HID head lights....

[sr71caspar]

Never had a single advisory in ten years of Bird ownership over 150k + miles@tu*. If a motorbike fails an mot the owner should be shot.

Slowly .:-0)

I agree with this. I see on a few faecesbook groups I'm on, people regularly say "MOT today- hope it passes". Why would you hope it passes? Surely you have, at the very least, had a good look round the bike yourself- checking bulbs, brake pads, chain, oil leaks etc. (These should be a regular check anyway).
My MOT guy does a perfunctory check, then spends a bit of time chatting bikes and stuff, because he knows I am as meticulous as he is.

 

[ScottyUK]

I had an advisory before due to the tyre getting low. It was legal I knew it was getting low and I replaced it at a time convenient to me.

Since I've had an advisory does that mean I'm less well prepared etc for my MOT?

On my CBR609F I had one on the rear linkage bearings. He noticed a slight bit of movement so fave an advisory. That was fine. A few weeks later I replaced the bearings.

I don't have my bike up in the air very often nor am able to check everyone on my own so I find the system works. Advisories are fine to me.

 

[andyBeaker]

I had an advisory before due to the tyre getting low. It was legal I knew it was getting low and I replaced it at a time convenient to me.

Since I've had an advisory does that mean I'm less well prepared etc for my MOT?

On my CBR609F I had one on the rear linkage bearings. He noticed a slight bit of movement so fave an advisory. That was fine. A few weeks later I replaced the bearings.

I don't have my bike up in the air very often nor am able to check everyone on my own so I find the system works. Advisories are fine to me.

Although I clearly said if a bike 'fails' an MOT the owner should be shot, on reflection the same applies to 'advisories' as well.

;-0))

 

[Lee337]

Not if you go to my old MOT tester it don't.

I think he has to justify his 'professional' status by finding the smallest fault even where none exists, just to show he's better than you.

The only advisories I've felt the need to do anything about over the many years I used him was the front wheel bearing.

It may be that my servicing & maintenance regime has sorted the rest, but oddly, my pitted brake discs are no longer pitted and my front wheel has miraculously repaired itself, as has my loose seat, wooden rear brake pedal & slight leak in the exhaust (even though it was new).

 

[ScottyUK]

Although I clearly said if a bike 'fails' an MOT the owner should be shot, on reflection the same applies to 'advisories' as well.

;-0))

8rfl@

How about this then? I had a bike fail a few years ago and never knew!!

I took the GSXR and I'd just put on a quick action throttle but hadn't checked it on full lock. Me bad so should be shot. During the MOT I sat on the bike as normaly assisting and when the revs increase fractionally on full lock it was just adjusted there and then. It's only now I've got a new app on my phone that I can see he failed it and then immediately put it through again and passed it.

Anyone would think we just needed a few fails to stop his numbers looking like he was too easy on bikes!

 

[slim63]

After reading the last few posts & being an ex MOT tester for classes l&ll (bikes to you lot :-0) ) I think I'm entitled to an opinion on this :-0)

You need a licence to drive/ride the vehicle you are testing & also need a minimum of 5 years provable experience in the trade before being able to test that vehicle so the majority of bike testers are a little more experienced with bikes than your average banker I would say :whi5tl:

Yes there are some complete :wank: ers out there & if you feel you have met one there is no point moaning one here its better to phone vosa who do come down hard on the little hitlers in the trade

Advisories ..... its simple really he advises you that tyre is low because its going to be dangerous before the next MOT he has a responsibility to do that because you may not have seen it & he's covering his arse in case you crash on the way home, the same goes for any other advisory

There is no hard quota on pass, fail or advisories although if everything passes VOSA come calling which isn't fun

Yes you do get a little jaded working in the trade & answering the same stupid questions 10 times a day while trying to figure out why the last presenter bought his bike in with bald tyres, no brakes & half a set of lights all of which you told him would need sorting 3 weeks ago

Trust me on this there are some bad testers out there but there are just as many if not more bad/stupid/ignorant vehicle presenters, I could fill the forum with examples

:rant::whi5tl::-0)

PS I got a bit carried away there ..... some hid lights will pass some wont its down to the tester & his opinion based on experience & what it shows on the beam tester

 

[andyBeaker]

The point I make is simply that looking after the basics of a motorbike is not rocket science and, more to the point, any problems with a bike, unlike a car (usually), are potentially life changing or even life threatening for the rider.

I would also hazard that any issues with a bike are usually likely to be reasonably apparent to the rider before it gets anywhere near an mot tester.

And any bike owner with half a brain is going to make sure that pads, tyres, etc. are spot on before a test. Surely?:dunno:

I have nothing against bike mot testers - mine was great, understood how to test the rear brake on a Bird (which involved a very large lump of wood), five minutes on the rest of the test and the rest of the time talking about the various Harley's he was restoring. I am sure if I had turned up on a race canned gsxr600 while wearing flip flops and shorts the test may have been a bit different. Which is all good by me.

 

[mikeyw64]

my personal experience is that I always stick with the spannerman I use regularly and with whom I've built up a relationship to MOT my bikes.(eg I "tweak their puters & internet connections in return for a little something off the bill or a little "extra" work being carried out FOC)


Maybe I've been lucky in so much that in the last 10 years I have found 2 local "backstreet" garages that fit that bill perfectly, Jonno at Mick Surmans in Aylesbury and for the last 5 years Al & Emma at Cadishead Bikes.

They have both known all my bikes intimately and also have no hesitation in pointing out if something is "not quite right"

Al had an interesting one the other day that had the bikes owner not been having some other work done as well as the bolt in question replaced he would have referred to VOSA.

Apparently it appears there is nothing specific in the MOT test to fail a bike for a missing/broken swinging arm nut/bolt although as he said "that's not fecking safe!!"

The best he could probably have failed it on (based on the computerised form) was the very broad section 6.1

"Any fracture, damage, distortion or corrosion in the motor bicycle or side car structure to the extent that control of the machine is likely to be adversely affected"

 

[slim63]

Good points gents @tu*

I am a firm believer that very basic maintenance & simple safety checks should be part of the motorcycle test because as Andy points out its all simple stuff that might just save your life

As for all the "I hope it passes" brigade FFS an MOT is the most simple safety check there is so if you are worried it may not pass you probably shouldn't be riding it :bang: lets be honest how hard is it to get advice BEFORE presenting the heap for test?

You honestly wouldn't believe the state of some of the bikes presented for test, I have refused to test quite a few, funnily enough its not always the bikes you would expect (ratbikes or learner bikes) but a lot of the time its high end sports bikes or 30 grand Harleys :whi5tl:

Mikey spot on with Structure etc its a cover all section that can be used for most things that don't fit into the other sections

I guess those of you in the know will realise that the class l & ll test rules were never designed as stand alone sections of the testers manual but rather a badly thought out add on to the other test rules for different vehicles, as such there are a lot of grey areas, confusing, contradicting & down right baffling rules

IMHO the whole thing needs rewriting by someone who actually knows one end of a bike from the other, half of us here could probably do it in a day TBH