bonio

Looks a real cracker! Congrats

Two more weeks until a week off. Can just about keep going until then.

Looks great. Reminds me of Suffolk

If you're serious, @dynax, then find yourself a teacher first and take their advice on what to get. I don't want to put you off, but classical piano isn't like riding a bike; it takes years to get half-way to decent.

You're twin is already on here: say hi, @Stu

The seller's not to be relied on. Who knows what else is wrong the machine? Return it and get your money back.

Ouch @gogs01 - really sorry to hear your diagnosis. Really nice idea to pass your kit on to someone on a budget. I hope I take a leaf out of your book, in your situation.

I had this feeling when I passed mod 2... it took me a month, wondering whether I had what it takes ride a bike or whether to give up, and then a mate offered to sell me his bike and that made my mind up. One of the best decisions I've made.

Nice one @Fish! Must feel good.

My 1200 was astonishingly useless in London - the delivery guys on scoots all would run rings round me while I was stuck looking balefully at a 3 foot wide gap between the traffic. In contrast, riding the DRZ in town is truly awesome: it accelerates like a beast, it's loud, it's got wide bars for nipping around cars and it's as thin as a wafer-thin wafer. Depends a lot what you're going to be using it for. If it's mainly for London commuting, you might consider something like a supermoto.

I'd agree. A fazer thousand isn't a crazy beast.

Insurers will always try to price your bike well under book price, just to see how low they can get away with. They'll never value it a penny more than they have to: which is the secondhand market price. No point in insuring above what you can reasonably argue it would cost to buy secondhand.

... as for crossing to the Republic, the requirement is waived only if you've spent the previous 14 days in the North.

Nice bike, Hoggs! And if black is the quickest, then it's the quickest. nuff said

New bike?? Pictures??? Sorry. Old bike had an X System; not a clue about V System.

Great result And..... ...... ..... .... ..... .... what are you going to get??

A338 is an awesome little road, if you're prepared to blink when you pass the 50 signs.

CBT is hard to pass, hard to fail. Easy to need a second day. From what I can tell, a lot depends on the school, and their approach. Some places, you get to lunch time and all they've done is talked at you about safety gear. You don't sit on the bike until the afternoon, and no surprise that you're unlikely to be able to get out on the road before its too late. Other places take a look and take the people who look half competent out and make sure they at least their couple of hours on the road. Best approach would be to ask the school how many people get through the CBT on their first day and you'll get a good idea of how they run the thing.

I don't really believe in the speed camera cash cow agenda thing. If there really were cash cows, all the cameras would be painted leaf green or in dressed in camos or hidden behind a rock beside the road. Like they are in France. But here, if you really can't see that big fluorescent yellow blob on a stick before you reach it then you *are* going too fast. In a lot of places then even give you a warning sign about mile before the camera, just to nudge you into opening your eyes a bit more.

Even if I could travel, most destinations seem a bit risky at the moment: at any moment the country you're in can go orange and you're scrabbling with thousands of others in a race to get back to Blighty before midnight. It would make a great board game.

I've a size larger on the rear of my drz - 150 instead of 140 irc. Been meaning to change the front to match so at least the profiles are the same, but it rides just fine as it is. But I read up first in drz forums to find out what others had done and got to work. Suggest you do the same for hhe zontes.

You from Suffolk?

If there aren't any codes in column 12 for row A, then you have a full bike licence and you don't need to do the test. If you want to be sure, you can check it at this dvla site: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence When you get the results, click on the "vehicles you can drive" tab. Mine looks like this

Yup. My NCB goes back further than my licence.

To be fair, it's a fair exchange: 150 quid for three dinners some tat and a photographer. The rest of the money is what you raise for the charity... it would be really unfair if you were to get anything back in return for that!