Just starting out

[misterjingo]

I'm 35 and never seriously considered biking. I climb and used to paraglide, so I've no issue with the perceived greater risk.

I recently started a new job, and a lot of the guys there have bikes, so on a whim I decided to book onto a CBT course, luckily the school I called had slots free within 2 weeks. I did my CBT last Sunday, and it was a lot of fun.

I'm 6'2" and I was riding a van van, which was a little bit small. My first few attempts at moving the bike were a bit jumpy, but I soon got the hang of the clutch at lower speeds. Soon I was getting up to 3rd gear on the car park - but that was a bit awkward, as I was told not to gear change whilst cornering, so as soon as I jumped to 3rd, I was having to slow down to get back to 2nd for turning.

Getting on the road was great, strangely I felt no fear. I was taken around Redditch and surrounding areas, and got separated sometimes due to busy roundabouts - also due to stalling a couple of times whilst waiting at said roundabouts .

I managed to get up to 45ish when safe, which again felt great. So, all-in-all, it was a great day. It would have been good to get more road practice, as I still didn't feel totally comfortable with approaching junctions when in 3rd - 4th gear. Start back breaking to slow? Change down to second as getting nearer, and if clear go, else stop, gear down to first? I know it will come with practice

This week I managed to pass my motorbike theory test, so all set to push for my DAS.

I also went to look at bikes earlier this week, and perhaps a bit prematurely, I put money down on a 125. So on Tuesday I'm going to pick up a WR125X, it's crazily tall compared to the van van, but I can put both feet flat when seated.

I'm excited to pick the bike up, but am nervous about getting it home! I'll need to drive it from Halesowen to near Cannon Hill Park, so lots of crazily busy roads near central Birmingham. Some of the fear stems from not being able to use sat nav to find my way home. It'll be a bit of a baptism of fire if nothing else, I plan on taking it nice and slowly

 

[misterjingo]

Thanks all

@wazza300 It was from street bike!

@Clov!s I went with Goldies Motorcycle Training. They do the CBT on a car park by Arrow Vale Sports Centre in Redditch.

I went and paid for the bike and bought my gear today. Fingers crossed, I might be able to pick the bike up tomorrow. I figure the roads might be a bit less busy on a Saturday.

Here's a picture of the bike too:

http://1drv.ms/1MBgunT

 

[misterjingo]

I've ordered a Almax Immobiliser Series IV Uber chain, and it'll be anchored to a huge concrete post in my back garden. I'm also considering getting a CCTV pointing at the bike, so if the worst happens and someone tries to take it, I'll have evidence.

I figured it doesn't hurt to be too paranoid.

 

[misterjingo]

I was impatient, and rather than wait an age for summer, I figured I could clock up some miles over winter, and hopefully, by the time summer comes I'll feel confident on the bike and can enjoy the nice weather .

@Craig321 There's a guy on youtube who rides a Nuda, he's called RoyalJordanian. His 'observation' videos are amazing, watching him filter through busy London traffic is just mesmerising - his Nuda sounds amazing ahah

 

[misterjingo]

I picked up the bike this morning!

I was a little bit nervous about getting it home, there was more traffic on the road than I expected, and the guy who handed me the bike was telling me to be careful, talking about ice, and how the tires were new so they needed 100 miles to bed in etc

As I started it, perhaps over revving it slightly due to it being my first post-CBT ride and never having been on a wr125x before, it started raining, and one of the mirrors were loose, so I had to keep pushing it back into position ahah.

I followed the road for a few miles to get a feel for it, and just took it nice and carefully. I then drove the 30 minutes home. It actually felt really good, the bike felt solid, and once I started moving, all nerves had vanished.

Getting it into the garden was a bit of a squeeze, so I might need to widen the gate, but over all, it was a great first ride

I have recorded it, so will push it to youtube when it's been edited down.

 

[misterjingo]

Here's a pic of it in its new home:

http://1drv.ms/1X6ovLY

 

[misterjingo]

I've uploaded to youtube. It's my first ride, so I didn't cut too much - allowing me to look back and remember . If I do upload other videos, I'll snip quite a bit more out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dobKfCcv5uo

I shot it with a Ghost drift-s HD, not sure if it's just me, but the 60fps makes it look a bit jerky and fast. Will have a play with the settings for future recordings. I'll also get a mic, the wind noise is overpowering.

 

[misterjingo]

@JunglistE to be honest, you're possibly taking the more sensible approach! I can imagine that most people outgrow 125's fairly quickly, upgrading to something a bit more powerful. So I'm going to take a financial hit sometime over the next year

I found driving on my own feels good. I've been driving for years so road sense and observation taking are second nature - it's just a case of translating that to the bike, not trusting anyone else to do the correct thing, and enjoying the ride .

 

[misterjingo]

So I've been going out and about during the day, at rush-hour kind of times to get my experience up. So far everything feels great.

I've already met a lot of idiots, but I could preempt their actions, so it was fine. Today I had a woman driving literally a foot behind me for a mile or two, if I created a gap, she'd catch up. I just filtered at the next junction to put a couple of cars between us.

I've had people determined not to let me in front of them at junctions, so they've literally had their bumper hanging out into the road, and some guy over take, then try to merge in, then stop and tell me to go (I let him go as I didn't want him behind me) - you have to question what the point of the overtake was if he was going to do that...

Having driven my car around these roads, I'm used to crap drivers, so I just took it in my stride, and tbh, it made the drive more interesting

My approach to junctions needs some work, a few times I should have perhaps slowed a bit in anticipation of the lights changing (they'd been green for ages) and I coasted a few times whilst gearing down before breaking to a stop. It'll come with time though.

Would my 125 be OK for A roads? I'm thinking of making a few longer journeys to clock the miles up, I might visit a friend in Notts (from Brum), but that would mean the A42 which is always fairly fast when I'm on there in my car.

 

[misterjingo]

You'll soon learn that you're not riding a 125 correctly if the throttle isn't on the stop all the time

125's are fine for A roads, most will sit at 60mph all day long.

If people are sitting up your arse, and you're doing normal speed (not doing 20 in a 30 zone) then it's just the L plates that they see. Any 125 can keep up with normal traffic with no problems.

I was perhaps a couple over I just got away when I had the chance.

Because it's a new bike, I was told not to use too much throttle for the first 600 miles (and first service), so I'm trying (hard) not to use too much throttle

 

[misterjingo]

People definitely stop treating you like you don't exist once you ditch the L plates.

ahah that's something to look forward to! In fairness, I did have some people let me out at junctions and such which I never get when I'm in my car.

 

[misterjingo]

Riding still going great - actually had a couple of dry days which has been nice!

I've started commuting on the bike and even in busy traffic it's still a lot of fun!

A bit of an aside, I was keeping my bike in the garden, and it was a pain getting it in and out, so I decided to get some double gates installed to give me plenty of room. I got a few quotes which were crazy, so decided to give it a go building them myself.

I took a couple of days, but:

http://1drv.ms/1YZLLZJ

ahah. Get a bike, learn carpentry ;p

 

[misterjingo]

Got to be extra careful now, getting colder again and there's goin to be salt on the roads. Just be cautious.

I'm perhaps being extra cautious due to being fairly new to it all, I'm hoping that come summer, I'll have a load of experience and will be able to just enjoy riding .

I did my first after dark drive tonight in loads of traffic, managed to do a tonne of filtering. I figured I'd just take it easy and go for it .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVowCf7ifXY

 

[misterjingo]

Well that's a bag of ****. Bike stolen from outside work, in a secure area where all entrances are covered by CCTV, in a busy place and parked under a CCTV camera. Checked on it at 17:00, got gear on to go, and it as gone.

Police informed and site security.

Luckily I took out fully comp, but can't imagine it's going to do great things to future insurance quotes - my policy states that if stolen and not recovered, because it's new and I'm the first owner, they'll replace with a new model - I can't imagine I'll get a replacement in the near future though .

 

[misterjingo]

Disk locked, but there is nowhere to chain there. It's a dedicated spot for bikes, right in front of an open glass wall, the reception deks faces directly onto the spot + all barriers and CCTV etc. There's usually 3-4 bikes there, none chained, and none have ever been stolen from that spot - all more expensive than my 125. It's also about half a mile from the nearest public road, in a secure private compound.


It'll be interesting to hear what the CCTV picked up - not that it's any help now

 

[misterjingo]

I've been in touch with the insurance and they have a new bike replacement policy. So if they go for that, I guess it'll be a new 125. If they pay cash, then I might go the das route and get something bigger.

I'm going to be paranoid to ride it anywhere now(!) Will have to start carrying a big chain around, more disklocks, and will look at a alarm. But it seems even with all that, if someone wants your bike, they'll get it :\.

 

[misterjingo]

Wow that sucks. London by any chance?

Also I'm sure site security can be paid off, or don't pay much attention throughout the day especially if it's generally a quiet place.

Birmingham, the site it got stole from was a secure bit of UoB campus. So lots of footfall near it, but no way on for vehicles, and no way of seeing it from the public roads.

Not sure the truth of it, but the security guy I reported it to said two other motorbikes had been taken from campus recently too. I thought "thanks for alerting people that motorbike thieves have been operating in the area..."

 

[misterjingo]

Anyone used bike trac? Looks a bit expensive to set up, but for £300, being alerted the second someone moves your bike and them working with the police to provide location information if the bike gets taken - I'd happily pay that for piece of mind tbh.

 

[misterjingo]

If someone stole my bike I wouldn't want it back.

Is that because it might be damaged, or just because?

Checking out bike trac, they claim to get a lot of the bikes back within 20-30 minutes of them being stolen.

Either way, the next bike I get, I'm going to have a decent alarm and immobiliser installed (would be good for work), a tracker, and will get a box or something so I can carry a decent chain and lock with me + disk locks. If they manage to take it with all that, not really much else that could be done.

 

[misterjingo]

Yep, bike trac requires a subscription, but from what I've read, they're the only company who work directly with the police after confirmation the bike has been stolen - which perhaps explains some of their claims of sub 20 minute recoveries.