Categories
Riding

Riding Out of the Sun

RidingOutOfTheSunThe summer has most definitely long gone, now replaced with some glorious (and not so glorious) Autumn sun.  This mild weather is a boon to us bikers, but be mindful of the low sun blinding other drivers and masking your presence. Like the fighter pilots of old who surprised their targets by flying out of the sun, riding West in mornings and East in the evenings could potentially see you surprising fellow road users.

Bear the sun in mind, the scope for SMIDSY’s is even greater. Anticipate drivers pulling out, even when looking directly at you. When filtering, drivers may only see glare in their mirrors, or your headlights may blend into the setting sun. Take it steady and don’t assume others have seen you (even less so than normal).

Categories
Clothing/Protection

Not Your Usual Hi-Vis

getoffphone-hivizDefinitely liking this Hi-Vis!

Categories
News

Bye Bye Paper Tax Disc

ByeByeTaxDiscSo long and thanks for all the … faff.

It’s October the 1st and the paper tax disc has officially been obsoleted, no longer needing to be displayed on your vehicle.

No more tearing our the perforated paper disc, no more hassle trying to open your seized up tax disc holder, no more soggy paper and no more worrying about tea leaves stealing it. Of course you will still need to pay VED (vehicle excise duty), either online, over phone or down the Post Office, but enforcement will be through ANPR camera’s.

The Gov have introduced the option to pay by direct debit on a monthly basis, but it’s still cheaper to buy 12 months up front. The biggest change, is vehicle tax is now no longer transferable when a vehicle is sold. The seller will need to cancel their tax, getting a refund for whole months only, then the buyer will need to buy fresh tax prior to using the vehicle. I envisage this last change being a logistical nightmare , as buyers try to sort out insurance and tax at the same time.

More details of the changes can be found on this Gov webpage.

Categories
Gear Reviews

Honk Honk! Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn Installation and Review

In London, I use my horn a lot (ooh-err!) As such, I found my standard horn a bit inferior and decided to pimp it for a large and loud motorcycle air horn that everyone would make everyone sit up and take heed of (ooh-err!)

Enough of the double entendre’s, let’s get down to business with this Stebel Nautilus Compact air horn. Hailing from Italy, Stebel has a well-established reputation for producing quality horns that make a lot of noise. Their Nautilus horn has been around for a number of years and is popular for its convenient size and noise, but even better, they have this Compact version which is perfect for motorbikes.

I purchased my Stebel Nautilus Compact off eBay a few months ago from a seller in the Netherlands who supplied it as a kit with all the necessary wiring, connectors, relay etc. I paid just under £40 including postage – bargain!

Categories
Maintenance

Swapping Fazer Fairing Déjà Vu

I had an industrious afternoon swapping the fairing on my Fazer. Again. It is certainly telling when you can totally swap the fairing over in an hour. Lights, loom, indicators, mirrors, screen etc. I lose track of the number of times I’ve had to strip down the front end now, all instances have been the result of some ‘incident’. 🙁 I just hope I’m not being premature fitting it just before winter turns up…

I also took the opportunity to fit my Stebel Nautilus air horn to the bike. Reasonably straight forward, but some work making a specific bracket was required. A full write up of this and the insane noise it produces will follow shortly.

Universal jacket-to-trouser zips, when will this every become a reality?! It’s currently worse than mobile phone charger plugs… And giving us both sides of the zip is a poor cop out, like we’re going to dig out our handy industrial leather sowing machine and quickly swap zips over.

Categories
Clothing/Protection Riding

Motorcycle Winter Preparation

We may be having a particularly warm and dry autumn so far, but it won’t last long. So now is the time to start thinking out your winter preparations. At Beginner Biker Adventures, we’re not fair-weather bikers,

we’re not fair-weather bikers

it’ll take some pretty extreme weather to stop us from riding and we use our bikes to commute year-round. Granted, in London, the weather rarely gets too bad and very few roads will be impossible to ride in the winter, nonetheless, good motorcycle winter preparation ensures safe riding throughout the winter months. Check out these useful tips to prepare.

Categories
Clothing/Protection Maintenance

NikWax TechWash & SoftShell Proof

NikWax-TechWash-SoftShellProofGood old NikWax, going to try giving my new (second hand) Rukka jacket a freshen up and make sure it’s waterproof again. In theory, it should be as easy as throwing the jacket through the washing machine with some of this Nikwax Tech Wash/Softshell Proof
stuff. Fingers crossed!

Categories
Videos

Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 14 – Fail :(

What a shit morning. My biker sixth sense wasn’t with me today…

YouTube player

Whilst quietly filtering through some suburban traffic approaching the A13 I managed to drop the bike. Again. I was just about to start filtering past a queue of traffic when a car decides to do the same thing and pulls out on me. I panic braked, locked up the front wheel and down she went. All very low speed (as usual), didn’t even hit another car, they just carried on oblivious. Grrr. Totally smashed the fairing, crash bars did their job, but various other bits are scuffed.

FazerSmashedFairingSept14

New fairing is on order, but a bit skint now, so do us a favour and click on some of my banners and affiliate links. Much appreciated.

Categories
Motorcycles

The Big British Motorcycle Renaissance

What on earth is going on? After being totally obliterated in the ’70s by a wave of imported Japanese bikes, the British motorbike manufacturing industry seems to be making a bit of a come back. We’ve all seen Triumph return to great success, but now many more British brands are hitting the market with brand new bikes that look pretty damned good.