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Bikes .....all things bikes

Passed my Mod 1 test last week. Got my Mod 2 in a month.



I might be tempting fate a bit but I just bought a bike for 'when' I pass



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Good luck with the test and that is a lovely looking bike.

I have just returned from 15 days of biking, over 2000 miles, covering England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Switzerland. Slept on an overnighter train, swam in the Adriatic, spent the night in a medieval walled city, visited a Roman Colosseum, passed through the Dolomites, road an Alpine pass, toured a fairytale castle, enjoyed the largest car collection of Bugatti's in the world and enjoyed some French humour in a village restaurant.

And I proposed to the girlfriend and she is now my fiancée, after all, if she is going to join me for all that I won't ever find better.
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We had a few bike related problems, the main earth on the bike has gone funny and at one point the left indicator cut the engine during an over take on some switch back roads in Austria. That left me with no headlights or indicators for three days and 700 miles but that was not major. Plus an airlock developed in the radiator, probably due to a fault with the cap and it spat out the fluids until I was able to strip and clean it on route. Finally my brand new Garmin Zumo satnav bricked itself, just as well I was riding with another couple and he had all the routes on his identical machine.

That was the sort of biking trip that makes me feel alive but there was no pinball for two weeks and I miss the Pinball Party.
 
jonathan' date=' post: 1696782 said:
Passed my Mod 1 test last week. Got my Mod 2 in a month.



I might be tempting fate a bit but I just bought a bike for 'when' I pass



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DSCF0898-1.jpg





Passed with 1 minor! Really chuffed as I taught myself with zero lessons
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Well done Jonathan. Now you can enjoy that beast of a machine.



Now as one biker to another. Never underestimate how important on-going training is. Most days you can be lucky but some day something may happen outside of your control that will require the right action made in the smallest time scale and only good presence of mind will help when a grab full of brakes will add to the accident.

I was an Observer for the IAM for a while but personal commitments got the better of that. I think that the IAM and RoSPA do a great job of giving you further skills. But for quick and cheap fun with a healthy does of advancing your riding, then a track day is a must. It doesn't matter on what bike you are riding, don't treat it as a track but treat it as a great twisty road with no oncoming traffic and don't think about speed. On a track you can find out what your bike can actually do and how much we are riders hold it back. I then can ride at 60% of my ability, knowing that there is a buffer and how to manage the bike.



My training has saved my life several times. I mentioned in my last post that my bikes engine was cut out whilst I was doing an overtake last month in Lichtenstein (or Switzerland, we are not too sure). Uphill, on the wrong side of the road with no engine, rock face on the right, mostly cliff drop off on the left, slipping back into the gap I came from could require me to pull up where there was no space and the car that was behind me hitting me. All that needed to be worked out and a safe place sorted in under two seconds.

Also remember that your vehicle can out accelerate almost any road car worth 10x what your bike cost, that means almost all car users will not realise how quickly we can change speed and pull out on you on motorways or junctions. My R1 can do 85 in first gear and go from 30 to 70 in under 2 seconds but rarely can I do that around where I live because any car will move into the space. I consider that to be my problem not theirs as I will be the one hurting.



OK, now for the pictures of why I enjoy biking.



Enjoying a ride with your friend:



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Corners like this:



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Parking up in amazing places:



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I thought you still had to pass your part 2?

I failed my part 2 the first two times exactly the same- clipped the very last cone. The second time I followed up by dismounting and booting the ****er up in the air. 3rd time I got it.

You are a fully fledged biker? Congrats!
 
Not a bad day for a nice ride. The bikes do run better with the slightly cooler, denser air. Good to get some miles under your belt and on that lovely bike. :amen:
 
But for quick and cheap fun with a healthy does of advancing your riding, then a track day is a must. It doesn't matter on what bike you are riding, don't treat it as a track but treat it as a great twisty road with no oncoming traffic and don't think about speed.

Eh? Go on a track day, but treat it like a great twisty road with no oncoming traffic? Really? Do that and you'll have 30 nutters on old CBRs hurtling past you on every straight and cutting in front of you at every corner, cursing you as they go. It's WORSE than oncoming traffic, as you'll only see them as they shoot in front of you, inches from your handlebars.

At least, that's how I remember it when I was last on a track day. That was 20 years ago, though, and there were hardly any road bikes on there 😄

Seriously though, if you go on a track day and don't get the urge to go as fast as possible and get past the guy in front at any all costs, you probably shouldn't be there.

If you're a noob to a big bike and only just passed your test, you /definitely/ shouldn't be there.

JMHO

But maybe things are different now...
 
There are usually three groups on any organised track day, novice, inters and advanced. The novices are usually first timers or slow runners and there are many marshals to ensure the quality of riding is correct for the group. There are usually no track bikes allowed in the novice group and no racers. Inters and usually road bikes too but with people who feel more comfortable and are practising more of a race style but still really road riding.
The marshals on most of the ones I have done are very good and helping you develop and they are not teaching your to race but ride your bike faster. Then you repeat it on your own until you are comfortable with it.
The Advanced or suicide group is usually full of track bikes, half don't make the morning and this is where the most amount of accidents seem to occur. This is also the place to find the old CBR's.

I marshalled a track event at an RAF circuit once. Led the advanced group around the circuit to ease them in then three of them cut me up into the first corner. I banned the lot of them for the next session.
If a person cant control their desire to pin the throttle then a track is still safer for them than the road in my opinion. 😉
 
Hmm, sounds a bit different now, very sanitised. Actually, IIRC they weren't called Track Days in my day, they were called Practice Days, and were often in the week before a race meet. I think you also might have needed to take your racing licence as well, so definitely a bit different. There certainly weren't marshals helping you develop, you were on your own. At my first ever race meet I had no idea what I was doing. It was at Cadwell Park, I got lost on the track in the few laps morning practice session and then the (random) draw put me on the front of the grid for the first race. Biggest adrenaline rush I've ever had in my life.

...led the advanced group around the circuit to ease them in then three of them cut me up into the first corner.
Now we're talking.

If a person cant control their desire to pin the throttle then a track is still safer for them than the road in my opinion. 😉
And its the most fun!
 
How long did you race for?
Friends do amateur racing and the costs just put me off even considering it. Funny enough, they are the ones crashing at the track days as they just always push it.

I always start a track day very reserved, wondering if I will control myself but end them having so much fun. Mallory was one of my favourites as you can't get too much speed on the straight before the long sweeping corner. I keep meaning to do one on my R1 but I just don't find the time and the weather this year has been a gamble.
 
4 or 5 years...it was a long time ago. I raced James Haydon a few times, before he started getting good. Can't remember if I beat him or not.

Costs were a problem, as I was still a student for much of the time.
 
OK, here is a garage find bike:

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Sadly it is at the back of my garage and all my intensions to get it back on the road have never resulted in me doing anything to it. Other bike and cars have come and gone but this was my first proper bike. Now it being sold to help with the house move as it is time to let someone else feel guilty about not restoring it. :(

I plan to sell my R1 as well with an aim to have less money tied up in toys I rarely use anymore.
 
Poor little Honda :(

(dont even Mention the R1 to me, as since I have little money, I would still love one!!) :D
 
The 400 has a buyer already. It is not about the money but the fact they will restore it and I will get to see it done.
I will trade the 2001 r1 with low milage for a WH2O ;).
 
I will grab a picture of it and post tomorrow. I was due to start the process today but it started to rain and I needed to get her back into the garage as she doesn't do rain.
Only selling due to space, I have plans at the new house for a double garage with undernearth games room. At the moment it has a single garage with a workshop so at least a I get a man place to make a mess. ;)
 
Pic of my brother's Bonneville (the more modern one on the left, not the original in front of it) at Stomin' the Castle bike festival at Whitton Castle in County Durham a couple of weeks ago. We were fortunate to get pretty good weather the whole weekend, although the pillion ride from my brother's place in Sheffield was a bit windy.

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And a pic of someone else's Harley near by where we were camping - a thing of beauty.

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