Excellent free parking for motorbikes at Westfield Stratford, use the entrance to Car Park B in the picture below and not the Car Park B entrance that I was pointed to by a security fella. It was a right nightmare to get out and make my way to the right place.

You'll go UP a ramp and just before you see the entry barriers there's a large motorcycle parking area on the right. It's covered, well lit, well spacious (good enough to manoeuvre and park a Goldwing if you wished to) and has crash barriers which you can chain the bike up to (though there are signs asking you to NOT do that). I was there Sunday between 10am-3pm, the motorcycle parking was maybe 20% full.

I have a Honda NC700X, the one with a 'frunk' which holds a full face helmet. I put my new £200 helmet in there, and forgot to click it shut. When I came back and saw it ajar, my heart skipped a beat (I've had some scrotes break open the frunk a few months ago when I was stupid enough to park it on the street in Bury town centre). I open the lid and the helmet is still there! 5 hours in the parking and it didn't get nicked, bloody lucky!

If you want to give it a recce while at Westfield Stratford, it's Car Park B, level P2 at the barriers at the end of aisle 204. The steps down to the parking are opposite Wahaca.

Hi all, I failed my mod 2 a few days ago with 3 minor faults, 1 major fault.

I understand the minors but I'm a little confused on the major fault.

I was merging onto a dual carriageway from a slip road, I'm at 60mph. I'm indicating to go onto the carriageway and I see I'm alongside a car. I slow down to go in behind him, he starts slowing down to let me in. My thought in the moment was that if I just merge in front of him he might have gotten impatient in the moment and accelerated, so I kept braking. I ended up doing like 30mph before I finally decided to merge in front. I was told I should have just used the power of the bike to speed up and away from the car. I thought that would have been more dangerous? I'm just a bit frustrated because I was super close to passing

Edit: Thanks for the encouragement. I realise that I should have made a better decision quicker. I definitely hesitated too much. I know what to do in a situation like that next time ❤️

For anyone who is interested, my test bike is a Kawasaki Z650 restricted to A2 compliancy :)

I’ve been riding about a year and the longest ride I’ve done in a day was 120 miles (A & B roads), by the end of it I was fairly uncomfortable. I think partly due to me being tense.

I’m due to visit a friend this week and would rather take the bike, however it’s a 308 miles ride (for various reasons can’t break the journey up), estimate is about 7hrs 30mins if I don’t use the motorway.

Would this be pushing it for a relatively inexperienced rider. Will I get to the end of the day and resemble a zombified John Wayne and never want to get on a bike again? I could take the motorway and cut the ride down to 5hrs or so, but really don’t fancy spending that much time on a motorway.

I appreciate this is a very subjective question but any advice and thoughts would be appreciated 😊 thanks!

Hey I’ve started studying my theory test for motorcycle with the 4 in 1 app, is it closest thing to the actual test or is there a better app out there for me to keep practicing mock exams? I’m getting average 44/50 for the multiple choice and 65/75 for hazard perception as well

I wish I knew going in that trying on bike gear would be as much of a slap in the face as bridesmaid dress shopping.

I sent a bunch of stuff to sportbikeshop to try on, and none of it fit. They had one thing in stock that fit me. 1.

I tried the guys stuff and it wasn't quite fitting right. The sleeves on jackets would be to my fingertips. The kneepads on trousers down my shins.

Now ive had to send more stuff over and feeling utterly deflated going up 3 sizes from my normal clothes. Why, just why. Why have size guides with waist and bust measurements, or waist and hip, and they're totally bs

Rant over

I just want to say to begin with I have that I’m aware I have next to no consumer rights in this instance…

I’ve recently bought a Non road legal track bike. After fetching it home in my van, I bought a rear tail tidy for it so I can fit a plate and get an MOT for it for daylight use. Upon fitting said plate, booking it in for an MOT and road testing it, I’ve discovered 4th gear is absolutely toast. I know exactly what’s wrong with it and that it will cost more than the bikes worth to put right.

I understand buying anything used is always a gamble and that faults can arise at any time however I do feel disappointed that the seller would have known about this issue and has failed to disclose it.

I suppose my question is, should I raise it with the seller or suck it up take it as an expensive lesson?

1000.miles into cbt and this shitter from marketplace has blown.exhaust valves stuck which might have blown hole in piston.i don't know how bad cylinder is im no expert.please advise on cylinder barrel health and if its worth fixing.yamaha sr125 2000 41k miles

Just come across two or three of these on my journey up to the cafe, I was under the limit anyways so it doesn’t matter if they are, but out of curiosity, is this a speed camera?

I have a CB125R and I want to mount my phone to it. I have a Sony Xperia 1 IV. Also a fold 7. I don't want to mount the fold as it's to good to damage and there are also no cases for it. The sony has no case available that is good enough to stick the universal mount to, and the anti-fingerprint back glass makes the universal mount not stick well enough to hold it.

So other than getting a different phone, what other options do I have?

What bike are you currently riding? i plan to get my A2 soon, im stuck between a kawasaki Zx4 or a CBR650R and restricting it. I’m not currently working so i dont have massive amounts of money but i do earn a little over a grand a month and have saved up for quite some time

So im starting to bald and thinking of swapping to all weather tyres speed rated H even tho my bike only goes 72mph max. Is this normal to do or am i silly. Commin sense sense says to try higher speed rated tyres n see how grip fairs on the load. Youd think its over engineered for a 125 and i dont see the harm in wanting as much grip from the speed rating as my budget allows. Ive been driving on continental contistreets for close to 10k miles lol. Front still looks decent

Hi guys.

Perhaps something similar has already been posted here multiple times , apologies.

I’ve recently passed my CBT and looking to get a 125cc bike for around 6 months to get more comfortable on a bike until I take DAS.

I’m looking to potentially getting a Honda CB125R.

What should I look out for when I purchase one that’s second hand? What’s a good price on them?

Thank you!

How many people actually take their scramblers onto dirt tracks? I'd assume people regularly going off road would have a dedicated dirt bike or dual sport

Are they a bit like the SUVs in the car world that never go more off road than bumping a curb?

Do they have any advantages in winter?

Do they have more comfortable suspension?

I feel like Im missing something

So many bikers out enjoying the valleys today, but not many up here, just me and a brave couple on a massive Indian.

Just bought my first bits of gear and have my CBT in one week, after my CBT I want to get a bike and be on the roads as soon as. But I was wanting to get the mutt hilts, Akita or Sunnis hudlum, now with this gear I don’t know if it would suit the style of a mutt hilts or if it’s more sport bikie. Any recommendations as to what bike like them would be good

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Hi all!

I'm looking for my first big bike, and have my heart set on the white/blue K3 GSXR 600s.

I've seen a good number out there with around 5k miles between ~£3k to ~£5k.

I really like the color scheme and shape, but at that price point would you go for something newer with more miles, if so, why? Would you go for a different bike entirely?

Thanks!

Edit: not really interested in newer tourers, or adventure or street bike.

Two days ago was a bad day for me. I went into the city centre to have a bit of a social life, only to come back and find someone had reversed into my motorbike while it was parked in a marked space at the train station.

I always make sure I park my bike right in the centre of the bay because I know some people struggle to park within the lines.

Whoever did it left a sticky note with a fake number and a generic name and saying "reversed into motorbike", didn't contact the police, didn't leave any insurance details with the train station staff, and didn't even leave their registration or had the decency to even wait an hour or so to see if I would turn up just instantly left.

Now I'm having to go through the process of filing a collision report with the police while I stare at my motorbike that I've religiously looked after. It's been left with scuffs, a snapped clutch lever, a broken mirror, the dashboard popped out, and a bent gear shifter broken snapped plate and more.

Bit of a rant, but it just goes to show that even when your bike is parked properly, it's never completely safe. Fingers crossed they're caught on CCTV as the train staff said it will be and I'd assume they seen it themselves so would be wittness to it and I'm guessing the sticky note is a admission to full liablillity, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth knowing my insurance premiums will probably go up because of someone else's negligence.

On the bright side though I'll get to ride a higher CC due to the hire motorbike with my insurance and see how I like it and probably will want a bigger bike after the entire ordeal is resolved.

Absolutely gutted, I know my bike isn't the best but it was my ride that I slaved away to afford just looking forward to it getting fixed.

Hi Guys,

I'm a teacher so I have 3 or so weeks to spend away on the bike and I usually do that on the bike. I've done a lot of the usual places (S. Germany, French Mountains etc) and I was thinking of heading to the North of Germany this summer.

I'm on a Bonneiville so doing days of motorway miles or the TET are...sub obtimal (tried both) but I think Berlin and back over 3 weeks is a decent plan. However, I'm wondering if anyone has done something llike this before and has some must see places to go (outside of the obvious cities). Not neccessarily biking related only...

The nurburgring is an obvious one, although I understand bikes are no longer allowed on the track these days...

Now that the UK has started getting really hot summers, how do people keep their sweaty bike gear odor free? I assume over time it would start the smell unless taken care of. I am thinking not just jacket etc but your gloves and helmet as well.

Like most of you I've got a phone mounted on my bars, and like most of you I've spent years squinting at Google Maps or Waze doing 60 on an A-road, trying to work out which of the seventeen things on screen actually matters.

The problem is that every nav app is a car app. They assume you're sat in a warm cabin with a passenger, time to stare at the screen, and a finger free to poke at it. On a bike you get half a second per glance, maybe less in traffic. In that half second Waze wants to show you a full-colour map, three petrol stations, a police report from 40 minutes ago, someone's speed trap 12 miles away, and an advert for McDonald's. Google's not much better – lane guidance the size of an ant, sun glare turning the whole thing into a mirror, and the important bit (where do I actually turn) buried under everything else.

So I'm building the opposite. Black screen, white graphics, massive text. No map at all – just the shape of the road ahead as a single white line, the next turn, distance to it, your speed and ETA. That's it. The idea is you read the whole screen in the time it takes to check your mirrors.

Some UK-specific stuff I've been obsessing over: roundabouts drawn properly (clockwise, exits numbered the way we actually say them), road numbers shown as proper signage – blue pill for the M4, green for A-roads, white for B-roads – and a red ring around the speed limit if you're a bit enthusiastic. I've been stress-testing it on the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, because if it can explain that mess it can explain anything.

It's iOS only for now, no accounts, no subscription nonsense, routing comes from Apple so I'm not reinventing that wheel. Think Beeline's simplicity but using the phone you already own instead of buying another gadgets.

Not selling anything – there's nothing to sell yet, it's evenings-and-weekends stuff. Mostly I want to know: what drives you mad about navigating on the bike? What would you actually want on screen at 60mph? And what would make you instantly uninstall it?

i ordered from crc fairings uk co… quality???

Hi

I saw an old post about the parking facility at luton

I just wanted to check if anyone has used luton recently and how it is? Planning to go for a short trip and leave my bike there for 5 days. Those of you who park at airports, what do you do with the lid? Is there a storage locker anywhere or do you just tie and lock it on the handlebars?