Final pre-emigration clear-out

Right, off to Canada in a couple of weeks, the bike has gone my kit is
going with me (Cordura will be good for snow-mobiling if nothing else!) and
I'm left with a few solitary items in my garage.

Up for grabs are:

Oxford lightweight bike cover
Oxford Disc lock
Chrome wall mounted helmet rack / hanging rail

Rover 45 1.8 Impression S, 55000 miles, metallic blue, 10 disc Sony CD
autochanger tax 8/06, MOT 3/07
Seat Toledo 1.8 SE 20v, 24500 miles, red, 5 spoke alloys, climate control,
auto dimming mirror, cruise & traction control, 6 disc CD autochanger

For the bike bits, I'm after a blue beer voucher for any or all (buyer
collects); for the cars, I'm after a little bit more! Offers iro £3000 for
the Rover (fair private price is estimated by Glass' Guide as £3750) and for
the SEAT I'm looking for oiro £5000 (online valuation £5750). Must be gone
by 17th July, cos that's when the removals chaos starts.

Located near J11 M42.

Cheers

Andy

 

Good luck. Are you going to buy a bike in Canada? In my experience in
Ontario they wouldn't accept my UK bike licence, but I was able to skip
the first phase of the graduated licencing. Bike insurance is
horrendous unless you add it to a home and/or car policy. (They have a
weird system...) Kingsway was the cheapest for me, at C$1100 fully-comp
for a 748, everyone else wanted C$3,500.

Si

 

Ooh, i'll have that.

Cheers,

Paul (the new JP)

 

Not sure - having been an all year round rider here in the UK, to have
a bike for just half a year seems a luxury, the roads are nowhere near
as interesting as here, and there are lots of other toys to
investigate!

Hmmm, we're moving to Ontario and the hassle-factor of getting a
license will affect my decision on bike purchase.


Cheers

 

Its over here (quatre-vingts trois DE12 7RE) with your name on it -
collect by 17th July or it'll be at the local tip

Cheers

 

It's not that much of a hassle, they're just a bit disorganised. You'll
go straight to an M2 licence (though you may need to persuade them),
which gives you one shot at the full M test. If you fail it then you're
straight back to square one with an M1 licence, which is a pain as you
can't ride at night or use the 400 series highways.
If you do go for it then make sure you pick up the Ontario motorcycle
manual. It's basically the complete guide to passing your test.

 

Brrrr. Too damn cold for me. Say hello to me auntie in Woodstock.

Ali

 

They wouldn't let me go straight to an M2 without doing the M1 exit
test. They did however waive the M1 restrictions before I'd done it.
And insurance is harder until you've got the M2. I never did do the M2
exit to get the full M though.

There are some great roads in Ontario, especially out towards Algonquin
park, but you have to travel for them if you live in the cities.

Si

 

Well, I was able to ride for a year in BC with my Oz licence and an
International Permit, but I misjudged how far ahead I had to book for a
test to get the Canadian licence and found myself on a learner's permit
for a couple of weeks, not allowed to ride on motorways or at night...

I aced the test, despite dabbing on the figure-8. Hint, if you have
a bike with a 24-litre tank, don't fill up on the way to your riding test!

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

You have to develop a two-season lifestyle. Learn to enjoy the winters,
whether it be by skiing, snowmobiling (if you're in the country, banned
in cities), or even bike ice-racing, in the winter, and then
street-riding, speed-boating, etc in the summer and you'll enjoy it. It
can be tempting for a new resident to just lock yourself away over
winter and dream (seriously) of summer, but you'll go mad. Most people
only ride bikes between April and October, out of that season there's a
good chance you'd die of exposure, no joke.

Where are you moving to in Ontario?

Si

 

I found that I was allowed to ride (and drive) for a year without taking
any Canadian tests, but I couldn't insure a vehicle without getting a
Canadian licence. Wasn't a problem for a car as I had a company rental,
but I had to do the test for the bike. I explained my situation to the
insurers and they gave me a month or so's dispensation to do the M1 exit
test to M2, otherwise they wouldn't have insured me on M1 alone. I
think there's a statutory period of time you normally have to stay on an
M1 (no night driving, zero alcohol, no 400-class motorways), but the
licencing centre waived that for me on productoin of my UK licence. (Did
not require me to surrender it.)

Graduated licencing is the same for cars, btw, with G1, G2 and G licence
schemes. On a G1 (and M1 I think) you're limited for a year before you
can go to G2/M2, but you can reduce that with a government approved
course to 8 (maybe 10?) months.

If you're going to be near Ottawa, contact me and I can put you in touch
with a bunch of instructors and testers that might be able to squeeze
you in at short notice. (May/June are the busiest times, so it may have
clamed down by the tme you get there.)

If you're going to have to buy home insurance, it's worth checking out
whether they do a home/car/bike policy. I think State Farm are an
example of that. Otherwise bike only policies are usually expensive.

Oh, and they charge GST (general sales tax - 8%?) on all secondhand
vehicles!!! They take the payment when you go to licence it and get
your number plate. (Plate stays with you, not the vehicle.) Just
something to be aware of. And it's always worth trading in on new, as
you only pay tax (GST+PST = 15% when I was there) on the difference
between your trade in value and the new cost.

Si

 

Hmmm,

We're going to be living not too far from the Algonquin Park in a town
called Petawawa. The main roads in the area appear quite dull, however,
I guess heading into the park itself, they could be different. Guess
I'll reserve judgement until I get there.

Andy

 

It's utterly stunning in Autumn, you would not believe a tree could be
so red. We camped in the park in October 2004 and it looks like it
could be fun on a bike. Just watch for the moose

 

Hmm, 17th. I'm near there for the UKRM track day on the 27th. Can you
leave it in the porch once you've gone ? ;-)

P.

 

Yes actually!

Andy

 

That's a new name for it.

 

Actually not

 

LMFAO.

Yer barstaard. I'm going to have to go and watch the film again now.

Dave