Westbeef

Mine and my dads from today http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160504/da34a51a7f1341c3007e3fae56d242fd.jpg

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Just got home from my CBT...

Turn up and there are two others on the course for today, at 35 I was pleasantly surprised I was the youngest there, no 16 year olds on peds in sight. One is on his own 125 scooter that he rode in, he is a regular face and comes back every 2 years to re-do his as he doesn't want to do his test, the other is on a geared and used to ride 20 years ago and wants to get back into it so I am the only fresh learner that's never been on a geared bike, but hey I can drive, how bad can it be?

(I will skip talking about all the standard talks, controls, etc... and jump straight to riding section) We line up, in a large private car park belonging to the centre, and need to do a large oval, I am the first told set off so off I go (without stalling!) get to where I need to turn and manage about 150 degrees of the required 180 before I notice a nice bush that I become fixated with, mount the kerb and manage to stop just millimeters away from said bush. At this point I am now thinking what am I doing! After a quick chat about looking where I want to go I set off again and this time no more problems and can now drive in nice big ovals.

Next up is figure 8's which I was extremely nervous about, but done one that whilst it could be seen from the international space station was acceptable for them, then some more ovals this time going up to 2nd on first straight, turning keeping it in 2nd for the turn and then up to 3rd in next straight before going back down to 1st for the opposite turn. I was 'OK' and nothing really of note with that. Next up "controlled stop" (apparently no longer called emergency stop) and absolutely nailed it, spot on no issues and tester even asked if I had switched places with a twin brother since I first started!

Then came the junction work... two fake junctions on each end of the oval, one an exit from a main road into a side street where for the exercise it will be clear (e.g. go through the motions of indicators, looking, etc...) then a slow turn all the way round and back up to other end of course where the 2nd junction is a side road onto main road which will not be clear (e.g. come to complete stop, then set off again once clear). This is about the time when brain decided to just shut down and it went terrible. The "clear" junction was 'ok' but bouncy, doing indicators, checks, etc... I just could not get clutch control right. The junction where I had to stop was worse. I just could not get going again and stalled every single time, often two/three times and ended up hopping bike round.

After this was meant to be road briefing and road side of CBT this is where I was asked if I was feeling confident to go on road, I said I would like to practice that more and was promptly told that he needs to take others on the road and he cannot leave me unattended on a CBT so that was it my CBT was over! I was gutted... but... he then turns round and says that he don't often do this but as I have now been kicked off the CBT he is going to lend me one of his bikes to ride around on his land as long as I am sensible etc... I stuck around for road briefing anyway, then they all left to hit the road and I am alone in a nice big car park.

Well they were gone for what seemed like hours and the practice I got on my own was worth the cost of CBT alone, I practiced the pulling away and my figure 8's which was on advice of the instructor as it was my clutch control needing the work, without the pressure of anyone looking at me it came together nicely I built up a lot of confidence with the bike where before I would be scared to put foot up at anything below the speed of sound I was poodling along at walking speed with my foot up as soon as bike was moving, I got figure of 8's tighter than I ever thought I would be able to do with bike on full lock with my foot up and at a nice slow speed, clutch control improved drastically and by the time they got back I was right up with my confidence level.

Obviously still come away without CBT and need to re-book but going to get that ASAP tbh if he had left it at kicking me off and I had to go after that I probably would have 2nd thoughts about going back but that extra time gave me a huge confidence boost and absolutely top notch instructor!

I didn't have much confidence to go out on the road either, but I must say it's a lot easier! There's more room to do the manouvers and with your extra practice you will be fine with the clutch control . I agree, doing things alone is much better without the pressure of onlookers!

I've looked into counter steering and tested it. I understand we do it naturally to turn anyway but to put more turn on mid bend by turning the wrong way is not a nice feeling! Doing it whilst going straight is also strange just turn the handle bars slightly right and start veering left.

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And yeah... Oil. It only needs a litre, don't cut costs with cheap car oil. Halfords 10W40 part synthetic oil is good and cheap.

 

You really need to get a grip over this

I take it you're not a fan of this oil?

Foz I'll defo give you a PM if I run into any trouble with it as you seem to know them inside out! It's running well at the minute and just want to keep it that way .

Looks like I'll have to settle for a plastic one as the metal are all too big. Thanks JRH, I'll be getting one off there

Fair enough but for the sake of a few quid I don't really mind, if it was a big expensive job I'd think twice but for a 10 minute job I'm happy to stick one in. I'm also skeptical how much the fuel cleaners actually do.

Why are you trying to fit one to a CBF?

Because a common issue appears to be people getting a clogged fuel system. I want to avoid this and for the sake of a few quid it makes sense.

Can anyone recommend me an in-line fuel filter please?

Having looked at this guys blog below, he recommends about 40-50mm overall length, I'm also trying to find a fully metal one and I'm struggling.

https://cbf125rider.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/in-line-fuel-filter/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Can anyone recommend me anything please? I've seen for a few for £1-£2 but I'm worried they wont be doing anything.

If Aldi have any gear left the boots and gloves are decent for the price! Also as previously mentioned eBay is great for bargains. I got some Weise bottoms that are waterproof , nice and thick and armoured for quite cheap.

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As long as you don't stop for too long you shouldn't be marked down. If you don't pull out when there's a big enough gap you may receive a minor, then I think you'd have to be doing that a lot.

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I agree completely, I had a moped at 16 and sacked off the 125 as the route to a proper bike was too costly! Now I'm 24 I've jumped straight back into it as I can do a DAS, but the route to your full license is very off putting for young riders.

Thanks for the help fellas I cleaned them up with my dad today everything moving nice and freely. All the seals are fine and it looks like I need some new pads as they've been wearing unevenly so I've ordered some. The wheels spins freely with a little rubbing and I can still hear the noise at speed so I'm assuming what I can hear is normal and I'll see if the new pads changes anything. I don't know if it's just me being over cautious and the sound is nothing.

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Ignore me, looks like thats been mentioned. The op ahowed but no replys

 

Yeah I looked properly when checking bearings for play and it's the brakes rubbing.

Could be the caliper pistons sticking.......may need a caliper rebuild.....

I'm going to have a look Friday after work and give them a good clean. Hopefully it will sort the issues out .

Ignore me, looks like thats been mentioned. The op ahowed but no replys

Yeah I looked properly when checking bearings for play and it's the brakes rubbing.

yeah they just knock out

but at 5k they should be fine!

Ok i've had a proper check - I should have done this first. The brakes are catching, I can hear it when I spin the front wheel. It didn't do this at first so It's somehow developed over the weekend.

grinding and whiring noise sometimes you can feel movement in them

if you lift the wheel sometimes the feel notchy

it could also be the pads rubbing on the discs

I might change the bearings to be sure, they've probably never been done (5800 miles) and they're £5 each. Is it quite simple to remove the front wheel and knock the bearings out?

could well be bearings

Is there any other tell-tale signs and are they easy to change?

Hi

Over the past couple of days (since I took her on a 100 mile trip) my bike has started making a whirring noise from the front end. It only starts at 30-40 and it sounds like it's only there when I come off the throttle. It could always be there but I can't hear it over the engine. It disappears below 20 mph. Any ideas what it could be? Is it likely to be the bearings at the front??

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It appears what they're doing is perfectly legal so you can't complain too much, they did like you exchange it for something else which I think is fair.

https://www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Judging by the amount of video's on Youtube showing how to pick locks including disk locks and padlocks of various types, it seems to me that the only way to guarantee not to have your bike stolen is not to buy one in the first place.

Because no matter how good and theft proof the lock and chain are supposed to be, someone will find a way of removing it. Sure the average bike thief will think twice when confronted with a bike that is locked via a ground anchor and multiple chains and padlocks, but it won't phase a professional who is stealing to order.

And you would be suprised at how blind peope can become when confronted by a gang trying to steal something.

You have to be clever to do that though so you will deter over 95% of thieves.

Has anyone bought the boots? They look pretty good for the price.

I have the boots, they're the only pair of biking boots I've ever worn so I can't comment too much against other brands, but they don't feel overly supportive around my ankles.

The wife bought me a pair of the gloves, sent my hands to sleep in 10 minutes of riding, gave them to a friend, everybody's hands are different I just could not get on with those gloves though.

I quite like them, though they are tight I got a large and they're still tight on me when normally I'm a medium to large. Also the palm isn't fully double stitched which may be an issue.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/9ee6dd2604536b3db7a5d3396242a34d.jpg

I've only been riding a week and my route home from work goes around 3 tight roundabouts in a row and I end up taking these quite slow and they're tight bends and full of pot holes. I also feel the same as you about it, I guess we will just get a feel for it better with experience.

See if they do a Haynes Manual for your bike, they're excellent and show how to do each maintenance task.

I play football myself, play five a side few times a week and also for a Saturday team playing 11 a side.

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Done! - You have your requested 'number' as '46'.

Good hunting.

Thanks, I'm surprised Rossi's number didn't go sooner . I'll struggle to finish a group, I'm on the outskirts of about 4 groups .

The 'Groups' are simply that - groups of 'tags' more or less grouped in the same geographical area.

If you follow the link to the map, all the tags (apart from the Pubs which are your choice as to where you go for them) are listed in groups and identified by different coloured 'pins' on the map.

You score 10 points per tag and a 'bonus' of 50 points when you complete a 'group' - So each 'group' (including Pubs) is worth 150 points.

Simples!

Thanks, think i'll get myself a number and aim for a few of these .