littlecat

if you're in Leicester , get yourself to JTS and have a look in the shop, they often have good deals on and you can try before you buy..my advice would be buy the best you can afford ( but no harm in a bargain ) , your hands are kinda important

my mates out there watching it for real , with a beer in hand...not jealous much

cant see any reason not to tour on a 125 if your confident yourself and the bike are both up to it.

touring at lower speeds is much more enjoyable , you get to enjoy it properly and take in the scenery.

I would second the advice to start touring the uk first, get an idea what the bike can withstand, and make sure you have decent breakdown cover and a small toolkit...most of all just enjoy it

I can probably bring it if you like stu, seeing as I shall have to do at least one run in the car to drop chira off

talking of which , im pretty sure theres a spare swingarm in my garage somewhere ...lol

how bout a car boot style stand, with donated items on, all proceeds to the forum ?

im sure we must all have a few unwanted bike related items lying around

omg...OUCHHH.

hope the surgery goes well and you heal fast .

I also have sky , am 9 minutes from the rally site, and have to nip home to see to the dogs anyway

oooh yeah definitely duct tape.

Gog, a tag rideout sounds fun...alternatively I don't mind leading an ice creams in matlock run...but after matlock my sense of direction takes a wander, so we could end up anywhere lol. ( plus I have a nasty habit of chasing big boys on bigger bikes , so it might not be 125 friendly lol )

hows about this for a game...we wheel megas bike into the pub, form teams , and compete to see who can take it apart the fastest , and who can put it back together in the most interesting and unusual way ...( the use of blu tack and paperclips etc being fully allowed , lol )

firstly, IMHO you are massively overthinking it.

always make rear observations before signalling and moving, and lifesavers are there to save your life, not as a test objective... if you feel you need to know whats alongside you for your own safety, then do one( a lifesaver).

there is no such thing as too much observation..but theres definitely such a thing as too little.

stop thinking so much, start feeling it.

grow eyes in your arse and you wont go far wrong.

seriously though, the examiner isnt looking for textbook, they are looking for a smooth safe confident rider.

learn to feel whats right , ride smoothly , and be 100% switched on, always look, always signal...and enjoy the ride

they dont tend to hassle you for things like loud cans on bikesafe...i think it would affect the take up rate if they were looking for things to pick on.

most of them are bikers themselves when off duty.

the one i rode with actually commented on how nice my race can sounded when riding behind me

gratz , and good luck for mod2

Bonniebird baiting?

You can try but I shall be mostly drinking beer (and therefore pretty mellow)

Still haven't chosen a fancy dress costume.....running out of time

not fancying what we were discussing then mandy??

depends what you call bright.

even the top end brands do patterned helmets

sorry to disappoint but i use muck off

both the cleaner and protector

yeah i know what caused it...looked up momentarily, overshot the corner, turned in too late and ran well wide, was on the grass before i had chance to react, at which point i chose the soft landing over the possibility of attempting to turn in hard and splatter myself over the tarmac ( guess i still had the thought that i had to ride the bike home in my mind and wanted to do the least possible damage)

nearly broke my thumb hanging on to the bike so it wouldnt flip when the crash bung dug in

definitely a fun laid back chilled out weekend, and was lovely spending time with you all.

sorry for beiing such a wet lettuce friday night, but given the circumstances i think i was allowed to go into recovery mode lol

aww steve , wont be the same without you mate .

hope the op goes well and you recover fast mate...would it help if i came fetched you ???

if i had that kinda cash hanging around id be tempted, but not likely anytime soon

i always thought id hate doing a track day on my own bike for the very reason i was petrified of damaging it...tbh when i did perf plus, the last thing i worried about whilst out there was the bike, and all was fine.

just done my first full track day, with no insurance, and yes i binned it... but managed to make sure i had a soft landing, and luckily managed to source a very cheap set of second hand fairings, so putting it back together shouldnt cost me more than 100 quid tops.

meanwhile its held together with gaffa tape .

did that stop me taking it out again after the off....nope .

most people i know dont bother with track insurance.

however, a cheap set of track fairings might be worthwhile if you plan on doing more than one

sure i already posted a reply...but guess not , lol.

the sensible side of me says not till i somehow manage to get my hands on a spare bike... but the other side of me ( the one with horns and pointy tail) cant wait to have another go .

as for fairings, i got lucky , with a full set off the identical bike for 60 quid , 2 days after the crash .

just need to drive to newcastle to fetch em

hmm, link was working ok ...add me on fb mate, theyre on there.

yeah, fetching fairings saturday

congratz

nothing i couldnt gaffa tape back together, though she does still need new fairings and the indicator and crash bung replacing