There used to be a Ye olde test station near us in Nar****,if you weren`t confident on your bike passing,say leaky forkseals,you would take it when it was raining,that way the old boy would come out and say"I aren`t buggering about in the ****ing rain,come inside and I`ll write you a ticket out boy"
bike mot's had one guy look at the bike,ask if it was all ok i said yes he wrote out the ticket
another place told me to nip round the corner for a coffee for 20 mins which i did. came back mot was tucked behind the screen, bike ws exactly where i left it so was the key, on the side in the workshop. if he even looked at the bike i'd be amazed.
Although all MOT test stations should be the same as you know they are not. if i did a quick mot I would have more people complain than leave happy. You are paying for a service and if it isnt being done properly you should ask for a refund. You would complain if the bike came back half repaired wouldnt you... Dont get me wrong, by the time I have got the bike from outside into the inspection bay i can pretty much tell if its a pass or a fail, But you are paying to have things checked to comply with the LAW and to ensure your safety, not just to get a peice of paper. On the value for money point, Now we are computerised for MOTs it takes about an extra 10mins to the test, a good test should take circa 40mins. If you feel you are getting a bum deal at an MOT testing station there are avenues for complaint. Its all on a big poster that must be displayed in the customer viewing area. Glyn
Mood: Abbia Divertimento---o0o---Cassaforte Di Soggiomo
Back "home" in Derbyshire I used to take my bikes to the nearest MOT garage (shall remain unidentified) who always did a very professional job - so much so that one time I was most grateful for their diligence. They spotted a hairline crack on the gearbox cover on my Silk. Now this also housed the kickstart. This in itself was not an MOT failure, but, had the cover cracked in two I would have been left stranded on a ride miles from home awaiting hours for an AA rescue. I spoke to George Silk about this and he said that the aluminium covers were found to be weak at this point after approx 10k miles of use and did eventually crack under the force of the kickstart.
Now here in Switzerland the MOT for a bike is in the 4th year and is very meticulously carried out and costs nearly £80. However, there are not enough government stations to do it (yes ya local garage cannot do it) and so you have to wait until you get ya call up papers - in the meantime you are legally entitled to ride on. Next year my bike will be nearly 6yrs old so I think I'll get called up in spring sometime.
I know we all like an easy MOT but would you really want to ride around on a death trap. I use the same MOT station all the time as ive got a few bikes he sees me quite often,it takes about 20 minutes and hes thorough the last time I took the T8 in he said there was play in the swining arm bearings on dismantling the bike I found the swinging arm had cracked right through on the spindle mount. you could and would not have discovered it unless stripped down so Im very gratefull he knows his onions. ian