Just starting out

ahah I am perhaps being super suspicious now... Either way, I'm picking up my new bike next week, but it would be good to know the idiots who stole my old one were caught etc
 
@TallPaul He's added two extra pictures because I asked him for some more. What drew my suspicions is that he's been a member less than 3 weeks, the mileage, and the L plates were exactly in the same place. Interestingly, in the new pics, he's taken the back L off (it's still visibly attached in the earlier pictures.) DA is Birmingham too... It might all be coincidence, but it was enough to catch my attention.

@Wazza They haven't caught them. I actually haven't heard anything else off the police, and as far as I'm aware, they haven't been to look at the CCTV. I guess they just don't bother with bike crime. The fact that within 2 weeks of reported stolen I'd been contacted by a dealership to arrange the replacement shows how little they care.
 
Tracking installed and working - I can now sit and watch my bike at the dealership until I can pick it up on Friday... :p

For those interested in TrakKing I found a voucher that gives 33% off subscription: THEBIKEINSURER33

I just used it and it works - phone only though.
 
I've just checked, and the ad has been removed. I took screenshots of it, and have the guys number, but even if it was my bike, I doubt anything would be done.

I had a call from the police yesterday...

...they were calling to tell me they haven't looked at the CCTV yet. They were doubtful it would be any use anyway(!) - I wasn't really sure what the point of the call was tbh.
 
The police have finally got around to viewing the CCTV and...


...they immediately closed the case :p They called me and said they were wearing helmets so couldn't be identified. So that's that. The thieves were riding a scooter - you'd think they could pick up something from its plate (even if stolen.)

Ah well. I'm picking up the new bike tomorrow morning, so it's all good. I'm actually feeling super excited :D.
 
Picked up the bike today, and the weather was great for a ride tbh. It was weird, I felt more comfortable on the bike today, and had a lot of fun on the way back home. It's like the 3 weeks bike-less have made me appreciate them more :D.

When I got home I fitted the Kriega us10. To get a good fit, because I'm going to carry a lot of weight in it, I took the seat and top and side fairings off so I could get to the frame. I'll attach the bag with my chains etc tomorrow and see if I notice any difference carting it around.
 
I'll be doing a fair bit of riding in the dark, would it be worth changing my headlight bulb to something like a philips H4 X-Treme Vision? It should give it a more white colour, so perhaps will stand out against background headlights? I considered the philips diamond vision, but not sure they're road legal (5000k)?
 
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I 'll give it a go ;).

I think it was my second time out when I was trying that, perhaps revved it too high as I changed down and felt the back wheel lock up - it was more a 'whoops' moment than anthing too bad :D
 
The_Abyss said:
Glad you're back up and running, but that was a painful watch.
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ahah way to deflate a guys ego ;) Seriously though, I'm very new to all this and am still learning, so always willing to get advice and feedback.

The_Abyss said:
Mirror checking for the sake of it at odd timings, including as you were running through a pedestrian crossing,
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The mirror checks for a large part of the video were due to a BMW driver. You can see him sometimes in the mirrors. In the video, from 2 mins to 5:14 he was behind me, he kept accelerating up to within feet of me, then pulling back, and would sometimes swerve out to the left to try and undertake. This is why I'd give it throttle at some points during those bits of the video to pull away.

bmw.PNG


I did the mirror check on the pedestrian crossing to see if he was still behind me as he didn't indicate coming up to the junction. He was.

He followed for a few more miles before turning off.

If the guy in the BWM wasn't being such an arse behind me, I wouldn't have checked so often.

Would you only check mirrors prior to maneuver? I'm used to driving around the Birmingham area, so when in the car do frequent mirror checks to see what the other crazy drivers are upto.

The_Abyss said:
slow idling on the clutch to roundabouts,
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This is something barely touched upon on CBT, so am happy to get advice.

I would pretty much gear down as I approached, foot covering back brake. As I neared I would clutch in and move forward slowly and take off if it was clear, else stop.

What would be the preferred way?

The_Abyss said:
hugging the right side of the outside lane. It feels almost apologetic to be on the road - the filtering was one example where you could have owned a lane but when the lights changed and you were in front you were still stuck filtering as a car on the right went past you. The second filtering you were again in no man's land - in the left turn lane but really wanted to get right and continue straight on.
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Filtering is still something I don't feel confident about, so attempt it whenever I can, to build up experience.

On the bit where the lights changed, I had a feeling the woman wouldn't give me room to push forwards, so didn't want to risk it. A few meters up the road she goes left slightly to block me coming past.

The second bit, you're spot on. Would it have been best to push in front of the car in the middle lane?

The_Abyss said:
I'm not saying you need to be a road warrior, but for your own safety you need to think about commanding some more road presence.
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I will ;). I've been out on the bike less than 10 times so far, so still got a long way to go. I guess I've erred on the side of caution, but am willing to try filtering etc to gain experience.
 
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Thanks for that!

Tbh, I find the mirrors on the 125x a bit difficult to position correctly. The seat is high and perhaps because I'm over 6'2", the mirrors are a lot lower. I might look into some aftermarket ones that I can position better.

I was told by the dealership to only use 1/3rd throttle for the first 300 miles, and no more than half for the next 300. Then after the first service at 600 miles, I can use full throttle. I've been holding back due to that advice. Would I damage the engine if I use full revs before the engine has been run in?
 
I messed up a couple of days back. The previous night I'd been fitting a tail pack, so needed to take the seat and back fairings off. It was dark, So I put my bikes lights on...

I didn't realise this would drain the battery fairly quickly :p

The day after I geared up, and as my bike is kept in my garden down the bottom of a narrow alleyway, I decided to sit on it and push it out so as not to disturb the neighbors. Got to the bottom of the alleyway and it wouldn't start ahah.

I ended up having to push the bike backwards all up the alleyway, and try and get it backwards into the garden. Wasted an hour in total and was late for work.

The guys at work told me about bump starting, so I'll know what do try next time. I've since bought a charger and it's all fine now.

I did a lot of riding yesterday, and today the underneath of my forearms are actually a bit achey(!) - who needs the gym.
 
I was going to wait a while to sort out my DAS... but got itchy feet so been in touch with a local school.

Booked up for an afternoon on a big bike, they'll then use that to judge how many days etc. I might as well get it sorted before all the summer riders start booking up :p.

I've been doing a load more riding on the 125 and have been working on mirrors, gears, junction approaches and taking on feedback from guys at work who etc (bought the police riders handbook from the rainforest place for 1p(!) too) and been having a lot of fun. Actually had a dry day recently, so I could really lean into the corners ahah.
 
All signed up!

I have got a quick question, but think this might be more of a 125 thing.

On my 125, the gear / speed / rev boundaries are fairly narrow, so lots of changing up and down. On approach to a small roundabout, or tight corner, if I want to try and take it with a nice bit of lean (not knee down ;p) I reduce speed, and have been gearing down. This seems to give me more power and lets me accelerate out of the corner - but it pushes the revs up high.

So should I just take such corners in a higher gear, but have less power around / on the way out, or gear down and push up the revs to give me power if I need it on the way round and out?

Does this make sense? :p I'm guessing on a bigger bike this isn't such an issue.
 
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