Motors Motorcycle Mayhem

Yea that looks like it was an incredible trip.

 

TIL Stonedsurd has eyebrows to rival Fernando Alonso.
That looks like an amazing trip.

 

Why do you think he's my favourite F1 driver

 

Proud owner of my very first motorcycle. It's taken 44 years!

 

Nice! Is that a Keeway? Looks very similar to some of the Keeway bikes I've seen around...

Some advice from someone who passed their test relatively recently: aim to do your "full" bike lessons & test as soon as possible! A quick 6-8hrs doing the CBT can't fully prepare you, if you ride for a while on L-plates there's a strong chance you're going to pick up bad habits that will be hard to unlearn later on!

 

It's a MUTT Mongrel. It was reasonably priced and I couldn't get the Z125 I wanted.

Yes agreed on bad habits! My Mrs following me home from the shop picked up that I wasn't looking in my blind spots .. I really want to be safe on this thing ! I drive far too quickly in my car , I'd like to think I can commute on this thing , some weekend punts around . I want to enjoy it .. but be safe. I feel very vulnerable on the road , I know I'll get used to it but don't want to be complacent either. Genuinely feel I have a lot to learn.

 

Very nice indeed! The brand rings a bell, definitely.

First couple of times out after the CBT I was absolutely bricking myself! Must have been doing no more than 15mph! You do get used to being on the road, and you do get used to cagers absolutely losing their **** when they see L-plates… That’s honestly one of the biggest dangers: the dumb stuff other people do.

Never stop learning!

 

Yes other people. I get wound up in the car .. Its the stupid things they do , they don't look , care or anything else. I refuse to ride my pushbike to work because of it , had one of my lorry drivers killed 30 yards from our yard a couple years ago. I do ask myself why I'm doing this .. but I do love being on 2 wheels. I'll take any good advice where I find it.

 

I still remember two pieces of advice from my instructor at 17, both of which have saved me:
If there's a car waiting at a side road, watch the front wheel. You'll spot wheel rotation earlier than the car's forward motion when it pulls out (and it will).
If the vanishing point on a corner is coming towards you, you're going too fast.

 

And this is why I recommend going for your full license training as soon as possible. It does depend on the bike school, but the guys I went with weren't interested in teaching you how to pass the test: they were teaching you how to be safe on the road. When I did the mod2 test I thought I'd totally screwed it up, all the way round the test route I could hear my instructor in my head telling me all the things I should be doing better. But it turns out I passed with zero faults... I absolutely love riding a motorbike, there's nothing else quite like it, but you need to be so much more aware of what's going on around you and what other people are doing; forward planning and anticipation are essential.

I would highly recommend going through some of Roadcraft Nottingham's videos. He doesn't upload very often and some of his content is quite old indeed, but it's the sort of thing that doesn't age. He's also the reason I've got a Pan European now!

 

Thank you . I will watch these now. I put 40 miles on it today through the smaller roads and had a very enjoyable ride. Wearing a hi Viz made me more comfortable I was visible .

 

I set off from Stroud at about half 9 last night and there were a lot of unlit roads, inlcuding long stretches of the M5.... Yeahhhhh, should've put the hi-vis jacket on!

 

Hi-Viz ain't all it's cracked up to be, it all depends on where it's being worn and what colour it is, eg https://scienceofbeingseen.org/14-strategies-create-a-contrast/

I'm a bigger fan of wearing black and treating everyone else on the road as blind fools

 

Definitely treating everyone as a moron and expecting them to do unpredictable things at all times. Had some women in a large 4x4 think it's ok to drive 3 inches behind me , I'm trying to keep a thinking a braking distance .

It's a big learning experience and the way I drive my car a lot of restraint required.

 

From my experience a bigger bike than a 125 is much safer - can be like wading through treacle trying to overtake (and expose yourself to oncoming traffic for longer) on a 125cc bike, plus as mentioned you get idiots acting erratic due to the L plate, and on a larger bike the extra power gices you more leeway to accelerate away from a hazard if needed.

 

Yes finding this to be true. Normally ( and dont hate me ) a woman is a 4x4 or SUV ... from experience so far anyways. My confidence is much better now and this week i shall be commuting on it!

Any opinions on mirrors? My stock ones are utterly useless , ive literally just put some end bar ones on and not had chance to see if they are improvement. Any opinions on these?

 

Stock generally are useless, unless you've a faired bike which allows them to be mounted higher / wider than on the bars where they traditionally reside.
If you stick with stock you learn to live with them by doing an elbow dip to get our arm out of the view, or by being the fastest thing on the road and not caring about what's behind you.

Bar end mirrors usually work, but as in all things you get what you pay for.
Couple of point about them though;
> they make you a smidge wider so just be aware when filtering,
> if you mount them under the bar you need to learn to look down rather than across,
> if you have oblong ones rather than round they can impede your free hand movement and feel like your trapped
> you get what you pay for

2 & 3 from that list aren't deal breakers, just require a bit of relearning.
At the end of the day get whatever works best for you, and yes that can involve some trial and error

 

https://ibb.co/Zg65Ww7

Rode home from work last night , bars are really wide but managed to filter some traffic with them . I think they are much better , Have to move my head around but a much better view , keeping my head bobbing in the mirrors is clearly making me check my blind spots more so happy with them , look much better too!!

 

Wife's bike delivered this morning

PXL_20220625_081353824 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

 

Which one?