ChrisBiggsUK

When I did my CBT, it took me a few goes before I finally passed it. I had never ridden or indeed driven before, so being in charge of a motor vehicle, and being on the road, it was all completely new to me. After coming off on a roundabout on my first attempt, the instructor called it a day for me and I ended up going back for some additional one on one training. More time on the bike. More getting used to something new. More building confidence in myself. He himself said after my initial failure that in his view, all I needed was more time on the bike. He was right. He saw my weaknesses and my strengths, saw where I was doing well and where I wasn't, and worked with me to get me not only over the line, as it were, but to give me that confidence to be able to take on the world. You don't just need a good instructor, you need an instructor who is good for you. If things simply aren't clicking with your current one, then find a different one. As for geared or automatics, I would say stick it out and go geared. One of my big sticking points right at the start was gears. I knew, even before I started, that I would have difficulty with them, and I did. I was *this* close to simply tossing the towel in over my frustration with gears, but I persisted. Time, practice, and a bit of tinkering with my bike to move the gear shifter to a more comfortable position for me has worked wonders. Everything is second nature to me now, and it has only been a little over six months. And in that time, I've done close to 5,000 miles on the road in all weathers and at all times of the day and night and have loved every minute! I am in no doubt that if I had a different instructor, I wouldn't be riding or, that I would but would be riding a scooter (no shade to scooter riders, to each their own, but they aren't for me or my portly, middle aged frame) which just isn't for me. Keep at it, look for a different instructor who can work with you and wants you to succeed, and don't be afraid to take things slowly and at your own pace. You've got this!

And if they do try to charge extra, I'll write a strongly worded letter! Don't know who to yet, but I'll write one!

The carb needed doing anyway and they then found the cable issue as a separate issue. They don't know it yet, but when I semi-jokingly told them I was only going to pay them for fixing the carb and they could do the cable gratis, I was being serious. Well, as serious as I can be. I'm a mostly unserious type of person.

After watching some videos, reading some posts, and letting some people hear the bike, the conclusion was reached that the carb needs cleaning and adjusting a bit. Given the tyres, oil, brake fluid, battery and so on that hadn't been touched in the near 20 years before I bought the bike, it is understandable that the carb could do with a little TLC. Although I am a god-like super mechanic, I am wary about having a go at that myself right now, so took it off to get it looked at professionally. While the chap was looking and listening, he agreed that yup, could do with being looked at more thoroughly. He then, quite accidentally, and while the bike was on its centre stand still running, knocked my handlebars all the way to side whereupon the engine started to rev something crazy. Turns out, there is some sort of throttle cable issue too. Bloody typical! I'll be honest, I hadn't noticed anything while riding. Then again, it is extremely rare that I turn the handlebars fully to one side or the other, with that usually only ever happening at very low speeds and wile controlling low speed manoeuvres with clutch and brake, so if indeed it did start revving out of the ordinary I probably wouldn't have been any the wiser, would have probably thought it was a quirk of the bike, and would have compensated with more brake and clutch control. Now that I know it does it though, just you watch me notice it every time! Bike booked in for the 17th to sort the carb and the throttle cable. While yes, I could probably do them myself, and have done quite a lot of things myself so far, I'm just not quite 'there' yet for messing with the carb and certainly not with something as critical as a throttle cable. Baby steps. That wasn't very ranty of me. I came on here to rant about it. Erm. Poppycock! Balderdash! Have at thee or some such! Going to go for an evenings ride in a bit (They said the bike is still perfectly safe to ride, I just go a little zoomier when I turn right) to calm down as I'm clearly rather worked up. Well, I'm using that as an excuse for an evenings ride. Wife doesn't need to know I'm sanguine about it all. If she thinks I'm rather hecked, then an evenings ride to 'clear my head' is needed. If you see someone zooming super fast round every right hand bend with a gormless smile on his face, don't worry. Its just me. Non-rant over!

Update; Fitted one plug, kept another as a spare and the final eight have now all sold on eBay netting me a tidy profit. Biking isn't just fun. It is profitable!

So what we have established here is that horses are terribly dangerous and that bikes are perfectly safe and that @RideWithStyles brother is a anomaly in an otherwise perfectly smooth dataset. This isn't just a biking forum. This is a science forum!

I came off my bike once (on my CBT). No damage to myself and only a scratch on the bike. Got thrown off a massive Shire Horse once too. Several broken bones. I'll stick with bikes. Safer.

I may very well do that.

And there we have it. Legit bargain confirmed!

Update; I've had an initial reply from NGK, which I have subsequently replied to. I now await another reply from them.

My 2006 Honda CG125 was £1500, with just a smidge over 5000 miles on the clock. That was money I was more than happy to pay for a proven, reliable, simple to maintain and repair and extremely efficient and forgiving (and at the time pretty much pristine physical condition though it does have a scuff on the front mudguard now where I came off on my cbt, and a couple of other mystery scuffs which I have no idea the cause of) bike. While I did initially have my eye on some Chinese bikes, I'm really glad that the dealers pulled a fast one on me and made me buy the Honda. How did they pull a fast one? I think I have mentioned it before, but here goes again; I went in to book my CBT and while there, I spotted the CG right at the desk and mentioned that I had seen it on Auto Trader and liked the look of it. Anyway, after booking the CBT I said I wanted to buy a jacket while I was there, and tried on a couple, and while trying the last one on asked if there was a chair for me to sit down on so I could see how it fit while sitting. 'I can do you one better. Why don't you sit on the bike?' came the reply. Well, I sat on the CG, jacket on, and bought it there and then. While yes, after the fact it turned out that this near 20 year old bike still had its original near 20 year old tyres, had the original 20 year old battery in it, had never had its oil changed and had a dodgy starter motor, these were all things that one would expect from a near 20 year old bike and (barring the tyres of course) were easily repaired by myself with a minimum of skill and cost. For a 20 year old bike, issues such as I encountered are pretty much the norm. In my case, simple to repair, simple to replace, how-to videos aplenty and with them producing the CG for decades (and still do in parts of the world) parts in abundance, I'm very happy with my purchase. Would the same be the case for a Chinese bike? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the quality of them will improve over time as their industry matures, but the state of some of the used Chinese bikes are abysmal. Rust, damage, wear and tear beyond what would be expected after a year or two. Generally really poor offerings. Now, this could be down to how their prior owners treated them, but given how many Chinese bikes are in that state after only a year or two, it does give me pause. I'm not going to say 'never' to a Chinese bike, indeed I do have my eye on one or two, but for the foreseeable future? I think I'll stick with tried and true, well established and proven bikes and brands. Chinese brands may get there in the end, but right now? For me? I'll stick with simple, reliable, no messing Honda.

I've taken the full box down to a little mechanic I know, and they have said that as far as they can tell, looking them over themselves and comparing them with ones they have themselves from official suppliers, that they are genuine. Someone clearly made a mistake in listing them at £3.99 for ten. Either it was supposed to be £3.99 each, or £39.99 for the box of ten. Either way, I'm happy. Have also, out of curiosity, and as mentioned by @Davidtav, just popped a message off to NGK UK via their website asking if they would be interested in taking a look at one to see if they are legit. I'm quite certain they are, but would be interesting to see what NGK themselves say.

I had a thorough look at all 10 when they arrived, and they all seem to be legit based on what the internet tells me to look out for as far as fakes go, even down to the tiny little dimple on top of the terminal. Someone at Amazon clearly priced these up wrong, probably putting the decimal point in the wrong place, but at 39p per spark plug I'm not going to complain.

Box of ten spark plugs, £3.99. Not £3.99 each, £3.99 for the whole lot from Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000BYDAG6?ref_=pe_27063361_487360311_302_E_DDE_dt_1) of all places with free delivery. Yes, Amazon bad, but thats enough spark plugs to last me until the universe ends. £3.99 to do me until the end of eternity? That'll do pig. That'll do.

And so, it has happened to me. Came to go for a ride this morning only to find that my rear tyre was completely flat with a very slender nail in it. Boo hiss! I have ordered a repair kit that was recommended by multiple people as well as MCN (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ISFJVSG?ref_=pe_112168041_1111392281_t_fed_asin_title) and have ordered a compressor to re-inflate the tyre too. Both should be here tomorrow. Location of the nail is just off centre of the tyre so I should, in theory, be good to plug the hole and go about my business as normal. Only thing that is slightly concerning me is that the tyre is pretty much completely flat so I'm worried that the seal between the tyre (which is tubeless) and the rim may have broken, if that makes sense. I doubt it will have, but even still, the worry is there. Tomorrow, when the kit and the compressor arrive, do I just take the nail out, jab the hole with the pokey stick, stick the sticky stick in the hole and then reinflate the tyre or should I try to reinflate the tyre (gently) with the nail still in situ, and then do the repair with a partially inflated tyre? The latter seems to make more sense to me as if I try to partially inflate the tyre I should know whether or not the seal on the tyre (or whatever it is called) between the tyre and the rim has broken or whether that is still intact and if still intact then the repair is simple as opposed to the sealy thing being broken which will be outside of my current skillset to fix, again if that makes sense? I've watched multiple videos on how to do the repair itself, but none of them seem to be from a completely flat tyre. Hence my crude attempts to sound things out here. I'm all discombobulated as I cannot get out to ride! This is a most disagreeable state of affairs.