Gas up - Let's Go!

Indeed, it's the same drill for the CBT here in the UK. I did a BikeSafe course last week, had an assesment on Sunday in two modules, first was all about slow speed controll, same stuff as you talk about. We also had an evolution of the U-Turn, where it became an O turn (finishing off where you started) which is a bit of a mind scramble at first. Once you get it though you can do it all day long. Second module was an open road assesment with a Police Rider - "don't worry about me, I'll keep up" was the line, when I saw the opportunity for a filter, the sort his FJR wouldn't get through (panniers etc) I was tempted It's always good to be apraised by your peers, and for those that think they are good already, why not go ahead and prove it ?

Tottaly agree. Devitt go into the same <tosser> pot, IMO

....... and at a speed in which you can safely bring the motorcycle to a stop in the distance which you can see to be clear.... Oh christ! I'm in textbook mode again. I need to have sex, or a damed good ride on the bike - weathers good, and the only other live things in the house are fish or the dogs, so it's the bike then....

Here's a fact for you, MV2 / R is the effort used whilst cornering. This force is taken from the vehicles speed and therefore the vehicle slowes down. Picked this up from the IAM Instructor on Wednesday night! Point being, when you corner the more you open the corner up, ie (for a right hander) goin in wide to the left, clip the apex and exit wide on the left you will loose more speed in the corner due to the cornering force (requiring more throttle to maintain speed). So if you do feel you are going wide you can use this to help scrub speed off, should you need to. But correct observation and planning would remove this and you can take the correct route through. The correct route through (again a right hand bend) would be to go in deep, keeping to the left (level with the apex) then a quick lean, back up and exit the corner to the right-of-centre side of your lane. This way you keep your observation path wider for longer, you loose less speed in the corner (due to the reduced corner radius) and exit in the right place. Check this site out for some tips on your riding - get the observation & planning right and you never need to touch the brakes again, oh and learn to use the vanishing point to controll your speed. Edit: DOH! Heres the link http://www.datacraftsystems.co.uk/techniqu...echniques_left/

Yip, I use them for the Dirt Bike, don't need all that extra stuff they normally include. TTR600E, 2005 I think this policy has 3 Yrs no claims (honestly, multibike policies are great until you want some flexibility, then you have to start again with you NCD) and it was something like £68 TPFT, they were considerably better than anywhere else (even swipped £100 off Carol Nash!) in my case.

You don't need the expense of a Dyno, you just the right information. Go HERE and you will find a whole bunch of folk who have made this mod previous, and you'll get to find out what you need to do. Don't spend a penny more until you've looked! Make sure you introduce yourself first, and for the £10 it costs to become a supporter you'll have access to the full tech section where you can ask the R & X experts...

Govenment Secure markings have strict crtieria governing where they can be read, ammended, copied, distributed and transported. That Copper who flashed SECRET documents to the press, they should never have been outside the office unless in a locked brief case, locked to his wrist! In order to gain the security clearance to look at such documents (even just RESTRICTED docs) you have to sign the OSA (Official Secrets Act), so if a junior officer had been in the same possition he would have been suspended, sacked and prosecuted under the OSA, and no doubt some section of the Terrorist Act too- but the top bloke get to resign and nothing more is said. And now the guys they nailed in the raids have bene released without charge, and the best we can do is try to deport them! Goverment ministers leaving classified docs on a train, again if that had been an employee, sacked and prosecuted. Some poor girl in the HMRC offices posts off a CD (OK it contained a good bit of very usefull information), as instructed by her boss - sacked and prosecuted. You are bang on, this whole government stinks, it's corrupt, greedy, self important, etc etc

I watched David Cameroony's response. I have to say it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in that place. Not sure if he was just taking the p!$$ of if he though the budget was a joke. So, basically from next year 79% of our tax will go to paying back the Arabs all the cash that Brown has borrowed...... and everything will get put right after the next election ............ Anyone who doesn't vote next time really should be rounded up and shot!

At the top end of the scale you have these: 600cc , but air cooled and as light as a DRZ400, but more power! in fact any of the TTR's are good off-road bikes, that you can cover lots of road miles on if needed. what it comes down to is how much cash you have, and what you want it for ?

Rode for 31 hours non-stop (apart from Fuel stop obviously!) , from Bayonne to Portugal then up to IJmuden (Amsterdam) (1600 Miles) - nearly killed me, stupidest thing I ever did. Stopped at the ferry terminal and fell over, me & the bike!

Not quite sure what your saying there. Have you tried the new LED indicators on the MT ?? What normally happens is you'd put the relay in place of the bulb (in simple terms this is) and this would power the LEDS, if you wired it right !! As for the O2 mod, it depends if the ECU is the same, it's the same motor but the power delivery is different. My Z isn't the same as the X or the R.

Not quite, it is being brough in, but it's still going to be a long time before it's any use. And the recertification is classroom based, not an assesed driver - or so the DSA information lead me to belive. Probably just easier to have Twats euthanased.........

Have a look in Staples, I picked up a Toshiba Dual Core with 3Gb RAM, HUGE hard drive, wide screen, BluTooth - you name it !! for a little over £300 the week before last (for my daughter) In the good old days, when PC's were scary building and tweeking your own was a good way of upgrading. But these days the stuff is so cheap it's just not worth the hassle of searching for the right driver combination. Oh, when RAM was a £ per Mb ............... Chances are it's not the proccesor that's holding you up, your OS (Opperating System) has more than probably got so many add-ins hook-ons etc that it's eating up the memory. Get rid, and get a whole new laptop, that's the easiest way forward. Whatever you buy, shop around and barter, it's a buyers market

Yes, it's great. Roll up and within the hour you are riding in France. The terminal is straight off the motorway too. If you look at the website there are often good deals - I go an email a couple of weeks back, offering £22 return for WSB weekends. There are usually a few bikes. You just have to watch the bike as the train rumbbles along, they don't tie them down, but it depends on your bike and the lean on the sidestand I guess, mine sits quite upright so it's not as stable - but then again it's only 30 minutes of travel, so no hardship realy. If you time it right you can avoid that nasty M25 traffic..... I've used the Portsmouth/Bilbao route but the Bay of Biscay can be rough, I'd rather take the Chunnel and ride through France, the Newcastle/IJmuden routes are OK, but again if you get the wrong weather your in it for a while !!

Try having a walk into Hein Gericke, they have a good selection of womens leathers, my missus picked up a pair of pants with HiProtect armour in (2006 range) for £35! reduced gradually from £135 over the years... You don't need to buy any, but you'll get your sizes sorted out.

Yep, everyone. Only when you use it as a reason to say you are a better rider. I do have one or two personal reasons for this; My outlaws, well Mr Outlaw, he just shouldn't be driving, he is a danger to himself and others - but he just won't be told. If he had to pass an assesment then he'd be off the road! There are countless examples of this on the road everyday - young, old, experienced and fresh from the test centre. It's not perfect but it does give some degree of controll over who can and can't drive/ride. It's not a right after all. Like you, I had to re-take my test, although it was me who didn't send off my test papers to the DVLA when I was young. so had to do the whole thing again. I'm glad I did as it gave me a new perspective on things. I consider myself an experienced rider, but a good rider ?? I'm always of the opinion that those who claim to be good riders rarely are. I have a ride assesment on Sunday, so I'll let the experts comment on that, but I'll be knocked sideways if they don't tell me there are areas I can improve. The whole licence expiry thing is already there (in the UK) (and with Photo style licences) so you have to pay to get it re-issued (check your licence, they only last 10 years), why not have an assement included ? I'd be happy to pay £8 a year if it got just one dangerous person off the roads, and saved one innocent victim of an accident. There are many ways of doing it, passing a recognised Advanced Course, or PSV, HGV, whatever - as long as you've been tested to current standards, it shows you are taking it seriously.

What scare's the bejeasus out of me is a 16yr old can drive a Tractor on the road......

Bloody dangerous out there...... how are we supposed to look at the road, when ,,,, well,,,,, how I ask, so many distractions, it's just not safe, or fair

I've come across this before, also to add to it: Metal valve caps/covers have the same affect. Check the length of your valve stems, long ones (if only by 5mm) also bend during riding, and the stem itself can become damanged.

I have a good woman, who loves, cherishes and obey's... Sorry, I was dreaming then. I got a fly straight in the eye the other day, stung like hell. That's as bad as it gets! My wonderfull wife (there's two words that don't often go together) rolled a jeep down the side of Mt Kilimanjaro 3 years ago, laid on the roadside for 10 hours while they found a suitable pickup to get her to hospital. then got medivac'd out of the country so she would stand a chance of surviving! Lucky for here they took her to J'Bourg and not the UK.... Snapped her upper arm (can't remember the name for the bone), degloved the bone and left her without a bicsep muscle. 97 staples, 2 skin grafts, 1 external fixator, replaced with 1 internal nail, replaced with two plates (a year later) and 6 screws (I think) 2 years of Physiotherapy 12 hours of head therapy, just to get her back in a car ! 5 Opperations in all and today she is teaching kids how to 'Go Ape' (and she's petrified of heights). She's the braves person I've ever met! I want her to have all my accidents.

No, it's much much easier on a big bike. The single cylinder motor isn't anywhere near as smooth. I can get the XJR1300 to turn on itself all day long! The Tenere is a different beast and require lots on concentration and weight shifting (being a big single). When you move to a 500 for your pre-test training you will be amazed at the difference! One thing the small bike are good at though, it's cornering, you learn much better on a bike with tyres as wide as a box of fags (sorry, smokes - not a box full of homobloko's dressed as Kylie), than you do on a bike with big fat rubber bands enough to sit a small ship on. Horses for courses. Trouble is, those that are willing to train - will, twats will just move on to something else, or do it anyway! I had a twat try to race me away from the lights, by cutting me up, a few weeks ago. Still got his ignition key in my jacket pocket!!

bornard is bang on, but the answer is plainly simple. People shouldn't be allowed out on the roads with nothing but a day's basic training, why should they ? They aren't in a car ??? Personally, I think everyone should have to pass a test to ride solo. It shows you have a basic level of ability to ride on the road, but it's just an invitation to improve, not a certification you can ride. All about attitude - the twats on the scooters are just that, and they shouldn't be on the road. There are lots of guys out there who ride 500 and 125 machines perfectly well, and I would suggest that these guys wouldn't have a problem in passing a test. HM Goverment have got it wrong, small capacity tests should be introduced, with some kind of financial trade in for the guys who want to go on and ride bigger, more powerfull machines. Licences should have a set life too, so you need to site a re-test/assesment after say 10 years. I'm sick of hearing "I've had my licence since before you were out of nappies" etc etc, if you really are a good rider/driver then you'll have no problem passing an assesment, will you ?? PS - for anyone who's had thier bike test passed for over 10 years, have you tried any basic motorcycle control lately? just like the stuff in the CBT ?? go on, have a go - I think a few might suprise themselves......

Hmmmmmmm...... This is going to let a rabbit off, but what the hell. Racers will brake in mid bend - front and rear, it stabilises the bike as the suspension will compress slighly. It is an advanced manouver and I'd never suggest that anyone tries this in a public place, get it wrong and you take a trip through the scenery. Cast your mind back to the days when you did your CBT, or even your test on a 125. The only way to keep a bike stable in slow speed corners is to trail the rear brake. Move up to a big single and you will find you are doing the same, only faster - Ain't never had the bike stand up on me! In a high speed corner, trailing the rear brake will tighten the bend insofar as the bike is concerned. Do it slow (applying the brake that is) and you'll see how you can corner safely, and be in a possition to stop mid bend should you need to. You are require to be able to stop in the distance you can see to be safe, sometimes that distance changes (through no fault of your own, a rabbit, dear, idiot on a GSX etc) and you need to be able to react. These are all advanced techniques and require practice and good instruction to perfect - last week I saw the IAM instuctor bring a Busa to a dead stop, mid bend - Now that's bike control. (also saw a U-turn in less than 15 feet, at full lock, but that's another story). So, you can brake mid bend, it is safe and you can keep the bike in full control. However you have to be quite skilled in your bike control and the use of the brakes. I suspect your bike is standing up because the braking effort is too great, could be that you're used to the other bike (my Tenere and XJR are like chalk and cheese). Or maybe the brakes are binding, but if you keep the throttle open and stay off the clutch you should be safe enough. Try braking on a straight, clear road and clip in the clutch, see if the bike behaves as you would expect it to, do it slow at first just in case!!!

This bike is pretty much at home in the Lakes......... The varadero is a great bike too, kinda depends on what you want ??? For a big grin, go anywhere kinda bike the Tenere is king (better than the BMUU and you save enough to buy a second house too). It's not a fast bike, but very agile and takes the high passes in it's stride - I've lost count of the time I've passed sportsbikes on Wrynose..... It also got me out of Borrowdale last year when no-one else was managing it. Big single sounds too,,,, For road going, power on tap, comfy riding, then the Varadero is worth a look. These bikes will cover 600+ miles a day, every day and you'll feel fresh when you get off. Don't be fooled by the off-road looks, it just doesn't cut it on anything rougher than smooth gravel. With the right cans on these big V-Twins sound awesum. Both great bikes IMO, the Tenere is a bit more adventure that the Varadero.

Thats about the measure of it, maybe a smile behind them teeth though !! There are alot of model specific sites out there in webland, usually if you ask about on here someone will know about it. There are a few with lots of information on this site, and some with none at all - but who can point you in the right direction. It's all advice, you just need to choose what to follow and what not to. The trouble is, manufactures don't want to take away the dealers work by putting information on modern bikes, then when bikes get older it kinda falls by the wayside. There are lots of people with years of knowledge, but these guys would rather be in the workshop or out on the road than creating a database which, as they grow demand a huge admistrative input - not the kind of thing a man in overalls is best at. You got a good point but I fear it will never be resolved.