Archive for the ‘Motorbikes’ Category

I have now been able to ride a motorbike for a couple of months. In that time I have probably only covered about 100 miles due to the weather but I can feel my confidence and ability growing each time I go out. The Suzuki Bandit I am riding is fantastic, though this can only be compared to the Honda CB250 I used for myCBT. On the whole, I am comfortable riding the bike and have no problems with it’s performance. I am most likely riding it too slow in fact but I will walk before I run!

Aidy (Whose bike it was originally) has been helping me learn a bit about the bike to. He has kindly shown me the basic maintenance tasks that need to be done, so in effect, we have given it most of a service. We installed new brake pads (Kindly sponsored by Gringod .com!), changed the oil/filter and tensioned the chain. Doing these jobs is great as it helps me get familiar with the technology. At this stage I would need the Haynes manual close at hand for any major repairs but I plan to learn as much as possible about the mechanics. I think this is vital for me as I plan to use the bike for travel much as Aidy did before me. In fact, he has just posted some videos I sent him links for on this subject. If these dont inspire you and give your wanderlust a kick start, I dont know what would!

This might be easier than I thought. 10 minutes at our licence office during lunchtime has put me one step closer to my goal! With very little drama (none actually), they happily granted me a provisional licence for Category A (Motorbikes). Hopefully it will all come together this quickly… what’s next on the list?!?!

Well, now I appear to at last be building momentum towards my goal for 2007. My resolution for this year was to try and get my motorbike licence. As I had done nothing to progress towards this goal, other than pick up a form for the licence, I did not hold out much hope on actually achieving the goal! However, a couple of weeks ago, Aidy decided that he was going to look for a new bike! He has settled on a rather cool BMW R1200GS that would be my ideal bike one day too! He did suggest that his Bandit 600F would be ideal for me to use as a starter bike. The bike has had a very interesting past, but at least I know it’s history! Other than working out the finer details down at the pub, I think we have made a deal!

Now it is time to…

1. Get licence sorted
2. Buy helmet and other gear
3. Organise some insurance
4. Convince Aidy to show me how a bike works!
5. Book myself on the CBT (Compulsory Basic Training)
6. Rent a bike to use on CBT as 600cc is too much
7. Read more magazines so I can say biker stuff - like the vindaloo comment (private joke)!!