Indicators

[micheleen]

Can any of our other UK members shed any light on the following please ?

After a minor off with my bike just before MOT time, can I just remove the indicators and flasher unit for the MOT and still pass and be legal ? It's a 2002 reg bike.

Thanks Mike

[keithcross]

As far as I am aware, if indicators are fitted they must be working. If you remove the idicators the wiring and switches should, I think, be removed as well.
I am pretty sure indicators are not a legal requirement as several of the motard riders I go on ride outs with dont have them fitted. In fact its possible to get a daytime only MOT where you dont have to have any lights at all. One other thing, why not fit the ceapest indicator you can fine. They dont have to match, only be the correct colur and work al od course my opnion.
The best bet is to actually ask the person who is going to carry out the test before you take the bike in. Its suprising what some tester insist on and others dont.

Keith

[DAVID THOMPSON]

the mot inspection you guy's have sounds like a can of worms

over here we must have turn signals on any road bike that is 1972
or newer if older than 1972 and it came with them they must be there
and work
head light must be on at any time you are on the road

headlight must have high and low beam not allowed to tilt one beam
head lamp like some old bikes

they gave me a hard time when they started inspections here about
the turn signals in a bmw r60 that were in the end of the handle bars
till i went back and showed them the parts book as they were oem
for the bike
even moped must have turn sig as it is called a motorcycle in my state

[Garf]

Certainly up until a couple of years ago you didnt need indicators to pass an MOT. I bought a CBR600 from a friend which was basically a track bike with race fairing, single seat and no lights which was MOT'd as Dayight hours. It still had all light switches fitted. I ran it on the road for 12 months but got rid of it prior to its subsequent MOT as I needed the occasional facility to carry a passenger. Consequently, I cant comment on how much hassle it is to go down that route.

If I was in your situation I think I would spend £10 on some emarked aftermarket indicatiors and fit them .........seems like less hassle to me.

[keithcross]

Spoke to a feind in teh job and he came up with this advice

(quote) As far as I know.

Off road bikes ( single seat no rear pegs) do not require the Indicators to be fitted...(some MOT testers wont accept supermotos as off road bikes though)

Road bikes post 1986 they require either all their lights plus reflector or NO lights at all (daytime MOT ) ie remove or tape over lights and disconnect power supply... )quote


Keith

[micheleen]

Thanks very much for that Keith, guess I'll have to do a repair job when I've time

[cat]

(quote) As far as I know.

Off road bikes ( single seat no rear pegs) do not require the Indicators to be fitted...(some MOT testers wont accept supermotos as off road bikes though)

Road bikes post 1986 they require either all their lights plus reflector or NO lights at all (daytime MOT ) ie remove or tape over lights and disconnect power supply... )quote

Keith

"As far as I know" might be the case. I'm amazed; I can hardly believe it. In the UK? For..years in South Africa - like 20 years or something) it's been like David has described about the USA. Including mopeds. What does it matter if they are "mopeds" or "motorcycles"? ! They go on the road with everything else.

No. "Off-road bikes"? Well then it's not road-legal. "Off-road bike" (as opposed to "dual purpose", or "trail bike") means just that -- off-road - only.

I think most of the time we need everything we can do to help us survive with the other vehicles. I'm not a big fan of indicators, I'm putting Dinkywinkaz on my Baghira, and I might leave them off if I didn't want to avoid any trouble with the cops. I think having 2 mirrors is more useful, but there are times when they help to indicate to the a***** behind you that you're going to slow down and turn - there are situations when they're useful.

[keithcross]

S far as this post is cocerned, the term `off road' refers to a motor crosser or other compition bike has been made registerd for teh road. In the UK we are allowed to do this providing the bike meets certain criteira, ie more than 10 inches groundclearance and a minimum seat height of I think 750mm. This is allowed as the authorities realise that certain compition machines need to be allowed to compete in some trails and enduro meetings.
Hence it is possible to make a motorcrosser like a CRF450 Honda road legal. Another concession made is these bikes dont need indicators

Keith

[jbthumper]

road legal crf450??that's waayyy coool!!!

[keithcross]

To get an idea of what is available look at album on the following site

http://www.solentsupermotos.co.uk.

The following bikes are in the group I ride with
Honda CRF450, Honda XR650R, Yamaha WR450, Hukavarna 610, KYM 450, 525, 625, 640, 660 and 950, Vertimati 570, plus others.
As you can see many of these are modified mototcrossers and enduro bikes. Almost all are road registered (with one owner using cut slick on the road - not legal)

Keith

[cat]

The following bikes are in the group I ride with
Honda CRF450, Honda XR650R, Yamaha WR450, Hukavarna 610, KYM 450, 525, 625, 640, 660 and 950, Vertimati 570, plus others.
As you can see many of these are modified mototcrossers and enduro bikes. Almost all are road registered (with one owner using cut slick on the road - not legal)

Keith

those Vertematis are stunning! Someone posted a photo of his in a thread on advrider the other day.

So don't you get envious? Which of them blow you off? ....I suppose most of them, looking at that list again.

[keithcross]

You are of course right, in a striaght race the MZ is one of the slowest bikes in teh group. Howver anther member of this group, Gedge used to lead run outs as I do on an MZ Baghira and other riders used to have a job to keep up. Its down to the rider as well.
One other thing to think of, on a parade lap a frind overtook me, when I was flat out in 3rd, on the back wheel of his Husaberg 650. At teh end of the striaght his front wheel came down just as the bikes big end went pop The Baghira has many things to its advantage, better reliability, more comfortable seat and cheaper spare to name a few.
If I wished I could buy one of these other bikes, but it would be of no use to me as I use my bike daily for work. Take a look at teh service intervals on some of these bikes. Its not uncommon for the requirement to change the engine oil every 40500 miles
Nope I am keeping to MZ thanks.

Keith

[cat]

The 640 LC4's ok, but it's not like it's that much more potent or lighter than the MZ.
The Husky 610 is beautifully made, the detail, and I came close to getting one instead of the MZ, but 40% more and I got annnoyed with the dealer and distributor and I was tired of waiting and trying to decide. And, I remembered that what I really wanted was a supermoto, with lights, like the 525 or the Husky SMR ... they're small light bikes by comparison - to the MZ or the 640 .. but that would be even more expensive including the lighting kit and so on. So I thought ok - and I'd developed an odd sort of liking for the Baghira by then - I'll get the Baghira for a general purpose bike and then get a sm later. So that frees me to get a Husaberg. One guy on advrider put it this way: "Everyone should own a Husaberg at least once." But yes they do have the most extreme service intervals. And it's more than just oil changes every 400 miles, ultimately. Different usage. Good for those rides but you'd need a CG125 or something to go to work on.

[F0ul_Oli]

A mate of mine has a Husky610 - just put a super exhaust on it and it now wheelspins AND wheelies at the same time!!

I'm still having problems with my indicators - I've finally found a place to put them where they don't get burnt! but what is the legal issue with the no of flashes per minute?

Not trying to hijack the thread - it just seemed to be relevant to the initial question.

F0ul

[cat]

The 610 is great - I'd love one - but it's still a big heavy road bike compared to a 'real' sm - with all the road legal stuff on it. If I manage to get a Husaberg or a 525 and road legal it, and keep the Baghira, I'll have the "best of both worlds".

The thread's far away from indicators anyway - it's a general purpose thread.

Where'd you put the indicators? Take a photo.
I'm trying to get a piece of aluminium or plastic about 3mm thick to make brackets/spacers to mount Dinkywinkaz in the front. I want to grind off the threads (they're the .."other kind", the kind that has the wires coming out of a threaded tube), cut them so they're just long enough / 3mm or whatever to epoxy them into the spacers - spacers the shape of the stock mounting tabs - so I can mount them like the stock ones. Otherwise I'd have to drill out the stock 6mm screw holes and that would look tacky with the front of the stock brackets visible.

I'm trying to keep to priorities but it's difficult to get this stuff done, to get the stuff when I have to spend most of my life in this cubicle.

Less than 100kg - there's no chance of that, but I am going to get mine under 160kg. I just looked at some aluminium hex head bolt kits but I did a search first and found out they were crap, so it's got to be Pro-Bolt. -Although that's probably a long-term / bit by bit thing. I'll concentrate on the wheels first, the unsprung weight.