Ah, the tease of spring. Last weekend, the weather was supposed to be in the high 60s for two days, but Northeastern Pennsylvania got a taste of the mid 70s. I rode about 250 miles between those days without any problems. Well there was one. During a rip on my favorite mountain road, a swarm of bugs tattooed my vision; it appeared as if I was about to ride into billions of black rain drops. I was cruising along about 70 mph, and instead of relaxing on the throttle, I screwed it on a bit more. After storming through the torrential buggy downpour, I had to stop a few miles up the road to clean my visor. Not to be upset, I realized it was my bike’s first fling with the bugs of spring, and how convenient it was, considering I just gave my cherished CBR a bath.

But now, as I sit here writing my final bike preparation piece, it’s 43 degrees, rain pouring down in biblical proportions. Everyone has a tale, and nothing beats the stories bikers have, so let’s make sure our bikes are in top shape so more can be told.
OK, since we’re on stories, let’s assume one. Imagine the sun just began flirting with the Western horizon, and you’re cruising home from a long distance trip. The weather couldn’t be more perfect, and the colors in the sky are slowly fading until it’s nighttime. The only thing lighting up the road before you is that bouncing headlight, which you expect to continue lighting the way, but it suddenly stops. You pull over, noticing with a match that your wires are all frayed and cracked, and you began ridiculing yourself for not checking for a frayed wire. Read the rest of this entry »

Shopping for second hand motors using the internet has never been so easy. With lightning fast connection speeds, a massive range of cars to choose from and even more quality websites to look at, the odds really are stacked in favour of the buyer. So log on and prepare to go bargain hunting!

The first thing you need to do is type a search into Google. If you already know the make and model of the car you want, go ahead and put that in- something like ‘used Audi A4’ will bring up a good selection. On the flip side, if you just want to browse for a bit, put in a more general search like ‘used cars UK’. You’ll have to look through a few more results, but at least you’ll have some idea of what’s out there.

When a list of results appears, unless you know of a specific site already such as Carsource, try to stick to the first page. It costs a lot of money for websites to be on the first page, so you can be pretty sure they will be big companies. And to make a lot of money they need to sell a lot of cars- large sales mean happy customers and that in turn means reliable motors. So whether you’ve searched for ‘used cars UK’ or ‘second hand Mercedes CLK’, stick to the first page for the best deals.

So if you’re looking to get a new car and don’t want to spend all your money, a second hand motor should be your first thought. Using the internet to look for one is so easy, and the prices are so low it’s almost criminal. All it takes is a few keystrokes and clicks of the mouse- so what are you waiting for? Get online and get searching!