ChrisBiggsUK

Yes, I'm very childish. I was *SO* close to stopping dead on 8008.5 but alas, in order to stop in a safe spot, I had to go over. Roll on 800813.5! If the bike gets there, that is. Who am I kidding? It's a CG125. Of course it will!

So there I was, happily stopped at a set of four way temporary traffic lights in place for some roadworks. I'm sat there, as is a car on a side road also controlled by the roadworks. After catching eachothers eyes while looking round, we both carry on minding our own business, happily sat on red, when all of a sudden, as if from out of nowhere, a bus comes hurtling behind me, swerves right in front of me, seemingly ignoring both me and the lights, only to then realise the levels of dipshittery he had just done and coming to an abrupt halt half way across the four way junction, just as a car was coming toward him. I sighed and shook my head. The car driver caught my eye, sighed, shook his head, and gesticulated most feverishly at the bus driver (I think he was mimicking shaking a can of coke. He clearly hopes that the bus drivers next fizzy drink of choice explodes on him). Broad daylight. I can only imagine that I, being awesome, was emitting some sort of radiant light of overwhelming awesomeness that temporarily blinded and stunned the bus driver, thus making him not see the big bright red light, not see me on account of my blinding awesomeness, and have to come to a sudden halt across a junction, with a bus load of passengers, while he took stock of his senses and got a grip of himself after being in my awesome, blinding presence. That was totally what happened to him. Either that or he was being a dick. I like to see the best in people so I'm going with the former rather than the latter. So. How was your day?

As long as someone is on two wheels, I don't really care what they choose to ride. We all choose a bike we like and hop on it to feel the wind in our ever receding hairlines, the adrenaline coursing through our ever expanding (sideways) bodies and the vibrations of the engine rattling every one of our increasingly aching bones. Two wheels good. Four wheels bad. I think Orwell said that.

Around the tail end of Easter I'll be moving on from CBT to getting my A1. I could go straight on to doing the bigger bike license, but my reasons for keeping with A1 are sensible (to me) and practical. The practical first; I simply don't have anywhere at the current property we own to keep a bigger bike. Yes, it could take up the space that my current bike resides in, but realistically I would need more space to keep a bigger bike which we just don't have at the moment. This will not be an issue a few years down the line when (and I don't mean this to come across the way it will come across, so forgive me) the mother in law passes on and we sell our current house and buy out others shares in her house. Her house has a nice big garage and workshop detached from the main house which will be perfect for keeping a bigger bike in (she has also asked me to source getting a new door fitted, and I've gone for one which is very secure as I'm planning ahead for when we eventually take ownership of the property, though I know that sounds bad). As such, on a practical level, though I could go straight on to big bikes, it just isn't really practical. But Chris! You don't need to buy a new bike when you pass! You can keep your plucky little CG and just buy your big bike in a few years time when things have settled down! And here comes the sensible bit; While yes, I could do the big license now, by the time things have settled down, hopefully many years from now, although I will technically be able to ride a big bike, I won't know *how* to ride a big bike anymore, if that makes sense? While yes, the basics are the same, a massive beast of a bike is a whole different beast compared to my plucky and agile CG. Hence, though I will be *able* to ride a big bike, I won't remember *how* to, and so, to my thinking, I may as well just get my A1, hold on to that for a few years and then, somewhere down the line, top it up to a full bike bike license. As you can probably tell, a lot of thought and reasoning has gone in to my choice of how I'm moving forward. I am, perhaps, too sensible for my own good. So, you're certainly not alone in just doing an A1 and then moving on to full A at some point down the line. I'm right there with you, albeit in different circumstances.

How dare you post a sensible comment on the internet!

Wasps are the chavs of the insect world.

I've had a couple of near misses with bees. Bumblebees are pretty harmless. I mean, not if they actually sting me, but the likelihood of one of those doped out over-sized flying spicy sugar puffs is low compared to, say, a honey bee. Honey bees are just slightly more civilised wasps. Funnily enough, one of our Dogs has a tendency to bring me bees he has valiantly 'protected' me from. He will bring them in, spit them out at my feet and then just sit there wagging his tail with a gormless grin on his face. The other Dog however ignores all flying things except for butterflies. For some reason he has an absurd hatred for butterflies and will try to kill any butterfly he sees. Bees? Nope. Wasps? Nope. Houseflies. Nope. Moths? Nope. Butterflies? They are clearly an existential threat and must be destroyed on sight. If science ever develops a way of us talking to Dogs, I want to know exactly what it is that vexes him so about Butterflies.

That bumblebee totally wanted to kill me to death in the face and it failed to do so due to my quick thinking. So no. No points for the stupid, fat, fluffy bumblebee of doom!

I'm quite allergic to bees. This is not normally an issue, but around this time of year, when bumblebees start emerging and encroaching upon our fair homes, I must be ever vigilant lest I find myself suddenly trapped in a room with a bee. Which just happened! I didn't panic though. Instead, I took advantage of my new motorcycling hobby and threw my jacket and gloves on, donned my helmet, visor down, and carried on reading my book in the conservatory in peace while the idiotic bumblebee bumbled around for several minutes, constantly missing the wide open windows and wide open door, instead flying head first into frosted windows, before finally leaving the conservatory and bumbling on its merry way and leaving me none the worse for wear. Motorcycling is great! I'm now impervious to bees!

I need this on a T-Shirt.

WD-40, a hammer, some duct tape and a 10mm socket and it'll be fixed up in no time.

Funnily enough, with insurance, I got an e-mail from sportsbikeshop saying they were now doing insurance quotes. Alrighty! thinks I, and so and goes and puts in the same details I put in to the meerkat place and boom. Cheapest quote from any of the providers they came up with was quadruple what I'm paying now! Insurance is one of those things that if you actually figure it out, you will cause the entire universe to implode. I'm eagerly looking forward to September when my insurance comes back up for renewal with Bennetts so I can see whether/how much by, they drop the price I'm currently paying. I just wish there was something that could be done within the industry to bring insurance premiums down across the board for new riders. I'm fine with paying the extortionate 'new rider' penalty. Others, however, aren't in a position to do so and yeah, it really puts people off.

Arrrrr!

Afternoon all. The Wirral Egg Run is happening on the 6th of April. Through fair means and foul, I have been both convinced and coerced into attending it. If you happen to be going to the Egg Run, it would be lovely to put a name to a face, as it were. As such, if you happen to be there on the day, and see me or my plucky silver 2006 Honda CG125, come say hello! I'll do my best to not scowl at you too much. Can't promise I'll smile or be anywhere near as witty as I am here on the forum, but I will at least acknowledge you to the best of my ability! Wirral Egg Run Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/732958583439719/?locale=en_GB If you are particularly local, Wallasey Motorcycles are having a pre-ride meetup on the morning of the 6th of April whereupon after having tea, coffee, and of course fat bacon sandwiches, we will all be riding down to the start point together. If you are local (or even if you aren't), you are more than welcome to come to the pre-ride meetup at; The Wirral Joint Services Club & Support Hub 41 St George's Rd, Wallasey CH45 3NF Meet up 10.00 am. set off to newbrighton 11.00am It would be awesome to see any of you fine (or even the less fine among you) people there. Disclaimer - I am in no way associated with the running or organising of the Egg Run or the pre-ride meetup, I'm just going to them and think it would be pretty cool if you all came too! After all, I'm adorable and you just know that in addition to supporting charity, you totally want to meet me in person!

Interestingly, whenever I go to the dealer for a chat or a catchup, there is always a new cohort of people doing their cbt. There seems to be no shortage of people *wanting* to get on to two wheels. Likewise, while yes new bike sales are down and that is problematic, according to Google more than 500,000 used bikes changed hands in 2023. Cheap chinese bikes are everywhere. I could walk into a dealer right now, slap down around £2,000 in cash and walk away with a new chinese bike. I looked at insurance, and it would be (in my circumstances) slightly cheaper than my CG125 to get a, for example, keeway superlight. Would that bike be as reliable, rugged, easy and cheap to maintain, and hold its value as well as, again for example, my CG125? Probably not. Hence why I went for a used bike instead of a new one as a new rider. How many others, I wonder, do the same? I get it, we need new bike sales to keep dealers afloat and to keep the industry going, but lets not ignore than more than half a million used bike transactions. There is life in the old biking girl yet! Insurance is the kicker though I agree. I mentioned a while back about how a young lad from my Church was expressing interest in motorcycling and I talked him through everything, then it came to insurance, so we did a quote for him using the meerkat place and all his info, but my bike details, and his quote came in at more than £4,000 a year, which turned him off immediately even with my trying to reassure him that other bikes would give different quotes and that he should shop around, but even still, that initial more than 4k really, really soured him. This is a shame as he was really eager. There is sadly nothing that can be done about insurance premiums and it does make me wonder whether all those inner city delivery riders are actually shelling out for insurance. I mean, surely there isn't that much money to be made in delivery takeaway? Thinking here, and it may be something that is already done, but what if insurers offered lower premiums to new riders if a 'black box' were fitted to bikes. Like an insurance company supplied tracker. They can see where you are going, what speeds you are doing and, more importantly, see where your bike is if it gets stolen so that it can be recovered without having to make a payout. These are just my thoughts while I slurp my mornings coffee and think about going out for a nice ride.

Took front sprocket cover off and cleaned out 19 years worth of accumulated black gunk. Why do I say 19 years worth if I have only had it since October? Well, given that nothing else seems to have been done to the bike in the 19 years before I took ownership of it, it is a safe bet that the front sprocket certainly hadn't seen any love. Well, it has now! Thoroughly cleaned both front and rear sprockets and chain, as well as the front sprocket cover. Gave the chain a good lube too. Bit by bit, I'm taking the entire bike apart, servicing it, and putting it all back together again. Next main job to do (won't be doing it for a couple of months though) is taking the exhaust off, giving it a thorough clean, getting all rust specks off it, and polishing it up to a shine so bright that I momentarily blind people as I ride by, as well as getting the bike up on a jack and giving all the hard to reach underside bits a thorough scrubbing and de-rusting where applicable. At this rate, by the end of the year I'll be positively certified to field strip a 125 bike and put it back together again blindfolded using only a hammer, a can of wd-40 and some duct tape. Which is a useful skillset to have.

Echoing what everyone else as said so far (and as a relatively new rider myself), get yourself down to a local used bike dealer that has a good reputation and ask them if you can sit on a few bikes to get a feel for what will be the right fit for you. Size, shape, weight, you need to get one that fits you just right. You can also get your mitts on some gear to try on, see how it fits, and have a good chat to them in person. Decent dealers will look after you and truly make you feel part of a dysfunctional family rather than a customer. If you can find one, get a good used 125. Might be difficult to find, but I can heartily recommend a CG125 if you can find one that is in good condition. They are very simple, reliable, easy to maintain, forgiving of an inexperienced rider, will do 100mpg and if you look after it will hold its value well. If not a CG, then as others have said, a similar good condition used Japanese bike will do you right. Try on helmets! Don't just buy one that you think will fit on the internet because it is cheap. Believe me, I made that mistake. I was just lucky that it did fit! Could have been so much worse! And with the CBT itself, as onesea has said, don't be worried if you don't nail it first time. Took me three attempts as I was not only new to biking but also new to driving a vehicle of any kind and so the start of this motorcycling adventure was a bit rocky. Now though? A couple of thousand miles later, nothing can stop me! I'm zooming all over the place at all times of day and night and in all weathers and have even taken up being a god-like super mechanic too! And finally; Welcome to the best forum and best community you will ever find!

“I wasn’t being clever and was going very fast down a residential street" And; "“I’ve realized, though, it was my stupidity that landed me here and I really hope people learn from my ordeal to take care when riding motorbikes,”" Wow. Accountability. Have to give her credit for that.

With that diagram, it seems simple enough. I'll come back to this in a couple of months and let you know whether in addition to being a burgeoning god-like super mechanic, I am also a burgeoning electrical super wizard.

At the moment, I'm riding every day so hopefully it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Likewise when I won't be riding, I can unplug the usb from the battery and plug a trickle charger right in to the cable that the usb was attached to, if that makes sense? As for wiring something to the ignition, that is beyond my capabilities at the moment, (can it even be done on a CG125?) but give me a few more months and I'm sure that given everything else I have managed to do myself, I'll probably give that a go too!

Red sparky cable has a fuse in this black bit. Hopefully this will mean no boom.

Checked valve clearances, they were still spot on 0.08 as per the fancy guide book, so left them as is and recorded it in my little black book of 'things what I did to the bike'. Then put everything back together, and then went for a ride. Got a little electrical project this afternoon, that being putting a USB charging port on the handlebars. Not quite sure whether I'm going to need to take the tank off to tuck wires away on the way to the battery, but if I am going to have to, it'll have to wait for another day as my tank is full and there is no way on earth I'm going to take the tank off while it is filled with petrol as knowing my luck there will end up being some sort of eyebrow, beard and chest hair singeing fireball. If anyone can create a fireball without a source of ignition, it's me. Hopefully I can find a way to run the wires from the handlebars to the battery without any tank related nonsense. Should be able to as the battery is tucked under a panel on the same side of the bike as I'll be putting the charger, so in theory it should be a simple case of 'tuck wires behind things, secure with zip ties, attach to battery, put panel back in place, press ignition, plug device into charger, see if anything explodes'. If explosion - step back, re-evaluate, repair and reattempt. If no explosion - declare victory and once again proclaim self as god-like super mechanic. I'm going to acquire coffee and then go and stare at the bike quite intently and figure out my next steps.

After several days of nasty illness, I finally managed to get out and have a nice ride this morning. Hadn't intended to, only intended on a quick once round the block to see whether I was well enough to ride, but once I got round the block, as it were, I just kept going. Stopped by dealership on my merry jaunt, took them a big stack of muffins (chocolate chip, double chocolate, blueberry) to eat on my behalf as since it is lent, I can't have any, but they most certainly can and I can live vicariously through them. Sourced a funky helmet cover from them (Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon) while I was there to wear for the upcoming Wirral Egg Run Charity Ride which I have been convinced/coerced into attending, and after leaving there, ended up practicing avoidance manoeuvres when a suicidal Squirrel darted in front of me (the Squirrel still lives!). Then acquired Coffee and Ice Cream by the beach, zoomed down some national speed limit country lanes, got stuck in traffic and roadworks, did some more zooming, and have come home and realised that I didn't pick up the feeler gauge that I wanted to buy but that just means that I have an excuse to go out for a ride tomorrow.

That is indeed a very useful tip. Thank you!

Video watched, page from manual printed. Feeler will be acquired when this bout of illness passes and I can hop on the bike to get to somewhere that sells them. Seems simple enough. I'm a veritable god-like super mechanic!