250cc law change?

[zeRax]

true that!
sick of that line, so and so died, so and so is in a wheelchair for rest of life, yawn, its our choice, stop killing what tiny instance of freedom there is in the world

[Waylander]

damn right you will
It seems that anyone who hasn't had a motorbike or isn't interested in them thinks they are death traps invented by DR Darwin to weed out the "undesireable" genes.
I had to put up with lots from people at work today telling me how i will die or lose all movement in all 3 arms because their uncles boss did. They always point out how it doesn't matter how good at riding you are, there will alwaysbe some dickhead who will pull out infront and kill you.:rant:

Heh I just laugh at those peaple and say a quote from a James Bond movie, with a bit of my own added on. "What's the point in living if you don't feel alive. I would rather live a short, exciting life than a long dull one." Yea cheesy I know but it shuts them up.

[James Deuce]

You fellas who object to anecdotal reports of the downside of motorcycling are mired in testosterone fuelled self-deception. What's wrong with someone, however uninformed, pointing out what their perception of motorcycling is? They are either concerned for you or looking forward to a bit of future schadenfreude at your expense. If it's the former then they are probably worth knowing and may eventually understand why you like 'bikes. If it's the latter you can file them under "probably a wanker" and move on.

The fact that you are more likely to be seriously injured in an unplanned motor vehicle incident as a motorcyclist is a greater truism than people making disparaging comments about bikes in general.

[placidfemme]

You fellas who object to anecdotal reports of the downside of motorcycling are mired in testosterone fuelled self-deception. What's wrong with someone, however uninformed, pointing out what their perception of motorcycling is? They are either concerned for you or looking forward to a bit of future schadenfreude at your expense. If it's the former then they are probably worth knowing and may eventually understand why you like 'bikes. If it's the latter you can file them under "probably a wanker" and move on.

The fact that you are more likely to be seriously injured in an unplanned motor vehicle incident as a motorcyclist is a greater truism than people making disparaging comments about bikes in general.

Well said

[unhingedlizard]

A bike journo in the Uk once wrote that everytime he sees a bike come down the road, someone starts either talking about someones uncles, cousins, friends brother who died on a bike or they ask what can it do. His reponse was that he knows plenty of people killed in car accidents, and its not what it does its the way it does it.

[raster]

damn right you will
It seems that anyone who hasn't had a motorbike or isn't interested in them thinks they are death traps invented by DR Darwin to weed out the "undesireable" genes.
I had to put up with lots from people at work today telling me how i will die or lose all movement in all 3 arms because their uncles boss did. They always point out how it doesn't matter how good at riding you are, there will alwaysbe some dickhead who will pull out infront and kill you.:rant:

Ban cars, then bikes would be safer.
The beurocrats look at the riders costs without looking at the wanker who pulled out in front of the rider who actually caused the accident.
I hope to see many bike on the road tomorrow, see what happens to the traffic conjestion.

[sunhuntin]

Ban cars, then bikes would be safer.
The beurocrats look at the riders costs without looking at the wanker who pulled out in front of the rider who actually caused the accident.
I hope to see many bike on the road tomorrow, see what happens to the traffic conjestion.

[Matt Bleck]

in 5 years time what will the market for learners bikes be if we kept the 250cc rule?

In five years time no one but the richie rich's will be able to afford gas for the lawnmower let alone their bikes!!!

[Wolf]

The law can only go so far to protect people from themselves. Put in a HP restriction and what's to stop people popping restrictor plates in for a WOF and taking them out to ride?

Same thing as in Australia - the "approved list" is set by gummint testers on standard bikes - not restricted ones. You don't have the option of saying "Hey, I've detuned my Hayabusa down to the requisite 30hp, certify it." If your bike is on the list of approved bikes, you can ride it on a restricted/learner licence; if it is not, tough crap - wait until the powers-that-be test one and determine its suitability.

If we went that way here in NZ we would probably need to go back to colour coded Rego stickers for learner/restricted vs full licence - so the cops can instantly see that the bike is licenced as suitable for learners (rather than them having to look up the list at the road-side they can rely on the licensing agency to check the list before issuing a rego for the bike.)

The loacl vehicle licensing place has access to computers which could be easily configured to interface with a list of approved-for-learners motorcycles - you could easily program it so that if it's an approved bike, an extra licensing option comes up for the issuing of a learner/restricted class endorsement ("And will you be wanting anyone with a learners or restricted licence to ride your bike, Mr Jones?") such an option would not be available for unapproved bikes.

Of course, a learner or restricted licence holder would have no option but get the learner/restricted endorsed rego sticker - only a full licence holder could get a standard rego (thus rendering the bike "out of bounds" to a learner or restricted licence holder)

If the owner is on a learner's licence, or wants to allow learners to ride, (s)he could opt for a learner/restricted class rego (not illegal to ride on that class of rego if you're on a full licence so parent can get his/her approved bike licensed for offspring to learn on). Learners must also display L plate, yada yada.

Cops can look at the bike, see the "learner/restricted" rego and the L plate, check that the stated plate number, make and model match the bike and all is well. If the rider is on restricted the cops can see by the rego sticker the bike is on the approved list - where's the hassle in that?

If the cops suspect (by the rider's actions) that the bike has been modified to make it more powerful than standard, there is always the option of getting it tested by an independant agency.

For years cops had to look at the colour of our rego and compare it with our licence class - and Gods Forfend you get caught on an "M" registered 90cc bike on your learners or restricted licence - that was before L plates.

The system we have now has its weak points - how does the cop know that the guy on the 250 without L plates at 11:30pm is allowed to be riding? If the rider is fully licenced, no prob, but if he's on a restricted he's outside the curfew. How does the cop know that? Do they waste time pulling over someone over only to discover he's legal or do they assume everyone on a 250 who's not actively riding like an idiot is fully licensed?

Back in the day, if a cop rolled up behind you and saw the wrong colour of rego label, you were generally a goner.

I reckon bring in an "approved list" as per Aus-truckin-falia, make it easy on the poor buggers on patrol with an easily identifiable "endorsement" rego to say "LTSA says its OK to ride this" and open the options for new riders to include larger capacity bikes that may well be safer to ride than the smaller, lighter, faster 250s.

Of course, "endorsed" regos would be targetted by cops after the beddy-bye time for all good restricted licensees and would mostly waste the time of the aforementioned parents of learner/restricted younglings, but would that not be better than any 250 seen after beddy-bye time being a potential target?

Its actually simpler than my lengthy waffle would suggest - just wanted to cover bases and make it look like I'd actually put some thought into it.

[hondacmx450]

Legend mate..... But i think their cars would more rival 400's rather than Hayabusa's

i think the only busa iv ceen passed was parked in the shop but i bet it will not be long be for it starts to pass evry thing hope it gets a good rider

[froggyfrenchman]

thats what i like to hear... my lil brother was friends with the kids killed on friday night in hastings. how do 15yos get $10,000 cars tha can break the sound barrier from day 1, when we had to do our time on 250s to learn to handle our machines before earning power over time. i vote all learnre and restricted drivers should be restricted to 1300cc naturally aspired cars!!!

[Kickaha]

Ban cars, then bikes would be safer.
The beurocrats look at the riders costs without looking at the wanker who pulled out in front of the rider who actually caused the accident.
I hope to see many bike on the road tomorrow, see what happens to the traffic conjestion.

You only have to look at the amount of single bike accidents among the members of this site to know thats not completely true

I see a lot of near misses with cars from members on this site but the majority of accidents reported have only involved single bikes so it's not just the wankers that pull out in front of bikes causing accidents and causing the costs

[Coyote]

thats what i like to hear... my lil brother was friends with the kids killed on friday night in hastings. how do 15yos get $10,000 cars tha can break the sound barrier from day 1, when we had to do our time on 250s to learn to handle our machines before earning power over time. i vote all learnre and restricted drivers should be restricted to 1300cc naturally aspired cars!!!

Sounds like if National get in, they'll actually make this so and drivers will also be restricted like us bikers. Of course, National say a lot of things....

[Mr Skid]

You only have to look at the amount of single bike accidents among the members of this site to know thats not completely true

I see a lot of near misses with cars from members on this site but the majority of accidents reported have only involved single bikes so it's not just the wankers that pull out in front of bikes causing accidents and causing the costs

I had the pleasure of watching a 3 bike incident at a set of traffic lights about a fortnight ago, so bike crashes aren't all single vehicle accidents

[Coyote]

How long have they had the 70k rule?