car/van etc drivers in that.

I personally think we should all be retested periodically

Yes, them most. No, sorry, women in turbodiesels most. In fact everyone, everyone but me of course, I’m a very good driver....

So your not a fan of people that accelerate hard as the boost comes in then changes gear, slows down and away they go again

Main reason i don’t like diesels, that and the smell, noise…

 

[minimutly]

I personally think we should all be retested periodically

So your not a fan of people that accelerate hard as the boost comes in then changes gear, slows down and away they go again

Main reason i don’t like diesels, that and the smell, noise…

Well that, but mostly I hate turbodiesels because they are so good at being fast, without giving the driver any indication (besides the clock in front of them) of the unacceptably high speed they are doing. Narrow roads, blind bends, cars going twice as fast as they should, too far out in the road. Don't start me.
The other day I had two nearly have me off - one was a farmer in his truck - going too fast around a blind bend on a single track - big skids - I'd long stopped and was eying up my options. Another, woman drove staright past a passing place, looking straight at me, smiling! Like I can vanish!

 

[pedrobedro]

My boyhood wet dream that!!!

My boyhood wet dreams were all about girls from what I remember. I passed my bike test on a Kawasaki AR125 and we also had a KH125 for a while, fun bikes.

 

[mtt.tr]

My boyhood wet dreams were all about girls from what I remember. I passed my bike test on a Kawasaki AR125 and we also had a KH125 for a while, fun bikes.

Haha my youth was spent in the garage introverted

I would like an ar125 but think now I'll be disappointed, like meeting a hero

 

[Morrisman]

Many years ago at a local Tyre place the bloke was fitting a tyre to my TS125 (remember them?) He told me in the 60's and 70"s every one bought a scooter or moped at 16 for transport and he sold loads of tyres but said in the 80's it dies off, I do wonder if this is true?
I see less people interested in scooters and bikes these days or is it just me?

The govt made it increasingly harder to get on the road, and then pass your test/s and get a full licence, so I guess most people never bothered. I think a theory test and practical riding test was required to even ride a lowly 30mph moped at 16.

 

[premmington]

Haha my youth was spent in the garage introverted

I would like an ar125 but think now I'll be disappointed, like meeting a hero

AR80K

Kawasaki AR80K - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We got the aircooled version at 10.2bhp - the AR80K is 20BHP @ 78kg

 

[dobbslc]

The govt made it increasingly harder to get on the road, and then pass your test/s and get a full licence, so I guess most people never bothered. I think a theory test and practical riding test was required to even ride a lowly 30mph moped at 16.

If they had also made the car driving test increasingly difficult keeping the worst of the crap off the roads it would have saved many lives...

 

[aesmith]

Until Covid my regular commute was on an SV650, all year round except for the worst snow/ice. Actually some was in pretty bad snow or ice when I misjudged, there was one day when I was stuck in the middle of the farmyard on wet ice simply unable to make any progress up our drive. Cost saving wasn't the primary objective, the main reason was hatred for traffic jams. I guess the saving in fuel probably paid for its running costs, but there wouldn't be much saved overall. For example tyres cost as much as for a car, and don't last as long (although there are only two), brakes need overhauling more often. There's that wretched chain that needs more maintenance than a whole car.

 

[Morrisman]

If they had also made the car driving test increasingly difficult keeping the worst of the crap off the roads it would have saved many lives...

With some sort of speed/power limits for the first few years after the test is passed. Just like with motorcycles.