I have a few newbie questions.

[Cadbury]

Ok,
Firstly, apologies as to the length of this post, and to what I am sure is a repetition of these questions. I have no doubt they have been answered at some point, but after several fruitless searches, I am still unsure of the situation.

This weekend I am going to check out a few dealers and hopefully purchase my first bike after passing my test last week. My questions are as follows:

1) How does the HPI check work, and does anyone have a recommendation of a reputable service I can use? Preferably useable with an iPhone whilst out and about? I take It I enter the reg number, and they tell me if there has been any issues? Also, as I will be getting it from a dealer, will they already have some form of certified proof that the bike is clean (If such a thing exists is it trustworthy/binding?)

2) Test rides/Insurance. I know when my wife bought her car, from a large dealer, they gave her a 5 day insurance certificate, obviously allowing her to drive home, and then find the most suitable option herself in the comfort of our house. Do similar things exist for bike dealers? i.e can I expect to be able to ride the bike home without worry, or am I going to need to sort insurance out there and then before setting off home? The same goes for test rides I would imagine? Will it only be the larger dealers that have test ride insurance procedures in place?

3) Finally, does anyone have any opinion/experience of morven motorcycles in Falkirk? There prices seem pretty reasonable compared to other places I have looked at. They don’t seem to be a huge dealer, rather a small garage. Would anyone have concerns about this? Failing that, does anyone have any recommendations of good places to look around central Scotland? I did my training with Ride-on in Glasgow, who are nice, so will most likely pop in there too.

Thanks for any replies, I realise they may be a bit naive questions, but at the ripe old age of 27, this will be my first proper motorised vehicle (moped notwithstanding) that I have had to sort entirely by myself, so I’d rather not be left with a lemon at the end of it.

Cheers,
Adam

[McFlufferson]

Unfortunately I'm not a dealer person, so I can't answer your questions. eBay and shop windows all the way for me.

But there is one piece of advice that I can and would like to give you. I don't know if you're aware or not and I know you didn't ask, but when you do eventually buy your bike from a dealer, take a crap load of kitchen towel (or even camois cloths if you're well endowed) with you and give the tyres a damned good wipe down before you move it. The tyres are already slick from the mould release agent and quite a few dealers grease them up more to make them nice and pretty.

It happens to the best of riders where they haven't left the carpark before hitting the deck for these very reasons.

I'm sure someone here can happily answer your other questions.
____________________
Think that you'll stay loyal to a loving bike? So did I. Only rich men can afford to stay loyal. The poorer of us will whore ourselves out to any two wheeled monstrosity that will take us.

[crackfinder]