Loving it!

Blimey Matt, you could have least got a bright and noticeable lid....

Is it Pinlock visor ready or is there one included? If not included then get one asap.

They are flipping brilliant

I rode home from Stoke on Trent yesterday visor down the whole way and even

when sitting in traffic following the Mrs (She had the sat nav) I couldn't make it steam

up even trying to deliberately. There was no such thing when I first started riding

as far as I know (About 1989 to 92) or maybe just not on the budget lids I could

afford at the time.

+1 on the pinlock. It is brill. Mine doesnt even steam up on a wet day when im stuck in traffic.

Congrats on pickin the bike up too .

Btw. A lot of bike mirrors give you a good view of your elbows in my experience. Its not just yours aha.

Pinlock is without doubt the best bit of kit I've ever bought for biking! I literally wouldn't ride without one now!

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Been out on my old banger today. 

About 5 hours all told, did a lot of B road riding around

Chew Magna, Combe Down, Pensford, Radstock, Camerton etc. 

stopped a couple of pubs to stretch the legs, grab a drink, have a wee

and my friend who I went out with is a smoker so she wanted a fag break

every now and then.  She was on a Kwacka too. GT550 (1993 L reg)

It didn't quite have the legs of mine but my friend Sally doesn't hang

about when she's lead bike. Got to get an intercom, that would be handy

for this kind of thing, I could have warned her about the peacock that I 

saw first emerging from the hedgerow as I went by because as she passed it

the dumbass bird wandered out in front of her causing her to swerve.  

 

Such a nice day for it, I took a few pics today.

It isn't clean yet but it looked sooooo nice in the sun I couldn't resist. 

That metallic green sparkles when the lights on it right. 

I also raised the screen from lowest to middle and that made a

lot of difference compared to riding it home.  

Have to say I'm loving it and judging by all the thumbs up and admiring

looks I got as I rode around today (and about 10,000 nods from oncoming bikers lol)

others must think it looks nice as well.

 

Time for some whoring :p

 

 

 

 

 

 

And all luggaged up,

 

 

I decided to ride out today with panniers for the 

first time ever. I was surprised by the drag at higher speeds but all in all no problems. 

Couldn't filter as well as Sally at the lights due to the extra width but I have to get used

to them being there. My Mrs had them in the car with her when brought the bike home 

originally. I didn't want any extra stuff to worry about on my maiden voyage. 

The boxes are very good, no rattling or anything which is what I'd expect from OEM

kit. Just glad I didn't have to pay for it. The main dealer charge A LOT for this box

and frame setup. They also fitted a second rear light which sits beneath the numberplate

which is a stop and tail job and LED like the main rear lights. 

I also have the original grab rails which have never been on the bike should I ever

want to sell on the panniers and frame separately. 

 

And safe and sound tucked up in bed :p 

Dust cover should be here tomorrow. 

 

I've stayed away from this thread on purpose. (I've always wanted a motorbike but SWMBO isn't keen)

 

Was out in Sheffield yesterday with SWMBO and the boys and she was shocked by the distance and route I take to cycle to work and how other road users don't care for cyclists, then she mentioned that I should look into a motorbike instead of having a car (that only gets used twice a week)

 

:)

 

Along with this I have been advised by the doc todo less cycling :( so a motorbike looks to be the ideal solution for commuting on, just need todo some investigation work.

One word Matt...

RESULT

Seems ideal to me. Having the other half on board with the idea is half the job.

Avoidance manoeuvre, any pointers people?

 

It's the only one I'd say I'm not 100% on. I can do it but sometimes get a little close to the inside cone because I'm trying to hit 50kph and then carrying it out. My instructor and others have said listen to the engine at that speed and remember the noise but I cant do that, 45kph sounds the same as 50, 55 kph to me! We've been doing it in a car park which feels quite enclosed so I'm doing the majority of the speeding up after the bend which maybe isnt ideal, I guess I'll have more room at the test centre. The rest of it is pretty simple tbh, slow stuff, U turn etc etc.

When you set off for it, build speed to that you are comfortable with doing the bend. (About 20mph or slightly over if confident)

As you get to the apex, smoothly start to accelerate to the exit of the bend. Straighten up and keep accelerating smoothly but more eagerly. Try to get the speed set so you're not accelerating through the trap.

You should be aiming to reach about 55kph on a 500.

Once through, get the bike upright in a straight line and aiming for the stop cones.

Only shut the throttle and start braking when you are upright.

I don't know if your instructor has done this with you but would be worth a go to build confidence in the front end grip under hard braking.

Set out the upright braking distance you have on the exercise, using 2 cones.

Ride straight at it at the 55kph and brake at the first cone.

Try to stop next to the second one. If you go past, keep doing it, braking slightly harder each time until you can stop comfortably in the distance.

Repeat but use the brakes slightly harder each time.

You should find that you can actually stop a way short of the 2nd cone.

With that sorted, introduce the avoidance cone and you'll probably find it less worrying.

Thanks! I think I'll give it another couple of practices and go for it. I think maybe I just need to get the speed up and and concentrate on the manoeuvre rather than trying to do both, looking at the speed and swerve straight after. I can stop well afterwards, just need to crank it round a bit more to make sure I avoid the cone on the inside. 

 

Thanks for the help 

Edited 9 June, 201412 yr by matt1chelski

My tip is to not obsess about the speed.

In practice every single time I was 60+ kph and well within tolerance.

But I wasn't watching the speedo at all in practice just concentrating on the

manoeuvre, my instructor had a hand held speed gun thingy which confirmed

the actual speeds attained in practice. . 

The only time I ever worried about the speed at all was during the actual test and I

was bang on according to the speedo which was showing 32mph. Unfortunately for me

I was 1kph under the required 50 which earned me my only minor fault in both tests.  

 

This means the speedo was under reading slightly so aim for 35mph which will allow

for that under reading. If it's dry then don't be to worried about the front wheel locking up.

For me in practice the times where I did lock up a wheel it was always the back one and

not the front. It's quite amazing how much you can brake the front wheel before the tyre

skids. The rubber is usually a very very soft compound compared to car tyres. Only use the

back brake for balance to stop the bike nosediving too much.

My other tip is to take your time on the U turn. I saw more people mess that up than anything

else. Don't forget you can sometimes get away with a foot down in that manoeuvre but it's

examiners discretion. Don't forget your lifesavers on the U turn. Easy to disregard them  

in the moment, and use the back brake to keep your speed steady as you turn round.

   

Hurry up and pass Matt and then you can come to Bristol for a visit and a run out.  

I took Mrs Grr out for my first ever (legal) pillion ride on Saturday. it was her very first time

on a bike and it's fair to say she effing loved every second.

We were going to go back to my riding school for pillion lessons for her but we are

going to skip that as she wants her own bike now so we are just buying up a set of

kit for her then it's theory, CBT and DAS for her just like I did.

And she looks great in leather so it's win win for me...

She's after a Triumph Bonneville when she's passed hers. And that also means I

can upgrade to that Z1000 a bit sooner if she has her own bike.  

All that build up and it was done in 8 min Passed with 0 minors, pretty chuffed. Done a little exploring of Uxbridge, seems ok, just need to keep an eye out for speed limits not knowing the area. 

 

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.  

All that build up and it was done in 8 min Passed with 0 minors, pretty chuffed. Done a little exploring of Uxbridge, seems ok, just need to keep an eye out for speed limits not knowing the area. 

 

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.  

 

Happy days!  :clap:

Keep it up Matt, double clean sheet at stake here... 

Great result and a nice day for it too.

Well done!

Kind if knew you'd pass!

Part 2 here you come.....

And you're welcome to advice any time matey.

I do appreciate it CBF! Slightly off topic, have you done any advance riding in the past? Was discussing it with my brother earlier, he reckoned my old man went to a few rides with a local group and they rode like a bunch of nutters, basically all hooning along on their pan europeans expecting everyone to move out the way. No doubt they are just a slightly looney group. 

 

I'm also getting a little impatient with my bike. I booked it in about 3 weeks back at a local (recommended) garage, at the time I told them I wasnt in a huge rush but had about a fortnight to play with. Start of last week they collected it then he said it should be done by the end of last week. I left him to it and popped down friday as I'd heard nothing, the bike haddnt been touched. I was a bit disappointed but he explained he'd had some issues and it should be sorted for today. Went down again today (after hearing nothing again), it's been started on but now awaiting parts. He reckons it should be done by the end of the week and I'm going to be massively grumpy if it's not!  I knew he was a small garage when I took it there so am happy to accept things happen to cause issues so I'll see what happens friday. It'll be a pain anyway now, test will finish and I'll get home maybe 6pm, IF I pass, I'll have to get someone to go pay and get the key before they go home.    I'm going to hold off going down tomorrow as I dont want to be one of those annoying customers always getting in the way. Gerrr, pain in the backside. Once it's on the road and my garage is clear I think I'll do the stuff myself as I planned to. 

CFB is an ex instructor so I reckon so Matt...

When's your part 2? Ah I see... Friday. 

Good luck mate and the weather promises to be awesome. 

CFB is an ex instructor so I reckon so Matt...When's your part 2? Ah I see... Friday. Good luck mate and the weather promises to be awesome.

What was it it used to say?....

Oh yeah. "The next person that a calls me an Instructor gets a slap"

Yes Matt, I was inn the middle of doing RoSPA then went on the bike examiners course? I've got IAM gold as a result,

They both have good and bad groups, you just need to find a good observer in a good group. Well worth doing once you've got a few miles under your belt.

Don't know how far away you are but have a look at the IAM group HBAM, based in Welwyn.

I've heard good reports about them.

As for riding like nutters, it might have seemed like it, but it's surprising how much more progress can be made when you've been shown how, especially on a bike. You'd be surprised how small a gap you can get out into from junctions for example!

An absolute must as an examiner on a bike test. Which reminds me, don't worry about him sat right up your chuff on your test. He should always be in a position to avoid you if something happens!

1 Minor damn it!   Examiner complimented my riding, well chuffed. Thanks to all the help, encouragement and advice from everyone, in particular CFB & Garry! Nice ride back from test, bit of filtering on the M25 and some nice cruising down country roads. 

Awesome result mate!! Nice one

Now go show your brother how its done properly. 

1 Minor damn it! Examiner complimented my riding, well chuffed. Thanks to all the help, encouragement and advice from everyone, in particular CFB & Garry! Nice ride back from test, bit of filtering on the M25 and some nice cruising down country roads.

Spot on. Well done mate.

I got one minor too. For pulling up a tad too far from the curb. Apparently.

I think they like to give you one minor, just because a perfect test looks too good on paper haha.

awsome guys, can't beat that feeling when the examiner says well done..

I'm a member on bike chat  forums and it is a great place to learn about bikes etc, they don't take kindly to idiots tho lol.

I have just come home from a 5 day ride in europe with 15 of them, all complete strangers to me until I met up on route and had a brilliant time away with all of them, we did France, Belguim, Luxemberg and Germany and 1400 miles for me in a week .

Any of you you guys in the middle bit go to the cotswolds bike nights?  http://www.bikersnite.com/

A couple of us from Ludlow try to go to each meet on the weds eve and they are very popular, sometimes we ride around 50>60 miles each way to get to the meets which is a nice distance on an evening.

Best of luck guys and stay safe.

Just returned from a ride out with Jars from here on the back. 

Nice and steady on a lovely evening and a bit of pulled pork and salad

when we got back. You can't knock it.   

Excellent! Well done Matt.

 

Out of interest, what was the riding fault?

Sorry, still can't call them minors.

 

BTW, much better to give a clean sheet when it's deserved. Believe me, it didn't happen very often!

Oh and made a little addition to the kawasaki. 

My Inforad speed trap alert thingy, I updated it today

as we have just bought a new laptop and I needed to

download the software for it to the new PC.  

Never switched it on this evening, but had it attached

to test the fixing. It survived motorway speeds and 

a few red line blats so I'm happy with the mount. 

I think it looks quite neat there. I'm using Acrylic VHB tape to stick the mount

down to the reservoir. It's great stuff for all automotive applications,

vibration resistant, waterproof, and sticks like &%$£ to a blanket. 

But doesn't damage paint, or leave any residue behind when removed 

you can get it off using just your fingers too, no chemicals or 

stanley blades required. 

Until a few days ago the mount was fixed to the dash in

my van but I figured it might be more useful on the bike.

And no bigger than a lighter to pop inside a glove when you

stop and take a break,it takes just  one second to remove and replace   

it in the mount. It's a very simple design. 

Next time I ride I'll switch it on, it also has a trip recorder

feature which I've not tried before. That might be fun.  

So I should be able to use that feature at least which might be handy if I stumble

upon somewhere picturesque on my travels. Even if I can't

hear the audible alert at higher speeds I should be able to hear it

when I'm burbling along. It's a pretty quiet bike if you are just plodding and its

the 20 and 30 zones I'm most worried about. It's so easy to be going faster than

that without really trying. On the open road I'm not so concerned about hearing it. 

The LEDs in it flash and change colour too so there is a visual cue as well. 

Couple of pics...

 

 

 

 

And couldn't resist these....

 

 

 

I'm waiting on delivery of some green rim tape which may arrive tomorrow. 

That may be inconvenient as I have work to do around the house which may be

postponed until my wheels are pimped...