Posts tagged safety
Beat the UK Snow: How to Stay Warm on Your Motorcycle this Winter
Nov 26th
Keep your motorbike covered up! (click photo for credit)
Wintertime is notoriously bad for bikers. Not only are the roads slippery and the days short and dark, but it is cold out there as well. There are loads of excellent weatherproof leathers on the market, but when the temperature dips to around zero and you add in the wind chill factor, it can be pretty cold on a bike.
Bikesure, the specialist motorcycling arm of Adrian Flux Insurance Services, has decided to take a peek beneath motorbikers’ leathers and find out the best options around for keeping warm.
Balaclavas.
These stop the draughts creeping up under your helmet but you have to be careful about the fogging up factor on cold mornings. Take a good look around on sites such as Get Geared to find what suits you.
Tops, leggings and all-in-one suits.
Made from thermal fabric these not only provide warmth but they also stop leathers chafing and make putting on a one-piece leather suit easier. Choose a variety that is easy to wash if you want to keep your friends. SMS Motorcycle Clothing has a good choice.
Neck tubes and neck and body warmers.
Neck tubes range from a simple snood style to an extra long version that covers the shoulders and prevents the wind getting through the top of your jacket. Some models are attached to full body warmers for extra heat retention. There are even different coloured neck tubes at Sea Star Superbikes.
Heated vests and arm warmers.
These are the ultimate way to keep warm. They have an electronic connection that plugs into a 12Volt supply to heat up the garment. Some versions just have heated arms that attach to a body vest while others heat the trunk area as well. Top Gear Superstore has SungBug heated motorcycle clothing.
Heated socks.
Heating elements ensure the heat is from the top of the sock right down to the toes to keep a rider’s feet toasty warm. There are some plug-in heated socks at Gerbing’s.
Want to know how to ride a motorcycle on ice and snow?
Check out Mad Stu’s video below with his tips:
And finally, our other great tip to combat the snow and cold is simply to avoid it completely. Why not check out the Twitter powered Snow Map from Ben Marsh. Twitter users post updates using a scale 1 to 10 (with 10 being blizzard), adding the hashtag #uksnow and then adding the first part of their postcode. This information is then used to display it on a real time snow map. Clever stuff.
Stay safe out there! Be sure to share your winter motorcycling tips in the comments below…
Best of British
Oct 21st
Some things make you proud to be British.
This isn’t one of them. Here a generic bunch of underclass yoofs demonstrate the downside of the influx of cheap scooters to these shores in recent years, and in the process provide a stark reminder of the reasons that children’s play equipment and internal combustion engines are rarely put together.
While there is a certain amount of schadenfreude whenever an idiot gets his just desserts, I think I’ll simply point out that I am not aware of any scooter insurance policies that offer cover for this sort of use…
Top Ten Motorcycle Tyre Safety Tips
Apr 26th
Here are our tips to help ensure that you, and your bike, get the most from your tyres. Properly maintained tyres can make a big difference to the enjoyment of your ride, will save you money, and, most important of all, they may save your life in a pinch.
- Pressure: Check your tyre pressures weekly using an accurate gauge – you can buy them in Halfords for pennies. Remember to do it while the tyres are cold – the pressure will increase as the tyre heats up which will give you an incorrect reading. You should maintain your tyres to the pressure recommended in your manufacturer’s handbook. Your bike will perform better, and be more economical. Incorrectly pressurised tyres contribute to a surprisingly large number of accidents.
- Integrity: Inspect your tyres for any obvious defects, including any cuts, bulges, rips or foreign objects. Check for signs of uneven wear. If you are in any doubt about the tyres integrity or safety, bin it. Your life is more important than a few quid for a new one.
- Cap It: Always use valve caps as they will keep dirt and oil away from the valve and give you an additional seal too keep everything airtight.
- Wheels: Check your wheel rims. If they show signs of warping, cracking or other damage, replace them – they are crucial to keeping your tyre attached to your wheel, and you don’t want to find out they aren’t working properly while you are on the move.
- Tread: Check that your tread depth is well above the legal minimum of 1mm (for bikes over 50cc). In practise, 2mm gives you a better safety margin and you should start thinking about replacements when your tread gets to this level.
- Stems: The valve stem is easily damaged, because it sticks out, and can also rub or shear against the wheel rim where it pokes through the hole. Pay particular attention to this area.
- Direction: Make sure your tyre is fitted the right way round, by checking that the directional arrow is pointing the correct way. It is surprisingly easy to get this wrong if you’re not careful, and this will compromise safety, and cost you more money as your bike will be less efficient.
- Balance: Have your wheel assembly properly balanced to ensure even wear and maximum economy. This will only cost a few quid and could save loads in fuel costs.
- Clean: Wipe your tyres with a washing up liquid solution – this will clear away any oil and grease they’ve picked up from our filthy roads – just don’t use the wife’s favourite dishcloth…
- Buying: Check that, where possible, both of your tyres are made by the same manufacturer with the same tread pattern and rubber. Select the correct type of tyre for your machine – often you’ll have a choice of tyres to suit different conditions and different riding conditions. Your local tyre specialist should be able to help you choose something that meets your needs if you aren’t sure. If you are a four seasons biker you should definitely get a set of specialist winter tyres for the winter months.
Essential Safety Checks before you ride this Summer
Mar 30th
Easter is just about upon us, and many bikers will be getting their motorbike out of the shed ready for a new riding season. After a few months of storage, it is essential to check your bike for potential issues before you ride it, as the consequences of neglecting a solid maintenance regime don’t bear thinking about. Even if you are one of the hardy souls who got your bike out as soon as the snow went, it is still worth giving the bike a once over.
I always find a checklist helps me accomplish a task more quickly, so we’ve compiled our tips into an easy to follow list.
Here is Bikesure’s Spring Bike Checklist for getting your bike out of cold storage. You can download a printable version to use as you work through it here.
- Review any notes you made when you put your bike into winter storage. It can be easy to forget little things like that small part you removed to get a matching replacement and never got around to replacing. It’s easy to lose your notes too, but if you remember tinkering with your bike before you stored it, you’ll hopefully remember what you were doing… If not, best check everything!
- Did you removed the battery for winter storage? Or perhaps as some people prefer, you just left the negative lead attached? Check and clean the battery terminals before refitting. A bicarbonate of soda solution works well to clean the terminals.
- Charge and refit the battery. Positive lead first!
- Check / change the oil and filter, and check the grease and other lubricants.
- Check all cables and lubricate with the specified lubricants.
- Drain the fuel tank, clean and refill with fresh. This especially applies if you left it nearly empty during the winter. An empty tank will have air inside, and that air will have moisture, which will condense out in the cold as water.
- Check the tyre pressure and wear of tread. If you had a special winter pressure, remember to change it for summer. Don’t use a tyre cleaner on bike tyres – it will make them hard and slippery.
- Check all lights. Don’t forget the flashing ones!
- Check brake fluid level and ensure brake pads and shoes aren’t worn.
- Clean the inside of your helmet with a mild soapy solution and ensure it is dry. Examine it for hairline cracks.
- If you put away your winter cover during the summer, air it properly, then store it somewhere warm and dry. Don’t let yourself suddenly discover it damp or mildewy next winter when you suddenly need it again.
- Start a new log book for the year and write down your starting mileage – and all the actions you took to get out on the open road again. Promise yourself that you will keep it up to date this year!
Did we forget anything? Please let us know, and we’ll add it.
Don’t for get you can get printable copies of this checklist, which you are welcome to share with friends.
Other motorbike safety resources:
www.bikesafeshow.co.uk – BikeSafe is a national initiative run by UK police forces to promote better biking, improve the safety of motorcyclists on the roads
www.wairbag.com – This ingenious jacket acts like an in-car airbag system. On falling off your motorbike the the airbag system inflates to protect your neck and torso.
A positive step for bikers…
Sep 3rd
I like to read good news concerning bikers rather than the usual negatives which you often find in the tabloids ie, no bikes allowed in bus lanes, bikers getting hassle from the police in wales etc., etc., however, how fantastic would it be if what I read recently took off all over the country, even the world? I am talking about the biker friendly crash barriers that have been put up in County Durham, they work by absorbing the energy of a crashing bike and prevents rider hitting support pillars! If lives are saved then surely they should be put up everywhere? Who is the big wig that dictates where, when or even IF they are used? In my job I have noticed an increase of not only the younger generation, but also the middle aged taking up biking and would hate the thought of people being put off by stories of horrible accidents, especially ones that could so easily be prevented. It’s about time we as bikers were taken seriously.
UTAG – A Brilliant Idea
Apr 28th
Like many of you last Wednesday I went and bought my weekly copy of MCN and out fell a leaflet advertising something called UTAG.
Now like the beautiful Suzy Perry, I think this is a MUST HAVE PIECE OF KIT.
As bikers we all know that we take our lives into our own hands every time we go for a ride, be it from lorry drivers who leave diesel on the roads, idiots using mobile phones while driving or local government agencies using steel cables as crash barriers.
While most of us carry our drivers licence with us as ID and also perhaps are registered as organ donors but what about emergency contact details or important medical information.
The UTAG looks like a set of dog tags, but with modern USB technology also contains important medical and contact details that you wish to put on including, Personal details, Picture, Emergency contacts, Doctors contact details, Medical information and all this can be read in 7 languages. All for the grand price of £19.99
Now personally I think these make sense, so I’ve all ready ordered mine.
http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv12.nonxt3.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D2dd7da6509f0c60d%26itag%3D5%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26app%3Dblogger%26et%3Dplay%26el%3DEMBEDDED%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1270989725%26sparams%3Did%252Citag%252Cip%252Cipbits%252Cexpire%26signature%3D1660993D5F547836011E382E1188E8A2F9F39375.D8419CFC4B66F32A36A52C7DC098794B26C70BA%26key%3Dck1&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D2dd7da6509f0c60d%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3DJMeGFb3ln8qRBG9Ix8Y3YJnVTZE&messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den&nogvlm=1
Stay Safe,
Oneleggedfreak
Airbags for Bikers
Apr 2nd
Safety is always a more intimate concern for those who prefer to travel on two wheels than it is for those who favour four wheels and a metal box. With nothing between you and the road, any accident is potentially quite harmful to a motorcyclist.
All sensible bikers in this day and age should be wearing a decent helmet and a good set of leathers (or other suitably protective clothing). But now some of the fancy safety features standard on most modern cars are starting to become available to bikers.
Dainese have come up with an airbag that is incorporated into the rider’s protective clothing. They are currently testing and refining the technology on the track, but it is sure to become widely available in the next few years, so frequent riders could benefit from added peace of mind.
The idea is that the neck, head and chest are protected from any impact or scraping injuries, meaning you’re more likely to survive any injury suffered.
Whilst this is still very much early days, any technology to reduce injuries suffered by bikers has got to be a good thing. And whilst these outfits probably won’t be cheap, decent protective gear rarely is, which is why it’s so important to get a decent helmet and leathers insurance policy – ours gives £1,000 worth of cover for just £20 per year.
Safety First – Quad biking without the risks
Aug 14th
Just finished reading an article in Shooting Times dated 9th August on ATV safety, it goes on to mention accidents from celebrities to the general public highlighting the dangers to ride quads without having the correct equipment (not wearing a helmet is the main factor).
I have spent an afternoon on a quad bike with a group of lads going on a trail and circuits on a farm, well worth the money and yes we had to wear all of the safety gear before we were allowed near the quad.
So, when an individual purchases a quad privately why do they just get on and go without thinking of safety. I am not a killjoy and like to feel the wind in my hair (what is left of it) to enjoy the adrenaline and excitement of riding quads but sooner or later the government will step in to ensure that helmets must be worn when riding a quad.
Think about it before you ride as this could save your life and it is worth more than the cost of a helmet.
You can read Bikesure’s tips on quad safety here.