Guy who did my WOF was clueless

[MSTRS:Me]

But bikes have the rear brake as a foot pedal/lever and the front brake is a lever on the right side of the handlebars. The clutch is another lever on the left side of the handlebars. The way I read it, the original poster WAS using the rear brake only, but pulling in the clutch so as to not stall the engine!!

[Virago]

Eggs Zachary! I woulda lost my rag too! I dont have enough patience to deal with people who can't follow SIMPLE instructions.

However, it does appear that you can't follow simple descriptions.

As I understand the original post, he was following instructions, and using rear break (sic) only. He was however hauling on the clutch as well, which the tester thought was the front brake.

[Goblin]

But bikes have the rear brake as a foot pedal/lever and the front brake is a lever on the right side of the handlebars. The clutch is another lever on the left side of the handlebars. The way I read it, the original poster WAS using the rear brake only, but pulling in the clutch so as to not stall the engine!!

Oh yeah...
Now Im as red faced as the wof dude!

[crashe]

Take your bike up to Waipareira Ave, Henderson for your next WOF.....

I take my baby in there for all her WOF checks....

They do get you to ride your bike for a short distance to apply the foot brake ONLY... then get you to redo it but only using your hand brake...
It is making sure that both are actually working.
I ride mine right over to where all the mirrors are and ride along in front on them... as there is more room.

Sure we use both brakes but this way they can see if one brake is not up to par.


Sometimes they may want to do the riding..... but I refuse them and say sorry it is only insured for me to ride the bike so I will do it. They except that answer.

I get to do the pulling the bike over so that they can check front and back wheels.


Oh at any given testing station, the tester must have a bike license to do a WOF test on your bike... so you have to time it right at some testing stations to get a person who is legally allowed to do a WOF on a bike.
Yep I got told this at my testing station.
So I can be sitting around for ages waiting on the one person to do mine as I watch all the others totally ignore me.

Occassionally they wont get you to ride it... but make you push it a short distance with your brakes on... but the bike wont move so then they pass it... footbrake you sit on it and try to roll your bike forward...if it wont move.. they pass you...

[nudemetalz]

The guy at the testing station said to my wife that her front brake on her bike needed some adjustment as the lever was too slack.
We did this and when she went back, she said that we bled them to get the air out of the line. Apparently he looked very confused. She had to point out the "Inboard Front Disc" label on her VT250 and the brake fluid reservoir on the brake lever also wasn't enough of a clue either !!

hmmm,...bit of a worry...

[Edbear]

Welcome to the site and good first post!

I only use Tim, (Classic_Z), in Whangaparaoa, he's a good bloke and you only need to check out his resto job on the Z1300 to have confidence in him!

Only other place I've been impressed with is VTNZ Warkworth, there's a guy there who knows bikes well and has actually saved someone's life by picking up a cracked wheel which would probably have gone unnoticed by anyone else.

[Lou Girardin]

As Shaun said, have you contacted LTNZ? If he's not reported, he'll just carry on spreading ignorance.

[Unforgiven]

I dont go to on road, anywhere, Ive heard way to many horror stories from people who have.
Id rather fail a WOF, and fix the problem rather than them miss it and wind up in a ditch somewhere.

[Ixion]

Look at it this way.

You ride your bike many hours a week. You clean your bike. You spend a lot of time paying attention to your bike. Looking at it. Listening to it. Doing the pre-journey "walk around and poke stuff before setting out" checks. And everything on a bike is pretty visible and obvious, it's not like a car where you can't see all the stuff under the car without a pit or hoist.

So what's the odds of some dude spotting something in a 10 minute onceover , that you didn't already know about?

Especially as the majority of testers don't really know jack shite about bikes. (The exceptions do tend to be pretty knowledgeable).

[dickytoo]

I use papakura motorcycle services in papakura. colin is a great guy and is very helpful.

he's helped me out many times with all sorts of stuff even though i only use him for wofs. his old man races classics and he's very much a motorcycle enthusiast.

[ManDownUnder]

Last WOF I did the guy asked me to lock up my front brake (going forward)...

smooth concrete floor, bit of dust and you want me to do WHAT?

errrrrrr... no, even if you are willing to pay the panel damage

[Jantar]

A couple of people have said this, and it concerns me. Surely most bikers should be aware enough of the condition of their bike to be sure it's safe? How could someone miss rust or frayed cables or worn brakes, etc?

The only time I've had the bike shop pick up a fault with my bike that I wasn't already aware was brakes, but not worn brakes, or brakes that weren't functioning correctly, it was a slight perish crack in the rubber covering on the (30 year old) brake line, and he only found it when inspecting the lines with a mirror. As I said earlier, I'm pleased when the WOF tester picks up something that I might have missed.

[Motu]

, I'm pleased when the WOF tester picks up something that I might have missed.

Practically unheard of these days - normally we get told we are failing them just to get the work,and it has passed the last 3 times like that.But if something is missed those same people come down on you like a ton of bricks.

I am getting heartily sick of WoFs - at lunch time a guy came in for a WoF,asked how much and then started to bleat about the price.....I said ''take it or leave it'' and turned back to my lunch completely ignoring the guy.....there is probably a thread on some forum now where he's complaining about the arrogant WoF tester.Fuck them.

[iwilde]

Older gent?

I take mine there - last time he said "she's a bit loud eh mate?" and before i could even go "um, er, ahhh" he said "it's a good thing I'm old and deaf - it sounds OK to me!" and passed it.

And yeah, he will talk your ear off !

Yeah thats him, hell of a nice bloke. You're lucky you don't own a Ninja, no change out of half an hour!

[TLDV8]

I have had no trouble at the Takanini VTNZ.Same guy does bikes each time and he rides himself.As far as i know you do not have to lock the wheels up,just show them that a quick and controlled stop can be done.Lifting the rear off the deck while not locking the front seems to be a pass no problem.
Also have no problem pulling the bike over on the side stand so the front and rear end can be checked (It may be easier for bikes with centre stands.)
Way better than the hillbilly at Shafts one time who rolled a floor jack under the sump of my Ducati and was going to jack it up..... He got the word quicktime.
Just folk doing their job,normally just a ride in,ride out (I did have to swap back to stock brake lines before the last WOF)