Korben

A bit of a concern, but I think they should keep it. I would be surprised if they did drop, they have had it for a long time.

Im the same when talking. Everyone gets called mate, all the time. I actually irritate myself I do it that much.

Fantastic news. No more having all the good stuff happening while the bloomin adverts are on!!

Award for the use of the word "mate" more than anyone else in a sentence goes to Matt!!! Mate

Count me in!! Sounds good.

Great thread garthunkle Being a relative newbie to bikes, and definately a newbie to MotoGP this has helped. All I really knew until now was Rossi, Stoner, and this year JT.

Matlock meet sounds good. Looking at the this weekends weather forecast, things are not looking too clever weather wise. Lot's of rain, high winds, and the possibility of wintry showers this weekend. I suppose that's national holidays in the UK for you. Once the weather clears up I am free though. Just remember I ain't a fast or at all experienced rider so it could be a slow and steady ride out. Tell you what, once we start to get some better news about the weather I will start a new topic in this section (Vicki will beat us if we keep using this thread!!) about a ride out to Matlock. As for being available.... I am single with no responsibilities in my life what so ever!! I'm always available

Good to see you Nick. Introduce yourself in the Newbie section!!

Aye, that were me.

Hi All Like has been said, nice to put faces to names. Sorry I was a little quiet. Damn nerves tend to get the best of me until I know people. Thanks to Akey, and Willow for letting us all take over the house, and thanks to Vicki for convincing me to come. And thanks to everyone that brought cakes along. Hope you enjoyed the coffee cake!!

What price should I expect to pay to buy one and have it fitted? Thanks

Just meet you at Fishponds car park is best Met office show weather improving for weekend xx The one part of Matlock I know at the moment Will see you there. Weather looks good for Friday at the moment (Good for me, I am off work), but still a bit pants for Saturday.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Where were you thinking?

Vicki, as you are not out on the ride, what are you doing about meeting up? Where and when were you thinking?

What Stu said sounds good to me. Don't know if you know or not, but the DAS bike test will be changing in October and will become a lot tougher. I would recommend doing the full license now, and you won't have to do anything again. Use a biking school's bike. That solves all sorts of problems for you. Go say hello in the Newbie section as well, and introduce yourself. Let us know where you are from as well, and I am pretty certain someone on here will be able to help you find a good training school. P.S. I started biking at 31. Same problems as you with over protective parents. My Mum still questions if I really like riding, and comes out with the phrase "You will grow out of this phase"

You can count me in on this, now I have a bike.

Damn they are ugly trophies!!!

Why do all foreign sports men use the phrase "For Sure" about 3 times in every interview. "Yes he was faster than me, for sure" God it annoys me!!

Well proud of JT. Shame he did not have the straight speed to keep up. He would have done some real damage if he did.

It's an engine. Look after it and it will look after you. I had a mate who used to do a 70 mile daily round trip to work and back on his 50cc scooter, and it was fine for the 2 years I knew him.

Seriously, if you are going to read all of this, get yourself a drink and settle in. My CBT Experience I turned up for my CBT at the training school feeling very nervous. For me this was very strange. Kind of being 17 again and starting my first driving lesson. I arrived first (Always arrive too early when nervous excitement has taken over). A lady who’s name I can’t remember checked my driving license and I sat down on my own trying to look relaxed. I doubt it worked. Eventually all the other people training for the CBT turned up. All of them already had their own bikes (Twist and go scooters), and they were all around half my age. 16 and 17 years olds. One lad had ridden his scooter down to the riding school without any license whatsoever. The instructors were understandably not too impressed, and almost refused to take him out. I think when they realised he would just be riding home again unlicensed they decided to take him out. We all sat down and had a long speech about bike safety for about 30 minutes. I pretty much knew it all and got slightly concerned about the lack of knowledge these kids had about the basics of the road. After about 5 minutes I decided to stop answering questions about the road and left it to them to learn. After that we went outside to look at the bikes. Everyone knew all about the bikes except for me. I had read up a lot and knew pretty much what I was doing, but a couple of things did surprise me. We learnt all about the bikes controls and how to check the bike before a ride. POWER. P – Petrol, O – Oil, W – Water, E – Electrics and R – Rubber. Next the instructor introduced us to the communication system we had to use. He had a microphone with a push button system to talk to use and we had an earpiece to wear under the helmet. This earpiece spent most of the time trying to slice your ear off. It was not a pleasant experience, but after a couple of hours your ear goes numb, and you can just about forget about it. Eventually we got to push the bikes round to the car park at the rear. They let us circle the area for a bit getting used to the bikes, before teaching us how to do junctions, and emergency stops. It had been raining the night before and on my first emergency stop I locked up the front and back and skidded on the wet surface. Thankfully I did the right thing and came of the brakes and managed to stay up. Not a pleasant moment. The instructor came over and asked me if I was ok. I felt fine strangely even though it had scared me. Before this day I had thought something like this so early on would make me get off the bike and walk away fast. I just re-started the bike and went for it again. Did it three times after that without any problem and all was good. After about an hour and a half in the car park we had a quick break before heading out on the road. When we left the centre and hit the open road, I felt very vulnerable for about 20 seconds, before realising this was great. We headed about half a mile down the road and found a quiet road to do the “Official CBT Test” emergency stop and u-turn. Nailed them both without any problems. At that point as I was the only rider on a geared bike, so I was going out on my own with an instructor. I am very annoyed with myself at this point, as I can’t remember the instructors name. He was damn good and really gave me confidence, and pushed me when I needed pushing. He was actually being evaluated that day so we were followed by another instructor. He was a good guy as well. We headed off and got about 45 seconds into our 2 hour journey before hitting a traffic jam. When I say a jam, I mean a huge jam that simply was not moving. Well this is good. Time for my first filtering experience. We set off down the side of a row of vehicles and slipped into a car park, did a U turn, and found another route. It turned out that a four lane section of road had been narrowed down to one lane for the day…. A Saturday… There are some truly dumb people making decisions in Derby!! We took another route which took us off down a road called Sir Frank Whittle Way (Sir Frank invented the jet engine, just in case you did not know). Sir Frank Whittle Way is a 60 limit road with a couple of roundabouts. I got to about 45 before getting scared (Looking back I laugh at myself), and we hit the A6 on the way to Matlock Bath. On the way the instructor talked me through the usual stuff, then starting telling me about counter steering. I had read up this and simply could not get my head round the idea. The instructor seemed to have confidence in me though so I went for it and found it was brilliant. It made all my corners smoother and easier. We carried on to Matlock Bath I have known for years that this is where bikers collect on the weekends. On a sunny Saturday and especially Sunday you will get hundreds of bikers there. Not only do you get good biker food (Chip’s, Burgers, and Bacon Sandwiches), but the roads leading too and from Matlock Bath are just plain awesome. We followed the A6 all the way right into and right out of Matlock Bath, and then stopped on the steepest hill in England (Ok, maybe an exaggeration, but it felt that way to me). My fabulous instructor then told me it was time to do the hill start. After two attempts I managed it, but it was not easy at the time. Again looking back, I don’t know how I struggled with it. It’s just basic clutch, gas and brake control. We set off again, and made our way to Chesterfield, and stopped at a bike shop for a 15 minute break. We had a drink and looked at a lot of expensive sports bikes. Looking outside the skies seemed to be darkening and it looked like rain was on the way. We quickly tooled up and headed off up the road. When we set off I felt great. I was really comfortable on the bike, and enjoying every minute. We then turned off the main road and hit a minor A road back to Derby. This to me was where the mistake happened. It started to rain a bit. Not much, but a bit. After about 5 minutes it seemed to ease off and we hit the A38 dual carriageway. Then the skies opened up. On a biblical level. I mean it rained and rained. From doing 64 mph (It was the best I could get out of the bike) on the dual carriageway down to 40mph. The instructor was strangely quiet. Then he came on the mic (I was listening via the ear piece) and told me how to get rain of my visor. He sounded a little nervous. At this point I would have asked him how to get it out of my helmet, my jacket, my boots, my gloves, and most disturbingly my crotch!! Unfortunately the speech system was one way. I continued on following the tire track of a Land Rover that was doing the same speed. The A38 looked like a river and this tyre track was the only part that looked safe. I seemed to be going ok, then the two bolts of lightening about half a mile away and the massive clap of thunder made me realise I was in a tough situation. I rode on though and came through it. We turned off back on to Sir Frank Whittle way and got back to the large roundabout just outside the training centre. We filled the bikes up with petrol and rode the half mile back to the training centre. While filling up the rain storm stopped and the sun was shining in a beautiful way. We got back and I stripped down to my now very wet jeans and t-shirt (Even though I had been wearing waterproofs). The instructor sat me down, and let me know I had passed without any serious problems. He went through the usual things, which were mainly indicators, and clutch control. Finally we had a laugh about the weather, and he told me it was the worst he had ever ridden in and if I could get through that I could ride in any weather. To say I hated it at the time would be a polite way of putting it, but looking back I am glad I went through it. It was damn hard, but now I have experienced it, I know I can do it again. Well that was my story. As for advice. All I can say is look around at all the schools in your area, get advice about schools and make sure you choose the right one!!

This one? http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=7973&highlight=mfn There were a couple posted about the same thing, but I believe this is the latest.

I would be out this weekend on the bike but for two reasons. 1. I don't have a bike 2. I am too busy this weekend looking for my first bike to buy. Must stay calm and not get too excited, must stay calm and not get too excited. *Repeats to self 100 times*

Sounds like an excuse for me to go bike shopping!! Ever get De Ja Vu?

Been looking at tents for a camping holiday later this years and they are cheap beyond belief. They have these ones called weekend tents which will cost you about 20 quid!!! Find your nearest camping place asap. A lot still have Jan sales on and have a load of stuff half price. I have worked out that for my weeks camping trip I can kit myself out for less than £120. That's basics though as I will be on the bike.