So about 5 years ago, when I started visiting the States for holidays, I saw the starts of a craze for white cars. You name it, they were then in white -- 911 Turbo's, Mercedes AMG's, even the odd Bentley here and there. But there were no white bikes which was a shame 'cos America has loads of bikers and they were only given the same standard choice as us Brits mainly.
There is something about the sun and white cars and bikes that just makes you smile. The fact that its ever so slightly David Hasselhoffish in terms of cheesy, but at the same time very Magnum PI cool to own a cool white car or bike is really appealing, hence why today white is the new black in terms of colour of vehicle.
So we've seen a load of new white cars hitting the streets over here, and whilst its not quite like the same driving say a white Audi R8 on the streets of Toxteth as it is Los Angeles, the effect it gives off is still to make people turn their heads and comment, good or bad!
But only recently have we seen white bikes start to come out in numbers. And the best one of all has to be the new Yamaha R1 2009 model.
Now I dont profess to be the best rider in the World and nor do I know or understand (or care) too much about the latest trickery that lies beneath. I dont think Im alone here though. I would be happy to bet that at least 8 out of 10 of us that go shopping for our bikes end up buying the bike that we think makes us look the coolest.
The fact that this R1 happens to kick the asse of any other sportsbike around is the icing on the cake, but be honest, when are you going to regularly ride at more than 75% of the bike's ability? You will run out of talent before it will of course but what matters is that its looks so damn hot that you just want to ride it and ride it and ride it and...you get the point.
Anyway, I want one and I guarantee you will too, particularly if this Easter is nice and hot and you see one being ridden past you by some dude thats just bought one. Its not just the bike thats pretty to look at, its the whole feeling that you are in a better place when a group of girls turn and gawp as you ride past at 11,000 revs in 2nd. Dont say I didnt warn you.
Whilst every motorbike rider knows The Bike Insurer is the place to go for cheap motorbike insurance quotes because you can compare over 30 brokers in under 5 minutes.
But for those of you who would prefer to actually speak to a person to get a quote we now have a great solution for you - you can now compare motorbike insurance over the phone with The Bike Insurer. Open 7 days a week, our team can be called free on 08000 890891 and regardless of your situation, our team will compare as many results as possible for you so that you can buy from the broker thats best for your circumstances.
Alternatively, maybe you have got stuck whilst you were entering your details on the site, for example you dont know whether you need to disclose a previous claim you made on a car insurance policy - well thats not a problem either as we have a team of people waiting for you to call them with any questions about your motorbike insurance quote.
The Bike Insurer was the 1st motorbike insurance comparison site in the World and is not the 1st price comparison site in the World that allows you to compare motorbike insurance over the phone.
We want to get your views on what value you place on motorbike breakdown cover - would you buy it, what level of cover would you want and how much would you be prepared to pay?
Because of the recession, the fact is that riders are buying more used bikes than new bikes and keep hold of them for longer. One of the downsides is that there is more chance that the bike can go wrong.
At The Bike Insurer, the World's 1st motorcycle insurance comparison website we are in a position to be able to offer riders a wide choice of insurance brokers to choose from, in fact we have more choice than anywhere else in the UK, but we dont currently offer a motorbike breakdown policy.
What we want to know is if we were to provide you with some choices for a policy, what would be important to you? There are usually 3 types of motorbike breakdown cover;
1. Roadside only - The most basic of covers - usually just transports you and your bike to a local garage or your onward destination.
2. Homestart - As above but includes cover if your bike is brokern down at home.
3. European - As above but includes cover when you are abroad.
The prices are usually around £30 for the basic level of cover, £50 for homestart or £80 to include european cover.
We'd like some feedback on whats important to you, so if you can let us know that will be really helpful, and you never know, we might well bring out a policy thats cheaper and better than anything available now!
Does anyone know for definite what channel the Moto GP television coverage is on this year at all?
I thought it was the BBC with Eurosport having a delayed feed but now I see Eurosport have got the 125 and 250's live plus the main qualifying so now am confused as to who's got what. The BBC website doesnt exactly make it clear either!
Also I saw today that tickets to the UK round of the 2009 Moto GP championship which will be held at Donington Park can now be purchased from the Motogp.com website. This will be the last year that the event is held at Donington Park as in 2010 the destination changes to Silverstone, Northamptonshire. Given that more of us will be staying at home this year than taking holidays abroad you might be advised to book tickets early so as to avoid disappointment.
Now we are firmly established that we are in the grips of a recession, you would think it would be a bad time to buy a new motorbike.
Well Kawasaki have other ideas - they really want you to buy on their shiny new 2009 model range. And just to tempt you where it counts, they're offering you 0% finance on a selection of their new bikes.
The models in this Kawasaki 0% finance offering include the ever popular ZX-6R, ER-6n/6f, ZX-10R, the Versys and the motorway chomping ZZR1400.
With this 0% deal all you need to do is stick £99 into the grubby hand of your nearest Kawasaki dealer, sign some forms committing yourself for 3 years and away you ride.
Kawasaki and other manufacturers run these offers so that they are not forced to slash prices. If it was me though Id be wanting to make sure I still haggled a few hundred quid off the price of the bike just to make myself feel like Ive got a bargain.
Just before you get carried away though and sign your life away on this Kawasaki 0% finance deal, dont forget to check your bike insurance quotes first of all, just to make sure you can get the right deal.
According to a recent survey, more than 70% of motorbike insurance now use a bike insurance comparison site such as The Bike Insurer to compare the market for bike insurance.
What that means though is that there are still around 300,000 riders that dont use a bike insurance comparison site to compare the market on their bike insurance. If you fall into this category, let me tell you why you need to spend just 6 minutes getting a quote from a comparison site;
1. The Bike Insurer compares upto 30 bike insurance brokers including Dial Direct, Devitt, Hastings, eBike and more.
2. You can compare the market for Comprehensive, Third Party Fire and Theft and Third Party Only cover immediately, without having to request changes to your quote.
3. The average person using The Bike Insurer saves over £300!
4. You can compare way more than just price with The Bike Insurer - you can also compare the market to see how much each broker will charge you for instalments, how much the excess is and even who will include overseas riding and breakdown cover as standard.
So even if you think you are getting a great deal on your bike insurance, just spend 5 minutes getting a quote on The Bike Insurer and see if you can get yourself an even better deal.
Credit crunch motorcycling and how you can make money!
Ok so Ive been thinking a lot about how the credit crunch will be affecting the bike market, and whilst I think that the number of riders on the road will stay similar this year to last year, because whilst some of you will sell your bike as its a pure luxury, so some will start to use it more often as its cheaper than the car to commute in.
So I thought Id just give you a few pointers about how I reckon you can ride a bike all season for next to nothing. You need to make some effort to make this work for you, but Ive done it loads of times over the years and its always worked for me. In fact, you should even make a few quid if you do this right!
So the trick is here that you are going to have to change your bike 2-3 times over the year so as to keep in the black on the bike costs. Im going to show you how to make money from buying and selling bikes, in order to fund your other riding costs.
Here's what you need to do then to ride a motorcycle for next to nothing for a whole bike season;
1. You need to start off with a bike that is popular first of all, but also readily available. Say a Honda CBR600 or Suzuki GSXR 600. You dont want anything too big on cc or anything too new because that will put some buyers off when you come to sell. Also your bike insurance will be a lot cheaper on a 600 than a 1000. There is a reason 600's are popular!
2. Jump onto Ebay or Bike Trader and do some searches, you will find hundreds of the sort of bikes Im talking about for sale. You are looking for an excellent example, with low mileage and history, something that others will also want too. You dont want to spend more than 3k, as remember, the trick to selling in future is about how much you paid for the bike.
3. Dont be precious on colour, just dont buy a nasty colour that nobody will buy such as yellow for example.
4. When on Bike Trader sort your results by price. There will be one or two bikes that jump out at you at being a lower price than others of their age and spec. These are your targets!
5. You want to get in touch with these sellers and tell them your position, which is this - You're a cash buyer thats seen another bike that you really like but the seller is away for a few days and you really dont want to wait if you dont have to. You've seen their bike advertised and whilst its more expensive, your hoping that there might be some movement on price as you are in such a great position to buy. If their bike is at around £3000 for example and others are £3300 then you are looking to buy for another £300 off, so a saving of £600 on the other bikes that were in your results.
6. There will be sellers that will agree the above, there always are. I once did a feature for a bike magazine and I started off with £1000 and traded my way over 8 months to £4000. Its not difficult, its just a case of asking the right questions.
7. If you use Ebay then, once you've identified your 2-3 target bikes by sorting on price then DO NOT start bidding until there is a maximum of 2 minutes left, ideally less. There are people on Ebay who dont start bidding until under 30 seconds are left. If you bid earlier then all that will happen is the price will go up and you dont want that!
8. Ok so lets assume you've agreed a price on either Bike Trader or Ebay. Dont worry about travelling long distance to pick it up. You've already established by asking all the questions that you need to that the bike is an honest and well kept example. On that note, DO NOT buy a bike that needs tyres as this will erode any chance you have of making a profit. The same goes with servicing too. You are only going to buy bikes that can be ridden at zero cost to you. Make sure you HPI the bike beforehand as this will tell you if its got any finance owing or has been written off etc. I was once too tight to spend thirty quid and ended up losing £2000. Dont make the same mistake!
9. I should have mentioned this before - before you bid on any bike use The Bike Insurer to compare your bike insurance prices just to make sure the insurance is not too expensive. The average rider is about 33 and rides a bike worth £2700, his insurance costs around £200. If you are a convicted drink driver or have made previous claims on bike insurance in the last few years then you need to check your insurance as it might be too prohibitive for you.
10. Ok so you've picked the bike up and if you have followed my rules then you should be able to ride it for 3-4 months at zero cost eg no tyres, servicing or chain and sprockets. Its just the cost of the bike and the bike insurance you've paid for. Now comes the fun part.
11. Selling your bike. Do this on Ebay as its going to get more interest than anywhere else. Follow these golden rules and you will be fine. Take at least 8 pics of the bike in the sunshine, with the bike looking its best after you've washed and polished it. Ebay allow upto 12 pics free of charge. Prepare your description and focus on all of the positives of the bike - fantastic condition, low mileage, always washed and polished, never ridden in the rain, sensible mature rider, all of the things you want to see when you buy a bike. Writing the ad is the most important thing here. Your bike needs to stand out more than the others. Remember, you are looking for a profit here, and thats why your ad needs to be better than everyone elses.
12. Set a low starting price - You've heard the saying 'the lower the price, the bigger the market' and its true, set a starting price of £500 and you will see bidders start earlier and get a lot more interest than if you start the bidding a lot higher.
13. Make sure you place a reserve price on the bike. Ideally if you bought it right then you can sell it for £2-300 profit without it being more expensive than any other example. So add a reserve on of £300 more than you paid.
14. Advertise it on a 3 day sale - this is for 3 reasons. Firstly, if there is 7 days left, nobody will start bidding until closer to the time, secondly, people tend to look for bikes as they want one NOW and dont want to wait, and thirdly its much more fun because YOU are going to manipulate the sale price of the bike.
15. You need one or two friends to give you their log in details to Ebay. What you are going to do is start the bidding off and increase the bidding to show there is interest in the bike. People always want what they cant have and if there is a bike attracting interest then it will be more popular than a bike with no bids. It wont work if your friends do the bidding as you cant rely on them to be there when the crunch time comes in the last 5 mins of the sale. This is naughty but its common practice and Ebay do nothing to stop this. You are merely taking advantage of a loophole!
16. Start your sale at around 8pm and ideally end it on a Monday start it at 8pm Friday. 8pm is the busiest time of day for web traffic and the buyers will have had over the weekend to see your bike listing and will be bidding on it over the weekend ideally. There is no point starting your sale during the day as there are less viewers because many employers stop access to Ebay for their staff and therefore they will miss the crucial end time.
17. Only accept someone offering to buy it now if it fits in with your price/profit margin!
18. Once your winning bid has paid, and only once its cleared in your account do you let the bike go or even let someone test ride it. Ideally, dont even give them your address until the funds have cleared. I try and stay clear of Paypal and ask buyers to pay me by bank transfer directly. Firstly you get your money quicker and secondly dont have to pay commission to Paypal.
19. The handover will be quick and easy as you have the money already. The bike will be as you described it so no need to worry.
20. You are now ready to repeat the whole process!
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Its being reported that a female motorist from Birmingham, West Mids who knocked a motorcyclist off his bike, was driving without a valid driving licence and was also an uninsured driver.
The incident occurred in when Heather Anderton, 31, was driving her Ford Ka across a roundabout near her home. It is believed that she has an automatic only driving licence and was driving a manual car.
It is alleged that Miss Anderton was using her mobile phone when arriving at a roundabout, and didnt see the motorcycle, being ridden by Simon Smith which had already entered the roundabout. Miss Anderton's car drove straight into the side of the motorcycle, causing Mr Smith to be flung from his motorcycle. Mr Smith suffered numerous injuries including a broken femur, 2 broken legs and a collapsed lung. Mr Smith remains in the hospital High Dependency Unit this evening.
Anderton, a graphic designer, has been charged for driving with no insurance and dangerous driving. Its believed Miss Anderton also fled the scene straight after the accident. She later voluntarily gave herself in.
An eyewitness had this to say; "I saw a Ford Ka being driven who I now know to be Heather Anderton across a roundabout. I was waiting at the roundabout in the left hand lane and could clearly see the motorcycle coming around the roundabout. The Ford Ka just entered the roundabout without the driver even looking for any other road users."
It is believe Heather Anderton is no stranger to breaking the law having already lost her driving licence for a previous drink driving conviction.
Motorcyclist converts to a sikh to avoid wearing helmet
A motorcyclist from Leeds has succesfully managed to convert from a Christian to a Sikh with one of the benefits being that he can now avoid having to wear a crash helmet when riding his bike.
Jason Hegarty, 27, has studied Sikhism for 18 months in order to become a recognised practising Sikh and has now been accepted into the Sikh religion.
Mr Hegarty, a senior employee within a major supermarket brand, had this to say on this conversion;
"I've always been interested in Sikhism, even as a youth, and when I discovered that the law states that Sikh's do not have to wear motorcycle helmets, I was naturally even more excited than before about my conversion to becoming a Sikh".
Jason Hegarty regularly commutes from home to work on his Honda Fireblade and is now even considering riding to London, where his girlfriend lives. "Im not sure if the turban will stay on for so long at high speeds, but maybe if I can somehow attach some elastic band to each side then it will stay in place".
When asked if this would affect his bike insurance premium, a spokesperson from Mr Hegarty's bike insurance broker commented, "Jason Hegarty has a policy of insurance with ourselves and after discussion with his insurance company we can confirm that he is abiding by the rules laid out by the Department of Transport and on that basis Mr Hegarty will continue to be insured on the same basis as he previously enjoyed".
