houltmac

Well done mate! Enjoy it.

Congrats mate! That's awesome news!

Like most of the others I did it on an ER-5 in second. Stick it in second early, keep speed through the bend but don't go overboard, then pin the throttle until the trap. Throttle right off immediately when you are through the trap and not before or you may loose the vital 1-2mph. Engine braking will take it from there and you should get away with a gentle and mindful braking zone (touch front, add rear, squeeze gently but progressively). Be mindful also of the stopping area on the swerve. I stopped so easily I had to get off the brakes for a second to make sure I made it to the stopping area.

Thanks again guys. I have actually just ordered a CRG mirror along with their gold short levers. I think gold will look pretty good on an all black bike. BTW, I finalised the order today so Kawasaki will ship it next week, ready to collect March 1.

Thanks for the suggestion, I never think of Amazon when I think about bikes, though I don't know why. I have heard some not so great things about Oberon mirrors, but I really like the look of the CRG Hindsight LS mirror. It's apparently only available through one distributor in the UK, but they seem priced on par with the US. I am pretty keen to try them.

I have been looking at bar end mirrors for a while now. The ZX doesn't have the best mirrors and they are kinda ugly, so I thought about doing away with them and getting some bar ends instead. Actual function of them seems to be pretty good overall, but the CRG's are generally rated the best as far as I can tell. Well made, very good glass and they have one pair that fold in for filtering and parking tight against the wall - pretty cool. I'm struggling to find places who sell them in the UK though. My questions then: 1. Does anyone here use bar end mirrors and are they all they are cracked up to be? 2. Do you legally have to have 2 mirrors in the UK? Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks guys. The ride home was good fun actually. I listened to some great shows, stayed really warm (don't know why but my hands were actually warm!) and met some good people at the services. Sadly, I did end up ranting at some moron who tried to cut me up so much that I missed the M42 junction but it just made the fun last longer. There was also a big tail-back at one point (on the M5 I think, don't remember) which I skipped through nicely much to all the cagers disgust. I was too cold to take pics when I arrived, but I did take this one of breakfast. Looks good eh? http://files.droplr.com/files/4166501/8Yffm.IMG_0017.jpg

Everyone still on for this? It's meant to be around freezing tomorrow but I'm up for it if you are (it's a couple of hours for me each way).

I have some Oxford riding socks and Knox ColdKillers socks on top of my Alpinestars boots (which have an innie) so my feet don't get too cold generally. On the really chilly days they can, but it's not often. Regardless, I got a pair of foot warmers for Christmas. I don't remember the brand and I've thrown the box away so sorry about that. They were in a red box and from Hein Gericke I am told. They sit as in-soles in your boots with a small wire coming out the top of the boot. Another "Y-splitter" wire goes down your legs to connect to them and then out the top of your trousers and plugs into the bike. The wire off the bike is tiny and sticks out under my seat currently. It's hooked directly to the battery and has it's own inline fuse. At some point I'll do it properly and do my TomTom at the same time, but for now it works. I had to test ride it today and just did a 1 hour stint between local towns. They worked really well. Very noticeable and if anything a little uncomfortable as I was plenty warm enough anyway. I'm not one for that kind of thing but they work well. Don't know how much I'll use them but appreciated none the less.

I wear a Digg one sometimes. Does that make me a chav or a geek?

I wouldn't trade my Alpinstars gear for anything right now. I love it. I have a T-RC1 and I love love love it. It's comfy, cool, very warm in the cold, protective and stylish. The only single thing I'd change about it would be that I wish I had it in black, not blue. Blue won't match my next bike and the white looks horribly dirty so easily. I will certainly be getting the leather RC-1 jacket soon also. I also have the Alpinestars Street Cargo Pants. Again, love them. The only thing I don't like is that my jacket will zip to other Alpinstars pants, but not these. I think that was fixed and I got old stock, but they are a little hard to find around here. Anyway, highly recommended. I also like watching reviews over at SportBikeTrackGear's YouTube page. Some relevant reviews are listed below. Jacket video review: "> and "> Pants video review: ">

Congrats on passing! Don't worry, the grin is there to stay.

Assuming I have my bike back by then I'll be there for sure.

I've asked the same of a couple of DAS instructors and a couple of advanced instructors and had very different responses. DAS instructors say wait 12-18 months and get some miles under your belt. Advanced (mostly RoSPA) instructors say do it right away before you develop bad habits. It's always a good time to get better right?

Interesting. I missed your previous comments but that really reinforces my loathing for them. I'll stick with the full face personally. Thanks for pointing that out.

This is wonderful information TC, thanks. I have saved this locally and will look over it before my first RoSPA encounter. That said, choosing Gloucestershire from the RoSPA website drop down results in a dead link. Good start eh?

Don't be sorry TC, I enjoyed your rambling. It was exactly what I was looking for. I would like to have the social side of biking, but I can do that through forums like this and not through advanced training. As you say, I'd prefer quality. You have me convinced for sure, now when are you free?

I know the police wear flip front, but it's always been a worry for me. Essentially they have the potential to become open faced, or as I like to call them "useless". I have heard people talking about plastic vs metal pins to hold the chin guard in place so that would be worth looking for. Other than that I have no advice about them since I've only ever owned full face helmets.

I find I tend to turn the volume down around town where the wind noise is less obtrusive and it's better to be able to hear the cars around me and of course sirens (more and more it seems I need to hear sirens). When I get out on the motorway I can't hear the music so well but I don't want to pull over to turn up the volume! Wearing only my summer gloves it's no problem using the inline controls on the headphones for everything else, it would just be nice to be able to do that with winter mode turned on. Also, volume would be nice as I say. Finally I'd like to get rid of wires. I have a setup that, so long as I don't want to skip or change volume or stop the music when it's cold works fine right now. Headphones fit inside helmet and even at motorway volume will still be over-ridden with directions from TomTom via Scala. The TomTom/Scala works fine, as does answering calls through it from my iPhone. I just wish I had more control over the music at times. Less wires is always good too, though it's pretty simple to tuck into the jacket.

Cheers Pete, the new bike certainly looks the way to go. I did look at that remote, but couldn't decipher a way to mount it. Perhaps I'll lay down some cash and see what I come up with.

I like to listen to music when I'm riding, especially on longer trips or on the motorway. Most of the time my current setup is fine. I have the iPod headphones in (not exactly comfy all day, but my UE ones won't fit inside my helmet) and play madly with the inline clicker to skip tracks occasionally. I can pause and resume given 5-10 minutes notice but I can't change volume. I'd like to get something I can stick on my bars and use buttons to control volume as well as play/pause/skip. Something wireless ideally. Anyone have any ideas? I was also thinking that since I don't have any decent headphones I can use on the bike I may as well check out playing music through the scala headset thingy I never really use. If anyone has any experience of a good FM transmitter or other setup for this I'd appreciate it. In fact, if anyone has a better iPhone setup period, I'd appreciate it.

Since my accident I have thought a lot about my riding since I can't actually do any. I have also watched some YouTube videos, got a couple of DVDs and started reading some books to help me improve. Then I started talking to a guy who is a police riding instructor. he's a really nice guy and very eager to help me improve, but a couple of things stood out for me. 1. Right (RoSPA) and wrong (DSA) ways to ride - it seems everything you were taught to allow you to pass your DSA test were wrong. Everything you thought was off it turns out was, and the niggles they kept pulling you for were also unnecessary. If even police instructors believe this to be the case, why don't we all just learn right in the first place and make it part of the test? I guess it's the same thing with tinted visors though eh? 2. There are tons of different courses, tests and so on you can do to get "advanced training" and money off your insurance. While the cash will be nice, my aim is purely to be a better rider. I have been told without doubt RoSPA is the way to go. Anyone here fancy sharing an experience? I guess I'm wondering how long it took people before they did the test, and how they felt it all went. Quote a generalisation I realise but just some examples would be good. Anyway, I just thought I'd start a conversation around it and see where it all leads. Thoughts appreciated.

I use one of those every day, very nice. It holds a ton of stuff and nothing has got even remotely damp so far. It also holds my laptop nice and secure, though I do have it in it's own case before I put it in the holder, in the bag. She ain't getting wet then!

I have the full ColdKillers kit and can't say enough good things about it. I have the balaclava (easily the best I have used), the top, the gloves (wonderful), the trousers (especially good for the days you only wear jeans or are going down the motorway for a while) and the socks (an absolute must). I am so toasty warm now you have to remember it's cold when you stop and get undressed!

I have been trying to solve the winter glove issue for a while, but only today did I manage it. I have a pair of Alpinestars SP-X gloves which are a summer glove without a wrist protection. I love them; super comfy and great feel of the controls. I also have a pair of winter gloves... Buffalo somethings... which I can't use. They are fairly warm, but not as good as you'd think. They are so thick though that I can only grip the right bar with my index finger and thumb as the fingers won't bend round the bar. It's super painful after a while and not too safe. Also, the clutch can slip into 3 positions and I don't have much finer control than that. I don't like riding in them. I bought some liners for 89p and they helped a little. I then got some Knox liners from their ColdKillers range and they were great; so much better. The problem was that the SP-X's are only a large and fitting them over the liners stretches them and is also really tight; a pain to do quickly. Today I went to the NEC Bike Show and bought a pair of Alpinestars SP-1 gloves. I bought XXXL in order to have plenty of room for my Knox liners to fit under them comfortably. They also have a gauntlet style but are fairly lightweight and flexible. Wearing these home tonight (about 1.5 hours) in ever colder conditions was super warm and comfy. Combined with my other ColdKillers gear (socks, trousers, and top) I was toasty warm for the whole journey. The only things that got cold were my ears. I should have worn my balaclava too eh?