advice needed from any Hells Angels on here

[Tony Santara]

I'm thinking i need something to get about on when we're on our travels.

I thought about having an A frame for the car.
But now i've been looking at motorcycles/scooters , there appears to be quite a lot of new Chinese machines about for not a lot of money.
Has anybody got any experiance of these or advice even
What would you do car or bike?

 

[Papa Smurf]

How confident are you that riding a scooter/bike will not make you feel vulnerable as you are used to being surrounded by a metal safe cell?

Do you already have a licence, or will you be on L plates? - there is a time limit on which you can ride as a learned before you have to PASS your test.

Bikes are enormous fun - I've had them on an off for the last 30 years, so my learning was done when it was a safer road environment than now.

Why do you want a bike? Cheaper? Easier to transport? Or, to go places, including shopping? Because you cannot carry a lot SAFELY on a bike - the days of shopping bags slung over the handlebars are (and should be ) long gone.

If it's for fun, and occassional travel, and you can satisfy your AND your partners peace of mind, go for it!



Oh, and "Hells Angel" is terribly un-PC! Try "member of a patched club"

 

[Tony Santara]

Hi Papasmurf
yes confidant enough
only looking at 125 cc not for shopping just to get about on
I will need to take a test
sorry about the Hells Angel thing no offence intended

 

[Papa Smurf]

(missing from my previous post)!

Please make sure that when you do go for your test, you go through a program of about 6 - 10 weeks, learning a little each time. There are companies that will promise to teach you to pass your test in a week. There's a good reason they're called "crash courses"

 

[Forestboy]

Hi Tony
We carry a 650 kawasaki as you can see and for us this is perfect, we have a tank bag and a back box on the bike and then a backpack this is sufficient for all our needs. Also our RV is big enough to carry but if not I would use a trailer but have a much bigger bike FJR or Goldwing type bike.

I would agree with Papa Smurf though bikes are not for everyone and riding on our roads today can be quite daunting and needs tremendous concentration. If you have got a full bike licence but have not ridden for a few years go and do a refresher course they are great fun and could save your life and cost very little. If you have not passed a test you will need to book in for training which will include a CBT (compulsory basic training) first which if you're over 21 will allow you to ride up to 125cc but no pillion. You can do the CBT part in 1 day normally and then decide if its for you or not. If you want more info on training pm me and I'll send you some details as I am a part time motorcycle instructor and raced bikes for 14 years. Make sure you train with a reputable company as there are a lot of cowboys out there.

If you do decide to go for a bike consider a modern scooter as they are much more comfortable than traditional bikes and the new ones are superb to ride especially with pillions who are not into bikes. The only drawback with sooters is the weight they tend to be heavier than traditional bikes we looked at a 400cc and it weighed 250kgs our 650 weighs 180kgs.

Hope this helps a little and if you decide to go for a bike and need some help I'll help if you want me to. :thumb:

 

[Forestboy]

(missing from my previous post)!

Please make sure that when you do go for your test, you go through a program of about 6 - 10 weeks, learning a little each time. There are companies that will promise to teach you to pass your test in a week. There's a good reason they're called "crash courses"

This is why I said use only a reputable company that can provide plenty of references.
A good instructor will assess your ability and advise which training course is best for you. They all charge based on a set no of hours to reach test level so the time period is up to you, don't be bullied into a course you're not happy with. The intense courses are designed to teach people how to pass their test nothing else.
Unfortunately the only way to gain experience is to get out there and do it.

 

[Papa Smurf]

Forestboy is spot on IMO.

I too used to instruct, but it's been a few years. However, like Forestboy, if you think I may be able to help , please PM me.

 

[vicdicdoc]

I'd like a BIG bike . . but I'd prob kill myself, so I make do with a nice little chug-about 1988 Honda C90 step-thru 'moped' . . 85cc, top speed 40mph.
search e-bay

 

[Road Runner]

Hi Papasmurf
yes confidant enough
only looking at 125 cc not for shopping just to get about on
I will need to take a test
sorry about the Hells Angel thing no offence intended

Hells angel on a 125 eh Tony

 

[Tony Santara]

Thanks for your help fellas
i've not ridden a bike for many years but the confidence is still there
:thumb::thumb:

 

[Forestboy]

Thanks for your help fellas
i've not ridden a bike for many years but the confidence is still there
:thumb::thumb:

Certainly worth doing a refresher as riding and observation techniques have advanced so much over the years.

 

[Tony Santara]

Hells angel on a 125 eh Tony

Your Just making fun of me aren't you John

 

[Road Runner]

I would be interested to hear feedback from anyone with a Chinese machine.

Miles on Ebay so someone buying them.

 

[Neckender]

you could try a trike and tow it behind you, also ride it on a car license.

John.

 

[Road Runner]

get a quad

Link Removed could give Irina & me a lift around then

 

[FunTesters]

you could try a trike and tow it behind you, also ride it on a car license.

John.

Hi John
Nice idea... Is that true that you can ride a trike on a car license? I never bothered (unfortunately) to take my bike test when I was young, I preferred to be a real rebel Luckily I never got caught either, but I would certainly not do it nowadays with the volume of traffic on the roads, but a trike???? I did consider one of these before and asked the question on another forum, unfortunately never got a sensible reply though.

Keith

 

[Forestboy]

He Keith

Try one of these if you fancy a trike a snip at £30k

 

[Papa Smurf]

Trikes can indeed be ridden on a car license. And yea I have had one in my past too..

However, I would strongly suggest the newer type "scooters" as Forestboy said. Whilst Trikes are fun (wheelieing in reverse is a real laxative the first time you do it), if you want to use it for going places, it has the drawback of only being able to go where a car can, and you can't nip down the outside of a line of traffic - why? because you are still a car width wide!

Whatever you choose, just have FUN

 

[andyman]

Cheap Imports

A few years ago i was selling a few chinese m/cycles. Given the choice between a 10 year old Jap bike and a new Chinese one. The Jap wins hands down. Chinese bikes are made to a price, I have not found one yet that looks like it would stand up to long term daily use. I know someone who runs a MOT station and lots of the Scooters fail on stiff rear suspension or worn front forks.
Take a look at the resale value of the imports a little over 50% after a year seems the norm.

 

[theboadacea]

We have a 125 ped and a Kawasaki ZX 636 .. prefer the Kwack everytime ... unless going only a mile or two to the shop then the ped rules as has underseat storage

 

[Harley Dave]

We towed my Electra Glide this year when we were in the lakes :Cool:

Ideal for us - but not a beginner's bike, no matter what your Harley Dealer will try to tell you

Cheers

Dave

 

[Brisey]

Great looking bike Dave, wish I could have one as a toad but the missus wants a Smart

 

[dylan]

Nice bike Harley Dave:thumb: Hope you come here one day so I can see it "in the flesh" so to speak:coolthumb:

 

[BGD]

Hi Tony (the Original Poster) -

Just a quick aside......you might want to be just a touch careful about how you mention "Hells Angels" in such a way in public.

I've known many of them for many years now both in the UK and now here in Spain....generally a very nice bunch of guys, but they can get just a little pissy with other people bandying their name about. And the one thing you really don't wanna be doing is pissing them off........

Maybe talk about "Bikers" instead?

Cheers,

Bruce.

 

[Tony Santara]

Hi Bruce
So what are you saying ?they've got no sense of humour , not the ones i know and i've met and worked with a few over the years
So tell me why do they call themselves Hells Angels ?

cheers
Tony

 

[Geo]

Tony
I can see you waking up with a Horses head in yer mouth, or is that in your bed
Oh no thats the Mafia, can I say that
Geo

 

[Tony Santara]

Geo
I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse.....

 

[atadloopy]

chinese bikes

hi, a word of warning, i was searching a motor insurance forum today and came across a lot of requests for anybody who had managed to get ins for a chinese bike it seems that apart from the reliability, build quality and resale value its hard to get ins.

 

[Tony Santara]

hi, a word of warning, i was searching a motor insurance forum today and came across a lot of requests for anybody who had managed to get ins for a chinese bike it seems that apart from the reliability, build quality and resale value its hard to get ins.

Something else i've learned thanks for the warning :thumb:

 

[Papa Smurf]

So tell me why do they call themselves Hells Angels ?
Tony

"Hells Angels" was a name long favored by mercenaries and soldiers, warriors and troops who risked all for principle, belief, freedom and individual rights - including the right to ride big Harley-Davidson hogs. The history of today's Hells Angels is obscured by the hazy exhaust of half a century of Harleys, and no one can see through quite to the beginning.
But many believe the original Angels were members of the U.S. Army's 11th Airborne Division, an elite group of paratroopers trained to rain death on the enemy from above, drifting in behind the lines of battle.
They called themselves the Hells Angels because they flew on silk wings into hell itself, bringing a brutal hope for peace with 20 pounds of TNT strapped to each leg. The nickname was a badge of honor, a mark of invincibility, a wartime emblem indicating the toughest of the tough. It was a totem to ward off the worst.
Not surprisingly, a handful of those original Hells Angels - along with many other returning soldiers who had awakened to the nightmare of war - found it difficult to settle into the half-sleep of the American Dream. After living on the edge so long, they found only a depressing fatalism and monotony in jobs, family, mortgages, college, suburbia and cookie-cutter houses with white-picket fences.
And so they rode. Motorcycles were cheap in the mid-1940s, sold as military surplus, and they offered a certain wild peacetime freedom not unlike the wartime skies of Europe. Soon, individuals gathered into groups, sharing weekends when they rode hard and partied harder.

But when Monday came, not everyone went home. Some stayed, turning the weekend motorcycle club into a surrogate family of full-time brothers.
Two of the first such fraternities were the Pissed Off Bastards and the Booze Fighters, groups that established early the notoriety of the outlaw biker image. In 1947, at an American Motorcycle Association convention in the drowsy town of Hollister, Calif., the Pissed Off Bastards rode in drunk, wild and destructive, landing as if behind enemy lines with a belly full of TNT. The local sheriff later described the scene as "just one hell of a mess."
Quick to control the public relations' damage, the AMA denounced the Bastards, saying it was unfortunate that 1 percent of motorcyclists should ruin it for the law-abiding 99 percent. To this day, the 1 percent insignia remains a badge of honor, worn with pride by those who define themselves as not part of that milquetoast 99 percent majority who ride whining Hondas back and forth to the office.
But in the months following Hollister, internal tension among the Bastards and Booze Fighters was mounting, and in 1948 Bastard Otto Friedli broke from the club, splintering the group to create the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Fontana, Calif.