Hoggs

ssshhhhhhh don't ruin the surprise!

I promise I'm not stalking you!! Yes, the examiner is another road user. Assume he does not know where you are going! TBH on the bike I tend to always indicate out of habit but also (especially in London) there are ninja pizza delivery scooters who do appear from absolutely nowhere.

If your instructor lets you take the test without taking you on the roads first then I'd have serious concerns about them!!! Your instructor should know the test routes so should take you on at least one. I wouldn't say they are designed to trick you because as long as you remember your basic highway code and instruction you'll be fine! But they do incorporate speed changes (I sucked at noticing speed signs so had to really tune myself into them! I think incorrect speed (too fast or much too slow!!) is one of the biggest fail reasons). 70mph on a bigger bike doesn't feel as fast as 60 on a 125! But remember your safety distances need to be increased and things happen a lot quicker. If you go on a duel carriageway you will be expected to "make reasonable progress" this basically means if you come up to a lorry doing 50mph and it is safe to overtake you should. Remember there is no shame at all in telling your instructor you're a bit worried about the high speeds! Time permitting he may do a bit more dual carriage work so you can get a feel for it.

No signalling required just the mirror-lifesave on each side Ideally you want to go in-between (there is quite a bit of room) to show your control - but if you do go round the yellow slalom you may get a minor but not a fail

ooh I like that too! do it do it!

Yay green bike!

The problem with that is you need to do the A2 test on a 400 (I think, although most places use 500s) minimum and you wouldn't be allowed to ride to and from anywhere without an instructor present if you only had a CBT as you can only ride up to a 125. You can do shorter courses which are obviously cheaper but it will depend how quickly you pick it up (I had been riding for a couple years on a 125 before my test so had picked up some bad habits I needed to shake!). You will probably get a better idea during the CBT and you can talk to the instructors about how long they think you may need.

Thanks Stu, sounds easier to check that too! Hope you're having a nice week off

The cost is the most painful part! I think the CBTs are around a £100 (not sure if you've done that yet sorry ) the theory is £23, and then they have different length courses for training for the mod 1 and 2. I did a four day course that I think was the wrong side of £650 but I went for an extra day training to try and pass first time as if you fail then you have to factor in retest costs - The cost of the actual test I don't think is that great but the cost to hire a bike from the instructors and their time riding to the test centre is what bumps it up. I really hope this hasn't put you off, just don't want you to get a shock later down the road! It is totally worth it though

Me again! So changing all the spark plugs has stopped the backfire (woot) however the idle tends to fluctuate quite a bit - stopped as some lights this morning (when the engine was fully warmed up) and the needle was merrily bouncing between 1300 and 1800! Then at the next set seemed to decide to idle properly at around 1400. I haven't stripped down the carbs yet but would sticking floats or breaks in the rubbers cause this? I have adjusted the idle speed which worked for approximately a day before it decided it was going to do whatever it wanted! I guess my actual question is... if I don't do anything about this right now is it likely to cause bad things to happen? Lack of lit indoor work space and short wet weekend days are making me slightly reluctant to try anything too adventurous at the moment in case I can't put it back together in time and have to start taking the bus to work again

Agh I hate those electronic handbrakes! .......but admittedly I've only used one in a hire car which may explain why it didn't bloody work

This whole thread makes me a bit sad, because these look like crazy amounts of fun but I worry I would look a complete spoon on one as I'm edging towards 5'11"!! Great review Arwen Look at this one! http://gas2.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/grom_1.jpg

haha! I'm quite happy you backed up my theory. So... are the garage listed as the owner on the DVLA computer when they first take receipt of the bike, but as most places try and push through the bikes quickly the system is set up as not having to list them on the V5? Or they are on the V5 but listed as a kind of owner "0" in a way? @Arwen they obviously fell in love with it and kept it on! .........or they couldn't shift the damn thing

I am now also confused about this! I'm guessing (incorrectly probably!) maybe it was a demo bike that the garage just kept on as a run around / courtesy bike?

Special mention to the guy in the blue passat who thought it was a great idea to sit a foot behind my back wheel at 50mph on the North circular this morning. I'm very sorry that the fact there was a car (two seconds) in front of me prevented me from going any faster. Also great thinking on undertaking me in the middle lane, shame that van was then in front of you and slowing down for the inevitable Henlys corner traffic. But hey you did make it to the back of the queue 3 seconds before me so well done! Also the fact you pointedly did not look at me as I filtered past looking RIGHT AT YOU makes me think maybe, deep deep down you are aware of what a massive cockweasel you are.

Done you shouldn't ask a woman her age though

I didn't think people took the internet seriously.... Especially not this lot I was actually enjoying the discussion. I think it's similar to the hi vis debate. I've debated getting both currently have none but never say never ey! Anyways fellow ninja rider hope you don't actually go I really want to know if you manage to hunt down your bike demons

Ack bad luck mate. I dunno why our brains do these silly things on test conditions! Will Defo check out the anti fog thing

might have to look at that gizmo Me too... I have a pinlock which is great but now the nights are drawing in I do notice it really does create loads of glare (which is why you're not supposed to use them at night I know I know)

I filter assuming everyone in front of me is going to swerve lanes! So am doing a speed I can safely stop from quickly I did have a van driver who I saw looking in his mirror and moved right over to the white line to block me. As I went past (due to a lovely person in the other lane who clocked the situation and dropped back to let me go round the van, I did thank them!) he was holding his middle finger up at me! Most van drivers are quite lovely to bikes around here and let us out / move over to let us by just bloody smart cars and foxton minis you need to watch out for....

They already have http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/n ... ris-attack Thoughts and prayers to everyone who has lost someone in the recent attacks, both in Paris and Lebanon.

Good luck! Remember there's no time limit so keep your head up and don't rush through (as a weakling I did have to ask for a minute after the manual handling reverse bit!)

I do actually really like the colour! Not sure about yellow wheels though.... I guess my question should have been when was it regularly running. A year ago isn't too bad so should be salvageable! As long as you know about carbs!

Well it looks good (shame it's not green ) When was it last running?

Haha it is surprising how quickly you will stop caring what you look like as long as you're dry!! If your budget won't stretch to some decent waterproof boots initially they look like a good stop gap. You're probably going to be looking at slightly north of 100 for some decent ones. I've used getgeared for a couple of things they price match and only heard good things bout their service