bonio

Here's a thought for to mull over: once the cbt is done and you've got a few miles under your belt, you could go back to the school and see if they can offer you a lesson on your 125. Seems to me it might be useful to have some feedback on how you're riding early on... better than having to unlearn bad habits later.

I once drove a car through Palermo. The cars were like cattle being driven in for milking, using whatever space on the tarmac or the pavement they could find. I got through by imagining where the next space was about to open up in front of me and aiming for it. At one point I lost my nerve and hesitated. I don't think I stopped, just slowed down a bit, but whatever, I unwisely let a 10 foot gap open up in front of me and immediately the people around me were using it to change lanes and do u turns, and I had to wait for a split second moment when the gap reappeared and I could close it up. Three feet gap max after that.

Getting to a place with a good selection of kit isn't easy from Cambridge. I seem to remember the nearest large place is J and S in Raunds.

If you look at 600s and 650s you'll find more options. Get a secondhand bike because you will drop it and dropping a new bike brings heartache, and in 2 or 3 years you will want to move on and get something else. When putting your shortlist together, get insurance quotes, as inurance can be costly for your first year. As for training, I went to Ian Biederman who used to run his own business in Royston. Now he's the chief trainer at BMW Rider Training, still in Royston. My wife tried them but got on better with Bike Sense who used to run courses out of Bourne Airfield. They're still in the same area. The biggest outfit in the area are Camrider, who seem to do a decent job.

Happy birthday Paul. Hope it's a good one.

I like the idea of longer 5th and 6th. Would be interesting to see how much difference it makes to munching miles on a motorway.

I once asked chatgpt how to get from Liverpool St to Charing Cross Hospital. It came up with a great route, one I'd not thought of. Only it had me getting off at stations that weren't on the line it had told me to take. And like you, I found it apologed abjectly when i pointed out that it's wrong. It's even promised me to to better, but then failed just the same when it tried. It's undoubtedly a great tool, but not where you value facts over imaginative suggestions.

That's shite. A 4 grand contribution to the auditor's holiday in Tuscany next year. I would be smarting badly.

Sorry my bad. All the best with the new bike.

Agree. PRs aren't off road in any sense. They'll be fine on gravel roads but in not much use in mud or sand. If youre going to keep to thw south winter youre problem will be how to get over the mountains.

So did you sell the Vulcan? How are you liking the GS?

Blimey Simon. Hope it heals well.

@A.rrr_97 Good decision mate. I started far too late in life

Congrats on the pass! Out of interest, what made you decide to take your test?

PR4s should do you fine. Any touring tyre should be ok tbh, but I've always like d PR4s when I've used them. I've never used Metzeler, so can't really comment. Don't use slime; get a proper motorcycle puncture repair kit - get strings, not mushrooms - and a small electric tyre inflator.

When I used to commute I found that there probably two or three days a year when I couldn't get in on the bike because of snow or ice. It wasn't a big hassle as there were buses I could take, and I could usually work from home - I don't know what I'd have done if I hadn't had a bit of flexibility. I was commuting into Cambridge, so in the south and not up in hills, so snow and ice are fairly rare. Other things to think about losing a car are * do you ever take passengers? how would that work on a bike? * do you move large loads? Even a week's food shopping is more than will fit on a bike. * do you need to do longer journeys? Long journeys on small (I'd say sub 1000cc) bikes aren't much fun. Long journeys (over 300 miles) on any bike are tiring. There are people here who ride and don't have a car, so it's possible. But there's a lot to think about before taking the jump.

A Lambretta could be a 50cc. It's ok to ride these if you've an older driving licence. It looks as if you don't need a provisional licence: just a car licence is enough to carry on riding: Taken from here: CBT motorcycle and moped training: If you have a car driving licence - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Aaannnd? Where's it going to be?

I don't know a place in the highway code where it says you can't overtake another vehicle in a single lane. The biker did the right thing, though, and followed the copper's instructions, even though the copper was being a nob and making the law up as he was talking.

So the guy hadn't gone into the area marked off by the cones? I'd have done the same: there's the tarmac there laid out for filtering on, and filtering isn't illegal. Not seen the video, mind, so it might look different in real life.

Happy birthday mate.

Yes, they're really nice in there. They had come-along-and-eat barbecue day there yesterday and amazing weather for it too. Sadly we had commitments at home . Probably saved me a fortune, mind.

That was my experience with a BMW too. Service costs were very reasonable. Repair costs were something else. Is that Reiten you've been to? Everyone here reckons there head and shoulders above your average motorrad outfit.

Welcome Gaz. @AstronautNinja I'm 5ft 7. Does that help answer your question?

Had to go and read up about him.