bippo

Welcome to the forum Clive!

Smart looking bike there Grave. Welcome to the forum, stick around. Also, good on you for bringing the bike back with you, would be a shame to see it go.

Hey welcome to the forum!

Good on you! It sure is a great feeling. Keep it up.

Cheers Noise!

Welcome CT - you're picking up a great bike there, good on you! Stick around and keep us updated on the bikes adventures...

Hey Matt - welcome!

Hey David - welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the info Beef, really good to know. I'll certainly look into them once I'm ready to book my lessons. Grouch - definitely get yours done, it's easy, cheap and lasts for 2 years. Then you'll find yourself in the same situation as me - just saving before attempting the final hurdles. I keep looking at the next bike I want for inspiration. It makes saving much easier!

Happy belated birthday! Good weather yesterday, hope you got out for a ride. :-)

Ahh! You beat me too it. :-)

Thanks Andrew! It cost me about £30, so not much. Sorry that's only an approximate, I had to book it over a month ago to get a weekend slot, so can't really remember and it isn't on my confirmation email. I could have got it out the way much sooner, but couldn't really make a weekday appointment. I'm afraid you do need to get a motorcycle theory test before you progress any further. Even if you'd done your car theory test a month before. It's a different question bank etc. I passed my car test just over 10 years ago and had to do the car theory then. It was only 35 question in a room with no one monitoring you. Very different now! 50 questions with hazard perception videos, individual pods and CCTV / in person monitoring.

Thanks Welshy. Yeah I've heard others say larger bikes are easier to ride, so that's something! Agree, I feel sorry for youngsters learning to ride with the latest wave of changes.

Thanks both! And Mike - duly noted re. the correction! ;-) Next up is a little more cash saving and then lessons - can't wait.

Thanks Tommy! I just need to complete my Module 1 and 2. I'm old enough so will be doing my Direct Access, just so I can get it out the way (before they change the tests again!) So I think that means I'll be completing both those on something like a 600. It'll be my first ride on a larger CC bike, so need to get some lessons booked before I even thing about my tests!

Looks really smart John, I like it.

Thanks both!

Cheers Jimmy!

Thanks DDT!

Hey Greg, thanks for giving us an update. Smart looking bike for its age - good on you! Good luck with your test whenever you get round to it.

Thanks Airhead! Yeah I was wondering about them... Going to do a bit of Googling. I did my CBT at the Leeds School of Motorcycling and they were really good, but I'm not always over that way with work so I reckon closer to home will be best.

Took my theory test this morning, and passed!! One step closer to getting my full license... Not sure when I'm booking my lessons yet, need to do a little more saving - but it'll be soon hopefully!

Hey Paul - welcome to the forum!

Just the Esso on High Street East, closest station to me, so I'm just being lazy there! Haven't done any research into whether or not their premium is any good or not. Interestingly, I have done a few consecutive tankfuls of their premium in my car and haven't noticed a blind bit of difference... In fact next time I fill that up I'm just going back to regular fuel. With the improvement it made to my bike, I was expecting some difference there, but no.

I know! You can imagine the grin on my face! It's Woodhead Pass, heading back towards Manchester, the part where it's two lanes for a while. I take that road all the time for my commute and hated that section on the way home, especially during winter when it was dark. So many cars speed up there to try and get past as many lorries as they can and I'd be at full throttle in 3rd to just try and keep a suitable speed. Now I can do that very same hill, full throttle in 5th without my speed dropping. It doesn't have much pull left in it, but at least I know I've got plenty of gears to choose from if needed.