UK Buggy Story

Posts: 25

For those in the Uk I'm posting a diary of events which may or may not be helpful but at least you will have some Uk points of view, hundles to be overcome and my own thoughts.

Recently bought Blue Joyner 650 roadlegal buggy from A1offroadbuggies.
Firstly I made the decision to get rid of Bandit1200 as I'm no longer putting in the miles, the weather is crap , the roads are too slippy, my riding partner jacked it in and I just don't feel any excitement anymore.
I needed something to replace my baby ofcourse and remembered seeing off road buggies at Yorkshire bike show last year.
Scoured the internet and finally decided on a joyner 650 after finding out it could be got as road legal and was in my budget.

Made an appointment to get a test drive to find out if iIwould feel safe and be confident in traffic.We (low and behold my wife is all for it!!) went down to Yorkshire a week after the floods and found I was only able to drive it for about 2 minutes cos the fields were flooded. Even before I sat in it I knew I was going to buy one. It looked like it would impose on the road and was going to be a head-turner in the streets. They only had a red one which looked alright but I wanted a blue one. They had a think and decided they could exchange them from a showroom.
Deposit paid, paperwork completed.Job done. Cant wait!
The test buggy had the original exhaust on and really did sound like a lawnmover. So we struck a deal with the performance kit which I had decided I wanted to fit myself and this was brought with delivery of the buggy. I also got the set of mudguards. Two days later I had the opportunity to replace originals with new kit. Exhaust sounds awesome now, the airfilter is pretty easy to replace although I had to file away an inner lip on the connection so it would fit on. I was disapointed that the carb jets had been left out and have contacted A1 and they promised to post them. That was a week ago and I havent got them yet. Also, regards to the mudguards apart from them detracting from the beauty of the machine , the rear ones went exactly to plan. The front ones , when fitted , hit the inner wheel rims and are not straight. I'm in two minds as to whether to recontact A1 to get them replaced or just take them to a local body shop and get them to do it. I did get them for free afterall.
Next is registration for on road which I opted to do myself - I do wish I hadnt. It took two hours in rushhour traffic to get to the "local" DVLA office to get a form V55/4. You cant get this on line and they won't post one out to you and they arent open on a weekend. I was given all neccessary paperwork from A1 in order to fill this in so that should be a doddle. I will need to take all the paperwork I have including the V55/4 , insurance paperwork( which I havent taken out yet but will phone around tomorrow to get some. It is ,however, ground anchored and has another 5 chains on it), and my credit card for the payments. I will let you know how much in total this costs. Apparently I need to get the tax at the same time as registration.
Thats it for now. I am chomping at the bit to get this on the road asap.
PS, My Bandit is for sale. Any one in NE Uk interested give me a shout.
Next installment soon.

Posts: 1889

The rear differential is locked on my US version. This puts a bit of strain on the gears when on dry pavement. Is yours the same? I wonder if you get premature gear or tire wear if you primarily drive it on the street.

Posts: 25

I've just had a quote from Adrian Flux for fully comprehensive insurance cover. £123 for the year with 3000mls limited. I am happy with that. I went through their Kit Car department as apparently its double the cost if you insure as a quad.

As for the diff- I'm not sure. Not being that mechanically proficient yet. The manual basically tells you how to put it together and not much else. Is there an easy way to find out?

I hope to get back to the DVLA in the next couple of weeks so I can get the registration done.

Posts: 1889

If you jack up the rear of the buggy and spin a rear wheel, the other wheel will spin in the same direction if it is a locked differential. An open differential will spin the the other wheel in the opposite direction.

Posts: 25

Yep - the diff is locked. Both wheels turn the same way when spun.I've learned something new already.
I'm guessing that this gives better traction on dirt without scuffing away the tyres. Obviously roads being what they are made of I should see an unusual amount of wear-only time will tell.

Posts: 25

Mud-guards.... throughout my postings I will be completely honest in what I do even if it makes me look a complete idiot. That way anyone new(like me ) can learn from my mistakes and the rest of you can have a good laugh.
So back to the mud-guard problem I experienced in first post. The front brackets just didnt seem to fit straight when I put them on. I assumed that they were incorrectly shaped. Having looked at a buggy with them on , I found that I was trying to fit them so they all faced the same way- WRONG! The back ones face one way and the front face the other way , as if looking at a mirror image. This has just about corrected the "fault". Very Happy

Posts: 25

Well I'm nearly there. I've waited til March so I can get an 08 plate. I got to dvla again today fully expecting to get the registration certificate after filling out the form so I could go and buy the number plates but apparently they couldnt do it over the counter. So I have to wait a few days for them to do it. Price- £50 registration fee and £60+ 6 months tax.
Tip for UK- get your supplier to do the registration paperwork, its a LOT less hastle.

Posts: 25

Hi Guys,
I have finally recieved my registration number and certificate for getting the plate made up.I bought rear and front at a cost of £15.
I emailed A1buggys as i wasnt too sure whether I needed the front or not. No reply yet but after a litle research found The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001
which states...

"quadricycle" means a vehicle having four wheels, a maximum net engine power not exceeding 15 kilowatts and an unladen mass (excluding the mass of batteries in the case of an electrically-powered vehicle) not exceeding -

(a) 550 kilograms in the case of a goods vehicle, and

(b) 400 kilograms in any other case;

So..as my Joyner 650 does not excede these restrictions I can class it as a quadricycle.

Now I have to find the section which states a quad either does or doesnt need front plate.
Any help in finding this info in this regulation would be much apprecaited. I dont really want to drill into the panelwork if its not neccessary.

Posts: 1889

Posts: 10 · Newbie Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 10 Pictures: 0

hi
all you need is a rear one as i have a buggy with the same spec in the uk on the road Very Happy

all the best carl