Hello, only been here a few minutes but thought I’d test out your helpfulness as it comes highly recommended
Having only been in Milton Keynes a short while I don’t know that many bike shops so picked the first MOT centre in the Lellow Pages.
I knew my TL1000S was gonna fail, its far from standard but I wanted to get it tested thoroughly so I knew what work had to be done.
The bike has race pipes on it (LOUD), non legal numberplate, no rear reflector, no numberplate light, brake discs where the centres are fastened with circlips rather than rivets, LED indicators which have a rather slow flash relay and a cracked headlight.
Went to the MOT and the feckin thing passed with the comment “lovely bike burd”
This cowboy did my MOT in under 10 minutes!!! I know enough about my bike to say it isnt dangerous and is perfectly safe but I am also not a mechanic and you put your faith in these people to say your bike is safe.
I am now left with a dilema. Do I accept this as an MOT or do I take the bike to a garage that doesnt have swinging doors and get it re-tested, can I do that? Do you also think I should report this guy to the VOSA?
I get the feeling the idea of having duff MOT doesn’t sit well…
MOT testers hold licences which like your bike licence can be lost. Tester are inspected and you can make a complaint. From what I know they take a very dim view of this sort of thing.
Was this a new style computerised MOT? If so details of failures and advisory notices are retained so that a history of the vehicle is built up as well as milage and stuff (I think). In your case there weren’t any recorded…
The choice is yours you can report him, however you then acknowledge your bike is a definate fail (on the can alone by the sound of things! - sorry) so you’ll pay again for another. If he f*cks MOTS he’s likely to be crap at other stuff too so you could also drop his details to trading standards.
Lets face it. If you were buying a bike you might look for an MOT - now you would spot a nail. However there are many who don’t and wrongly use MOTs as a basis of thinking the bike is sound - reporting this may help to protect the less mechanically minded from operators like this guy.
Sounds to me that the MOT tester just used common sense,I reckon he must be a biker and like you said,theres nothing dangerous about your bike. Alot of the MOT test is just bo**ocks,as long as the vehicle is safe and in a good roadworthy condition who cares if you have loud pipes or a small plate,neither of these are going to cause an accident or endanger life,just my opinion,not wanting to offend anybody
"brake discs where the centres are fastened with circlips rather than rivets"Wny d’you think these aren’t legal?
If the bike as you say is safe why are you asking?
When I bought the brake discs at Ally Pally I asked if they were road legal and the salesman said yes. When my mechanic fitted them he said they werent road legal because of the fastenings.
I used to work at an MOT centre in Brighton and watched the mechanic do MOT’s, he was fully qualified so I know what you need to check for on an MOT and this guy doing my TL’s MOT hadnt a clue. What kind of garage asks the customer to lift the bike in the air on the stand so he can check wheel bearings?
I am simply asking because I just wanted other peoples opinions
Thanks for your reply mac, yes it was a computerised MOT.
Thanks FZR1000 for your reply. Like I am trying to explain (its quite hard). I am perfectly happy for a 12 year old to tell me my bike is up to road safety standards because I know it is… if this guy was a mechanic doing a service on my bike I’d be phoning trading standards, MOT tests consist of basic checks which I know how to check myself, but some people dont and if he conducts all MOT’s this way I somewhat feel obligated to say something to someone.
I could possibly understand if I had a mint 2003 R1 with a few miles on the clock but my TL is heavily modded and 1997 which should warrant a decent check over. Thanks for the cracked headlight thing, just wondered if it could affect the aim.
Yeah ok mate,points taken,cracks in lights dont normally effect the aim so i have found,i wasnt really trying to defend the guy,just trying to look at it from his point of view,if he could see that you looked after your bike and knew what you were doing then that may have been the reason for his leniencey,doesnt make it right tho.
There is no British Standard for Motorcycle brake discs and brake discs can legally be held together by circlips. There isn’t even a cross europe standard for brake discs. the only standard is the TÚV in Germany but as PFM managed to get their discs held together by circlips past the TÚV I think we can safely say they are legal.
Quite a lot of garages ask the customers to hold the bike in the air to check wheel bearings. Mine always asks me but I’ve known him for 10 years. Quite a good way to do it as the customer is involved in the process and learns.
As we know the bearings got checked did the brakes?
Why should a modified bike get a different MOT standard to a standard bike? Once a year I take a bike that has never been homologated for UK use that is modified with factory race parts but it still gets the same treatment as every other bike.
I’m still confused by your question to be honest. If you think the MOT was unsafe report him if you feel so way inclined just be prepared to be wrong AND to have your bike retested. If you really feel the MOT was unsafe then you should report it immediately.
Thumps personally I would accept the MOT and then report him anonymously to Trading Standards and the regulating body for MOT’s. You know your bike is safe and roadworthy but like in a previous post if you were selling your bike and really didnt care who rode it next or if it was road worthy he should be re-examined. I am not saying your bike is a death trap but the next one might be…
He may be able to sleep at night with what he does but could you if you knew the next bike had someone off…
Thing is… Would you have been mega happy at having to change your bits over for legal parts to get the MOT…?
The majority of testers must realise that bikes will be changed back to “non std” after an MOT anyway. Fair play to the tester for giving you the chance to ride without a days worth of tinkering, he didn’t have to do that for the sake of risking his testers licence for a 20-30 quid MOT…
If the things he let you off for, were things like a bulge in the wall of a tyre, loose steering head bearings, knackered pads, wheels out of alignment things that would compromise the handling, safety roadworthiness than yeah, I’d say dodgy ans cause for concern, but the things you mention are not things that would make the bike unroadworthy, bar the numberplate …
Maybe he never had the fitting for the abba stand to whack your bike on it…
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