al_stu

ooo didnt think of painting it myself...I'm not too bothered about the coat, the bike is probably only with me for for another 8 months or so. and I prefer to do bits myself! What would you use, just some hammerite?

Hi All Well its about time some of the winter jobs got done! The paint is all peeling away on my rear wheel, so Im going to take it off and get it painted. Nothing complicated its already black and want it to stay that way Anyone know of a place in the S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire area? Sheffield would be great but Derby and Nottingham not too far away either. Will I need to prep it in any way for them or if I just take it off and clean it that'll be fine? Thanks Alex

Mike Williams in Bolton should do you single days if you ask. I think I paid about 1000 in total which was CBT through DAS plus 2 MOD 1 retests. Not the cheapest I found around Manchester but had much better reviews than the real cheap ones I think they were quoting 150 a day when they were trying to get me to sign up to post pass lessons. Give them a call and ask, they may want to do a riding assessment first

Hellooo Bit chilly for ride outs! haha yep just moved near Chesterfield, will be mooching around from next week on

Definately going on Sunday. Tickets bought and all Going soft though, taking the box. No chance fancy a bike ride there and back with current weather!

Yeah they call it off its ats all frosty. Extra sticky tarmac. I've heard horror stories but usually involves someone massively overdoing it on the throttle. I dropped the bik on the u turn and stepped off. Thats about the closest to a injury. The swerve really isnt as bad as you think it'll be

Relax! All the best riders fail at least once

BMW Dave had one. Said its better than the Nolan he got to replace it I've tried it, at speed no difference from my HJC but 30-50mph did find it a lot quieter. I'm not used to a flip front though so felt a bit claustaphobic in there and heavy. If you buy one let us know what you think

Mine is the same (Fazer 600). Its just a bit fiddly. Typically my mate usually walks over and turns it first time without any trouble!

Hard luck. Keep going, as per my signature...I took a few goes, and dropped the instructors bike on test 2! You'll get there! As my mate said, better to f**k it up when you're in safe surroundings than get out there and learn your lesson the hard way

You'll struggle on that budget Google/amazon/ebay 'Cobra MT' they do a dual radio set with all the bits and a push to talk button for the handlebars. I think they have a voice activated option but never tried it myself. Theyre about 60 quid a pair.

Breathe. Remember its not as difficult as you'll think it will be. Look where you want to go and take your time.

I'll be going down one of the weekend days I went last year - its great fun just mooching about and sitting on all the new and old bikes there...and to be honest I thought I got some great bargains! If you want to do any of the activities you need to be quick - last year was Yamaha motocross school thing, we got there at about 10.30 and it was already fully booked for the entire day, so worth planning ahead and being front of the queue if you want it that bad!

Buy a bike with shaft drive. No more issues.

What a great day out! FYI, if you've never been, you should go next year.

Its a naked bike. No big screen and radio like SOME people. It gets cold. And windy. Swap bikes and I'll go in leathers no problem

NEC is on all week, saturday and sunday... Well worth a look, I went last year to get my first set of gear, picked up boots for 70 quid, helmet for 80 and two piece leathers for 100. Aldi have occasional deals on all the gear but not sure they'll run it until spring now. Their thermals and compression layers are pretty good too, much cheaper than the usual but plenty warm enough. I got my textiles from Hein Gerike if you have a local store thats not closed down. Historically good clothing, but not cheap and the company has struggled this year, so you have to trade off the potential for a good deal against them possibly going bump. You're at the end of the season, any big motorbike shop will have lots of offers on, just remember, if the worst happens and you're flying through the air, better to have spent extra on more armour and a decent helmet than passed up and bought the cheap cr*p

Sorry, not sure what this sun thing is you mention...you mean that yellow thing they get a lot of in Australia?? I'll still be wearing textiles...leathers is just begging to be rained on!

3 confirmed for tomorrow at Knutsford Services! See you tomorrow guys

seems a little expensive but depends where you are. Shop around and go down to the centre one weekend afternoon to see them doing training and have a chat face to face, see if you like them

On a stag do tonight, define 'morning'

Not that close...South Manchester, but happy to meet up in the middle. BMW Dave is always up for a reasonably sedate ride as I have a habit of leaving him behind

congratulations! enjoy the bike shopping

Thanks for your post everyone Sorry al_stu I could understand your post. Are you saying that some school do weekend lessons as they can get access to car parks etc Also what do you mean by getting experienced riders to take their test? Thanks Schools will have access to the test centre on weekends so they want to get those on the final prep for MOD 1 test onto the weekend slots so they can lay out the MOD1 circuit and do practise tests. They usually want to do a day or two in the week where you practice general riding skills so weekends are free to focus on that. Like I said, shop around, someone will do weekend lessons. Me personally I would shop around for the school you like and if they want to do some mid week training, take time off work. Better lose the holiday time than have to put up with an instructor you dont like

To carry on with the 'bridging the gap' comment - I had the same - my instructor was very keen to push us to do a full course. Anyway, I still think it was well worth it (especially as mine was freeee!) and would reccomend it to anyone who has not already got advanced rider quals