Al Gear

Hello. I just thought I'd offer an update. I did the theory. I got 50/50 on the questions and 67/75 on hazard perception. Although one hazard I only got 2/5 because I started daydreaming about bikes and, by the time I remembered what I was doing, the car was already half out the side road! Oops. Then I found a place to do my DAS, passed both mods first time, and now I have my full licence. Not bad for just over a month. Unfortunately it meant I didn't want my brand new 125 anymore. So I had to take a huge hit on that. It basically cost me a grand for a month and 200 miles. But I'll chalk it down to being a life lesson and just another part of this journey of discovery about motorbikes. Then I bought my first adult bike and I'm in love! The Honda DN-01. A 700cc, automatic, footboarded, mishmash of a bike that I just think is sexy..... Just in time for the frost. I rode my MT125 from Birmingham to Manchester to exchange it, in -1°C, and I've never been so cold in my life!! It started out okay but slowly became torture. But on the way back I had a windscreen and heated grips so I was loving life. Ended up (including getting lost for a while because I had to remove my sat nav fixings) riding there and back for about 4½ hours. The only problems so far.... The front wheel is miles away and it makes turning "different". Especially slow speed. Gonna take a bit of adjusting. But that's cool. I love a challenge. My ultra heavy duty cover I previously bought doesn't fit my new huge bike so I've got to buy another one and now I've got an unneeded 80 quid cover just taking up space. (marketplace, here I come) And.... I park my bike in my garden currently. My 125 I would ride in, hop off, and casually wheel it round with minimum effort. I tried that with my DN and realised it will NOT move! It's FARRRRR too heavy! I've no idea how I'm going to combat that long term. At the moment (with the hard ground) I just ride it round. Finally, when I pull out my drive, in my car, it slides down the road on the ice in this weather so I guess my new bike can stay where it is for a while. I like the fairing the way it is. I'm excited to start traveling for real. I even bought the panniers in readiness. Thank you for all the replies and comments. I hope you are all well. (Sorry for the essay, I get carried away. )

Top tip indeed!! Thanks. I spent the last week thinking, "Pah, I've taken hazard tests before, for car and bus.... It's easy so I won't practice!" But then, bored at work a couple of days ago, I paid £15 for a month of tests and it's COMPLETELY different. The ones I did you just merrily clicked along as you go. "There's a dog, click. There's a bus pulling out, click. There's a cyclist, click. That cloud looks rainy, click. That tree might explode, click. Godzilla might come out of that drain cover, click!" So I did that this time and every practice said, "You've clicked too many times. Zero points." So I read the instructions. The new process of leading up to one, maybe two, hazards with the sliding 5-1 points is much less random and much better and actually much easier. I'm glad I practiced though, because I didn't know and that would've been a disaster! lol I do click two or three times though, because a few times I saw a hazard developing and clicked once and got zero points and when I reviewed the result it said I clicked about a 10th of a second earlier than when the points started, even though it was the correct hazard. I reckon it'll go okay.

Good afternoon everyone. Thanks for the support and insights. Fortunately, in a previous life, I've been driving coaches all over Europe so I've had to get an extra sense of who is going to do something stupid and, considering you can't really do quick dodges in a large vehicle, I've gotten used to mentally driving for everyone around me. It seems to be coming in handy on the bike. I just thought it was me being clumsy. I didn't know it had a catchy name.... A name that RHYMES! Now I feel compelled to wear it like a badge of honour! lol Regarding the traffic lights, my work hours have been during more busy traffic times lately so I haven't tested trying to sit on the sensor for longer, but I will do. I've also seen there are magnets you can buy for the bottom of your bike but, as I intend to DAS, I don't really want to be spending much more on this bike. Plus I need to calm down. I keep buying things without thinking. I bought a brake lever lock and then heard they're rubbish and you maybe shouldn't store the bike with the hydraulic system under constant pressure, but I don't know what I'm doing so I don't know! (I also have a disc lock, a cover and a chain the probably weighs more than the bike). I then bought a beeline moto because all the reviews look cool. I HATED IT!! lol. I bought mirror extenders because I'm a wide man but the bolts it came with are too long so I can't use them. Everything seems to come with an extra level of "try again" and, honestly, it's tiring. The only saving grace is, when I am actually riding it, it all feels pretty awesome and worthwhile. I was gonna ride it in to work today but after messing around with the mirror things I just said, "Screw you, Yamaha!" and put it away again. That'll teach it to not mess me around!! Next is my Theory test on Tuesday.

Good afternoon. I thought I'd join here to see what I can gleen from more experienced riders and see what confidence I can gain from new riders on the same journey. So far I've only been out once, to work, on my new MT125. On my 20 mile journey I encountered an impatient tailgating van scaring the heck out of me, all massive, in my mirrors, THREE emergency vehicles shooting by requiring me to manoeuvre accordingly, padestrians stepping out in front of me, crazy car zooming across me at a roundabout and really strong winds. I handle them all, got to work safely and proudly, stopped outside my building...... And then toppled over..... For no reason..... Doing ZERO miles an hour! So lesson one was, I'm gonna need more practice! On my way home I learned lesson two. Out of about 6 sets of traffic lights I encounter in my way home, 4 of them didn't register my approach. This is something I've literally never heard of before but, upon arriving home, I discovered is been a problem all over the world for years. 1 of them changed as a car approached opposite but the other 3 I just had to creep through (it was about 2am so there weren't any cars). I really enjoyed the experience of being on a bike though. It's worlds apart and really liberating. The only other problem I'm having is the effort. I'll still commute on it, weather permitting, and I love the idea of going on longer journeys on it, but when it comes to smaller journeys, like visiting a local friend or relative, I look over at the bike and think, "I have to put on my biking trousers, biking coat, biking shoes, helmet, gloves, remove the cover and fold it up and bring it in, unlock the chain and remove it from round the wheel, unlock the disc lock, unlock the gate, wheel the bike through, lock the gate and FINALLY leave....... Or I could just walk out the front door in what I'm wearing and get in the car. " So that's where I am. So wet behind the ears I'm practically drowning, but also exciting to start planning little holidays when I get the time off work.