Gulp

[48v]

Hi all.

It’s been a while and I hope you are all doing well.

I’ve had to face up to the realisation that I’m going to have to replace my Pan. I ride to London a couple of times a week and next year there will be a new charge for pre 2008 bikes will have to pay 12.50 per day to go into the centre of the city.

So I’m in a quandary, do I try to find a ST1300 or move away from Hondas and look for a Triumph Trophy or something like a BMW 1300?

Does anyone have any suggestions, strong feelings or just general advice.

Many thanks

David

[David W]

... do I try to find an ST1300 or move away from Hondas and look for a Triumph Trophy or something like a BMW 1300?

Does anyone have any suggestions, strong feelings or just general advice?

That development might lower the value of your Pan if you try to sell it or trade it near London.

Kawasaki has their 2008 and 2009, ABS equipped Concours 14, which is a 1400 (and called maybe GTR 1400). That would be my personal choice, but next year, will there be an extra charge for 2008 model?

Kawasaki also has their 2008, 2009 and 2010 non-ABS Concours 14, which is a 1400 (and also called maybe GTR 1400). That would maybe be my second choice.

Then I would look at BMWs, but I can't give specific advice about them, nor about Yamaha 1300s, nor Triumphs. (I would just avoid buying a Triumph merely because I like their name.)

Has anyone kept up with Suzuki's larger bikes?

By the way, it seems a bit strange that the government would charge extra for older bikes but not for older cars, in the centre of London.

[alans1100]

By the way, it seems a bit strange that the government would charge extra for older bikes but not for older cars, in the centre of London.

Seems strange to me to even consider charging for bikes. They don't pollute as much and reduce traffic congestion.

Some of our state capital cities have free bike parking in the CBD

[48v]

By the way, it seems a bit strange that the government would charge extra for older bikes but not for older cars, in the centre of London.

Seems strange to me to even consider charging for bikes. They don't pollute as much and reduce traffic congestion.

Some of our state capital cities have free bike parking in the CBD

I absolutely agree, it doesn’t make sense, but what can we do!!

[David W]

... I absolutely agree, it doesn’t make sense, but what can we do!!

.
Are you with the organisation that I've heard called ... London Area Motorcyclists? ... Or LAM?

[48v]

... I absolutely agree, it doesn’t make sense, but what can we do!!

.
Are you with the organisation that I've heard called ... London Area Motorcyclists? ... Or LAM?

From what I understand this is now legislation. Of course it doesn’t make sense, but then we (motorcyclists) have always been an easy target. In one of the burghs of London there is free bike parking at any time but in the centre of the city we have to pay to park in the street. Both of these policies seem remarkably skewed against motorcyclists. There were moves after 2007 to reduce the number of old cars on the road and a scheme was introduced that offered a payment against the purchase of a new vehicle and the scrapping of an older one. Also London already has a congestion charge zone for which drivers pay £11 per day to enter the centre of the city.

It’s not a fair or reasonable way to treat people who actively relieve congestion in a city....but who ever said politics was reasonable.

[David W]

It looks as if I did not understand the meaning of LAM when I wrote ...

Are you with the organisation that I've heard called ... London Area Motorcyclists? ... Or LAM?

LAM is part of a training organisation; LAM is described at the bottom of this page:

http://l-a-m.org/about-lam/

LAM stands for London Advanced Motorcyclists.

One of their documents made it into our Library: http://my-mc-phoenix.com/library/honda/ ... skills.pdf

Sorry about that false lead. (I was hoping it was a political organisation.)

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So what are the newer bike models that David might want to look at?

[alans1100]

LAM stands for London Advanced Motorcyclists.

In Australia LAM stands for Learner Assisted Motorcycles https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/driving-an ... otorcycles

Maximum learner bike used to be a 250cc but some of those were more powerful than some bigger bikes so the classification was changed to a power/weight ratio which opened up some larger bikes

[David W]

Might 48v consider a smaller bike IF he is using his Pan only for commuting?

Or, might there be a way to ride that Pan to the edge of the central area, and then switch to alternate transportation while in the central area of London?