SometimesSansEngine

Not the answer you are looking for but I would highly recommend this excellent series of videos. Don't be put off by the title , each video explains things in such a way that it doesn't really matter what bike it is . Matt the producer is a natural teacher , he's also funny and swears a lot . He also makes more general videos under the title of The Workshop. Check out a few of them and let us know what you think .

Just got to episode 10 - fork seals. Unintentionally hilarious, but only because I too have done those "simple" jobs that turn out to multi hour epics

Hello, i’m Ready to change the oil on my bike, I do not have a centre stand. Do I need to buy a device/stand thing or can I manage without?

 

make sure you know where the cat is

Three pages and for me this was the most useful takeaway

Having babbled, the long and short of it is what more is there to do besides going out and making mistakes on the road? You learn very quickly by bad mistakes but sometimes they are a little too costly out on the public roads.

I asked the guys at the CBT centre if there was anything else I could do as part of structured physical training and all they tell you is to get out there.

Does it not seem crazy to anyone else that the group of riders who need the tuition the most can’t do anything the fully licenced riders have access to? Do I seriously have to get on a 650 at the test centre and say I’m wanting to do the DAS before I get any more structured learning? If I got on a 650 right now with my clutch and throttle control, bad things would happen!

I’ll be doing a lot of riding around quiet car parks and mastering this skill but I still wish there was more out there on offer for us new riders! It’s a really daunting time for me now. There’s nobody watching my back from now on!

As for this bit... this is something I have a soap box about

So I'm now pretty much in my mid-thirties. I have driven since I was 17 and ride my road bike more than I drive a car. I went into my CBT have pretty good road sense, and stuff about positioning for visibility and turns, counter steering etc is all pretty natural for me.

I still found mentally processing the transition to a motorbike draining on the day, hence why I couldn't have gone out and ridden even if I did have a bike waiting. I was the same after any big bike training, it's a long, intense day.

The thought of a young kid with zero road experience doing a couple of hours around cones in a car park, then two hours (assuming they haven't gone with a dodgy school) on a road to just be waved off with a certificate to 'learn by doing' scares the bejesus out of this dad.

Chatting to one of the instructors I had for big bike training, he explained that he refuses to do CBTs because he dealt with too many parents who were upset that he wouldn't give a kid a certificate when he felt they weren't yet ready.

And of course, at the moment if you're 17 there's probably no massive incentive to do your A1 licence and get the extra training because you have all the cost only to ride the same bike for a few years.

So the best you can do is take a bit of pride in your personal development and practice in a car park. Some people won't do that but if you do it'll only make you a better rider.

See, I told you that the topic gets me on a soapbox, and I'm still a novice biker

I did my CBT in March. I was mentally done in at the end of the day. I hadn't collected my bike yet but no way would I have been able to go out if it was waiting.

I collected my bike from the dealership and rode it home because the dates available for delivery were meh. Took it as gingerly as you'd imagine, having plotted a slightly convoluted route that I knew would avoid many busy roads. I was getting up to speed but hyper aware of my lack of experience.

Then when I went out after it was always in the evening when things were a touch quieter, and I'd do some quiet roads then get into a car park and do some more practising.

Take it steady and you'll be all over it before you know it

As for clutch, remember unlike a car it's a wet clutch and you can slip it (feather it) much longer than you would a car, and in fact that's the key to reducing your jerkiness. Controlling the clutch through junctions and roundabouts was a big learning point for me (nb don't pull it all the way in whilst manoeuvring, that's bad as I realised when doing slow speed manoeuvres on a big bike )

Yup, I've received recall notices before, but there's always a chance the letter is unopened, or they're not currently at that address, or the letter gets lost (don't tell my wife I said that last one, since she's a postie )

Just on the off chance you know anyone who bought an MV Agusta between February and March...

https://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/expand.asp?uniqueID=54D88E611F598439802582CD002A0596&freeText=Blank&tx=

Only 16 bikes but I'd hate not to share and someone carries on riding one of them...

WTF do you need GPS on a motor bike for . Just ride the dam thing and when you get to last few miles on your gas you fill up and then where are we .. that was a fantastic ride now late see where that roads goes . Don't need some gps turn left turn right crap ...

 

Fundamentally hate having my phone stuck on my bike and fully endorse the “let’s see where that road goes method” but as someone who should get sat nav on prescription I couldn’t survive without it. I was using your aforementioned let’s see where it goes method on a test ride a couple of weeks ago and had the usual “it’ll come out somewhere” thought before the slow and painful dawning I was in Wales and no it won’t necessarily come out anywhere in fact in was looking decidedly unpopulated and unsigned. My hours test ride ended up at two hours and thank god for sat nav. Would have been in trouble without it, didn’t have a clue how much fuel they’d put in and there were no petrol stations either!

Back on topic- I still fail to grasp how we can’t have access to something we’ve paid for unless it’s a possessions 9/10s of the law nonsense.

Please tell me you went over the Severn Crossing and didn't realise

of the wife mate

 

@SometimesSansEngine we’re not all weirdos living vicariously..... mostly though, just not all.

I'm upset she's getting all the attention and no-one wants to see photos of me tbh

Pics of my wife or if the shop she bought some trousers from?

So we took a ride to Helmet City Somerset in Cheddar today on the recommendation of a friend. Very friendly place, offered a cup of tea as soon as we walked in and my wife managed to find some Goretex Richa trousers that fitted perfectly

So she's aware but also looking for a bit more choice, .

 

HAHAHA well I hope she likes pink! *cries*

Ha, unfortunately a frequent moan of her and all my female cycling friends too

She has a set of Bull-it jeans from them, they're OK for her but only without any armour in. To do that she'd have to go up a size but then they'd be huge on the waist.

So she's aware but also looking for a bit more choice, which is something I guess us men usually enjoy - if a certain brand/style doesn't fit you specifically there's an alternative to try instead.

My wife is 6 foot 1 and at her wits end (not with me)

Does anyone know of any decent motorcycle clothing for the taller lady?

Women's jackets always seems to come up short in the arms.

She can't wear men's jackets as that doesn't allow for space for... well... her bosom.

As for trousers, long leg for women often seems to mean 32 inch leg, which means she'd be riding in three quarter lengths. She's tried men's trousers on but women seem to have wider hips than us (presumably to facilitate childbirth, which we don't need to worry about).

If I help her crack this I could end up husband of the year, so help me be a hero everyone

By way of an update, I've decided for now to get a Kriega drybag instead, figuring it's not often than I actually need to leave my helmet (and if that changes I'll deal with it when I get there)

So when your bike gets nicked in London you want them to take your helmet too? Cool

Ha, miles outside of London in the West Country with the train taking the strain

I'll just add - on my 125 I was happy to use rok straps to tie down a bag on the pillion seat, which I'd still happily do but more thinking of having something lockable. I had to go to London via the train a couple of months ago and didn't fancy leaving my helmet at the train station so had to take it with me, a right faff.

This is why I've also already disregarded things like tail bags

I don't go seeking them but do watch if shared. Do sometimes watch the bikers Vs car compilations but more to evaluate how (usually) neither side helped the situation...

I'll start off by admitting that I'm probably being a bit of a tart here...

I fancy fitting a top box to my ER6F, but would ideally want something not too fugly if I take the box off (as I want to take it off when not using it) and/or one that I could easily remove in say ten mins if I wanted to.

Is anyone aware of one? The genuine Kawasaki one is of course the best part of £200, I see Givi do one too but hard to tell how *cough* pretty it is when the top box isn't on it.

Would then ideally want to get a box that my helmet would fit in.

Well done [mention]TPP87[/mention], I've watched loads of RJH's videos on YouTube so it's good to know that they're as good in real life as they are online

Well done [mention]Lanceautoman[/mention], I failed a driving test in 2002 for doing 40 in a 30, even though they acknowledged the sign announcing the start of the new limit had been removed a few days before. I was told that I should have worked it out from the streetlights. Nice to see a bit more common sense can prevail.

I managed to buy a bike a few days after my pass and hadn't ridden between passing and calling my insurer so managed to pay just the one admin fee!

Yes, she's been riding a 125 to work and now I'm (slowly) talking her into doing her full license - she's now having the same confidence issues with the thoughts of doing that, but she'll get there.

It can be a lot to take in at first, I know my brain was racing after my CBT, but with time you look back and wonder what the fuss was about.

Fingers crossed for you Sharon

be cool................you will do it

 

thank you so nervous though lol

I know it's hard but try not to be. My wife had a 'clutch pop' moment on her CBT that threw her a bit. She skipped the road ride that day and went back a few weeks later when they next had space. She almost didn't go back, even though I knew from seeing her riding up to that point that she would be fine.

The right bike school will be patient with you and build up your confidence, it doesn't have to be all in one day.

The two examiners in Bristol are both really nice guys. You feel like they’d like you pass and it’s down to you to mess it up. Which when I did mess up my first attempt at mod one I found the examiner so pleasant about it I really didn’t mind so much.

@Lanceautoman Good luck.

Agreed - someone I know who failed his mod 2 a few times there said "they're all up their own arse" and pretty much told me I was in for a hard time trying to pass. But he's... well... opinionated and quite often up HIS own arse so I think it's safe to say be polite to them and they'll be polite back.

Excellent write up there. I have my Mod 2 tomorrow. How many minors did you actually get?

No problem, hope it helped

It was three in the end for that and being a bit under the speed limit at times (feedback was "you were doing 26 to 27 in a 30, 36 to 37 in a 40" as well as the comment on rapidly accelerating), all probably fair and I was definitely in "test mode" of trying not to look like I was hooning around in a reckless way! No other minors anywhere else.

I came back via the ring road last night after picking up my new bike and was definitely putting all of that into practice (legally, I had my family in the car behind and was aiming to arrive home at the same time as them as my wife had the house keys on her )

Good luck tomorrow, if I can give you one more bit of advice it's ride like you've already passed. That might be hard but I promise when you pass and you ride home, and if you jump on a big bike after, you ride in such a more confident way. Just like that. It's hard to explain. But it's like that tenseness of always wanting to ride correctly goes away, and you just become more natural in your riding, which in turn makes you ride better. A happy circle. I noticed it when we rode to lunch after my test and then riding home after the other lad out with us did his test. I was still with my instructor, we still had radios in, I was still on the school bike, but I felt so much more natural on the bike, like I belonged on it and deserved to be on it. Same when I picked my bike up yesterday. Within 50 metres I felt like I'd ridden it for years and was cruising around Patchway, Filton and then the ring road (all roads I'm unfamiliar with) with ease.

Try and visualise that and transfer it to your riding if you can The examiner is just a sat nav who happens to be following you, and you're just out for a pleasant half an hour ride.

Have fun

Edit: I see [mention]Slowlycatchymonkey[/mention] in a way did similar, thinking it was a test fail early, so just relaxed and just rode around. End result: a pass https://www.themotorbikeforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=1041890#p1041890

A very humble Honda CBF125. They may look a bit basic to some, but for me it's what I've cut my teeth on for four months whilst doing my full licence. Did a charity ride out on it for the local air ambulance, who once came to a medical emergency involving my daughter so it meant a lot to me. A small 125 amongst lots of vintage bikes and Harleys but I put some ribbons in the colours of the air ambulance on it to add a special touch and rode it with pride.

Now passed my full test and picked up my big bike today, I've done over a thousand happy miles on it since I picked it up in April, some with my wife on her Yamaha who did her CBT at the same time. The picture is our bikes together at a cafe stop on a day we managed to have someone else to have the kids.

In a weird way I'll be sorry to see her go.