I recently bought an off-road motorbike to have a bit of fun with my mate who has one. I got a road-legal one so we don't have to trailer them if we are riding locally.
I bought it from a car showroom as it belonged to the owner.
When I had a look around it I noticed that the brakelight for the rear brake wasn't working, this is a very simple adjustment to make without tools.
I agreed to buy the bike and asked them if they would mot and tax the bike. They said it would have to go to a local bike garage for the mot but no problem.
I collected it a week later, complete with mot certificate, and rode it about 6 miles home. When I had a good look at it the next day I realised the rear brake light hadn't been touched. I wondered about this but went out for a ride over the moors to see what it was like.
The rear brakelight bugged me so much that I looked into my options and had a free re-test by a DOT inspector.
He told me that the bike should have failed on three points with several advisory's. The main failure was two hairline cracks and a slight buckle in the front wheel rim and he advised me not to ride the bike home from the local bikeshop who's mot bay we had borrowed.
He also told me that the VIN number on the mot certificate did not match the VIN no. on the bike!
I suspect the bike never left the car showroom where I bought it from and that an mot test wasn't performed.
He is going to take it up with the garage that issued the certificate and give them s**t but that is the limit of his powers, he can't touch the showroom that sold me the bike.
It will cost about £160 to replace the rim on the front wheel, the other bits are pretty cheap to fix. Otherwise the bike is in pretty good nick and the engine is sound.
My problem is that I did 57 miles on the bike between collecting it and the re-test, although I know I did not cause any damage.
The DOT guy suggested I inform the trading standards and also the police as apparently it is an offence to sell an unroadworthy vehicle.
Tomorrow I am going to write to the garage that sold me the bike and threaten to report them unless they pay some towards the repairs (which I will have done anyway).
Any bets as to the result? Anyone had similar problems?
I bought it from a car showroom as it belonged to the owner.
When I had a look around it I noticed that the brakelight for the rear brake wasn't working, this is a very simple adjustment to make without tools.
I agreed to buy the bike and asked them if they would mot and tax the bike. They said it would have to go to a local bike garage for the mot but no problem.
I collected it a week later, complete with mot certificate, and rode it about 6 miles home. When I had a good look at it the next day I realised the rear brake light hadn't been touched. I wondered about this but went out for a ride over the moors to see what it was like.
The rear brakelight bugged me so much that I looked into my options and had a free re-test by a DOT inspector.
He told me that the bike should have failed on three points with several advisory's. The main failure was two hairline cracks and a slight buckle in the front wheel rim and he advised me not to ride the bike home from the local bikeshop who's mot bay we had borrowed.
He also told me that the VIN number on the mot certificate did not match the VIN no. on the bike!
I suspect the bike never left the car showroom where I bought it from and that an mot test wasn't performed.
He is going to take it up with the garage that issued the certificate and give them s**t but that is the limit of his powers, he can't touch the showroom that sold me the bike.
It will cost about £160 to replace the rim on the front wheel, the other bits are pretty cheap to fix. Otherwise the bike is in pretty good nick and the engine is sound.
My problem is that I did 57 miles on the bike between collecting it and the re-test, although I know I did not cause any damage.
The DOT guy suggested I inform the trading standards and also the police as apparently it is an offence to sell an unroadworthy vehicle.
Tomorrow I am going to write to the garage that sold me the bike and threaten to report them unless they pay some towards the repairs (which I will have done anyway).
Any bets as to the result? Anyone had similar problems?
