SometimesSansEngine

Seconded on Calimoto. Most general sat navs give you a direct route but not an interesting route. With apps such as these the algorithm should give you a more interesting route. I do generally plan my route on the Calimoto website first and then amend as necessary - it does suggest some "interesting" roads which may be fine depending on your specific bike, but you may want to avoid. You can then save the route and open it up in the app to navigate by (yet it'll still be dynamic - if you miss a turn or decide that looks like a country lane you don't want to go down it'll reroute) One pro-tip - if even you lock the phone orientation the app does still override this and change its orientation occasionally whilst riding (dang I didn't think I leaned over THAT FAR), there's a setting in the app to prevent this.

A motorbike I'll always be lidded up and in full gear. I feel weird even riding the bike a short stretch on the drive to check the operation of the brakes without being suited and booted. But there's potentially an argument on residential type roads if you're only on a moped for it not to be so important. That's not to say I definitely would go without if legally allowed, but if you're doing 20-30mph I'm not sure it's as risky as you think. Those of you who think that statement above is terrible might want to look up the rate of incidences of head trauma in car crashes and then start wearing a helmet in a car too.

No, Tony Oliver. Speed sign was just outside Bishop Sutton.

What was it like getting them back out of that gravel [mention]JRH[/mention]?

We went up the ski lift at Glencoe Mountain Resort last week, a fun and easy way to get to the top, lovely views.

That break between tests must have been agony! Well done

So I never updated this. In May 2019 I have my pre-test assessment by a National Observer in our group. That went well. I got assigned my assessor and we arranged to meet up at Riders of Bristol. I'd been told that the moment the assessor sees you you're on test. I originally planned to try and get to the car park before him but no, he was keener than me. As I pulled in I had a gut feeling that chap waiting there was for me. So I pulled in making full observations, did some nice slow riding around the car park, chose my parking spot, pulled up, tried to select neutral.... into second.... popped it down.... back up.... second. back down.... Rolled the bike forward and back a touch.... up with the gentlest of gentlest touches... second. Darn it. I can feel the eyes burning on me... Forget it. I'm going to stop the bike in gear and remember to select neutral when we get going. I always start the engine with the clutch pulled in anyway. Maybe he didn't see it. "I presume you're here for your IAM test, and it's nice to see your Kawasaki has that charming can't find neutral when you need to feature" he says Needless to say my assessor was lovely from start to finish. He was very clear that he was strict on speed limits at all times, but that I was currently a pass and it was just up to me to keep that opinion. He explained the route and even said there was one point he knew a speed limit sign was heavily obscured and I was unlikely to see it. He'd reported it to the council several times and if I went past it and he thought I hadn't seen it he'd give a speed up signal, but not to worry as it wouldn't count against me. So off we went, great conditions to start with and a mix of town, residential, rural and dual carriageway, then on one of the planned turn offs the road was closed. I eased to a stop and looked in my mirrors to see the plan - wave on so just carried on. Then the weather changed and in came the rain. In my head I knew I was going to have to admit the truth to him - every bike assessment I'd ever successfully done, from my CBT to mod 1 to mod 2 and now this had involved rain.... We pulled back in and sought shelter in the dealership from the rain. Very quickly he told me that he was pleased to say I'd met the standard, then gave me some feedback. He said that he was impressed that I'd only been riding for 14 months, although he was very clear that he would have assessed me just the same if my riding experience was 14 years. He picked at one time I took a left position on a right hand bend in flowing traffic and said there was no need. There was no benefit and if I had an idiot behind me they might consider squeezing an overtake 'just because'. And finally he said I'd missed two left hand signals to exit a roundabout. I was really sure I had done them all BUT took this as feedback that maybe I wasn't doing them soon enough and they ended up being easy for him to miss (or really did miss them). Even if I felt I'd done them, clearly he didn't see them. And if he didn't see them then the random Rossi wannabe following me one day may not and thinks they can accelerate up my nearside to take the exit that I also want to. So I'll try and have a think about my timing of those. Finally he commented on my smoothness and use of gears - he mentioned that he'd seen me working the gearbox as I had to do on a 650cc, and that many people who present for their assessment are on bigger machines and barely have to move around the gearbox. At this point I admitted about the rain... When my test report came through I was a whisker off a first. Just a satisfactory on the signals. But I was very happy with that. My final thoughts on IAM: - it's very worthwhile doing. You are likely to learn stuff - but I will always take all opinion and suggestions with a healthy pinch of salt - I think to 'swallow the manual' is not to be advanced, and most national observers I've chatted to have the same opinion - 'it depends' really is the best answer most of the time - I find the lack of radio use archaic. I believe most people would improve faster with more immediate feedback. I do understand the idea of having to use observations to pick up where to go, but I still think feedback would be more invaluable closer to the moment - I still haven't been out on any more group rides. They're just not my thing

Listed it for sale

[mention]Gerontious[/mention] it was only earlier this year I was telling a friend "I'll have owned it two years in August and I still love it and don't see any reason to change"......

Weekend after next - they think it'll be available in the week but it's a bit of a journey to collect. And yep, you guessed right from the scant details

Well, the big benefit hopefully is that rather than having to clean and maintain two chains (myself and Magpie84's) I now only have to clean and maintain one I'm now off before she reads this....

I'm becoming one of those BMW bores (do you want to hear all about the benefits of belt drive over chain drive?)

This video really makes the force of the blast hit home

I couldn't let her have all the fun, so I agreed to purchase my next bike today. Need to lose the green in my profile pic though

Looking good, and so does the bike Richard!! He's right though - good for you! Only just seen this. Taken. On all counts. The bike (by her) Her (by me) The photo (by me)

Here's what it looked like just last week pre-landslide.... Seems like we chose the right week to go up (this week was an option)

Yeah it popped up as I was interested in this model, I had the same thoughts about it being well maintained - but the luggage solution wasn't right for my needs.

Spotted for sale on Facebook... Was wondering if you are allowed to keep the decals on and ride around to scare learners? (£4k with 34k miles in case you're interested....)

He may just be in his own head then, based on what you've said. Sleep on it and see how you feel. I imagine you've been given the feedback with the best of intentions, but if you're sure you're up for it then maybe it's worth a punt.

If they were trying to make a fast buck I'd have assumed he'd have suggested extra training to the other person too. Fact is people being put in for their test before they're ready isn't really in their interests either. I don't know you, the instructor or your riding but have a gut feeling that in the future you may look back and think it was money well spent.

Well done on the pass!

Should they not restrict new car drivers too then to say maximum of 1 litre and it can't be bigger than a small hatchback then why should car drivers get to pass their tests and be allowed to drive whatever they want I honestly believe that there should be the same restrictions so to speak as with bikes I'm reasonably sure there's plenty of evidence for how young people crash. Late at night, friends in car etc. That's why some other countries restrict even the times of day and number of passengers a new driver can take. I guess it just takes a government with the cajones to propose it and deal with the short term blowback. I honestly think given time people would be amazed there were days there weren't such restrictions.

I've only ever dealt with a good bike school but can only believe it makes a difference, having read experiences from people who got a bad experience. I'm still in touch with them today. Maintenance you pick up as you go along, don't worry about that. If you have Amazon Prime Witham's Workshop is free on Prime Video and covers most basics.

Graded licencing is a great idea, I wish it applied to cars too. It's mental that a 17 year old can pass a test and drive a high powered vehicle later the same day. As for standards, having gone through a CBT the thought of my eldest in just a few years being able to be let loose on the roads after just a day's training scares the bejeesus out of me a bit Overtaking is one of the most dangerous things you'll do in any vehicle so I don't think taking away that option from a young person is a bad thing. If that makes me a boring old fuddy duddy then so be it.

We went up to Glencoe and past the Green Welly Shop last Friday - albeit in a very uninspiring Citroen C3 rental car. We were most jealous of all the bikers we were pulling to the side to help pass as we were stuck behind yet another terribly slow erratic driver (they're everywhere up there, not just tourists as all the locals seem to have Arnold Clark stickers in the rear window to help identify them). I'm not an impatient driver but when someone is doing 38 in a 60 then brakes hard for a bend down to 25 then slowly accelerates back up to 38 it starts to grate after a while. Then changed our mind on wanting to be on a bike a bit in the 7 mile traffic jam as a torrential thunderstorm suddenly hit us on our way back on the western shore of Loch Lomond - didn't look to be too much fun to be on a bike at that point.