Westbeef

Just having a nosey at this, I understand the pubs but not sure what is required for the groups/

Here is my experience a couple of weeks after the occasion: Arrived early, there was 3 of us. 2 of the lads were on 50cc twist and go and I was on a geared 125, an old Honda CG. We skipped a large majority of the early stuff and he got the lads going on the 50cc's right away and let them ride around getting used to them. During this he taught me through the gears and clutch (never ridden a geared bike before). We spent most of the morning getting used to setting off, stopping and gears etc. I really struggled with the slow speed control stuff (I'm gonna blame it on an old bike and my lack of experience with gears ) I kept applying too much throttle and jerking around, however it was quite an unresponsive throttle for the most part I couldn't hold it in a nice area for slow speed. My figure of 8 was woeful as were a couple of my U-Turns. We got through everything to the point where he was happy with our control of the bikes (even though I didn't feel 100% with the controls of the bike). He went through the highway code stuff, one of the lads had to miss the road-ride as his provisional hadn't arrived yet. Which left two of us to go out on the road, we got geared up and off we went. The road ride was going mostly well, however I couldn't get the bike into 1st when coming to a stop ( defo the bike, as I've got my own now and I can do it with ease). I was kicking down the gears and it was sticking in second and I thought I'd done enough to take it down, this meant I kept stalling the bike. Instructor got a bit stressy about it, telling me "it's the last time I'm gonna tell you" just ignored him in regards to this and kept my head cool. I got around it by stopping completely and putting it into 1st at a stop (this worked for some reason). I started to do a little better then and got through the rest of the ride problem free. CBT passed and have been on my own bike a few times since, which is much much better. A lot smoother, nicer gear changes and quite nippy . I have to say the CBT experience kind of ruined my excitement for riding, with me feeling like I was struggling and a stressy instructor (only really during the ride and my slow speed control). However I got on my bike and with the freedom and no pressure it instantly came back!.

Yeah, thats the point, thats why I added some pictures. I understand tightening it to the last mark could be an indicator that you need to change the chain, after all its a metal not a rubber band, but maybe you can push it beyond without problems? I have a good experience in chain - I did my apprenticeship at Renold . An Elongated chain is a sign of wear as you know, and I'd say that you probably should change it when it's getting to the last mark as you don't want it to fail on you. The holes for the pins will begin to stretch over time and it could fail in a manner of ways.(All chains will elongate from new fairly quickly as they "bed in", this isn't wear) You can check all the rollers move freely and that none of the links are seized by trying to move each one individually.

Of course you can call me Beefy I get it a lot with this username I pick up my bike the day after so I really hope I don't need to push it back an extra day .

I do my CBT Thursday and I was quite confident after having done one some years ago on a 50cc and also driving for quite a while. It may not be as straight forward as it seems reading what others have been through, slightly nervous now .