Confused.com’s Guide to Summer Riding

"Stay safe on the roads this summer – particularly if your bike’s been in hibernation"

Summer has arrived! Warm sunny days, long light evenings – the hours available to spend on your motorbike are endless. But before you take to the road, check your motorbike is in top condition.

Confused.com’s summer riding checklist will make sure you and your bike are ready for an endless summer of safe riding.

Bike maintenance

When was the last time you took your motorbike out for a spin? Whether it was days or months ago, make sure you give it a thorough maintenance check before hopping back in the saddle.

• Begin with the oil, and then check tyre pressure and condition.
• Make sure your tax is up to date and that your motorbike insurance hasn’t expired.
• If your bike isn’t air-cooled, check the coolant – is it topped up with the correct mixture? Anti-freeze is useful all year as it helps preserve alloy engines from internal corrosion.

Are you in top shape to ride?

You never forget how to ride a bike – right? That may be the case, but it’s important to get used to being on the bike again.

· Take it slow and steady at first - speed amplifies mistakes.

• Practise braking on a quiet bit of road until you’re happy with emergency stops.
• Refresh your counter-steering on some gentle, open bends.
• Be patient and extra cautious with overtaking until you’ve settled back into your normal riding rhythm.

When you’re out riding in the heat, stop frequently to give your body a rest. You’ll dehydrate through sweat, usually without noticing, which can cause you to lose concentration. Make sure you drink lots of fluids - a lapse in concentration can put both you, and others, in danger.

Be Leader of the Pack with Confused.com’s Motorbike Safety Tips.

What to wear

Clothing: Whether you ride in leathers or not, you’re going to get hot, especially if you get stuck in town traffic. You may be tempted just to head out in jeans and a T-shirt, but the consequences of even a minor spill can be nasty. Always wear gloves – the palms of your hands are usually the first thing to hit the ground – and the full complement of protective clothing. Several manufacturers make lightweight protective jackets and trousers specifically for hot climates.

Helmet: Wearing a helmet in summer is hot work, but riding without one is not an option as it’s, of course, compulsory. You can open all the vents but you’ll just have to put up with the noise that produces. Summer also brings fly-encrusted visors, so pack a small bottle of cleaner and a cloth for some roadside debugging.

Tip: The sun’s glare might tempt you to fit an illegal dark visor on your helmet, but doings so could invalidate your motorbike insurance if you have an accident.

Watch out for hazards

Just because it’s sunny doesn’t mean the roads are hazard-free. Blazing days often produce slippery pools of melting road tar on roundabouts and bends. A brief shower of rain after a prolonged dry spell can also turn roads into skating rinks as rubber and oil in the road surface can rise to lie on top of the water.

And don’t forget, strong sunshine can blind oncoming traffic so don’t assume drivers have seen you as you pull out to overtake, or when they look like turning across your path.

Summer’s a great time to go exploring, so why not take a look at Confused.com’s Guide to Biking in Europe. You may also be looking to treat yourself to a new set of wheels, if so, have a read of Confused.com’s Guide to Choosing the Right Motorbike.

Image from: scotk (Blogspot)

Lazareth Wazuma Bio V12 Quadbike

The first reaction I had when I saw this quad was that it might be featured in Gotham city, however this creation is by a French company called Lazareth and it is a monster. I call it a monster as Lazareth engineers have hooked up an entire BMW V12 engine to produce this Wazuma quad.

At the moment there is so much pressure on manufactures to produce ‘green’ type vehicles so this quad runs on E85 Bio-Ethanol with a massive output of 500BPH.

If you are thinking of getting one then you will be looking at a cost of around €200,000. For now, may I suggest you check out the images and video below to see exactly what a Lazareth Wazuma Bio V12 can actually do!

Sources: GT Spirit, Zero to Hundred, You Tube

The Wearable Motorbike

Well, just when you think you have seen it all, along comes the ‘wearable’ motorbike. This unique futuristic concept was created by a transportation design student called Jake Loniak who attempted to design a solution to the “way people live their lives”. The model is called the Yamaha Deus Ex Machina (God Out of a Machine) which essentially stands for “electric, single passenger, vertical parking, and wearable motorcycle”. In theory in would be controlled via 36 pneumatic muscles and 2 linear actuators.

“The Deus, powered by Doped Nano Phosphate batteries and ultra-capacitors, has an in-wheel motor that could supply ample torque to deliver a driving acceleration of 60 mph in 3 seconds. Recharge time is 15 minutes with a cycle time of 60 minutes, top speed, limited for now, at 75 mph.” (Green Car Design)

No safety issues have been published about it yet although the fact it has to be capped at 75 suggests that it can perform at much faster speeds. However, the idea of travelling at that speed in a vertical, upright position would not be for the faint hearted.

Sources: Green Car Design, Engadget

Motorbike + Car = EcoMobile

A Motorbike or Runaway Sidecar?

The Ecomobile is a motorcycle built by a Swiss company named Pereaves. It's effectively a motorbike with a surrounding shell for the entire bike, protecting the rider from wind, rain, and debris.

The main focus is on safety which appears to be the essence of why it was created. For instance the surrounding shell is made from Kevlar carbon fiber, the material that makes bullet proof vests, bullet proof.

Like any other motorbike manufactures they have a variety of models available such as the Standard-ECO, Super-ECO, Super-Turbo-ECO and Turbo-Mono-ECO. The picture at the top of this page features a Mono Tracer.

So as it has the name ‘Eco’ within the title, do we assume that this is an ‘Economical’ product? The Turbo Mono Tracer can do 53 PMG at a constant speed of about 56 M/PH or 47 MPG at a speed of about 75 M/PH. All of this is from a BMW K1200 engine; IHI-turbocharged with 4-cilinders and liquid cooled. The cost of such a machine would cost in excess of £50,000.

See what Jeremy Clarkson makes of them below:

Sources: Biker News Online, Mc Journalen, YouTube

Monster Motorbike

Believe it or not, this massive Motorbike is actually real. It has been created by Ray Baumann, an ex-stuntman from Melbourne, Australia.

The whole Monster truck concept is built upon an insane amount of power as well as making the machine oversized and bigger. Ray has taken this to the ultimate level by creating a beast that weighs about 10 times that of a normal family car at 13.6 tonnes, and measures close to 9 metres long and over 3 metres tall. The source of all this power originates from a Detroit Diesel truck engine that outputs an ungodly amount of torque. To replace a tyre on this Motorbike would set you back around $30,000 for each one!

Check out this video below to see it in action:

Sources: Web Wombat, You Tube

Motorbike Wallpapers

Check out some of these cool Motorbike wallpapers:

Sources: Rainey Battery Desktop Rating, Motorbike Wallpapers, Wallpaper Planet, You Wall, Techn-freak

The World’s Best Bikes for Two

1) Honda GL1800 Goldwing Deluxe

Surely there’s no better way to travel two-up than on a Honda Goldwing? Boasting the kind of spec sheet you’d expect to find on a BMW 5-series, the Wing offers cruise control, GPS navigation, airbags, ABS, a radio and speakers – and even a reverse gear. Who wouldn’t want to perch themselves on the sumptuous leather throne of this pillion seat? It’s so soft and comfortable it will swallow you whole.

However, sitting in the lofty insurance group of 15 will drive up the cost of your motorbike insurance. A credit-crunch defying price tag of £21,451 accounts for the pricey insurance premium - you might require a loan for this one!

• Price £21,451
• Engine 1,832cc, 12-Valve, flat-six
• Power 118bhp
• Weight 417kg

2) BMW R1200RT

BMW’s twin-cylinder, super-tourer is lighter, cheaper and four insurance groups lower than the mighty Goldwing – but by no means is it the budget option, even if your motorbike insurance says otherwise. The R1200RT offers a decent touring spec with a CD player, a deafening set of treble-toned speakers, ABS, heated-grips, electric windscreen and cavernous in-built luggage space.

Unfortunately your pillion won’t be treated to such decadent comfort as the Honda provides, but fit the optional top-box and it doubles as a nifty backrest.

• Price £21,451
• Engine 1,832cc, 12-Valve, flat-six
• Power 118bhp
• Weight 417kg

3) Harley-Davidson FLHTCU Electra Glide Ultra Classic

The Electra Glide is the cheeseburger-chomping Elvis Presley of the bike world - large, loud, brash and 100 per cent American. What’s more, your passenger will be treated to lashings of camp, cruiser chrome and tasselled leather.

Like the Goldwing, the Harley-Davidson sits at the top of the motorbike insurance food chain, so fitting an alarm and chaining the bike to a ground anchor – even inside your garage, could help lower premiums.

• Price £18,680
  
• Engine 1,584cc, air-cooled, V-twin
• Power 65 bhp approx
• Weight 413kg

4) Triumph Sprint ST ABS

Unlike our other bikes, the Triumph is a serious sports-tourer, capable of doubling the national speed limit without breaking a sweat. However, despite the razor sharp handling, alloy frame, single-sided swingarm and sporty three-cylinder engine, the Sprint ST makes for a very comfortable long-distance tourer.

It’s a pillion’s pleasure on the back, perfect for an Autobahn blast during your next European tour (see Confused.com’s Guide to Biking in Europe). Unfortunately, the Sprint ST’s Superbike performance figures account for its high motorbike insurance group of 15 - age and a decent no-claims bonus are the best remedies for this.

• Price £8,679
• Engine 1,050cc, in-line triple
• Power 125bhp
• Weight 213kg

5) Piaggio XEvo 400

Stylish, nippy and comfortable, the Piaggio XEvo is the quickest way to get around London… oh, and it’s a scooter! Not something you’ll cross-continents with, but it will get you, and your pillion passenger, to the shops 10-miles down the road in comfort and style.

An automatic, the Piaggio is fitted with a back support to increase confidence in nervous passengers. Sitting in insurance group six, it’s much cheaper to insure thanks to a 400cc engine, a modest power figure and a lower retail price.

But scooters are magnets for bike thieves, so invest in decent security before arranging your motorbike insurance – it could make a big difference to your premium.

• Price £3,999
• Engine 400cc, single-cylinder with automatic transmission
• Power 94bhp
• Weight 199kg

Sources: Confused, Motorcycle News, Total Motorcycle, Eclipse Motorcycles