The General Motorbikers Discussion Thread

[BigDaveDogg]

Hey...who wants to talk about Suzukis? Klutch? That Italian guy??


No?

Okay...

[Redliner]

Bravo, Spectre...I tried +repping you, but I couldn't.

[Karoug]

Originally Posted by BigDaveDogg

Hey...who wants to talk about Suzukis? Klutch? That Italian guy??


No?

Okay...

I have 2 Sooks!

[Peter3hg]

Originally Posted by Karoug

I have 2 Sooks!

I have 2 Socks!

[Karoug]

My Sooks are faster than your socks.. And btw, sock aren't that expensive, you should consider getting another pair.

[BigDaveDogg]

Originally Posted by Karoug

I have 2 Sooks!

We all need to band together. I'm tired of sifting through Honda chat in this thread.

[Blind_Io]

Originally Posted by Jon

My ears are killing me. I've just come back from a brisk ride and I wear a balaclava but clearly it doesn't work too well. Anyone know of any tricks to keeping your ears warmer? I was only riding for about 2 hours at 30/40mph occasionally 50/60mph.. I was hoping to go on a sizeable trip in August.

[KaJuN]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

Just leave the check in the mail.

You have a new purpose in life: to be the father of my man-babies.

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by KaJuN

You have a new purpose in life: to be the father of my man-babies.

Quoted in my sig for posterity.

[Blind_Io]

Good news, everybody!

I was able to order a new replacement panel from my local dealership for $3 less than the typical starting price for a used one on eBay! Of course it was still $97, but I don't have to deal with salvage yards.

[Spectre]

Yeah, I've run into that, too. Moral of story - check dealers both local and mail order before going to eBay. You may be pleasantly surprised.

[hansvonaxion]

Is it painted?

[Spectre]

I would suppose so, most of the Honda body parts are. Now, what he *may* have to get is any stickers, decals, or badges that were on that panel as Honda usually sells those separately.

[Jon]

Blind! You've reminded me..

Ok, this web page may break a few hearts. Government SHARP have introduced a new 5-star safety rating test for helmets. There are only a few select full-face helmets tested at the moment but this will eventually be every helmet available for sale in the UK.

You may be surprised by some of the results.. For example, The Shoei XR-1000 range (approx £300) got a 3 star rating, where as my Nitro £79.99 got a 4 star rating!..

Link!

Some pretty interesting stuff!

[avanti]

Originally Posted by BigDaveDogg

We all need to band together. I'm tired of sifting through Honda chat in this thread.

indeed, if I remember correctly we all ride GSX-Rs too, I think Karoug has a 1000, that means the whole family is represented, I have a 750.

[Spectre]

No offense, but given some of the idiocy coming out of the UK government of late, I wouldn't trust a British certification that water consisted of H2O. For example, I went to the site fully expecting to see points being taken off for "not being ecologically sound", "not made in a sustainable fashion", "toxic materials used in manufacture", and "insufficient organic peace crisps consumed by factory workers."

I watched the video of their test rig. Seems imprecise, incomplete, and more or less incompetent. I think I'll stick with the independent Snell ratings. Here's a link to see what Snell does: http://www.smf.org/testing.html

[Jon]

I really don't see your reasoning for NOT taking notice of these ratings? All of those helmets can more than likely pass the SNELL certification test. Lets face it, this test is really not dis-similar, nor does it appear inadequate/incompetent to me? I'm not entirely sure how you drew this conclusion. I've looked and read up on both, they really aren't dis-similar. Just because you think our government has shown a spell of idiocy is not a decent enough reason for you to run this test down and call it inadequate. Just because it doesn't big itself up as the all singing all dancing test of all tests like SNELL does is not a good enough reason. Underneath they're basically the same (just with less FIREEEE on the British government side). Not trying to dig at you here, just drawing fact. None of this will apply to you anyway so you have nothing to worry about.

But yes, I'll be looking out for these ratings and will most definitely be taking note of them.

[Spectre]

If you look at the video, they appear to be running crown impact tests. Except one of the helmets slips and hits at a different angle. (And I'm not talking about where they have deliberately tilted the helmet on its side.)

And then they publicize it in a video? Incompetence in action.

Also, at the beginning of the video, they seem to depict the free drop of a helmet, which then wobbles about because they don't have a proper test rig. in addition, I don't know anyone with their neck at the *front* of their jaw - yet your Brit examiners have a test rig that places the "neck" pivot near the chin bar. This can and will distort the data.

Next, Snell doesn't "big" itself up. The market itself has pushed Snell forward to its current prominence; it wasn't self-promotion. It's much like Underwriters' Laboratories and household electrical gear; nobody in their right mind buys a product in those arenas that doesn't have the endorsement/certification on it.

While not as incompetent as I'd initially feared, coming from the Brit government, it certainly isn't even up to the arguably laughable standards of the US DOT test, let alone Snell M2000. At least the US DOT test has the virtue of being rather more realistic with the head form and it's repeatable with most variables removed. What I'm seeing in the video is, well, pretty amateurish.

FYI, I have dealings with businesses in the UK on a regular basis and my cousin is a successful UK video game designer who recently emigrated to the US and still has to deal with the UK government. I have more than a little taste of the incompetence of the UK government over the past 15 years.

That said, this is not a bad idea. However, they seem to have gone about it TopGear Style - "ambitious but rubbish."

[Jon]

How can putting an 'information video' at the bottom of the page be seen as incompetent? I read what you say, i really do, i take all of what you say into consideration, i go back and go through it all again and i really don't see where you're coming from. SNELL is basically a minimum requirement of certification. There is no pass or fail with SHARP, only a rating given. You can NOT dismiss the tests as inadequate just from watching a video. The nature of testing a helmet with such great forces, seeing a slight wobble won't discern me in any way. Read it all properly. They've done the research and they're taking the logical approach. I'd be curious to see some of the ratings of some SNELL certified helmets..

[Spectre]

Posting a video is not incompetent. It's the video contents that are laughable.

From seeing that error-inducing test rig, I certainly can dismiss the tests. Especially considering that the ratings appear to be the inverse of what we in the US have gotten from test results AND from empirical data.

I especially like the high rating of several helmets that couldn't pass either the DOT or Snell tests and therefore are not legal to wear in the US. And the "oh god these are unsafe" rated helmets have quite a few that have been "crash tested" by US riders and found to have superior protection. And the absurdly high rating of the Bell M1, which is known to be defective by most US riders after several incidents where the helmet just *disintegrated* on a light impact, resulting in severe user injury - to the point where Bell is being sued. No US rider in their right mind would buy a Bell motorcycle helmet given a choice.

Ambitious, but rubbish.