jimglasgow

Went up to the Green Keetle today and had a ball, met loads of bikers including 20 Russians on Harley's doing a tour of Scotland, not to mention the beautiful girls with them and I mean beautiful

Another one from Glasgow...Just passed my test in June got myself a Suzuki GSX 650F done 700 miles so far considering its just for leisure, struggling to find meets?

Don't know if anyone has posted this information, but I read in MCN this week the Roads Minister Penning responsible has instructed a review of the Mod 1 Test, too late for me, but never mind may help those thinking about getting their bike licence

Hi Folks

Just a brief note to say im over the moon at passing my Mod 2. Had a hell of a morning session in the pouring rain and had resigned myself to failing in the afternoon. Was informed an earlier slot was available and did i want to take it, thought to myself, what the hell, I wouldn't get any better in an another hour, so went for it. Anyawy of we set down a route which I was familiar with even though i didnt come from the area, it was covered by the instructor. Rather than going into all the detail, the upshot was i passed.

For those learning or taking their test, it just proves put everything behind you and focus on the test, if I can do it, so can you. I'm 45yrs old and did the course from CBT to Mod 2 in 2 weeks.

Picked up my new bike today GSX650F from Cupar Motorcycles in Fife and rode with my mate 70 Miles home in the sunshine it was great. Can't wait for more days like today

Attempt No3; two weeks later still in pain with knuckles but the swelling had gone and determind this time i refuse to give up.. passed with 1 minor, very happy....

On to Mod2.....

Yes well done and having a great attitude..

Hi Folks sat my Mod 1 DAS Test today and passed. Yesterday I was all over the place, missed the swerve, foot down on U turns, you name it happened. The bike just didnt feel good yesterday, when i was on the road and test centre all the mistakes I made continued to play on mind all night. The guy i worked with yesterday didnt put a foot wrong on practice sessions yesterday.Today I met him before going through and he failed I was SHOCKED and it mayed me more nervous. However I got on my bike prior to test and it felt good. Tried some U turns beforehand seemed to be going well, no swerve test beforehand. Off to the test centre trying to get focused. During the test every element went well especially the Swerve Test (58) and Emergency Brake Test (61), lets hope i never have to use them.

For those about about to take the course two pieces of advice i would like to give aand are jsut my view.

1. Find a school who has access to the actual test course, hadnt i got a trial at the Test Centre I would have been more daunted at what i was facing. Although what I would say there is plenty of room.

2. Put your bad thoughts and nightmare manouvers behind you and you will be fine as its another day.

3. Most of all enjoy and don't get to anxious,

Now I am looking forward to Part 2.

Jim

Hi

I got my XR1100 out of hein gericke should have cost £379 got it for £303, as anything over £200 there were taking 20% off dont know if they are still doing it. IThis was only laast week

http://www.hein-gericke.co.uk/shop/

Good luck

Oh no what have i started

its pink

go for the newer colour scheme,just the simple fact everyone has the older colour,ive just got a nice black one..mean n moody

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae247/fazerboy1969/BoykIQQBGkKGrHqEH-DcEubC90fFBLo4h5i.jpg

I agree i like the new colours schemes better

No, it is pink.

I think I'd go with the old style as the new one reminds me too much of the girlie styling of the Gladius.

I'm not going to get all defensive but when you look at the pictures it looks PINK, but be reassured its MAGENTA unless you colour blind, when you see it in the showroom you will appreciate what I'm saying:D

Thanks mate quite detailed feedback. To answer your question here is the following

1. Its a GSX 650F.

2. My garage is under my room and its also part of the house alarm.

3. Frig knows what i will do when out and about, didnt want to a a frigging chainaround with me. that said, most of my motorcycling will be for pleasure so it shouldnt be out of my sight

Look forward to further advice

 

Assuming your house alarm is used every night:

No need to add an alarm to the bike itself as well (the house alarm will be far more effective and far less hassle and bother). Chain and ground anchor the bike in the garage every time it's in there. As you're essentially relying very heavily on this chain (min. 80%...) i'd recommend an Almax series 3 (i refuse to recommend a (silently) croppable chain, so that pretty much does restrict me to Almax), with suitable ground anchor - attached through the frame of the bike to the anchor whenever it's parked in the garage. The series 3 is also portable (just - but far better than the series 4 which is outright not portable - and also the series 3 is cheaper than the 4).

I'd recommend a tank bag if you plan to take the chain with you on the bike and suggest this is probably best for when you're out and about too, if you can be bothered to use it properly (frame of bike <-> immovable object), every time (if not, be prepared for the worst one day). If you're not going to use it every time, you should probably leave the Almax at home every time, otherwise you'll kick yourself when it goes on the one time you didn't bother, and instead use a quality (price is not proportional to quality a lot of the time!) alarmed disc lock to deter casual thieves (this being, in my mind, an easy to use, easy to carry minimum standard). You can store the disc lock under your seat. And carry a lucky charm

A compromise solution (arguably best of both worlds) for out and about - carry and properly use the Almax on the times when you're going to be leaving the bike unattended (i.e. it's going to be out of your sight and hearing for longer than a few seconds), every time. This would mean that when you pop into the corner shop you can leave the chain at home and just use your alarmed disc lock, and on the time you plan to go shopping for a new kitchen in Wickes (i.e. big stores where you aren't going to be able to see and hear the bike from the back of the shop) or are going to stop somewhere overnight, pop the tank bag on, and take the Almax on that occasion.

What i would say though, is to stick to whatever you decide. Have a system.

Alot of people recommend covers, but i find them to be a faff (on the other hand, i ride an "undesirable" commuter rather than an "attractive" sports bike).

A random idea, considered security tagging? (I think alpha dot is the cheapest to apply, costing ~£25-£30) This will slightly deter professional thieves (good for the times when you've got only a disc lock on the bike, and they have a van and are thinking of how much they could get if they dragged your bike in and broke it down for parts (it is unlikely to put off a steal-to-order, but then i don't think many people will be ordering your bike). What's more, you can declare security tagging to your insurer, and unlike alarms/chains etc (that give them the excuse to avoid paying out when you forget/don't bother to apply the declared security), you can't switch tagging "off" and you still get the "security" discount they provide, often up to 10% (insurers generally only give a discount for one item of security - subsequent items are usually ignored as far as discount goes, but will of course be used against you at a later date - so this makes security tagging the ideal security to declare).

Ingah thanks for all the advice think i will go for chain and anchor lock with house alarm connected to garage

Why do they spoil a nice black bike with a fecking pink stripe?

If there was one in all black it's be a null question because I'd get that, Gonna go to a few dealers and see if anyone has any of the new ones in yet or know when they will have. I've seen the old one (sat on it a few times too!) so I know I like that one but can't decide on the new one till i've seen it in the flesh so to speak.

Hi i have just seen and ordered the white one with the Magenta Stripes its not PINK, you have to see it live rather in pictures as it doesnt do it any favours!

Thanks for the quick replies. If enquired about lessons and I was told that they recommend a five day course which cost £700 (includes practical tests), does that sound about right?

 

I paid around £720 I think, a few months ago. That included practical, theory, 5 days and the loan of kit including the theory DVD.

Blimey that's cheap. Where'd you do that? I'd like to do my DAS but paying hundreds seems crazy. I think I'd rather just do mod1+2 on my own

Hi folks Im getting it for £600 including test fees although excludes CBT. For that it comes with a guarantee pass well 5 attempts, although you still have to pay for the extra test fees, all lessons upto the pass are included.

Can anyone shed light on if you forget to do any of the following

1. Lifesavers

2. Look over your shoulders

3. Cancel indicators once

Do you fail instantly or is there some come and go ?

You really need to consider comms to your helmet as the screens, even on the larger ones like the Zumo 660 are difficult to see in some light and you take your eyes off the road to read them - often at a time when you most need to concentrate - when you are lost!

I find that I fllow the spoken instructions rather than the screen tbh

Hoody Just wanted you to know your Avatar always brings a smile to my face when i come across any posts from yourself...

I know ladies it sad, but what the heck

I was going to use my iphone and not only get my music but my maps from the App Store (Tom TOM App) hopefully there is a bracket which can hold the phone and block the direct sunlight!

Hi Folks

Lookin for a ground anchor and chain for my new bike for putting it in my garage. Firstly is this a bit excessive? If not can anyone advise me of a good quality one without spending a fortune! or should i consider an alarm?

Look forward too receiving somefeedback

 

What bike is it? (it does make a difference).

No that's not excessive, and anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't mind taking chances.

Vans have been mentioned. Don't underestimate how easy this is to do (2 guys can lift up the front of a big sportsbike and that's all that they need to manhandle it in), and how common it is to happen.

80% of motorbike thefts are from the home.

Over half of motorbike thefts are done by lifting the bike into a van, which completely bypasses things like disc locks and immobilisers. Alarms are often trivially and quickly disabled. And generally ignored by people in the vicinity. This leaves theives to deal with everything else later, in privacy.

Almost every motorbike chain on the market can be silently bolt cropped (Almax series 3 and 4 chains being the pretty much only exception, apart from maybe a single Pragmasis chain but i'm less sure there and it's too late at night for me to look now).

Garages are notoriously easy to break into quietly, and provide thieves with a lot of privacy in which to work.

Every motorbike chain on the market can be angle grinded away (given varying amounts of time with loud grinding noise).

I believe only 10/20% of stolen motorbikes are recovered (most are broken and sold in parts, making tracking of these parts hard and difficult to trace back to the owner). Many second hand parts are from stolen bikes!

New/nearly new bikes are very attractive propositions.

Insurance penalises you heavily for making a theft claim (especially when you're young), resulting in inflated premiums for the next few years, along with loss/partial loss of NCB, and of course your excess and the game of you vs them when it comes down to valuing your bike. This is especially a problem with newer bikes and those on finance, where the owner can end up out of pocket easily.

It doesn't look good does it?

However, about half of motorbike owners don't bother with any security

I'm happy to provide more information, but it would be useful to know exactly what you're wanting to protect.

P.S. What about when you're out and about, 20% of thefts happen there.

Thanks mate quite detailed feedback. To answer your question here is the following

1. Its a GSX 650F.

2. My garage is under my room and its also part of the house alarm.

3. Frig knows what i will do when out and about, didnt want to a a frigging chainaround with me. that said, most of my motorcycling will be for pleasure so it shouldnt be out of my sight

Look forward to further advice

Hi Folks

Lookin for a ground anchor and chain for my new bike for putting it in my garage. Firstly is this a bit excessive? If not can anyone advise me of a good quality one without spending a fortune! or should i consider an alarm?

Look forward too receiving somefeedback