Nervous!

[ChrisBiggsUK]

Well, my new to me bike is now home safely and tucked up under its weatherproof cover on our off-road private drive.  Diamond disk lock on front, big hefty diamond chain and lock on rear passed through a diamond wall anchor, with two cctv cameras covering it.  Both guard dogs are on high alert.  Well, as high alert as can be expected from these two fluffy idiots.

I don't know whether I will be able to sleep tonight.  I'm not going to be as hyperbolic as to say that it would be akin to the first night I brought my Son home, but it is pretty high up there!

I've done what I can security wise, and I don't live in a terrible area and there is no through traffic (benefit of a quiet end cul-de-sac property) but man am I nervous about tonight being the first night it will be here!

I suppose it would probably be a tad overkill to sit out on a chair next to tonight it in some of my old work body armour?

I'm all jittery!

[Simon Davey]

Sounds like you're doing everything possible. 

Don't fret, it'll be there in the morning    

[Tiggie]

When I went on holiday I used to take the front wheel off my bike and store it in the house 

[Fiddlesticks]

18 minutes ago, Tiggie said:

When I went on holiday I used to take the front wheel off my bike and store it in the house 

Awesome idea. At least if they nicked the bike you'd have a place to start the rebuild from.

[Fiddlesticks]

@ChrisBiggsUK

 

Is there an alarm in this setup? You can get cheap battery powered motion alarms from Amazon that just sit under the seat and are key fob activated.  (Search KS-SF22R  or similar). I have one, it's not waterproof but it does work.

[ChrisBiggsUK]

18 minutes ago, Fiddlesticks said:

@ChrisBiggsUK

 

Is there an alarm in this setup? You can get cheap battery powered motion alarms from Amazon that just sit under the seat and are key fob activated.  (Search KS-SF22R  or similar). I have one, it's not waterproof but it does work.

 

Just had a look on Amazon at the one you suggested and by noon tomorrow, there will be.  Should suffice as a further deterrent for anyone trying to rummage under the cover at least.

[RideWithStyles]

28 minutes ago, Fiddlesticks said:

@ChrisBiggsUK

 

Is there an alarm in this setup? You can get cheap battery powered motion alarms from Amazon that just sit under the seat and are key fob activated.  (Search KS-SF22R  or similar). I have one, it's not waterproof but it does work.

What is better is a battery powered tracker  stand alone unit like Monimoto. Cheap to buy, very low annual cost, easy to hide, battery lasts for yonks and now a rechargeable version too, i

at least you get an idea where it is or gotten to….

Edited October 23, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[Capt Sisko]

It sounds like you're doing more than most and what you've done will deter all but the most determined of criminals. Problem is if a professional scrotes really want your bike, i.e. it's been stolen to order, they will take it no matter what security you put on it. Fortunately that's pretty rare and most of the amateur scrotes are opportunist. What you've done is going to make them look for an easier target.

[AstronautNinja]

23 minutes ago, Capt Sisko said:

It sounds like you're doing more than most and what you've done will deter all but the most determined of criminals. Problem is if a professional scrotes really want your bike, i.e. it's been stolen to order, they will take it no matter what security you put on it. Fortunately that's pretty rare and most of the amateur scrotes are opportunist. What you've done is going to make them look for an easier target.

That would be a spectacular job title to see on a form..... Professional scrote 

[ChrisBiggsUK]

Update;

The bike survived its first night here!  Now to wait for the wife to wake up and then take it out for a quick ride round the block before traffic picks up.  The bike that is.  Not the wife.  

[Simon Davey]

Have fun

[RideWithStyles]

17 hours ago, Tiggie said:

When I went on holiday I used to take the front wheel off my bike and store it in the house 

Funny!
so when you leave your car anywhere do you Mr Bean and take :-

[RideWithStyles]

1 hour ago, ChrisBiggsUK said:

Update;

The bike survived its first night here!  Now to wait for the wife to wake up and then take it out for a quick ride round the block before traffic picks up.  The bike that is.  Not the wife.  

 

Lol!

Welcome to the Wife before bike ‍, Wife now ‍ club.

Im always an early riser (steady on) and she sleeps in. so prior to the birth of our daughter i use to just free wheel the bike away down a few streets away  

had afk least a few houses of blocking the noise prior to starting it up for a quick razz ( looked like I was nicking my own bike).

Great as it just disturbed someone else down the road (most likely the weed mofos) but far more importantly didnt wake wife up as shes light sleeper… 

Edited October 24, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[ChrisBiggsUK]

Further update;  Did a quick ride round the block before 07:00.  Not far, a mere four miles on roads that I know and which I knew would be quiet at that time.  Did make sure I purposefully planned and took a route that included traffic lights and a small stretch of busy (though quietish at this time) A road so as to start building my confidence.  Thankfully all the lights were green so I just coasted through, but even still, I deliberately took a route that I knew well and was comfortable with, but which would present me with potential issues (such as early morning busses, an up-hill and down-hill stretch, sharpish bends, having to shift down gears, stop, and move off again) for me to overcome.  Entire brief ride was perfect with one minor issue when turning back into my little cul-de-sac wherein I stalled momentarily after stopping to let a car pass.  I was in the right gear, but I let the clutch out slightly too quickly.  Couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds for me to recover and move off again, which I'm happy with.  Not happy with the stalling, but happy that I was in the right gear and recovered quickly.  This is all a learning curve after all.

All in all, an acceptable (though terrifying as I was on my own) ride.  

I think that going forward I'm going to do this route every morning, with setting off slightly later each time so as to slowly ease myself in to there being traffic around, and then once I'm happy with this route and traffic, and have no issues moving off from a stop or shifting down in gears smoothly, expand my daily route further afield (and include my dreaded roundabout that is always chock full of lorries).  I know that I rode in quite heavy traffic, including zooming along at 50 on dual carriageways during my course, but I was supervised then and now that I'm on my own, I dunno.  It just feels much more real and terrifying.  Exciting too, but terrifying.

[Fiddlesticks]

Good stuff Chris. Don't worry about the stalling - I did it just out of the test centre on my MOD2 and still passed,

[Yorky]

Well done

Don't get too fixated on this "terrible" roundabout, it will only pysche you out. Once you've done it you will realise that it's just another part of daily riding.

[RideWithStyles]

Yeah dont get worked up about it, its just like anyother round about….

look where your going (where you’ll end up -target fixation),  read the road and assume  other users have constant rage, no idea where, when, what or how road and vehicle works all the while they have magnets on to get you, for prizes.

work on that basis so its tipped a bit safer for you.

[ChrisBiggsUK]

40 minutes ago, Yorky said:

Well done

Don't get too fixated on this "terrible" roundabout, it will only pysche you out. Once you've done it you will realise that it's just another part of daily riding.

 

2 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

Yeah dont get worked up about it, its just like anyother round about….

look where your going (where you’ll end up -target fixation),  read the road and assume  other users have constant rage, no idea where, when, what or how road and vehicle works all the while they have magnets on to get you, for prizes.

work on that basis so its tipped a bit safer for you.

I think my main issue with it is that it is both a busy roundabout, with lorries frequenting it, and immediately leads on to a hill with traffic lights just up the hill itself.

With my stalling / gears still being my main sticking points, I'm reluctant to tackle that particular roundabout at this time due to the lorries, (which I will most certainly lose a fight with if I stall in their path) and the hill which if I stall at the lights on, could lead me to rolling backwards.  I'm working on this though and like I have said, my current 'build-up-confidence' route includes lights and hills, which will hopefully get me more used to (and confident with) both before I tackle 'the big one' as it were.

 

[Simon Davey]

@ChrisBiggsUK

I know it'll be dark, but head down to your local supermarket car park after closing (22:00?), and have 1/2 hour maybe two to three times per week, just riding up and down the lanes between the spaces whilst practicing stopping at certain places. 

[ChrisBiggsUK]

1 minute ago, Simon Davey said:

@ChrisBiggsUK

I know it'll be dark, but head down to your local supermarket car park after closing (22:00?), and have 1/2 hour maybe two to three times per week, just riding up and down the lanes between the spaces whilst practicing stopping at certain places. 

Theres an ASDA not too far from here that I'll most certainly be doing that at (though probably super early before opening rather than at night after closing due to local 'nightlife').

[RideWithStyles]

Great way to improve! 
 

most SM car parks are ok for starters but are quite flat, be aware their painted lines and pools of fluids from vehicles parked up previously might be slippery.

eventually you’ll might want to practice on hills afterwards.

Question, so do you know why your most likely stalling? their are tips to help and speed things up for you.

Is it the clutch actuation (letting out too soon) and or the revs to low before hand etc?

these ain’t aimed at you directly but just incase someone else is reading for advice.

hills/slopes you should rely heavily on the back brake (its not as strong and loves to drag) to help modulate drive/movement rather than anything on the front, that frees up hand control (and brain concentration) to the throttle and clutch better, makes it easier then the subconscious know what feels right so less concentration required.

 

with the gears, (I’ll assume what as most newer riders do) you need to change down sooner (higher in the rev range) and up later (same again).
dont worry about the engine and gearbox your not hurting it as their designed to work like that, then modulate it’s engagement with the clutch slower rather than just letting it out like what people think a racer does.

 

 

[ChrisBiggsUK]

2 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

Question, so do you know why your most likely stalling? their are tips to help and speed things up for you.

Is it the clutch actuation (letting out too soon) and or the revs to low before hand etc?

 

 

It is a couple of things.  I know that in time I'll get the balance just right, but for now I either let out the clutch too quickly, which stalls the bike, or without adding enough throttle, which likewise stalls it.  I'm getting better at this, and indeed this mornings ride was almost perfect, barring the one brief stall I had after stopping to let a car go.  Practice makes perfect and in time I'll get there.  This should be a lot quicker now that I have the bike at home and can just sit on it on our off-road drive area and let myself roll forward and backward, getting to really know where the biting point is.  I'm not generally known for my manual dexterity, so being gentle on the clutch and throttle is taking some practice but, again, I'm a novice and so I'll get there in time.  Practice, practice, practice!

The other stalling point is when coming to a stop, or slowing down in anticipation of stopping, not dropping myself down into first.  Thus when I come to move off again, I inevitably run into difficulty.  Wasn't a problem this morning, as I didn't get fast enough to lose track of what gear I was in (this is perhaps the only time I'll ever be grateful for 20mph zones), but it is something I know I need to work on.  I need to make sure I'm shifting down in enough time, and down the correct amount of gears, before I come to a stop (or am potentially stopping) so that I'm ready to get moving again smoothly.  Probably wouldn't be an issue if I were on a newer bike with some sort of fancy readout telling me what gear I'm in, but alas my indestructible CG has no such frills.  Again, practice.  I know that in time I'll get much better at keeping track of what gear I'm in, shifting up and down in plenty of time, and shifting smoothly so that the gear has actually shifted rather than my tapping the gear lever and it not actually doing anything.  Again, practice, practice and more practice will solve this.
 

[AstronautNinja]

1 hour ago, Simon Davey said:

@ChrisBiggsUK

I know it'll be dark, but head down to your local supermarket car park after closing (22:00?), and have 1/2 hour maybe two to three times per week, just riding up and down the lanes between the spaces whilst practicing stopping at certain places. 

Exactly this, some carpark drills and clutch control will be of great use to you 

[Hairsy]

Hi Chris,

 

Can I offer a quick bit of advice that might help with your visualisation of the clutch process.

 

The transition of clutch from not-engaged-at-all to fully-engaged isn't a single linear movement. You want to start by letting it out until the biting point starts and then slow down the speed of clutch release while you allow the engine to start to get the bike moving. Once the bike is moving, you can then fully release the clutch. So in that middle stage, you're allowing the engine and bike a bit of time to start matching their speeds - and only then do you look to fully release the clutch.

 

That whole process will probably only take a second or two but it might help to recognise it as a three stage process. To put it another way:

 

1) Get the clutch bite to start so that the engine can start to cause the bike to move.

 

2) Allow that process a moment or two to happen so the bike can make its initial acceleration. During this phase you might add a tiny bit more throttle and / or clutch but only a bit.  Note that during a hill start, this phase might take at least 2 or 3 seconds.

 

3) Once the bike is moving (perhaps at the speed that you might run at?), you can then allow the clutch to fully release (not dropping the clutch instantly but releasing it smoothly over a period of maybe half a second).

 

Maybe give that a try. If the visualisation doesn't work for you then don't get hung up on it - we all visualise things differently. But I've found this recognition of different phases has helped a few people with both car and bike clutches.

 

Keep at it and keep loving the journey.

Edited October 24, 2024 by Hairsy

[RideWithStyles]

You’ll get use to it, like at 30mph at x revs you’re in x gear etc.

 Gear indicators aren’t all cracked up to be especially on older bikes anyway and the delay can be distracting.

You’ll also get to know if your in first by feel and the amount of peddle lever moves, first generally has the longest throw and clicky feel to it especially jap bikes.

 

Keep it up and you’ll get it nailed in no time.

Edited October 24, 2024 by RideWithStyles