anth_85

48kph so a minor but no need to do it again and that was the only minor the fact we still use mph rather than kph is backward (oh and so it brexit)

best advice I was given was click when you see a hazard, then click again a second later. You wont be giving a warning for clicking too many times but it does prevent you from clicking too early when you suspect something will become a hazard but it hasn't quite yet. I got 64/75 on my hazard perception test doing it like this

another update, with mod1 test.

I read it's a good idea to double click about half a second apart to make sure your not clicking slightly too early and scoring 0. I used that method, didnt get any overclicking warning and passed with 66/75.

I thought that, until I went to do the rear brakes on my XC60 and they turned out to be a 9mm, obviously that wasn't in any set I had either

When you have a 10mm nut but it's rusted up to 11mm or you have a rounded off 12mm where you have to hammer on an 11mm

updated with this weekends lessons

not so much buying and selling, but I have been mining ethereum for about 6-7 months. Got my work pc with a couple of GTX1060s in it that mines when I'm not using it and my home pc with a GTX1070 and a GTX1060 in it that mines when I'm not matched betting on it. I've sold about 1.5eth so for and made about 1k from it. I'm currently holding about 0.3eth at the minute that I've mined and I'm waiting to see what happens with it, it's too low to sell at the minute.

I'd expect a factor to consider is also how helmet tech improves throughout the years. A helmet made now should be better than one made 5-10 years ago.

nice, ordered one for myself. Cheers

I am starting this thread as a blog of my training from booking the CBT to passing my full bike test and buying my first bike. Feb 14th (coped from cbt thread post) Booked my CBT for sunday, just me and my wife on it I believe. Not sure if it's wise us both doing it together at the same time We've both been driving for over 10 years and I cycle to work sometime so I'm used to road positioning, shoulder checks ect. We'll see if we can get to the end of the day without killing each other. Feb 18th (copied from cbt thread post) Well that is the CBT out the way. There was only me and my wife on it which was really good. We briefly went through the classroom stuff, since we've both been driving for so long it was pretty straight forward. Then we were taken to a nearby car park. It's pretty large and the trainer was saying it was inspected and approved and they have an agreement with the owner. Went through the usual controls, starting, stopping, bite point ect. Then onto some gear changes, and observations (life saver ect) finally emergency stops. All that done then back to the shop to be radio'ed up. Then out we went. We both had a couple of stalls, but nothing to worry about. I found I kept forgetting that the indicator doesn't auto cancel, and I sometimes forgot which gear I was in. First half I led, second half she led. We had a short stop in the middle to discuss what we had done well and what not so well. Stuff like not doing a life saver check when avoiding parked cars was something I didn't think about. I definitely feel like I could do with some more practice but I guess that's the whole point of being on L plates, you're not going to be ready for the test after one day. I was swaying backwards and forwards all day to whether to get a 125 to practice on for a few months. But for the price of them, for how short a time I'd have it and for having to avoid a motorway part of my commute means I've booked my first proper lesson for next saturday. Made me feel good when the owner asked the cbt instructor if I should start on a big bike and he said "oh yea". Doing it with my wife was actually really good, we were able to advise each other and were unusually supportive of each other I think the plan going forward will be for me to do the lessons and tests the buy a bike. Once we've done that then I'll take my wife to the car park so she can do some pre-lesson practice so it takes her less time (and costs us less) when she comes to doing the full lessons. Can you be taught on your own bike, obviously if your insured? Can you get insurance if your not a bike school? She likes the idea of getting used to riding one bike. March 12th After a bit of a delay I did my first bike bike lesson at the weekend. I had hoped to do a lesson the weekend after my cbt but the trainer had a bit of a nightmare with the motor on his rollershutter packing up so he couldn't get the bikes out. Then the beast from the east hit so the weekend after that was also called off. So I had a three week gap between the CBT and first lesson. I booked a 2 hour because of the delay. I have bought my own helmet, boots and gloves by now and I am wearing my ski coat for the time being, not ideal but it's a lot to pull out in one go. There was only me on the lesson, I don't know if its normal to do them 1-1 or whether there is often more, but I was pleased it was 1-1. The bike was a V-reg honda 600cc something, I'm not sure which one, i'll pay more attention next time. I got radio'ed up and started off just figuring out the biting point in the back lane, not moving more than half a bike length at a time while the trainer locked up. I was worried the clutch would be harder to control than it actually was. So off we went straight onto the roads, initially the quiet residential local roads to get some confidence and get used to the bike. The same issue I had on my CBT raised it's head again, forgetting to turn the indicator off, I kept kicking myself whenever he told me. This became a regular thing for the first hour. I struggled with the indicator controls quite a bit mainly because I was expecting it to be cold so I had a thin set of gloves under my motorbike gloves which really hampered my control. There were a couple of stalls and a couple of times were I found neutral rather than first, along with being a bit over cautious at some junctions, I was very aware than I needed to leave space for both of us to get out and me pulling away slower than most meant I was looking for much bigger gaps that I would in my car. We stopped after about an hour and went through some things, obviously not turning the indicator off was the main one, We went through a couple of things in regards to my positioning at junctions, I was going too far forward making it difficult to pull away, get my balance and turn all in one go, if i held back by a bike length then I'd have more room. But over all he said the way I handled the bike he wouldn't have thought this was my first time on a bigger bike, which I was pretty pleased about. I took my inner gloves off which made a huge difference. We set off again straight onto a national road which got a bit foggy so I didn't actually get upto 60 since it wasn't safe too and I got unlucky that I came upto a huge puddle blocking my entire lane at the same time a bus was coming the opposite direction so I had to slow right up. A bit more open roads, a few more local roads and I could feel myself getting more confident, I was getting into a habit of turning the indicator off, I only left it on once in the second half. I was counting the gears up and down so knew where I was coming upto junctions so only ended up in neutral once, but I was much quicker to recover. I was also a bit nervous going through gaps that a car wouldn't go through but a bike could, like when cars are parked both sides of the road, there isn't enough space for cars to pass each other, but there is for a bike and a car, I tended to sit back and wait rather than continuing on. Once we got back to the lockup we had another chat, it was mostly good this time. I need to work on my gear control slowing down to a junction so I am in the correct gear for the speed and I am hitting first gear as I am coming to a stop. I can understand this because in my car is always use engine braking to slow down if i know I'm stopping at a red light so for example I'll stay in 4th until it hits the idle speed then i'll drop it down 2 or 3 gears at once. Obviously you don't do it like that on a bike, at least not while your learning. So the plan is one hour lesson on the road on Sunday, then a lesson on mod1 prep, book mod1, book mod 2 for a week or so later, with a lesson or two fitted around those. There are plenty of availability for a mod2 test in mid April, so hopefully I will be done by then. We will see. March 24th Another weather delay. The mini beast from the east put pay to last weekends lesson, so it was a two week wait for this one. I booked on for saturday and another for sunday to try and catchup. Saturday's lesson was an hour on the road. Specifically working on slowing for junctions and observations to give the right amount of time to react to the environment. We stopped after the first half, had a chat. There was only one issue. One a hill start into a right hand junction, I was a bit too far forward so didn't leave much room to get my balance and then turn in so I was a bit close to the curb, I revved up too much and got a bit flustered which meant I forgot to cancel the indicator. So we set off again and straight away he had me pull into the side on a hill. Do my observations and then pull out. I did find it quite difficult since he was blocking my view, but I got out and away smoothly so it was fine. We got back and he said that's far and away your best ride so far, that level would be more than sufficient to pass the mod2 so I left very happy with myself. March 25th Mod1 training. I'd booked an hour at 1.30 but the instructor called and asked if i could come earlier since he had a family thing going on. He said there is two of you doing mod1 practice so we'll do it together than have yous out a bit longer so its fair. It wasn't a problem for me. Got there about 12.15, and we rode the bikes down to where I did the CBT. I knew exactly what to expect having watched various youtube videos on it. We started by the manually moving the bike. I'm not small but did find the weight of the bike quite difficult to move. Onto the slalom next, keeping it in first and bite point along, up and down afew times. Not a problem. Then figure of eight. I felt like I was doing this for ages while the instructor was talking to the other guy who seemed to be struggling a bit more. When he stopped me and came over he said the other guy said he didn't have to do it that tight did he. The instructor said no you can do much bigger circles. I knew you could but had no problem with it, I'll probably give myself a lot more space on the actual test. Next onto the straight line slow riding. Since I'd just been doing slow riding in the slalom and figure of 8 going to a straight line was easy. Then the U turn. This took a bit more practice. I didn't once put my foot down, and the marked out road is slightly narrower than the test space so that was good but this training area has a very slight incline, you could really tell when doing going with the incline or against it. Against it being a lot harder. The test site is totally flat so it should be fine. Finally onto the higher speed maneuvers, controlled stop, we'd doing it on the road before so that was just like replicating that, what I had been doing though was driving like a car. Clutch in down a gear clutch out, clutch in down a gear clutch out ect, instead I was told to clutch in and just click down gears as I needed. Second go was much better, it seemed weird that coasting is so frowned upon in cars and encouraged on bikes. Then the emergency stop, not hard, I didn't stall on either go. Finally the hazard avoidance, this was what i was most concerned about before starting but it was pretty easy. We finished just after 2 so about 90mins training and I feel ready to do the mod1 tomorrow. Unfortunately the next available slot is april 19th looks like all the bad weather cancellations have had to be rearranged leaving very little. He's going to keep checking for cancellations. Not much else I can do at the moment. April 17th After what feels like forever I finally took my mod 1 today. Passed with 1 minor for doing 48kph rather than 50kph. Morning started by popping back down to redo the practice, since I hadn't done anything for over 3 weeks I felt rusty but quickly got back into it. What made me nervous was clipping a cone on the swerve exercise. I had approached it far too fast which didn't give me enough reaction time. After 4 or 5 extra attempts I had it nailed. Off the the test centre we went. Me following the instructor which felt absolutely fine. Couple of times we had a car or two get in between but I managed to catch up. Got there and went through the test. I'd watched quite a few youtube videos of the Mod1 so knew exactly what to expect, the guy was pretty much word for word to those. Test over and on our way back, this time me leading. All fine until I hit a bit of national dual carriage way, I was behind a car doing 50mph. Normally if I was in my car I'd be out and past but on the bike I still felt like a learner and still thinking about being in a convoy so I stayed behind. Similar on the next bit of the road a slow moving van holding 3 or 4 cars up, I got in the fast lane and a car got between me and the instructor so i tried to find a gap behind the van where there wasn't any. Instructor radioed through to go a head of him which again, if i was in my car by myself I wouldn't have though twice about doing. Got back and chatted through those things. Went home and booked my mod2 for the 2nd and one final lesson (unless something serious come up) this Sunday. CBT feels like a long time ago now but it'll only be 10 weeks between CBT and mod2 which I don't think is too bad considering the weather we've had in that time. April 24th had an hour lesson on sunday in preparation for the mod2, what a disaster. Turned left out of the first junction and as far too wide, its a bit tight and i was a bit rusty so let it pass. 2 minutes later a right turn at a mini roundabout, for some reason I went straight over the middle of it, I'd probably done that a thousand times in my car but you cant do that on lessons/test. Bit further on coming up to a set of lights on red, its a bit a of a hill start and I stall, the bike was probably in second. Next issue was turning right into a junction, just clipping the centre line, there was nothing coming out so no harm done, but again you cant do that. Next was turning left out of a T junction, I see a car coming indicating to turn into the junction, i hit the junction too fast so left myself no time to react and ended up coming to an abrupt stop. Next was turning left a set of lights, no matter what I did I couldn't get the bike into first from neutral, pulling and releasing the clutch didn't help, nearly missed that set of lights. Really not happy with myself, I am now not sure what to do, i had planned on that being my last lesson before the pre test lesson. Now I'm considering squeezing another one in. May 2nd Mod2 day. 2 hour slot booked to have time to do some warm up then the test then get back. The hour before felt great, next to nothing wrong, maybe moved across on around about slightly early but nothing to be overly concerned about. Got to the test centre and my nerves really kicked in, dry mouth the lot. Meet the examiner, lovely lady. Do the sight test and a few questions, all straight forward. On the bike and off we go. About 2 minutes in I'm told to pull over and we'll do the independent riding section, head towards Newcastle she said. So off we went, literally after the first round about she says ok now head towards gateshead, then the next roundabout, head towards consett. I found this really off putting, I thought it was a head towards somewhere and that's all you would hear, I know I didn't take any wrong turns. I get more and more relaxed until near the end where we hit a roundabout where the markings have nearly totally worn away, so I got a bit flustered and end up stalling. I quickly got started up again and away so I knew I was fine, just a minor. Get back to the test centre, I go inside and she comes in about 5mins later. Sorry to say you've not passed, she said did I know why, I thought it was to do with the stall because i thought I hit the indicators when i was flustered and I was supposed to be going straight over. Turned out I left my indicator on out of the first junction and over the first round about it must have been pure nerves having done it so early on, but I'd done it in my lessons before so I couldn't argue. Ride back was absolutely perfect my trainer said, typical May 17th Mod2 attempt 2. Ride through to the centre, perfect ride through, he couldn't fault it at all. I knew what to expect more now. Sight and questions all fine and off we go. I'm pressing the indicator cancel button 5 or 6 times after every junction and the same again 20 seconds later independent ride this time we head towards newcastle and it stayed as head towards newcastle so that was better. The only issue i thought was right at the end, the last T junction. Turning right onto it, the road bends round to the left. A bus went past and it looked clear so I pulled out, as soon as I did a black polo appeared from behind the bus coming towards me. It was close enough that the examiner couldn't get out so i thought, I know that was close I bet he fails me right at the end. We get back 20 seconds later and I go inside and wait what feels like an eternity, he asked how I thought that was ect making me wait to see if I'd passed. I did, I said I thought that car at the end was going to do it, and he said it was fine he would have went if it was him. So no minors and a nice pass Now just need to get the finances together to buy a buy a bike, currently looking at a Honda CBR600F, would rather a Kawa ER6F but I think they are too new and will be out of my price range.

something like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jasmine-Balaclava-Thermal-Protection-Motorcycle/dp/B00743YB1K/ref=sr_1_12?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1519208097&sr=8-12&keywords=helmet+balaclava&refinements=p_76%3A419158031

Been to a local shop this afternoon and got a Shark skwal 2. Tried a few on and was the most comfortable in that. Got it for £200, which was more than I wanted to pay, but i figure you only have 1 head. I tried about 10 pairs of boots on until I found some I was comfortable in can't remember what they are, just a cheap brand, same with the gloves. They will do for my lessons, i can change them both later.

Didn’t know palm or wrist sliders were a thing. I’ll add them to my requirement list when looking for them. That helmet seems to be pretty well rated according too the sharp website.

thanks guys looking at this helmet, seems good value, https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/237398

I've got my first proper lesson on Saturday morning so I would like to get hold of some proper boots and gloves for that. I'm going to have to be buying a lot of new stuff all in one go so I am not wanting to spend a fortune. I'd rather by cheap and get good value for money, and if they only last 6-12 months that's fine because it breaks up the buying replacements. For a budget of about £120 for both I'd really them to be waterproof, but I understand for this price point your not getting goretex. I know the best thing to do is to go into a shop and try stuff on but I do find local shops are quite a bit worse value than online which is why I'm looking for recommendations. I can always buy something online to get in the next few days, then if I don't like the fit or something I can send them back and then go into a local shop on Friday.

Well that is the CBT out the way. There was only me and my wife on it which was really good. We briefly went through the classroom stuff, since we've both been driving for so long it was pretty straight forward. Then we were taken to a nearby car park. It's pretty large and the trainer was saying it was inspected and approved and they have an agreement with the owner. Went through the usual controls, starting, stopping, bite point ect. Then onto some gear changes, and observations (life saver ect) finally emergency stops. All that done then back to the shop to be radio'ed up. Then out we went. We both had a couple of stalls, but nothing to worry about. I found I kept forgetting that the indicator doesn't auto cancel, and I sometimes forgot which gear I was in. First half I led, second half she led. We had a short stop in the middle to discuss what we had done well and what not so well. Stuff like not doing a life saver check when avoiding parked cars was something I didn't think about. I definitely feel like I could do with some more practice but I guess that's the whole point of being on L plates, you're not going to be ready for the test after one day. I was swaying backwards and forwards all day to whether to get a 125 to practice on for a few months. But for the price of them, for how short a time I'd have it and for having to avoid a motorway part of my commute means I've booked my first proper lesson for next saturday. Made me feel good when the owner asked the cbt instructor if I should start on a big bike and he said "oh yea". Doing it with my wife was actually really good, we were able to advise each other and were unusually supportive of each other I think the plan going forward will be for me to do the lessons and tests the buy a bike. Once we've done that then I'll take my wife to the car park so she can do some pre-lesson practice so it takes her less time (and costs us less) when she comes to doing the full lessons. Can you be taught on your own bike, obviously if your insured? Can you get insurance if your not a bike school? She likes the idea of getting used to riding one bike.

booked my CBT for sunday, just me and my wife on it I believe. Not sure if it's wise us both doing it together at the same time We've both been driving for over 10 years and I cycle to work sometime so I'm used to road positioning, shoulder checks ect. We'll see if we can get to the end of the day without killing each other.

Really the top and bottom of it is is that there are c*nts on both sides. There is a recently build dedicated cycle lane through Newcastle, it is fully segregated with dedicated cyclist traffic lights. The number of cyclists I see (and shout at) for jumping the red light is unbelievable. Totally indefensible. There was also a van driver not so long ago that kept weaving in front of me in traffic as I was filtering and ended up opening his door while moving slowly to try and knock me off. If everyone had some consideration for others there wouldn't be this argument. I think this lack of consideration is partially down to people not understanding why other road users have the opinions they have. How many drivers know what a cyclists primary and secondary positioning is for, I bet it is a low percentage. Similarly those cyclists who are holding traffic up just because they they don't realise how difficult it is too get past.

why? they have as much a legal right to be on the road as anyone else? Should you ban those cart things being pulled be horses and say people can only ride the horse in single file? Also there is the argument that it is actually easier to pass than single file. Maybe not for motorbike but definitely for cars. If a car is overtake 4 cyclists in a line, and the length between the first wheel and back wheel is 20m. The car has to find a space where they can get out to the opposite lane for 20m and get back in safely. Now if the cyclists are 2x2, that distance is only 10m. So they car actually has less of a distance to overtake meaning they can be out and back in quicker, giving more chance to overtake.

ok sorry, I'm with you now. Do your saying cycling on the pavement is illegal (as it is now, just not enforced) and people have to cycle on the road with insurance/ test. That's fine and I agree, the issue is with those younger cyclists, kids playing about the local streets, should people not be allowed to ride a push bike until they are 16 for example when they can be tested/taxed? The ride down the side of the road vs the middle is a totally different argument. If I'm on my push bike and I'm approaching a junction I will absolutely take a middle of the lane. Before I was confident enough to do that I had people pushing past me to turn left in front of me, if I'm in the middle of the lane they cant do that so it keeps us both safer. Same if we are approaching a blind bend in the road, ill take the middle in case there is something coming round the corner in the opposite direction. I know if I'm being overtaken while that happens, then whoever is overtaking me will swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle, probably straight into me. So again I don't allow that situation to arise.

then do you ride on the road and have drivers/ motor bike riders complaining your getting in their way?

how would you police this? Would a 5 year old on a push bike with stabilisers riding next to their parents on the path need training and insurance? I agree you should have to be tested and insured to use the roads on a push bike, but if you do that you'll just push people onto the pavement. I know one section of road i regularly cycle alone I can hit 30-35mph, if I was on the path and there was someone walking with their kids it would be extremely dangerous. I am not sure what the solution is.