GiorgioG

Interesting topic.

When I was a wedding photographer I was very paranoid about backing up, so for each usb HD I had to archive pictures, I had an other to back up. Plus I had one of the Synology Raid box, with 4 disks, in Raid 5, where to keep an extra back up.

Then all the pictures were reduced as jpg and back up on Google drive.

Now, I'm not a wedding photographer anymore, and I basically I sold all the disks, just to make some money to keep the motorbike safe.

Hi guys, thanks to all of you  and thanks for the videos.

So I used the car this morning, many ice patches on the rural roads around me and temperature was -1. So I'm glad I didn't risk it.

Thanks again

Giorgio

Hi guys and girls,

How are you?

Hope you are having a fantastic new year

Tomorrow, I'll got to the office for the first time after 2 months, and I really would love to go by bike.

It is a 35 mile trip, from Croydon to Horsham.

Well, the reason tell me not to , temperature tomorrow will be no more than 3 degrees, so , there is a high risk of ice. 

I was thinking to stick to bus roads, but still, there could be patches of ice.

Reason says to use the car, my hart says to use the bike, what you would do? I have a small cruiser, so my tyres are not really for slippery sirfaces.

I know, sorry for the rant, I should get the car....

On 01/01/2021 at 08:42, Silentbob83 said:

Recently passed my Mod 1 (7th Dec) at Uxbridge test centre, thought I’d add to the thread. Might be useful to those waiting.

 

My DAS was Thursday - Sunday with Mod 1 on the Monday........I was lucky enough that the school could book some time on the test pad for the Saturday lesson which helped massively with getting familiar with the faster speed exercises and what I think is maybe a little overlooked the surface( not sure if it is the same nationwide) but the dedicated ‘arena’ so to speak has an amazing riding surface, you just stick to it around that bend.

 

Anyway the Sunday lesson I had an absolute mare of a slow speed session in the morning, (I think that 3 full days of learning, riding, thinking before hand had exhausted me mentally and I just lost my head)...This is how the lesson went.

 

Slalom: wobbly as a hell

Fig 8: Abandoned as I forgot how to turn the bike around, other attempts I remembered but they were awful feeling 

U turn: wide, slow and unsteady. Followed by numerous attempts with feet down 99% of the time.

 

The instructor could see I was mentally done, so said let’s go for a ride out. Couple of hours out and about, got back to the yard and did 3 mock slow speed sections of the test in a row- all with no issues. He asked if I wanted to do one more, but I declined as I just knew I’d knacker something and think about it all night.

Morning of Mod 1 I didn’t need to be at the centre until 2pm ( I was the last test of the day) which meant my instructor lesson didn’t start until 1130. I turn up to be greeted by a different instructor, which I think was the best thing to happen as he helped hugely with the slow speed mindset for the day. He watched me do a mock session on the slalom, fig 8 and u turn and obviously picked up the 4/10 confidence level on those!
 

It is this suggestion which completely changed the way these exercises felt- and for anyone practicing now for Mod 1 I’d suggest give this a try. So for the next 15 - 20 mins he wanted me to go through the slalom, turn around at the end, back down the slalom and turn around again ( so no figure of 8’s) as fast as I could , this was around 11mph, without caring if I knocked anything over just keep going

 

Once this was done, he suggested taking 2 mph off that top speed (which brought it down to around 8-9 mph). Which compared to the 4-5mph made everything so much steadier and confidence level up to 8/10.

 

Quick 15 min ride to the test centre it is just me and one other guy there- he goes first and has his test abandoned on the E stop as he pulled clutch in and not the front brake which just revved the nuts of the bike and didn’t stop!
 

Okay, my turn. Usual set up in terms of paper work, enter the pad, handling (which i can do, but struggle as it uses a lot of core strength to walk the bike around, which due to the kidney transplant is reduced ), now onto the slow speed remembering to set the revs and let the clutch do the work (instructor voice in my head saying make as much noise as you need).
 

Slalom, fig 8 done. Ride over for the slow ride to the u turn. Again deep breath, set the revs - go in fast, touch the rear brake to slow, obs, and turn, look well ahead of where the white line is and stop. Smile on my face as that’s over with. And I had already practiced the speed section on the Saturday and found this to be my favourite section.

 

Controlled stop complete onto the speed trap E stop and avoidance. Managed a consistent 54kph for both and with that comes to the end of what was the most enjoyable test I have ever had.

Sorry for the long winded post- it ran away with me.

 

Hopefully something useful to think about for those awaiting the Mod 1. I would suggest not to overthink it, relax the arms. And most importantly enjoy it.

 

 

Thanks for sharing, very useful for other members to read your post. Congratulations!

20 hours ago, mthinesy said:

So, finally passed my MOD2 this morning! So pleased and relieved after the delays due to lockdown. Weather was pretty grim, quite cold and very damp. Did my test our of Darwen up near Blackburn and the test route was a nice mix of town riding and country roads. Was a great relief riding back to the riding school with no ear piece in. I can really recommend RJH in Manchester for training. Great staff, very helpful, and they made it fun and relaxing.

 

Roll on spring time!!

Well done! Amazing feeling :)

Well done!!!

Hi all,

I'm selling my loved Kawasaki Vulcan S 650 ABS 2020, bought in July with added:

RG engine crash bars,

Original Kawasaki Vulcan S LED light bar

Kawasaki 12V plug

Kawasaki passenger backrest

TomTom Rider 550 with a powered mount

Tracker

Asking Price is £6500

I live in Croydon, South London.

Let me know if you are interested to have a look at the bike.

Have a great day,

Giorgio

Super! well done!

Welcome, sorry to hear how it turned out. Looking forwards to your pics of your street triple once you get it.

 

Re test today - Managed to find another school that could get me a test sooner. Back out in Burgess Hill this morning and got it!

It's almost as if they knew me as we spent 10 mins on the dual carriageway(Different slip entry this time!)

Thought i'd cocked it up right at the end, as Van coming towards me overtaking parked cars in an industrial estate. My last lesson was all about there's loads of room go for it, so i went for it, the examiner sat back and waited. Pulled me om it as the only minor.

Either way - taxed and insured the street triple and been out already - great feeling!!

Well done!!!!!!!

Hi guys,

silly questions, do you use any product to make the helmet visor kind of waterproof, so the water doesn't stay on it during rainy days or you just wipe it off with your gloves?

Thank you

HI guys and girls, how are you?

Just wondering, do you listen to music, or audiobooks while raiding?

Is it something distracting or that blend well during a ride?

I'm asking because I'm interested to purchase a BTH headset for my helmet, mainly because I want to listen to the TomTom directions, but then, I'm a bit afraid, I will start to make phone call, listen to music, and my favourite audiobooks.

What is your experience?

Have a great evening

Giorgio

Went for a short ride to a very hilly area not too far from where I live.

I still need to get confident in slow speed handling, so I practise quite sharp turns uphill and downhill.

Happy about it

Went to install crash bars

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TzoRkSkfxBFS0-Hby_z8nwhuHPccIKuQ/view?usp=sharing

What a beauty

Wow!

Fantastic bike!

What you wrote is very inspiring for me, I really would love to do what you did, load your bike up and go for an adventure.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

It is a special day today

Got my driving license yesterday and today I celebrate it with my first ride to work. An enjoyable 35 miles journey (and back)

Hi guys and girls, how are you?

So, 3 hours ago I went for my mod test 2, the second attempt.

4 minors, no majors,... Passed

I can't describe the joy when the instructor said the word "Passed" at the end of the ride ))))

Now it is time to get used to my bike, I have trained so many hours on Yamaha MT and XJ, that getting on my Vulcan S, feel a bit strange

Thanks to all of you.

Have a great day

Giorgio

Can you add me, please?

New Addington, Croydon.

Thank you

In my case mod test 1 and 2 and training before each of them was included in the Das package.

Having failed the mod 2 test the first time, my school ask me, for the second attempt, £195. It include the test fees, one hour training before the test, and the trip back to the school after the test.

I think it is expansive but I hadn't any other choice, I have to pay if I want to go for mod 2 test again.

Thanks, guys for your support and thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences here, it is really a great help to read about yours stories.

My next test will be on the 17 of September, at Tolworth test centre.

I will keep you updated

Have a great day,

Giorgio

Hi all,

How are you?

Hope you are having a great weekend

Just a little update.

My Mod 2 test is next Friday morning. This morning I went for my last training session and I would have failed the test

The reason is that, turning right from a 30mph dual way road to a 20mph road, I kind of "sprinted" between a gap left from the oncoming traffic. My instructor said the gap was to small, I should have waited longer, and definaly don't speed to enter a narrow gap, and this is a major fault. Well, lesson learnt and it will be on top of my mind next Friday.

The thing is, this morning was a 2 and half hours ride with my instructor, overally I was quite happy, till the point (after 2 hourd and 15 min), I got a couple of minors, especially in 20mph areas.

I know that the test is about 45 min, so probably I can keep focusing for the whole of it; This morning happen that, the more I was riding, the more I was getting confident, and I started to take some risk, probably I felt to relaxed and I totally forgot about the test. So after 2 hours and something of riding , I went through the narrow gap in the traffic.

Thinking about it now, I wouldn't do it again, it was risky and "dangerous", I mean, I felt I could do it, probably my instructor (and the tester net week) saw it as a too big risk.

How you keep the focus on during the ride?

I have noticed I became too over confident , and I really would like to avoid this behaviour.

Thanks again for your help

Giorgio

Hi guys.

how are you?

So, went this morning for my Mod2 test and I failed

It was a big silly/dangerous mistake so I deserve to fail, my fault only.

Comond down from a 60mph slip road, after around 200 meters, I haven't seen the 30mph limit, even if I reduced the speed as I saw some traffic ahead, I past the 30mph speed limit at about 45mphj, and that was it.

The examiner didn't stop me there, we just went on with the rest of the test, in total it was about 45 minutes.

I'm upset with myself because I could had avoided it. I didn't have any minors , I was driving calm and easy, doing all the necessary lifesavers.

Maybe that was the problem, I knew everything was going well, and maybe I started to lost focus, I can't be sure, I know only that I totally missed that 30mph speed limit, and I'm not sure how. Maybe I was looking at the mirrors too much, I don;t know....

Well, from the positive side, I have lerant the lesson, and I will remember it for next test, hopefully in a couple of week.

I didn;t had minors, so I think, If I pay more attention to road signals, and spend a little bit less time to look around, I'm pretty sure I can master it.

I will keep you updated.

Have a great weekend

Giorgio

You can have a go but I suggest you bring an array of siege weapons and some Midge Repellent with you . Be prepared for a long wait because I've got a plentiful supply of Tatties , Kippers , Tunnock's Caramel Wafers and Irn Bru . Good luck .

What a beauty!!!! In an amazing landscape!!!!

Hi all,

How are you?

I will have my mod 2 test, this Friday early morning, at the Uxbridge test centre.

I have never been there before, all my training rides were around South London.

I know that a road is a road, and the highway code apply everywhere.

Just to know if you have any particular experience to share or some advise about that location..

Thank you

Hi all,

How are you?

I was wondering, do you post your fantastic bike pictures on social media as Facebook, Twitter, or others?

I'm asking because I would be a bit worried people can see my bike pics there, then dig some information from my profile, and easily know where I live.

WHat do you think?

Have a great day

Giorgio

Just an update, I have passed my Mod 2 today at Enfield !

Thank you all so much for your knowledge and support x

Fantastic!!!

Well done!