Has anyone used Browns at Ottery for a trail bike MOT?
I'm just interested to know if they are normal or the type of nit picky place that'll be on the phone to the DVLA to check if that particular brand of hand grip is allowed.
ive used browns for all my road and off road bikes, same as my brother and father. id say we have put maybe 10 bikes through mots with them. as well as a few repairs on one of my old road bikes.
always been good to me. very helpful. from my experiences they have been good and i wouldnt call them strict. if somethings wrong, its wrong.
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Cct in exmouth or greenlane or bike workx in exeter for me. I always found browns to be not very understanding towards our type of bikes. Although I'm sure they are great in road bikes and scooters.
I think..., all things considered, I might wait for my normal guy to get back off his holiday. Very inconsiderate of him to go on holiday and not be sat in his garage waiting for my very short notice requirement for an MOT.
I hate trying a new place as I don't know what bits to put back on the bike 'just for the MOT', which will all need taking off again afterwards.
I'll see how I get on with my insurance company, who are also being difficult...
I've told them I'm from Yorkshire but they are refusing to take that into account whilst offering me their highly inflated premium.
-- Edited by RichT4 on Thursday 28th of November 2013 02:20:48 PM
Have used Browns for mot's on my trail bike and my 'daylight only' trials bike for the last four years and never had problem. There is info on the DoT web site that tells you what they are now required to look at. Nick
No problem with Browns, does mine, my sons and my dad comes all the way from Tivi with his 2 bikes. He does my KTM and understands it needs no indicators and the 'deal' with tyres etc.
So where do you usually take yours then Rich (in its slimmed down guise?) You could just take it to Brown's and say JT recommended him, bound to sail through, I like the 'Deal' on the tyres, sounds either intriguing or back door!
So where do you usually take yours then Rich (in its slimmed down guise?) You could just take it to Brown's and say JT recommended him, bound to sail through, I like the 'Deal' on the tyres, sounds either intriguing or back door!
I normally use Downs garage, it was only when searching for the phone number that I realised there was actually a motorcycle shop in Ottery that did MOT's.
Some people have told me that Downs are a bit picky but as my bike has the full kit on and is maintained (plus hardly used) it sails through every year. Still there are extra guards etc that I don't need to fit but some place may want to see.
I did have one bad experience with an MOT place in Basingstoke, bike failed, and they were right fail it too to be honest but I had to wait ages while they phoned the DVLA to check if my bike needed rear foot pegs as it had what they considered to be a double seat . Bike also failed on the exhaust being too loud, yes, the standard pipe is but other places didn't fail it on that. Since then I have fitted a DEP which has quietened her down.
I also read about the trouble Dan had a couple of years back with one place in Exeter (now closed I think). MOT's can be trouble if you get a bad tester, and even if proven wrong they can refuse to go back on their decision, also several things are down to the testers degression...
My philosophy is... if you find a local place that doesn't give you grief then stick with them.
I would have given Browns a try but since my last insurance company is messing around I haven't got insurance yet... There is particular policy I'm after, which covers european travel and breakdown etc but they inflated the price by almost 62% for no apparent reason. Seems the game is you have to refuse them and wait for their follow up department to call and start to bring the price down. So I can wait 'till next week if needed to get the MOT, that is unless I get call later today...
-- Edited by RichT4 on Saturday 30th of November 2013 04:29:38 PM
Jez at CCRs in Exmouth is my local MOT guy and highly recommended. Tel: 01395 267773
Strict but fair and understands dirt bikes as he used to trail ride himself.
I get picked up on things but they are usually obvious and through my own fault e.g. no split pin in rear axle nut, loose handlebars where I forgot to torque them up after a rebuild, etc. but no silliness or unnecessary picky type things.
Most issues can be sorted there and then and I come away with a pass certificate.
MOT's can be trouble if you get a bad tester, and even if proven wrong they can refuse to go back on their decision, also several things are down to the testers degression...
My philosophy is... if you find a local place that doesn't give you grief then stick with them.
I will not use Torbay motorcycles in Newton Abbot since they failed my bike for headlamp aim stating that the headlamp was the wrong type, and this on a machine which had passed at three other mot stations with the same headlamp fitted with no problems over the previous seven years! John Tremlett gets my business these days, he won't pass anything unsafe but any minor tweaks are easily sorted on the day.
I would have given Browns a try but since my last insurance company is messing around I haven't got insurance yet... There is particular policy I'm after, which covers european travel and breakdown etc but they inflated the price by almost 62% for no apparent reason. Seems the game is you have to refuse them and wait for their follow up department to call and start to bring the price down. So I can wait 'till next week if needed to get the MOT, that is unless I get call later today...
Insurance company finally got around to calling me to follow up the quote refusal.
After a brief dance they finally came back down to a similar price level as last year, so I took it - very happy with that.
Will tinker with the bike a little today (if I can remember where I left it), and will be arranging my MOT for next week now.
It was Speed near St David's that caused me grief, over the pillion footrests/indicator thing. It wasn't so much the MOT failure as the attitude that really pinged me off - never been back since.
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