Forum

[Michael]

Scaly, don't sob. It's not grandfathered. From new from now, not existing. Why did you sell?! Bike MOTs are easy to get if its in decent nick overall? And as someone else said here... if you know what to do, anything can get an MOT but actually be nowhere near safe!

[Michael]

The 'not allowed to remove anything' rule for mot testers isn't exactly confidence filling. A bit of grease here, gaffa tape there and some cunningly placed carpet can ensure a rust bucket death trap can be certified 'road legal' as per mot test but then again, the majority of people don't read the testers manual...

[CGT 535]

It's a while since I read the tester's handbook, but if you go to a decent mot tester then you're getting a pretty thorough safety check carried out on your vehicle for how much? About 30 quid? That's got to be a bargain. But you need to go to a decent tester.

[Scalyback]

Michael, I guess the mystery is a little less important now, but I would have to take the bike about 508 miles to the nearest approved MOT centre and back every year. Due to French type approval being non existent for an EFI woodsman, it makes it very expensive and very complicated to register it in France, so the bike was UK registered and only 'visits' France if you see what I mean.



Anyway, I am happy now. Andy sent some pictures of Thunderbolt at the motocross circuit, and I am guessing they are both getting along very well!



Having been away a few days, I have not even had a chance to connect Kevin's battery back up after transport, but today, he gets to see what the 'wrong' side of the road looks like!

[papasmurf]

Personally I think 4 years before a 1st MOT is far too long. I also don't think the current MOT is tough enough.
Only recently a very bad fault on my car was discovered AFTER an MOT certificate was issued. (I have no criticism of the garage about that, because a very skilled mechanic, the garage owner and myself had examined the underneath of the car a few months before the MOT and we all put the reason for the exhaust sometimes hitting the bodywork down to a badly made cheap exhaust.)

It was in fact a major failure that was only visible because of movement using a crow bar the actual breakage was buried and invisible. (I blame potholes.)
Luckily I found a second hand part via the internet for £134 delivered which was somewhat less than the around £1000 for a new part.

[Michael]

The MOT is a pain, adding to the cost of running a car, but it is a necessary 'evil'... OK, so it is not evil, but the majority of cars users would not systematically check the safety and roadworthiness features of their car regularly, so someone has to. There is also a strong argument that the current MOT is not rigorous enough... there are ways that certain safety critical aspects of your car can go untested, either on purpose (to gain an MOT when you shouldn't) or by ignorance. EG grease covered brake pipes - the tester wont remove the grease as they are not allowed to, so you hydraulic lines go untested for corrosion. OR gaffa tape over rust... again, the tester cannot remove the tape. Exhaust repair tape on a far gone exhaust - well it was sound on the day of the test, but not tomorrow... Testers should be allowed to dig deeper - but then again, my wallet will hurt