ChrisBiggsUK

So, £30 some odd a seat? Just gets better and better! I'll have to shoot them a message then as at that price it is cheaper than a single pair of shorts.

Would that be these people?; https://www.acornupholstery.com/motorbikes If so, I may give them a look. If the cost of a comfy seat is only about £50, whereas the cost of a pair of shorts is £30, I think that getting the seat done would probably be a better use of money. EIther way, it gives me another option and options are good.

I have similar. Great minds, eh.

Well, it's official, when I bought my bike it had 5,100 miles on it, which for a 19 year old bike was rather good. It now has 10,500 on it so in the past six months, I have done more miles than in all of the bikes first 19 years combined. Quite proud of myself for getting out there whatever the weather and getting the practice in (I'm already taking the next steps toward getting my full license). Anyway, I have started to notice that my slightly portly middle aged derriere is tending to get a bit sore after being on the bike for a while and as such I now ask you fine grizzled veterans what it is that you do to relieve aforementioned soreassness. Yes, I know that isn't a word. I have only had two cups of Coffee this morning though so at present words are not my forte. I keep seeing adverts for a product (https://uk.ripplimpactgear.com/collections/motorcycle/products/apex-rides) and am curious as to what people think. Not necessarily just of that product, but similar ones. Do such things work? What do you use? Do you just tough it out like the iron butted legends that you are? Thoughts, feelings, input, suggestions, gripes and more are most welcome. And while I await your wisdom, I shall acquire coffee number three.

I initially had difficulty on roundabouts too, indeed even so far as to have come off the bike on a roundabout while doing my CBT. For me, what helped, was making sure I was down into the correct gear for the roundabout in plenty of time, looking well through the roundabout at where I wanted to go (whilst also keeping my eyes on other road users and doing lifesavers) and loosening up my arms. The loosening up my arms was the big thing for me. If anyone remembers, I was always having trouble turning right. Kept feeling like the rear end was going to slip out from under me. I loosened my elbow on my right side, relaxed myself, and that took away the problem. My being too tense and overcorrecting for a perceived slippage issue was what was in fact causing said issue. Once I relaxed, trusted the tyres and trusted my own abilities, learning curve though I may be on, everything fell in to place. Speed, gears, vision and relaxation. Worked for me, might just work for you too.

As some have mentioned, don't go down the cheap Chinese route. While yes, some Chinese bikes are increasing in reliability and quality as the Chinese market matures, as a new rider you'll want a reliable, tried and true, simple to maintain, simple to ride and very forgiving bike. A second hand bike from an established brand (Honda, Suzuki, etc) will see you well set up for your journey into motorcycling. I bought myself a near 20 year old Honda CG125 and it has been perfect. Very forgiving of me as a new rider, very simple to maintain, any repairs have been very straightforward and most able to be done myself with rudimentary knowhow (I could have done more myself, but bravery on my part is still lacking with tackling some of the jobs) and it will hold its value reasonably well if I ever come to sell it on one day (which I highly doubt I will ever do). I have run into the guy who had it before me a couple of times now and he keeps on telling me that his dad (who had sourced the bike for him as his first bike) is still quite furious that he took the perfectly good, reliable, bulletproof CG125 and partexed it for a new Keeway Superlight which (he took it to the dealership the other day while I was there) is already rusting, running terribly and the speedo has stopped working entirely. Could those issues be down to him not treating his new bike well? Possibly. All I know is that my 20 year old CG125 is in bloody good condition for a 20 year old bike, is super reliable, super fuel efficient and has a higher value to it than his less than one year old and already worse for wear Superlight. One other point to note as well, and again as some have mentioned and I've touched on above, if you decide somewhere down the line that biking really isn't for you, one of the tried and true brands (Honda etc) will hold their value much more than a Chinese bike will. If you decide that biking isn't for you and want to hang your helmet up, knowing that you will be able to recoup your expenses a bit is a good thing. And, now that that is said, I'll say this; Get whichever bike you want. Get a bike that you like, that you enjoy, that fits you comfortably and ride it with pride. I'd prefer for you to get a cool CG like me, but even if you go down the Chinese route, you are still at least on two wheels and that is something that should always be encouraged. Lets get you on two wheels in whichever way possible and then, once you are hooked, we can work on nudging you towards a better bike choice. And finally; Welcome to the best forum, best community, and best lifestyle choice you will ever make!

^^ I 'failed' at my first two attempts, but then passed with flying colours on my third. As my instructor said, even when I came off on a roundabout on my first attempt, I just needed more time on the bike. More time to get to grips with things. More time to not only learn the basics of the bike, but also how to get from a to be safely. He worked with me and managed to get me over the line in my own time and, truthfully, I feel like a much better (and more valid) rider for him having done that. A good instructor wants to work with you to help you pass and be safe not just for yourself but for other road users. A good instructor will not rush you. A good instructor will give you the time and attention you need. Yes, it may cost a little more in the long run, but better to fail a hundred times and learn from those failings and become a better and safer rider as a result, than to have a bad instructor who passes you just for the sake of it and who then lets you out on the road unsupervised where you can be a danger to yourself and everyone around you. Any good instructor will be more than willing to give you all the time and training you need. Not only are you a paying customer, after all, but a good riding instructor will be passionate about riding and will want there to be more riders out there on the road who are also passionate about riding. You'll get there in your own time. And you'll get there safely.

I can't complain too much about where I live. Garden backs on to a cemetery so its nice and quiet here. If the 'neighbours', as it were, ever get rowdy, then that is a major cause for concern. On topic though, I try to be as considerate as I possibly can be, and don't exactly ride a noisy bike. CG125 with the standard exhaust, so pretty quiet as bikes go. That said, if I ever have to warm the bike up, or rev the engine a bit, and it is super early morning or late at night, I tend to wheel myself down to the bottom of the road where there are no houses and do it there. Middle of the day though? I do it outside my house. Much to the chagrin of the Dogs who have decided that motorcycle noise = existential threat that they must go on attack to destroy. Vicious little fluffy killing machines our Dogs.

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.