wannars125

As Pete says, your instructor will stay behind and make sure you are as safe as possible. As it's training, they'll make sure you're up to a competent level on the bike/scooter before taking you out onto public roads. Trust that your instructor will not put you at any undue risk. As for gaining confidence out on the road, if you have a bicycle, take that out for as many rides as possible and think about your positioning on the road. I found that when riding the bike, the positioning wasn't much different ie being in the middle of the road when turning right, checking over your shoulder before making any turns to make sure nothing is coming from behind. Most of all when it comes round to doing the CBT relax and enjoy it. If you've not ridden a powered 2 wheeler you'll love it!

Not yet, I have a week and half of in December where I don't think I'll be riding so am going to get it all sorted then. For the winter I'm just going to be taking the train mostly as if the weather turns it takes me about 2 hours to get home from central London as the traffic is that gridlocked you can't even filter through it....

I tried one of these Neil and the amount of hassle I had trying to get it on in the shop was just too much so I gave up. Do you have a particular brand that you use?

I bought my textiles from the shop I've bought both my bikes from and they always told me I had a years warranty on all items. As such, when my textiles started leaking after a year I didn't think there was much use in taking them back. After getting wet and annoyed a few times and realising I'd spent a lot of money on these items, I emailed the manufacturer asking what they could do if anything and was told that all their kit had a 2 year warranty (Frank Thomas). Just thought I'd let you all know that getting in touch with the manufacturer directly could be more positive if you don't get anywhere with the reseller.

I don't mind riding in the rain if I've got the correct gear on. At the moment my textiles are leaking so they're going back to the manufacturers. I was surprised the other day though at how much grip you do actually get in the wet after having to pull an emergency stop. Pulling progressively harder on the brakes stopped me nicely without even a hint of a skid (well have abs so it didn't kick in!)

Josh, you must feel very strongly about this posting it twice

I heard everyone was sinking in the mud last year! Bit drier this year was it?

I don't nod when I'm commuting in London. People tend to look at you weird and with the sheer amount of bikes in central london in the morning and evening I think I'd get a sore neck! Apart from that everyone gets a nod besides chavs.

Thought I'd put my thoughts up. I found the Bandit a little more comfortable although I'd say looks wise I would have to say the CBR outshines it massively. Cost wise you'd be saving a little with the CBR unless your looking at the older 600 Bandit. The newer Bandits are 650 so bump you up into the next tax bracket. I've heard the build quality is better on the Hondas but the engine on the Bandit has also been around a while. My bike broke down last week though.... Good luck deciding - I know which I'd choose if it were just for fun!

Evening update: Took the bike out for a spin. The smoke may well have been vapour as there is nothing now. The bike is more responsive than I've felt in a long time! There still seems to be a small vibration but that small that I'm questioning whether it was there before or not. Gonna clean and lube up and readjust the chain as I think that needs doing and could be causing that feeling and fingers crossed, that will be that! Its been an interesting weekend!

Mine is the last of the oil cooled so don't think there would be contamination to make a broken seal obvious. No redex Left the bike running for about 10mins altogether but smoke issue became worse

Rightie, update for the afternoon. Checked the air filter which was quite dirty. Also found fuel in the air filter box. Cleaned fuel out of air filter box and fuel was found in the air intake hole into the part of the carb that supplies chamber 2. Turned over engine momentarily without air filter and sounded fine. Replaced air filter and engine now sounds like it is running smoothly. Down side. Left running for a few minutes on the drive and there is a lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust. Oil levels are normal. The Haynes manual is suggesting things like piston rings, knackered cylinders, valve guide, head gasketand abnormal crankcase pressurisation. Does anyone have any other ideas that aren't so much of a pain to fix?!?

Sorry Colin, not sure what you mean by "are the plugs not firing wet"

All 4 are sparking Colin so am a little confused. I don't know how pronounced the park should be. Am going to test the coils this morning to see if they're ok.

Was wondering how long it'd take Gary !! No problem, hopefully someone will have something I can try....

Can anyone help I'm only learning at the moment so please be patient with me! Bike is a Bandit 650. Tuesday morning turned bike on, warmed up for about 5mins, rode about 2 miles, slowed down to about 30 from 50 and heard popping from engine. Came to a stop and the engine cut. Managed to get it going and back home. Bike was idling at about 500rpm when it normally is at 1300rpm. Sounded a little quiet so thought it wasn't firing properly. I've changed all spark plugs. Still not working. Checked all plugs and they are sparking. Funny bit was that when replacing the plugs, out of the old ones (1 being left hand side 4 being right hand) plugs 1 and 4 were filthy but 2 and 3 were pretty clean in comparison. Not sure if this is indicative of something. *edit* There is a strong smell of petrol so I'm assuming that at least one cylinder is still not firing properly. *edit2* When testing to see if there was spark, when number 1 was disconnected to test, the engine sounded a lot better. Any ideas much appreciated

Nice post Pete. A lot of good information there.

Got back last night absolutely knackered. Nice ride down with Firestorm and some of his friends (nice bunch!). I've never seen so many bikes in one place! Lovely day out. Found out I can't walk very far in the bike boots though! Pics to follow this evening. Shame I couldn't stop to see MK, Jin, Fozzie n Skittles for longer.

I'll certainly meet you all at Pease, I'll be leaving from Harrow so will try and get in touch with firestorm to meet at hillingdon. Are you all on the contacts list?

Hello mate, would you mind if I joined you guys? Anand

Cheers Bogof! I have both so should be able to help him out adjusting the chain.

Does anyone know what the torque wrench setting is for the marauder? My mate has one but the service manual that came with it (second hand) is in German! **Edit - even better would be if anyone knows the size of the socket needed for the bolt on the rear wheel too!

Not me, out with the inlaws tomorrow at the beach. The weather better be good!

Jin, you gonna meet people at the Ace then? I've pm'd my number to Riff. I'll be coming up past you so can meet you at Target Roundabout if you like and ride on down to the ace from there?