I strayed, but I'm back, forgive me?

[Chaz66]

Evening all
I was tempted by a shiny red honda blackbird 8 years ago and parted with my beautiful 3CV in white, red, grey. She had some good mods, though not wheels and brakes, and she has been missed.
Finally I have seen the error of my ways and returned to the flock, full of humble - ness/bullsh1t/humour (delete as perceived   )

I am now the slightly stunned owner of a 91 3XW with loads of mods, including USD forks with 3 pots, & swing arm, both in theory from an R1, but not certain and I'm still figuring it out. Hodna mirrors(?), glass fronted clutch casing, crash bars, spotlights, heated grips, alarm (hmmm), cig lighter plug in the LHS pocket.  She's a little scruffy in places, which I'll workt through over time when suitable parts become available. Oh, and the exhausts, they're a bit interesting as is the "stage of tune". They made the water in a glass on our kitchen table ripple, on tick over. This could actually end up being an expensive problem, but you'll have to tune in later for that broadcast, or just cock your ear if you're in Hampshire, UK.
I've bought her, brought her home on a trailer and stuck here in a garage just up the road while I clear space for her in mine (read - sells 2 other bikes (Z1000LTD deposit taken, 1986 VFR750FG barn find with a large stack of VFR body parts). I'll then trundle her down and get intimately acquainted with her workings and see what I missed when looking at her (there's always something). Very curious to see what you all think the USD forks, brakes and swingarm are from, I'll get better pics up when I'm starting on her and would like to thank you all in advance for your wisdom, humour, patience, abuse, sarcasm, despair, and above all, forgiveness for ever selling my first FJ.
Now, where's the rest of that bottle of Jamersons! I'VE GOT ANOTHER WHALE!!!!  
Cheers all
Chaz

[Tuned forks]

Welcome aboard mate.  Don't you have some really strict laws in the UK regarding exhaust mods?

Joe

[Chaz66]

Yes, we do. To pass it's MOT (short for Ministry Of Transport) the inspector has to check it and be satisfied that it's suitable for road use. It's an annual inspection which it passed with these exhausts fitted 2 months ago.
They are also usually marked with a "kite mark" by the manufacturers which means it's passed the required EU/British standards.
I have the MOT which says they are ok BUT,,, hence the possibly expensive problem. The link pipes are also a bit short and it's been tuned to run with this system. It actually doesn't sound that loud to me, it's more the resonance of the tone which might be intrusive. Time will tell.

[Millietant]

A lot of the stuff I see for sale over in the US simply couldn't be used "legally" over here.

Mind you, I always view our annual MOT test as a "safety check" on my bike, just to make sure I don't miss anything that might make it unsafe to ride - or might invalidate my insurance cover !!!!!

Those not from the UK might be surprised at the lengths our insurers will go to to avoid paying out in the case of accidents, or your bike being stolen (eg, stickers referencing a performance company - say Yoshimura - would make your bike more desirable to a thief and could therefore result in a theft pay-out being declined if you failed to declare that you had a Yoshi sticker on the bike when you arranged your insurance cover)  

[FJmonkey]

Nothing to forgive, welcome back. Now you are part of the "I never should have sold it" club.

[Motofun]

Those not from the UK might be surprised at the lengths our insurers will go to to avoid paying out in the case of accidents, or your bike being stolen (eg, stickers referencing a performance company - say Yoshimura - would make your bike more desirable to a thief and could therefore result in a theft pay-out being declined if you failed to declare that you had a Yoshi sticker on the bike when you arranged your insurance cover)  

WOW!  So you're saying that the owner is responsible for theft not the thief?  Why bother with insurance at all?

[Pat Conlon]

Stickers? People still do that? Do the companies pay you to display their stickers...or give you free stuff?
If I put Michelin stickers on my fork legs, do I get a free set of tires?
I'm gonna look into that...

[Millietant]

Those not from the UK might be surprised at the lengths our insurers will go to to avoid paying out in the case of accidents, or your bike being stolen (eg, stickers referencing a performance company - say Yoshimura - would make your bike more desirable to a thief and could therefore result in a theft pay-out being declined if you failed to declare that you had a Yoshi sticker on the bike when you arranged your insurance cover)  

WOW!  So you're saying that the owner is responsible for theft not the thief?  Why bother with insurance at all?

If you don't declare "modifications" when you arrange your insurance, yes, your cover is invalid and it's your responsibility. Not all insurers are like that, but SOME of those offering the lowest premiums can only do so if they have ways to get out of making payouts.

Not declaring a top-box and panniers could invalidate a claim in an accident, as the insurer could claim that your bikes handling was affected and you even have to tell most companies these days that you intend to carry a passenger - if you don't, you're not covered and some take the standard position that passengers are not included unless specified at the time of their quotation.

[Motofun]

[/quote]
Not declaring a top-box and panniers could invalidate a claim in an accident, as the insurer could claim that your bikes handling was affected and you even have to tell most companies these days that you intend to carry a passenger - if you don't, you're not covered and some take the standard position that passengers are not included unless specified at the time of their quotation.
[/quote]
So a vehicle designed for passengers could be denied a claim for carrying a passenger?  Would that also apply to your car insurance?  That's truly F'ed up!

[Tuned forks]

The RPM sticker on my muffler would invalidate my coverage then.

Joe

[FJmonkey]

I guess this would be grounds for a claim denial...

[Pat Conlon]

No, but those moon boots would be....

[Millietant]

Not declaring a top-box and panniers could invalidate a claim in an accident, as the insurer could claim that your bikes handling was affected and you even have to tell most companies these days that you intend to carry a passenger - if you don't, you're not covered and some take the standard position that passengers are not included unless specified at the time of their quotation.

So a vehicle designed for passengers could be denied a claim for carrying a passenger?  Would that also apply to your car insurance?  That's truly F'ed up!

Unless you told your insurer you intended to carry passengers, yes. Not for car insurance, they haven't gone that far yet, but some of the biggest ones (certainly Admiral) don't cover you for "commuting to and from work" in your car, or on your bike, unless you specify that's what you'll be doing - that's how effed up it is !!!!

Seriously though, the insurers have deemed commuting as the highest risk driving times and therefore if they're going to give a low enough premium to be affordable, they're not going to include that risk - and they don't make it obvious at the time of the quote that cover does not cover "commuting to and from work". Obviously, you're going to want that cover, so if you read the small print in your quote, you'll ask for that to be included and your premium goes up.

We only found out by "accident" when my wife had someone run into her at 7am. She was taking our dog to a park for a walk with friends, but the first question she was asked when she reported the incident to the insurer was, "were you travelling to work at that time?". When she asked why, she was told that we weren't covered for commuting". Luckily, we had ticked the box for occupation for both of us that said "retired", hence thy didn't query it when my wife said "no, I was going to meet friend she for a dog walk". When we checked our son's car insurance we found a similar exclusion for commuting, despite the fact that he had said he was in employment at the time of arranging his insurance - as he was 7 months into his policy and the exclusion wasn't mentioned to him verbally when he arranged the insurance over the phone, his insurer added it "free of charge". Needless to say, it's something we now check every time, and yes, we did change insurers when the policies lapsed !!

[Millietant]

The RPM sticker on my muffler would invalidate my coverage then.

Joe

If the muffler didn't comply with EU noise regulations, was not fully Road legal, or was sold as "improving performance", then you wouldn't be covered Joe !!!!!!!!!!