Gin

I left school at 16. Was really lucky to get a decent apprenticeship. Hated school and like many, nobody in my family had ever been in 6th form, nevermind Uni Did a proper apprenticeship. Sat on my laurels for a few year then got bored. Again fortunately I've always worked for big multi nationals. Thus once showing willing they between them have put me through everything since. Lisa. My over half. Bizzarely enough has done the same. Left school at 16. In her family and extended family she was the first to go to college. First to go to uni and certainly first to do a masters. I said for years during and after my degree that if I could have reached the same place with an apprenticeship I would have much rather done that. It didn't help that the undergrad uni I went to boasted of a workshop, but never took us in there unless you were lucky enough to win a place on extra curricular activities ('Race' team etc). I would much rather have worked and learnt at the same time... After working a while I decided to go back to uni full time to do the next step up and had a Completely different experience! I really enjoyed studying because I now had the contrast of a working environment, so I wasn't just learning hypotheticals and theory anymore, I could see the real life reasons and examples. I was generally just more aware of the courses available and what they may do for me. So graduated that, this September just gone and I'm now with a really awesome company who are dedicated in helping me keep learning and expanding my talents, properly grateful how solidly I've somehow landed on my feet; I'm also very aware and deeply thankful for the people in my life who supported me in their own way. I think if you'd asked me 6-8 years ago if I'd like a do over I would have taken the chance in a heartbeat, because I would never have seen where I am now as an option... Not even close. I would never have had the confidence to do the qualifications to get the job I have now, I would never have thought myself good enough to take the weekend course to become qualified in the firework trade, enough to start my own company. I would never have seen the home life I have and the family I've come to cherish so much, both actual and biker / friend family. I guess to anyone who's still with me at this point (thanks!) I am definitely one of those stories of "Hold on, keep going, it does get better." I'm really grateful for this thread [mention]MarkW[/mention], so thank you, it's really given me a chance to stop and look at what I have and be grateful for it!

Aye, was thinking the Super Sausage at Towcester, good ride from Birmingham and Awesome food / atmosphere.

[mention]Glorian[/mention], a thread you might want to look at. For OP, I think the problem you're going to have is a good, reliable first bike normally means you have to shell out a little more when you buy it; i.e. Honda which would be my recommendation. In simple terms I would say pay the extra now. Everyone I've known that's gone cheap to buy a 125 has paid for it BADLY in the months after both in time and maintenance costs. It can be really demoralizing and effect your riding skill for a while after. Get a good bike now that you can trust and it will pay you back in experience and confidence! If you live with someone, or have someone near by, who is willing to come help you with it regularly then maybe. But they're seen as performance bikes and therefore need seriously looking after and are more temperamental (read, likely to Pop whenever they feel like it. ). Most people recommend Japanese as they're way more forgiving to riders who are learning.

You know, I'm proper envious of your daughter here! My mum could just about scrape a brush through my hair and yank it into a pony tail. (Disclaimer, love my mum to bits and she's a fab mum, she's just a tom-boy too!) To this day I would love to know how to do a french braid (Mainly cos I have super curly hair, kinda like Merida from Brave and so regularly look like an unruly lion!) but just don't have the co-ordination or know how and never really had the sources to learn from. Always been a tom-boy and didn't really care about makeup and the like when girls my age did. Sounds like you've set your daughter up with some pretty cool life lessons here Would give you a gold star if I could.

I enjoyed it but I didn't really go in with any expectations. I think what I liked about it is, although they did take some creative licenses with timeline etc, cos Brian May and Roger Taylor were heavily involved throughout you get the impression that it's more grounded than it could have been. Anyway, worth a watch I think

Go for it! Just take it easy to adjust for road conditions and being a little rusty! We're moving soon to somewhere that has a garage with the house and I'm So Excited to get out and about again after this Looong winter.

Massive congrats to the happy couple, you really are perfect together and I'm made up for you both and the girls. Hah! I remember you having your blazer but not your coat... Pass our love on to the missis, was lovely to meet her! Had a cracking time seeing you all again, looking forward to the rally now for much more drinking, loud singing and dancing

I have a brilliant pic from when I first saw you and forum aunt Will try and upload it if I can. Yeah we found a quiet corner to sit on the floor and chomp on a pack lunch It seems to have all gotten 10x as expensive as when I first started going.

The 18th is a Sunday we are going down on the 18th and staying over night and going on the Monday but you probably guessed that I think Jay was thinking Monday for us too, I'll double check with him but would be cool to grab lunch if we are all there on the same day (P.s. We'll likely have Glorian too!)

Right, this is all my opinion so take what you will. Frank Thomas and Oxford will do fine for a short time but then I think they will start to fall apart sooner than others and I def remember my Frank Thomas gear giving up on any chance of waterproofing pretty quick. Also, just look at [mention]RantMachine[/mention] for the Oxford gear... You say you haven't seen these brands Glorian, but my jacket with the high vis tabard in is Halvarssons and the biker jeans I used to wear were Lindstrands! I would say they're a little on the pricey side though, that might just be my local dealership not willing to budge on his prices though Finally, for the price you're looking at, I really rate the Richa gear. We were able to get [mention]Saddlebags[/mention] his jacket and trousers as a set for about £300. Though I've now stolen the trousers, he's still wearing the jacket through snow and rain and seems pretty happy with it. My Halvarssons jacket doesn't have enough venting for me, so when it's hot I do heat up pretty bad, so I'm maybe looking into Richa gear next as I've always worn their gloves and loved them. Also Jay says look at Wolf. ] Edit: Oh and I forgot, look into bottles of Nikwax for re-waterproofing stuff. Ask Jay for more info as he knows WAY more about it than I do!

Agree with Via, great community on here for help if you want. Have you tried Ebay / FB market place for the manual? Also, for the love of god take pictures as you go and if you can keep a roll of masking tape around to label the little stuff (bolts, washers etc) cos once the bikes in pieces, you suddenly forget where everything was meant to go!

I rode my 125 for a while before taking my test too and I think it was more important to me than I realised at the time. It gave me an appreciation for being a "smaller" presence on the road and I mean that about generally having a quieter bike as well as it being smaller in the cars mirrors. Oh! and on that note, remember how it feels to have the cars take the piss with you while you have L plates, cos you Will notice the difference when they're gone; though this pressure at the moment will make you a better rider. Then, I learnt a lot about bike maintenance as it's much easier to work on the smaller bikes, so learn to do the 'little' jobs now. Keep the chain maintained, maybe change the sparkplugs, if you're brave and have a good low bucket do an oil change! Get a 2nd hand haynes manual for your bike and learn the basic maintenance now, it will make a huge difference later! I think finally, having a small bike for so long (and I then jumped through many small cc bikes) made me appreciate the bigger CC bikes later on SO much more than I would have done otherwise. Final note, you may have heard this before, but you learn to ride to pass the test, then you learn how to ride properly on the road. So look at the test requirements (especially the slow manoeuvre stuff) and find a nice quite car park to practice, make sure you know what they're going to look for and take this time to make sure you're good at it. Hope this all helps, sorry it's turned into an Essay!

I have to say, if [mention]Stu[/mention] chooses to buy bargin bangers rather than hiring his in-house prof display team, I will not be amused

If there's a chance for Fire, I am SOLD Reckon the 'guv will let us do Fireworks too?

Just down the road is an awesome biker / transport cafe: https://goo.gl/maps/TtxmKHb5JNE2 We live not to far, so if you do pop your head in there, let us know and we'll come grab some food too!

Ooh! Not far from us at all. Yeah will have to go and have a lookie at some point soon If, big if I know, but if it does get picked as a Rally location, SB and his folkes know the roads round there pretty well so he can help the mod team come up with a ride out route. Some of the Cotswolds roads are LUSH!

Ooh Ohh! Gin is more than happy to look after dogs for the duration of the weekend! We can bring the bigger tent with us, with the huge bedroom and porch so I can make sure they have all the room (and snuggles) they could want (I'm sure [mention]Saddlebags[/mention] will be ok with this, because after 6 years he should already expect me to want to cuddle every dog I see, regardless of drool!)

I cannot wait for one of his Attorneys to point this out to the moron who signed it Amazing work

Really like this! Looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future

Looks like Rennie in the background is trying not to throw up... ! Though out of every one there, I do think Beefy was the only one who managed to pull

Oh Please do! He was so good. And please pass onto him how much we enjoyed chatting with him on the Friday night, he was a good addition to the music and chatting group around the fire. We kept forgetting his age as he's really got a good head on his shoulders! In all honestly Beefy I'm just aware that the forum doesn't have an "Adult Section" anymore... Therefore any pictures of you up for the general forum population to see will either get me banned or arrested... The front of that skirt was distractingly tight

Will keep all my fingers crossed, I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to find a site for the rabble that we are! Agree with Throttled about taking notes for what went well this year, for at least the day to day planning for the next one. It's so easy to forget the good little details.

I think for next year I'll have to find a way to strap a slightly bigger firepit to my bike as the teeny camping BBQ grew a bit thick with ash by the end! But was so lovely to sit around chatting and watching the shooting stars... Agreed that [mention]yorbandit[/mention] bringing the spare bibs was a really good idea! Think the forum team need to keep a jumbled box of outfits for the time people turn up without one I think you've probably hit the nail on the head; with lack of space and bad weather. People were itching to get in their outfits by 6-7pm but then feeling like we were interrupting the dinner guests and general pub locals probably put the dampener on the mood. It's a shame cos once we got into the singing room, apart from it feeling a bit cramped, we saw some Amazing acts . Jay and I were saying, fair play to Lewis, he did a couple on his own and was really good! Especially if [mention]NeilM[/mention] was a little worried of how he'd do with us all. It was worrying how convincing you were...

Yeah I believe [mention]Westbeef[/mention] has one on his CBR and from the little time I was riding with him, it sounded really lovely! Not too loud to be obnoxious but just loud enough to let other road users know you're about, nice deep burble at low revs and then a lovely roar when opened up. They don't do one for mine at the moment, but might have to send them a message as the current one I'm looking at is painful money.

Aww man, that's not half as fun... Not that I disagree with you, it wasn't perfect... but I was kinda hoping you'd had some feedback!