KirriePete

Positioning - right for right junctions, left for left but be aware of the slingshot effect when going major-minor: too far into the left before the turn can make you drift out on the exit. The 'dominating the lane' argument doesn't hold water, you're about to turn left so who gives a shit if someone overtakes? Positioning for bends, basics are position to get the best view without coming into conflict with oncoming traffic, so left for a right-hander and vice-versa, but always staying clear of the corner cutter coming the other way. Safe following distance & blind spots all covered - 2 second rule an' all that, don't sit in the middle behind a wagon, or any vehicle dependent on wing mirrors (includes the Volvo estate on his way to the skip with a boot load), etc. Hazard perception, defensive riding, observation and anticipation skills development ...... all these and more are covered in CBT - by us anyway, can't speak for other schools ....... If anyone's interested in what should be covered, here's a link to the official DVSA CBT guide Spread the word!

Checking clocks - yes, quick look at the speedo every now and then, not a problem. However, if you start riding by checking the rev counter then you'll be developing a bad habit from the word go and once that habit's formed it's a bugger to get rid of later on. You don't want a trainee looking down at their rev counter whenever they're pulling away from a junction/the lights/wherever, do you? 8-9k rpm? Jeez, how long do that guy's bikes last between engine blowups? As you say Cap, there's no go left at that point so opening the throttle will just make a loud noise and bounce the bike off the rev limiter (where fitted, your bike may differ, terms and conditions apply, see website for details). Far better to keep the engine spinning in the fat bit of the torque curve, on these 125 singles that's usually between 4-7k, so 5k would be fine. Saying that, I knew a guy years ago had an RS125 and he'd take it to the redline in every gear, coz his "mates" told him that was the gearchange marker, wouldn't listen to any other advice, somehow the bike never blew up! Feathering - in the context of bike controls this has always meant being gentle with things as far as I'm concerned. Fluttering on/off is moving into the area of cadence braking and the like, not really a subject for CBT. Blimey, is this thread moving away from Noisy and his training aspirations and towards a "Dummies Guide to Riding Bikes"? Not that that's a bad thing, especially for some of the younger, inexperienced guys that come on here, they get to benefit from the accumulated wisdom of crusty dried out fossils like myself - Tip Number 1 - DON'T CRASH!

Don't want to piss on your cornflakes Noise, but using the rev counter means taking your eyes off the road. We always tell trainees to get a feel for the engine by listening to it, after all it's thrashing away between your knees, innit?

Slipping the clutch for beginners. The clutch is basically 2 plates held together by strong springs, one plate attached to the engine (so it's always spinning when the engine is running), the other plate is attached to the gearbox. When you pull the clutch lever in, you separate these plates disengaging the clutch - this allows the engine to run without turning the gears and hence the rear wheel. When the clutch lever is released all the way, the plates are forced together by the springs, essentially making a solid connection from the engine, via the gearbox to the rear wheel, driving the machine forwards. If you were to just release the clutch lever in gear, the plates would snap together and full engine speed would be transferred to the gearbox, jerking the machine forward violently. Slipping the clutch is where you release the lever gently, so that the plates start to rub against each other slightly, smoothing out the transfer of power - the bite point is where this starts to happen, on most bikes this is about the last half inch or so of lever travel. When doing slow speed riding (slaloms, figure-8 etc) - slipping the clutch allows the engine speed to be kept up, giving smoother power, while the actual road speed is kept low, allowing easier turning etc. Does that help? I usually explain this while demonstrating by rubbing my hands together - one hand being the engine side, the other being the gearbox - as I increase pressure between my hands the gearbox side starts to move with the engine hand......

So Noisy, how's it going? Don't leave us all hanging, you got your ticket or not?

.... and if you get a good tone to your voice the laydeez lurve it!

Crack on Noise old fruit. Did Cardington myself last week, nailed it! Now just waiting for the call to go back down for the DAS ticket and that's me sorted! Top tips from someone who knows - Find out everything you can about their riding background, then treat them as a rank novice until they've proved themselves. Be proactive, talk your trainee through every move until you're sure they know what to do. Then give them a chance to do it. Always position yourself to see what they're doing - if it's a braking exercise make sure you can see both front and rear brakes and so forth. If you're having a chat with the trainee, make sure they're in neutral first, maybe even switch off. Be ready to catch! When you go out on the road, keep your voice level and even, airline pilot style, gives them confidence if you sound like you know what you're doing, and keep the chatter down, just give them crisp, clear, simple instructions. Don't be afraid to stop them out on the road - a mistake that needs a bit of explaining, or making the same silly little mistake a couple of times, do it face-to-face kerbside not on the roll. Watch your own riding, no point bollocking them for not stopping at a STOP if you follow straight after them! That'll do for a start, if you've got any questions drop me a PM and I'll do my best to fuck you up sort you out.

On my old CX650 Eurosprout I used sections from an old inner tube that was just slightly smaller than the manifolds so it stretched over the top and gripped nicely by itself. Wee run of rubber glue round the edges and you couldn't tell it had been done .... from a distance anyway. HTH

Hi Andy, welcome to the nuthouse. For hazard perception training, get one of those driving test DVDs from Tesco/Asda etc. Make sure it's one that covers all the UK tests, so it'll have the bike-specific questions. The haz perception bit will have a review part which will give you a good idea what they're looking for, basically click when you see the developing hazard, not just a potential one. Enough practice and you could probably do it eyes shut.......

ACF50..... or move to a country where it doesn't rain as much.

I've put gel pads from DanMedicaSouth in a few bikes over the years and, once you get used to a certain 'squishy botty' feeling, they do make a helluva difference - took the comfortable range of my old XBR500 from 100 to 200 miles. Haven't thought about one for the Divvy yet, but having ridden it 450 miles down to Bedford the other week (and back a few days later) without any problems, I don't think I'll be needing one for this bike. Maybe it's just my arse has toughened up?

Cleaning? I've heard of that before, is that where the free water comes out of the sky and knocks several layers of mud off the bike? Maintenance - First ride of the day - BOLT : Brakes, Overall condition, Lights & Tyres - do the brakes work? Any oil leaks or stuff missing/broken/dangling? Lights OK? Tyres round at the bottom? Good, ride on! Weekly - quick once-over making sure that everything that should move, moves (and smoothly - lube as required) and everything that shouldn't, doesn't. Also check tyre pressures and tread depth, brake pad wear, oil levels and so forth. It ain't rocket science, even Noise can make it look like he knows what he's doing. Now, about this cleaning thing, how's that work again?

I use one of the ER-5's as my 'chase' bike, that is until I get the business insurance sorted out on the Divvy, when that'll take over. Other notable machines are the much maligned Honda Dullville - totally bomb-proof engine, watercooled & shaft drive so bimbling along behind 'peds at bugger-all mph won't faze them and you get good weather protection and carrying capacity for spare radios/batteries/toolkit/clutch and brake levers for when your trainees bin it ....... Cardington or down-trained?

Glad you're ok, but some questions: 1. Were you scraping pegs just before you went grasstracking? If not, why not? b. Did you actually think "Oh shit, here we go!" then tense up instead of relaxing and leaning more? iii. Before the bend, were you looking ahead for any clues as to where it really went - tree/hedge line, telephone poles, that sort of thing? To expand on Ttaskmaster - every event like this is a chance to learn more, so be analytical about the events leading up to the incident and see if you could have done anything differently to either avoid it in the first place, or recover without the need to hit the grass. Then the next time ....... you'll screw up in a completely different way, don't ask me how I know this!

You don't need (or get) a certificate from VOSA (acksherly it's now DVSA, they've joined up with the DSA, but that's another story ....). If you were to use the bike for test you would need a statement from a dealer/specialist that it was restricted, dyno output sheets are not accepted at the test centre, but as you've already got your A2 ticket, that's not an issue. What could be a problem, and may get you in the poo with your insurers, is that the FZ6 puts out 98bhp as standard - you can only restrict down to 50% of the normal power which would put it at 49bhp when you are restricted to 47 ...... from here - DVSA bike licence categories So ..... the garage is talking bollocks.

UPDATE: Ariel Arrow (field bike) Puch Maxi (x2) Gilera stepthru with teeny-tiny 10" wheels (larf? I did!) Garelli something-or-other stepthru Suzuki FR80 Honda CB200 MZ250 Supa5 (Red, new, SMIDSY'ed at 5 weeks old) MZ250 Supa5 (Blue, 2nd hand, Honda TLS front brake so it wouldn't get SMIDSY'ed so easily) Honda CM250T Yam XS250 Yam XS750 . . . 5 year gap while doctors figure out my inner ear problem . . . Honda CX650E BMW K100 Honda NX650 } Honda XBR500 }Can you tell I went through a 'singles' phase? Suzuki GN400 } Honda NTV650 + Yam SR125 Piaggio X8 125 - twist'n'go giggle machine Suzuki Bandit 600N Kawasaki GTR1000 'Megabus' - Current, being eyed up by number 1 son but battle commencing with his son (my grandson Alex) for ownership: Yam XJ900S Divvy - Current and I love it!

Fuel starvation? Maybe the tank vent is blocked so a vacuum builds up in the tank, stopping the fuel getting out. Simplest way to check is to run the bike with the tank cap open, see what happens.

Once the daughter-in-law got shot of the SR125 I had no Yamaha connection, so kinda drifted away ..... until today. Here's how it's happened: Monday sold the H*nda NTV650, came home and had a look on ebay for a replacement - spotted a candidate with 15 minutes left on the auction. Put a bid £10 above the current highest bidder with 30 seconds to go, ebay said "Feck orf, it's gotta be £20 more or nowt", so I went that extra tenner and slid the winning bid in with 3 seconds on the clock. Tuesday spoke to the guy selling and arranged to pick it up today (Friday) This morning, up at "Way too early o'clock" to catch the 6:32 out of Dundee, got down to Bolton just after 11:30. Met by Andy and his missus - top people - got taken to their place, chatted, drank coffee, handed over a bundle of Scottish paper and picked up keys. Got led out of Bolton by missus so I wouldn't get lost on my way to the M6, then blatted back up to Teuchterland. Got in at 7:15 after 295 miles, 3 fillups and several coffees in just over 5 hours. What was I riding? What have I got in my back garden now? This little beauty: Love it!

No idea what the black jelly is, possibly old oil that's emulsified, but that usually looks like this: Here's the oil being poured out for comparison: ... and here's what the seal looked like (note that this one came out easily, the damage you see was there in the fork tube itself): (guess which one's the old one) As for oil - nowadays I use specific fork oil, but I have used ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) in the past, some people swear by it and some bike manufacturers actually spec it for use in the forks. Just bear in mind you shouldn't need too heavy an oil for the dtr, 5 or 10W would be my guess, if you go for 'proper' fork oil.

Tassels on the leathers, grey beard, Ray-Bans, matt black open face lid, stony stare when waved at by other riders (unless they're on cruisers as well) and a large shareholding in Solvol .... I think that covers it. .... and learn how to fist-bump your bro's on the move ....

Looks fine to me - it's the same design as the Honda Cubs, they all wobble a bit to allow for movement in the chain, or something of that ilk. Suffice to say, millions of third world families have been transported by bikes with front sprockets just like this for over 50 years and I've never heard of one failing yet. The sprocket is held in place by the 'spacer', actually a locking tab, in conjunction with the two bolts - it ain't going anywhere as long as the bolts are done up properly. Don't worry about it and just ride the bloody thing!

I'm with Airhead on this one - if the bike was running fine before you lifted the head and that's the only thing you've done, then that's where the problem must lie. One tooth out on cam timing will give you the symptoms you have described - it'll run, but not very well and starting will be hit and miss at best - it's even possible to get the cams 180 degrees out of phase, so it's trying to suck through the exhaust and blow through the inlet. As it's a twin the other pot will be doing most of the work and the bad cylinder will be fighting it, hence the need for WOT to get it running at all - you've got a 62.5cc single driving a 62.5cc compressor essentially. HTH

Jack, would you walk into a pub in a strange town and just start asking questions without first introducing yourself? If you would, give us the ward number where you want us to send the flowers ..... It's the same here, if you look at the front page you find, right at the top, a cunningly disguised area known as New Members Welcome Area - you can guess what goes on there, better yet stick a post in there yourself. Just so we know who you are, what sort of skill level you may have, maybe even where you are as one of the regulars may live near to you, they have been known to pop round with assistance in exchange for beer and biscuits ..... As for your problem, either the starter circuit is completely dead for some reason, could be a blown fuse, loose/broken wire, dead solenoid, etc etc., or it could just be you need to make sure all the safety interlocks are in the 'go' position - sidestand up, clutch pulled in and so forth. If you're still getting nothing, start at the starter motor and give it the full 12v by using a heavy duty cable to connect it directly to the battery, if it spins your motor is good, then just work backwards through the circuit - solenoid, relays etc. - each time applying power directly to the component, bypassing all the upstream stuff until you find the one that doesn't work. If you're not sure how to do any of this then I'd suggest you take it to someone who does as you're more likely to feck it all up by poking wires at random spots, you can watch what they do if you ask nicely, thus gaining experience - it's called 'learning', something modern schools have forgotten how to teach. Now, do be a good lad and pop over to the Newbies area and give us an intro, cheers!

One word - Altberg - Click here. I've had a pair of Hoggs for years, most comfortable boot I've ever owned, totally waterproof (just remember to use LederGris) and solid as a rock, plus they're made in Britain! Thoroughly recommended.