klingelton

I have internal visor. Works a treat for me.

hmm, service manual eh? prepare to have your mind blown. those things go into far too much detail most times - haynes decants it into lego style step by step instructions. best of luck though - i'm sure you'd have a hoot!

don't panic. try to relax. have a good time! the chap speaking to you is your mate telling you where to go. Ride smoothly (speed comes in time) don't rush things. you won't fail for hesitation - it's a minor, so if you're not feeling the gap in the traffic, don't feel pressured to taking it. if you're changing lanes, merging lanes, or in any situation which could put you in contention with other traffic, life saver. don't fall out of the habit of this once you pass - it's saved my skin a couple of times. best of luck

Chinese bikes are great if you know what you're buying and are handy with a spanner. otherwise they're terrible. From a distance, they look great. up close- they look a little shoddy. Would I buy one? no. I'd save the money and buy something Japanese. The problem is, they look really appealing to new riders - they're cheap to buy and insure.

As strange as it sounds, I find sewing to be therapeutic. And you end up with something useful at the end of it all. I am quite a hands on person though...

Good work!

1) When you are doing a left turn at a roundabout do you always do a left shoulder check? - anything that involves a change of direction or lane which could bring you into contention with another road user warrants a life saver check. 2) I will be taking the bike for an MOT in a few months for the first time, what are the common areas that MOT centres pick up on? - check list 3) Would it be worth taking a mod1 on my 125 before going training and the test on a bigger bike? - no, it would be a waste of money - if you're over 25(?) go straight for mod 1 on a larger capacity machine. 4) How do you differentiate a good Mod1 and Mod2 trainer from a bad one, and one who is more concerned about turnover? (I mean no disrespect to all the fantastic and honest driving instructors out there) - take a look at xsrts. They got me through my test with no great dramas. Although that said, there's a few decent schools around leeds.

I commute 30 mins a day to an office job that requires me to look relatively smart. Quite a few of these places have changing/shower facilities for those who seek alternative means for commuting. I iron my shirt in the morning and put that on. I roll my trousers and put them in my backback (rolling prevents a lot of creases). I then wear textiles trousers, jacket gloves and boots. There's storage at work for my stuff and I leave a pair of shoes over night. A friend of mine was in a similar position. he used to shower at work in a morning to get rid of that "biker leathers smell" that all leathers pick up over time! It works for me, and it's the best way to commute. you get into work feeling bright and refreshed and you leave not loathing your commute on the way home. some days you even take a much longer route home! Enjoy your commute!

If the forks themselves are bent, i don't think they can be bent back. If they're simply twisted, you can loosen off the all the bolts (except the top 2) holding it to the yoke, bounce on your front forks a couple of times. this will twist the forks back into line. nip up the bolts to the recommended torque. job done. if they're bent - you will need to get a new one off ebay or the like. front wheel off, take the fork out, new one in. line up and bouncey!

I'm the least stylish person in the world. I wear shirts that are 14 years old because they're comfortable. my HJC lid cost £140 3 years ago. it's flip front, has a sun visor, removable liner and space to accept a custom bluetooth intercom system (should you wish to stump up the £230 for the unit!). it's not stylish and it's on the heavy side of things - but it's decent enough and I didn't need to sell the bike to buy it.

i have the scala rider g4. it's been back to be repaired once as it broke. aside from that, i use it daily for radio. i find the radio calms me down while i ride and i don't fly off into a rage with people! I don't listen to my own music while riding, as i tend to get into a zone where i'm probably enjoying myself a bit too much and push a bit hard. for comms, me and my mate went on a ride all over west yorkshire and they didn't miss a beat. i charge mine around once every 10 days, but i only ride for about an hour and a half a day. When i got them, there was very little other choice on the market - and i don't like to risk buying unknown chinese stuff, as i always seem to be unlucky and it breaks or is just plain useless!

If you're already a driver, many of the skills and road sense should already be in place. it'll only take you a few hours to get up the required level to pass your mod 1. then a few more hours for mod 2. enjoy learning - it was great fun for me!

oh no! mend well!

Just thought - it'd be really interesting to see dougie lampkin attempt the mod 1! Congratumalations! onward and upward!

As angry as I get at drivers, there's no point in having words with them (despite the amount of times I've done it). Nobody acknowledges that they're a tool - it's a bit like arguing on the internet - you might be right, but you're still a retard! it'd be nice if once someone said "sorry" and meant it.

How big gap are we talking here? was the lead car likely to need to reverse? motorcycles are great at going forwards, but my reverse gear is shocking - especially uphill! if you'd needed to reverse up - i.e. if lead car had been too close to reversing lorry, you'd have struggled. I think it may have been the reading of the road that let you down. Also, overtaking any questionably parked car at 20 mph when there's an obvious obstruction in the road ahead in a test situation is going to get your wrists slapped. even still, remember your life savers, both sides and you could argue that you've done your due diligence before moving in. better luck next time - you'll probably find it's all plain sailing!

i've been riding my bike nearly every day since buying it in august.

good news! Well done!

happened to me once on my YBR. never happened again before i sold it, so never investigated. might check the switch on the side stand though. also the engine light flashes indicate the fault code - if you can find the manual, you can find the fault.

you'll melt all that precious cabling that hangs down just where your down pipes are.. not advised. are you a victim of the cursed er6 downpipe failure?

need to alert the DVLA that the colour of the bike has changed to primer grey! I'm liking the drainpipe cable tied to the side of the bike. The ER6 has pitiful space under the seat. If im going anywhere i need to chain it, I usually have a rucksack.

I use a drift hd 720. an older camera, but i only paid £100 for it a year ago or so. I've fallen out of the habit of using it - but reading a few on here who've had accidents recently, i might get back in the habit. The reason i stopped using it was because I felt that with it on, I turned into a self righteous dick. without it, I'm merely a dick! for editing software, I use the stuff that comes with mac. although I've used sony vegas in the past, that was good.

you can see why the bug bites hard!

It's not a controversial subject. countersteering happens whether you know about it or not. knowing about it means you can more positively affect it. Those that claim you steer by stomping on the pegs etc have probably never ridden a bike before. you can very gently affect the path of a bike by pushing down on one peg, but get round a corner you will not! Those that say you don't need to know about countersteering - ok, you maybe don't need to know there's a term for it and not knowing about it isn't going to harm your sunday bimble at 30mph though grassington. if you want to make a bit more progress, you will need to know about it! have fun learning how to ride!

I don't want to turn this into a countersteering thread, however do learn about positive input into the handlebars and how that influences how quickly you tip into the corners. riding in a straight line, touch the right handle bar and watch how the bike tips right and you head in that direction. keep your shoulders loose, arms bent (leaning forward a little helps me to achieve this, even on a relatively upright bike). look through the corner. keep your throttle neutral (i.e. not backing off) or a little positive and look where you want the bike to go. you will naturally apply some countersteering and the bike will go round the corner. keep riding at a pace that's comfortable to YOU. don't be tempted to ride outside your ability. as your ability increases, you will ride faster. If you want to find where your limit is, do it on a track where there's plenty of run off if you do find the limit. I've yet to do a track day, but then I'm mainly a commuter biker and not really in it for out and out speed. If you don't seem to be getting any faster through those corners - slow down a bit and enjoy the british countryside. we're incredibly fortunate to have a varied landscape with some quite stunning wild life.