Seems like you could get quite a bit of bike for 1000 to 2000 pounds! Or is there something I need to know about bikes in the UK? Best Wishes, Bruce
Here you go. This is just a search of 125cc Hondas from £1000 to £2000 within 60 miles of the centre of Nottingham only at dealers. 80+ bikes Obviously you can lob in your own postcode as perform the search again. Don't forget you're not limited to a 125cc bike anymore; can't you ride anything up to 33bhp? Mitch
No you'll laugh Ok I relented http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/getdoc/b464be52-72b4-4044-9be9-664b1006c00a/Licence-categories.aspx
Many thanks. Some of the bits are similar to what we have in the States such as the passenger being able to straddle the bike, hold on, and reach the foot-pegs. I don't think we have size limits for the bike, but I understand that rural areas may have different rules than urban areas. I also notice that having a car license automatically entitles a person to drive a bike. Is that right? We also have Motorcyle Classes and they are strongly recommended but not required. Some insurance companies give breaks on their premiums if a person has taken a Motorcyle Riding/Handling Course. The Community College where I teach has a very well-attended course during the Summer months. We also used to have restrictions on some of the accessories that folks put on their bikes, but a lot of that has gone away except, perhaps the side-car sorts of modifications mentioned in your link. Most folks have gotten away from the high back-rests, high handlebars and goofy lights. I seem to remember some sort of limit on the size of the bike allowed on our Inter-State highways (125cc?) but I don't know if thats even still in effect. I can't imagine someone trying to do a steady 65 mph on a 125cc for very long. Best Wishes, Bruce
CBA to start a new thread so quick question guys, I've finally almost got my money together to get myself riding but I've just remembered I'm taking mma back up again in a couple of months. I doubt I'm going to be able to strap my gym bag to my back safely so are there any other options short of getting a car instead?
How much gear will you be riding with? And how far is the comute? Freeway or streets? It's a bad idea to ride with a typical gym bag ( one strap ) but you can get away with a back pack. You can get saddle bags or a rack for your bike. Just make sure that whatever is mounted is within your bikes center or triangle of gravity. That being the space between 3 points, your head and both axles.
Cheers I could probably fit it all in a backpack I hadn't thought of that so used to my hench gym bag. To answer your questions anyway; if I took all of my stuff it'd be all your standard mma sparring equipment and my gi so a fair amount of bulky gear, all streets and not many main ones and be about a 10 minute commute for that. If I took it to college it'd be about 10-20 minutes depending if I have the balls to take the A road.
I wouldn't be too comfortable riding with too much weight strapped to my back, even if it's a backpack while on the freeway. Luckily I'm like you, most of the places I commute to can all be reached by the street. Which IMO is easier to ride when carrying a load.
A back pack will be fine but not ideal. Your gym bag on your back will even work but again not ideal. The easiest/cheapest option will be to use your normal gym bag and bungie it onto the pillion seat of the bike behind you. Get a couple of cheap bungie chords from Halfords and strap the bag down with them diagonally across the seat. Watch out for hanging straps etc; you need to make sure they don't get caught in the rear wheel, so maybe even take off the shoulder strap. Mitch
The number of bikes which you are likely to be considering without a pillion seat is tiny, I just wouldn't worry about that. Mitch
I once carried a spare exhaust for my bike strapped across the pillion seat of the bike. Almost anything is possible Mitch
The "divergance of possible and advisable" is a perfect summary of almost all that is glorious and admireable about motorcycling Mitch
I've carried full sparring gear in a gym bag slung across my back. However, I'm also on classic style cruiser and pretty much no wind whips past the giant sail I have pretending to be a windshield and I cinched the strap tight enough to not shift on turns. Did this for years, never and issue. Still prefer putting the gear in saddle bags though!
I’ve never had saddle bags (by choice) but all of my bikes have had sissy bars and I’ve strapped plenty to them and sometimes when traveling strapped to the center of the handle bars. I strap my gym bag to my sissy bar now. However you’re your case just strap it to the seat.
I don't know how much gear you'll be carrying for mma, but I bungeed my loaded cricket bag to the rear of a Honda SP1 without drama. Well without a lot of drama - only became an issue when filtering!