Bike insurance has already experienced larger than average cost increases for the past year, and the pressures facing car insurers look set to affect motorbike insurers in the same way.

These pressures include increased personal injury claims, caused by the more prominent litigious mentality in recent years. Other pressures on car insurance premiums include fraudulent claims and uninsured drivers, the latter unfortunately being a particular problem amongst young motorcyclists and so likely to reflect in this year’s premiums.

For this reason there has never been more incentive to ensure you get as many motorbike insurance quotes as possible, and look to use insurance comparison sites to cover as many insurers as possible.

The scheme will Carole Nash insurance policy holders receive a book of vouchers for exclusive promotional offers over £500 in value. Vouchers include £200 off an MCi Tours flydrive holiday and up to 25% off bike security products from Acumen.

The move follows a similar and successful initiative last year that saw Carole Nash giving away free motorbike crash protectors with every new policy.

Head of marketing for Carole Nash, Rebecca Donohue said, “We’ve always tried to support bikers whether through sponsorship of clubs and events or through promotions like ‘Earn Back’ and last year’s R&G offer. This scheme allows bikers to subsidise their passion by getting great deals on things which can protect them and their bike or simply let them escape for some motorcycle-oriented respite from the UK.”

The initiative is due to run throughout the biking season ending October 31st.

The increase could be down to a number of factors. The most obvious theory is that last year’s economic downturn has put more pressure on bikers to find the cheapest possible insurance deal. The ongoing recession has tightened most consumers’ purse strings, meaning much tighter budgets when it comes to finding the right deal.

There is also of course the fact that motorbike ownership has risen steeply in the last few years, meaning more and more insurance companies are prepared to move into the motorbike insurance market and so an increased number of companies to search through for the best deal. Add on top of this the limited number of motorbike insurance comparison sites available and you end up spending a long time going through all of the online quote engines.

While it sounds a lot of time, it never hurts to search as many providers as possible to ensure you get the best possible insurance deal for the next 12 months.

Insurance companies are encouraging riders to stay on top of their bike maintenance after a recent study suggested as much as 78% of riders are putting off minor repairs and waiting until their MOT date before finding out the cause of strange engine noises and vibrations.

According to Swinton Bikes, there are three areas of motorbike maintenance that are most overlooked:

Motorbike Tyres
Failure to replace worn or damaged tyres is both dangerous and illegal, with a possibility of leaving your tyres in such a state leading to a fine or points on your licence.

Motorbike Chain / Sprockets
Riding your bike with a chain in need of replacing will affect performance, fuel consumption, and if particularly damaged could lead to the chain comin completely off the sprockets causing an accident.

Motorbike Oil
Not keeping your motorbike’s oil levels topped up will cause permanent damage to the engine and in some cases can cause the engine to seize up at the most inopportune time!

Keeping on top of motorbike maintenance issues will minimise the risk of problems, keeping your motorbike insurance premiums low and keeping you safe.

With performance being a big factor in choosing your motorbike, many riders are turning to fitting upgrades or tuning existing parts of their motorbike to get more power and performance from it. One popular modification is to the motorbike’s exhaust – many performance enhancing exhaust systems are available for a variety of motorbikes these days, the exhaust system helping expel the burnt fuel from the engine more efficiently. However, a modification such as this is likely to lead to your insurer requiring you to pay a slightly larger premium to insure your now more powerful motorbike.

Other performance enhancing modifications include enlarging the engine capacity by more than 5%, modifications to the suspension and wheels, and fitting a nitrous oxide injection system. These are all highly likely to require a call to your bike insurance providers.

Another common theme seen amongst young riders who are still on their provisional CBT licence is to declare their bike as restricted to the required power limit of 13Bhp when in reality it isn’t restricted. This obviously means that the power of the bike is more than what the insurers are providing cover for, and more than that, there will be legal problems for the rider should they ever be found out.

However there are also modifications that can be made to your motorbike which do not need to be declared. These include such things as crash bars, crash mushrooms, upgraded braking systems and increases in engine capacity by no more than 5%.

Advice from motorbike insurance providers is to always check with your insurer before performing any alterations, just to be on the safe side and ensure you would still be able to afford your insurance premium.

MCE are steadily increasing their involvement in motorbike racing, with the MCN Fantasy Racing League already being sponsored by the insurance firm.

Motor Sport Vision Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer said “I’m delighted that MCE Insurance will be the title sponsor of the 2009-2012 British Superbike Championship.

“BSB provides the greatest promotional platform for any bike-related product in the UK already and MCE have confirmed this with their long-term commitment and determination to use it in their strategy to become the UK’s number one provider of bike insurance.”

The first BSB weekend under MCE colours will take place August 9th at Brands Hatch.

Regarding the costs, it’s not just the face value of the motorbike to take into consideration but also variables like fuel consumption and insurance cover. To help with this, online motorbike insurance comparison website Insurancewide has compiled a list of the most popular one litre sports bikes and how much insurance quotes have been relative to each other.

These figures not only show which bikes are normally cheaper to ensure, but also gives an insight into what it may be like to own and maintain one. European manufacturers are renowned for difficulty in finding spare parts and are a common target for thieves. Insurers are obviously expecting a higher number of claims from owners of these motorbikes and this is indicated by the figures below:

Bike Make and Model (% difference compared to the top ranked bike)
MV Augusta F4 1000 R
Suzuki GSXR 1000 K9 (+5%)
Honda CBR 1000 RR Fireblade (+10%)
Yamaha YZF-R1 (+10%)
Aprilia RSV R Mille (+10%)
Kawaksaki ZX10R (+20%)
Ducati 1098 (+100%)
Benelli Tornado TRE 1130 (+110%)

The reason for the huge surge in claims has been put down to the heatwave experienced across the UK last month. The hot weather led to ideal conditions for inexperienced weekend riders to rush onto the roads, and with the majority of motorists not used to a sudden increase in motorbikes, accidents were almost inevitable.

Motorbike insurance companies are urging motorcyclists to be extra careful when getting back on their motorbikes for the summer months. It’s important to remember the basics, such as being prepared for drivers not looking, and wearing bright protective clothing to make them as visible as possible. It would also not be a bad idea for inexperienced motorcyclists to look into taking advanced riding courses, ensuring as much knowledge being with the rider as possible.

In its third year of running, bikers will travel hundreds of miles on monkey bikes on a route through Yorkshire that passes a number of famous film locations, in order to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service.

17 riders will visit locations such as Piece Hall in Halifax, the location of Brassed Off, the Cow and Calf Rocks at Ilkley (Calendar Girls), and Aysgarth Falls (Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves).

Monkey bikes – low powered motorbikes manufactured by Honda and made popular in the 1970s – have a seat height of about 24 inches, giving the rider a crouched appearance. It certainly won’t be comfortable ride for those taking part, but it is undoubtedly for a good cause.

These are worrying figures for the motorbike industry, despite seemingly weathering the current economic downturn – the market has seen a reduction in sales of only 6% on the same time last year, compared to a 24% decline in the sale of cars. The figures suggest vehicle history for a motorbike is more likely to be bad news than that of a car, as criminals like to target high end and powerful motorbikes.

The research shows that outstanding finance is a growing problem within the motorcycle market, with 1 in 10 motorbike checked by HPI showing unpaid finance. This is obviously a major problem for motorbike buyers, as any vehicle with outstanding finance still belongs to the lender meaning the buyer could lose bothh the motorbike and the money they paid for it.

Another major problem that has been highlighted by HPI’s research is the increase in written-off motorbikes reappearing on the roads. The combination of high powered motorbikes and young inexperienced riders leads to a high proportion of accidents resulting in the bike being written off. While some of these write offs can be legitimately fixed by professionals, many return unroadworthy and can present a real danger to the rider and other road users.

This all goes to show that when buying a used motorbike, performing a full HPI check is most important, providing you with a thorough report telling you everything you need to make an informed decision on buying a motorbike.