Remember that first ride home?

[notoriousb.e.n]

Ive been reading some of the posts about people panicking and worrying about their CBT's and such, and it made me remember mine.
I was the same, never thought i'd get the hang of it and now its all second nature.
what I also remember was getting my bike from the dealers half an hour away, and it taking like two hours to get home
because of stalling/panicking/etc.
anyone else remember their first ride home on a new bike after a CBT?
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Ride the tiger! you can see his stripes but you know he's clean!
Gilera Dna 125, Honda CG125 offs: 2 pulled: 1.

[Shay HTFC]

Yep
I suddenly lost power on a road in the middle of nowhere (i.e. far from any towns)
It involved me leaving the bike in some woods, hitch hiking a lift to a train station and catching a train back.
Next day take out breakdown cover
Next day get train + bus to closest place I could to my bike (its in the New Forest in the middle of nowhere).
Then ring up the breakdown recovery informing them that my bike is in some woods because I had to push it off the main road (don't pick you up if the bike is off road, so had to 'discuss' with them)
Get a lift back with breakdown truck + bike on the back.

When I got it back, I figured out that the chain had snapped, but because of the full chain cover on CG125s, I hadn't noticed (and I was n00b)


So yeah, I remember my first ride

P.S. Oh yeah, I forgot that I had tried to camouflage my bike with ferns and shrubs, but actually ripped open my hands trying to get a fern out of the ground.
So any car drivers would just see a guy all in motorcycle gear, but with no bike along with bloodstained hands in the middle of the woods... needless to say, I didn't get picked up for a while!
And when I did, it was 2 old grannies who had been walking in the local area. I very much doubt you read this site , but either way to you lovely grannies!

[NexusDragon]

I live pretty much 1.5 miles away from the dealer, though I still wont forget the ride home! I picked the keys up for my brand new Ybr practically ten minutes after having my Cbt certificate signed.

They wheeled it out the back and filled it right up for me, full tank! After going through the lowdown on how to look after it I was finally able to ride off, I was crapping myself as there were alot of other bikers around and I didn't want to embarrass myself by stalling it in front of everyone.

I was quite tired and worn out after doing the Cbt that day and on a few occasions I couldn't shift up becuase I couldn't quite get my foot under the gear lever, the rubber footrests were very sticky. Becuase it was brand new the engine was very twitchy and when I got home all I could smell was burning from the engine where it had just done its very first 1.5 mile journey!

It took a good few rides for me to get comfortable and now the bike seems to be settling in nicely. I can only imagine what my first ride on a bigger bike will be like!
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DAS Passed 19th April 08. 07' YBR125 > Yamaha FZ6 S2 '08 > 1998 YZF600R ThunderCat

[kitty kat]

I didn't do a CBT, but my dad brought my 'new' bike home, a KC100.
My then bf (a bike instructor) taught me the gears etc around my mum's back garden, then took me to an empty industrial estate to practice turns etc. That was scary, riding to the industrial estate. I stalled the bike so many times & couldn't get to grips with the downshift & upshift for the gears. It was great fun riding it home though, I had a grin from ear to ear.
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Enjoy everyday, tell those you love everyday you love them
Life is too short to fall out with people

[notoriousb.e.n]

Yeah I just remembered something else, I couldnt get it off the forecourt because I hadnt even got the fuel tap turned on!
Thought it was out of petrol, wheeled it to the garage and filled up, then when it still
wouldnt start wheeled it back to the dealers to ask why i couldnt get it going!
luckily powersports is next door to a petrol station so it wasn't too far between but come on!
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Ride the tiger! you can see his stripes but you know he's clean!
Gilera Dna 125, Honda CG125 offs: 2 pulled: 1.

[oisky]

My first ride was from my home. The dealer I bought it from delivered it to my house and I thought i'll give it a ride for a few miles. After many stalls and jumpy gear changes (I remember praying that I wouldn't end up at the start of a queue of traffic at lights in case I stalled it when they went green!) I ended up about 3 miles from my house and the bloody thing just wouldn't start. It had run out of petrol!!! I then had to push it 3 odd miles back to the nearest garage (which is at the end of my road!!) and fill it up. Then couldn't get the filler cap off/on! and there was a queue of cars behind me. I kept my lid on the whole time because I was so embarassed!

When I got it home and told my brother about it he then informed me of something called a reserve tank!! DOH!!!

[Mudskipper]

My 125 wasn't ready until a few weeks after I'd done my CBT.

I rode it home 25 miles from my Dad's (where we'd been getting it sorted).

It was 10 o clock at night. It had been a long day getting the last things sorted on the bike.

Typically, it was raining a monsoon.

I had jeans on.

There were temporary traffic lights halfway up this huuuuge hill 5 miles into the ride. They must have been broken, as they stayed at red for 15 minutes. So I had to sit on the hill, and do a steep hill start!!! (CBR125's don't like hills )

I ended up riding with my visor up to see anything, because of this the rain was proper lashing at my face and was stinging for a while after getting home.

It was an experience, and gave me the opinion that if I can ride in that, I can ride in anything!!!
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CBR125|||GSXR400|||CBR400|||CBR400|||CB250RS|||GSXR750|||CB250RS
"You're clumsy, you eat too much and you behave like a 12 year old boy. But you know what? Every once in a while, you find a thumb."

[Jaloopa]

I couldn't afford a bike for a few months after doing my CBT. I finally found a 50cc scooter in my price range. Not ideal for a 21 year old, but it was the best I could find.

My girlfriend gave me a lift the 20 odd miles to go and see it, and once I'd paid and phoned up for insurance I gingerly took it onto the road. I didn't have any gloves and I was using a borrowed helmet, and it was pissing it down. One grip was heated, the other had had the wires taken out for some reason, so I ended up with one toasty hand and one numb hand.

I had to go on an A road to get back, which was incredibly scary having had a few hours of experience several months before, and with a top speed of about 45. I got back cold, wet and severely overdrawn, but I finally had my own transport, which made up for everything else!
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mattsprattuk wrote: but at least the lifan could do like 104mph in 3rd gear

[pyx_e]

LOL what a great thread. Picked up ER5 from Swindon and had to ride back to Briitol on the M4, for the first time. Pissing rain and wind. I had been up to 70 on dual carriageways but never on a M/way. Sat behind a lorry all the way. 5000 miles later I still shudder at the thought of it.

P
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Shiney!
Kawasaki: ER5, Versys, VN900.

[Kal]

Hell yes. I picked my CG up from a friends in Peterborough and brought it back down the A47 to Leicester.

Getting out of Peterborough was a major event between stalling the bike out and nearly launching it into the side of a range rover playing silly buggers at a round about.

I bought the bike from the husband of my friend Blonde Jo so she guided me out of the City and to a halfway point on the A47. Her comment when we stopped at her turn back point was "it goes well" Not bad praise seeing as she was mounted on her husbands Blade at the time

I have ridden the A47 many times since and it continues to be one of the most enjoyable and frightening rides for me. You are either on a very entertaining piece of road or you are way up with no wind protection being battered by high winds.

I made it back to Leicester and although feeling lots more confident than I had done in Peterborough was still not confident enough to filter so I was stuck in traffic edging forwards a little at a time all the way from the edge of Leicester into the City Centre. Took ages.

I also made my first observation from the back of a motorbike about the stupidity of people. I have L plates on theres a reasonable chance I have been riding 5 minutes, I could accidently relese the clutch throwing the bike forwards and pining you against the car in front, why would you cross the road in front of me?
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Kal...
I Like To Hoon It Hoon It I Like To Hoon It Hoon It I Like To Hoon It Hoon It Ya Like To (HOON IT!).
1984 GB250 Clubman,1983 CB250N Superdream, 1999 GPZ500S

[ashb]

I remember passed my cbt on the saturday this guy delivered me my rs on the sunday. thought thats bigger than the ybr opps! rode it round the little cul de sac was ok, went on the main road , and theres two tight corners that you have to slow a lot for, slowed ok just didnt turn enough, pulled over to the side, calmed down a bit and then went ok and had no real problems since!!

[Barry_M2]

I rode around for about 2 weeks before I done my cbt (was a bit naughty back when I was a nipper! ), so it was no big deal.

We used to ride out in groups of 7 or 8 all on our 50cc bikes (not scooters, you would have got beaten up for riding a scooter(stepthrough/throttle & go) when I was 16!!! )

When I passed my test a year later, I rode home on the m/way just cause I could, even though it was a longer way home. Poor little 125 didn't like sitting at a constant 70!!!
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ZXR750R (M2) - For the road.
CBR1000 RR4 - For the track.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=4332

[Smousie]

I was lucky because the seller delivered my bike to my doorstep, so I didn't have to ride it home. My first trip out was to the garage at the end of my street, only a couple of hundred metres but I was terrified! Then I rode around the residential streets for a bit because I was scared to go out on the main road. The first time I took the plunge and made that left turn out of the housing estate onto the main road I was terrified! It didn't help that my "new" second-hand bike turned out to have some mechanical problems which resulted in it backfiring and losing power when I was trying to pull away! Thankfully it's fixed now and I'm a bit more confident at riding.
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Time is an illusion; lunchtime doubly so.

[Cigaro]

Not the first bike I ever owned, but I remember the first ride on my C90. Went to Oldham by train to pick it up. It hadn't run in over 6 months and when I got there it fired up first kick. Handed over £200 and rode her home then and there. I was skint but so happy to have transport again

[LeeR]

Two weeks after my CBT I picked up my first bike, I'd ridden bikes 20 years ago but they were always borrowed or my step-brother's hand-me-downs. So I got my Van Van from the local Honda dealer 3.5 miles away, I picked them because if anything went wrong I knew I could walk there in under an hour. My missus and the kids dropped me off and followed me back, after going through my anal mission pre-launch proceedure: fuel tap - check, lights - check, tyres - check, brakes - check, ignition - check, kill-switch - check etc... I set off.

At the T-junction at the end of the road someone kindly let me out, so just to make sure they knew I really was a learner I gave it too much throttle in my haste and stuck it over the other side of the road. I then wobbled up to the dual-carriageway with my wife in tow. This was at a time when the dual-carriageway was still NSL, and I only managed to get the Van Van up to 55mph. A large sand truck travelling towards the motorway decided to overtake by using half of lane one and half of lane two, tearing "... down the dotted line" as it were. Now that unnerved me a bit, next job was to negotiate the central reservation slip-road that took me across the opposite carriageway and up the hill into the village. I got it wrong, came in too hot and ran so wide that if I hadn't looked up and stopped being target fixated with the curb I'd have mounted it, instead I just kissed it, wobbled some more and sprung off into the oncoming traffic. Luckily they'd put some of those water/sand filled alternating red and white lane dividers in to keep people from U-turning. I managed to ease off and miss the divider and zig-zagged up the hill.

Final obstacle the painted mini-roundabout, panic had come and gone it was just abject fear now as I dropped to first, locked the rear and tip-toed around the damp blob that hinted to others that it might help if they gave way. Turning into my road and descending our drive to the garage doors I gave a sigh of relief.

I spent the following day riding around the village boundary road getting a feel for the bike, I rang the training school I'd used for CBT and asked for some lessons. The guy who ran it was less than complimentary and actually bollocked his CBT instructor for "passing" me as in his opinion I "...wasn't ready for the road".
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My claim to fame: Austin Vince nicked my pen...

[deanoet]

Got to the Honda dealer
Got everything signed, took ages, or seemed too

Went outside, got shown everything on the bike, started it, stalled, started it again, didnt catch, wouldnt start.
Had flooded it.
Ooops
Salesman got it started for me, and off i went

Got to 35/40, started juddering about half way home (5 mile journey)
kept going, trying to work out what it was. Getting annoyed because i thought i would have to take it back the next day to get it looked at. Incidentally it was about this time stopped at traffic lights with my visor steaming up at a rapid rate i realised my breathing was speeding up, the helmet was making me feel claustrophobic. Opened the visor and all was good again.
Kept it to 30 so it didnt judder, got home, safe and hadnt fallen off it.

Checked around it and the choke was half on, which was causing the juddering.
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CBT Passed 18th July 2007 : Previous Bikes> CG125 : Current Bike> Hornet 600 : PASSED DAS 30th Oct 2007
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[khoock]

Did the same myself.

Got my CBT, waited out several bikes on eBay. Finally got one, went to pick it up from Warrington. Seller was pretty helpful, started up the bike for me, put the choke on to warm it up. Did the usual formalities, and got underway. Thought it was a bit odd the bike required huge amounts of throttle to keep it going and cut out excessively. Thought I had bought a dud. Eventually found that the bike was still on full choke. Shut that off and it was OK. After that came a completely wuss of a ride back to Manchester, taking like 3 times as long as normal. Followed by a 180 mile ride to Huntingdon the following morning, using no motorways (a complete pain as I usually drive a car). After 6 hours, several wrong turns, a trip over the Peak District, a pig farm, a numb bum, frozen hands and slip streaming lorries all the way I was OK for anything. Thank goodness it was dry. Most fantastic mpg though - got like 400 miles out of that one full tank (13L).
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A left and a right. A left. Another left and right. An uppercut to the jaw. The fight was over. And so the ranch was saved. The young intern sat by himself in one corner of the coffee shop. He had learned about medicine, but more importantly, he had learned something about life. THE END

[rovens]

I picked up my first bike after passing my test today. Was so nervous pulling away from the dealers, took me a few miles to relax and begin to enjoy the ride. Now ive just got to do some slow speed stuff to get confident maneuvering the bike around.

[chris-red]

I didn't ride home i passed my CBT and had my bike in the garage at home. I had to get a bus home in my bike gear I run through the garage and jumped on my little RXS and speed off I nearly died minutes later as I sped over some give way lines at a crossroad.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[feef]

Come to think of it..

I've never ridden a bike home.

I've always either trailered it home or had it delivered.

a
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Mudskipper wrote: feef, that is such a beautiful post that it gave me a lady tingle
Windchill calculator - London Bike parking
Blog and stuff - PlentyMoreFish dating

[Barker-CBR 600]

Not quite a ride home, but a first ride!

Had the Dragstar delivered 2 days before 17th Birthday, already had CBT since i was 16 and had organised all the insurance etc to kick in on the day.

At 12.05 i left my gf, family and friends at my house celebrating while i 'just had to take it round the block a few times, wont be more than 20 minutes' (i had to endure not drinking all night while everyone was getting a bit rat-arsed).

After 20 minutes i stopped, sent a text saying i was alive but would be a while, turned up at 3am and had to wake them all up cause didnt have any house keys!

Missed most of my own party, worth every minute.
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Previous - Gilera DNA50 / XVS125 Dragstar/Honda CBR 600F/GSF 650 Bandit
Current - 2013 Suzuki VZ800 Intruder
'Is this a rhetorical question?'

[ms51ves3]

My first ride was taking a 1965 Raleigh Runabout to the M.O.T station.
I was crapping it but as soon as I set off I thought 'this is al'right'. I got to the bottom of my road and it conked out.
I had forgotten to turn the fuel tap on

[spike_Alike]

I got my NSR delivered so no ride home! My first ride out my Mum rode with me on her ER-5 and taught me how to use the gears. I was shitting it, so much more power than the moped I had been using and it took some real getting used to. I stalled it, a lot. Still by the end of the day I was used to it.

Was probably the most fun I've ever had
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Bandit 600

[skiberd123]

My gp100, which I grew to love despite being a pain in the arse on numerous occasions, was in my biker mate's garage until i passed my cbt. Next day it decided to rain but he went out on his old rxs 100 and I followed him on a 'slight' detour home... Instead of the 3 miles to my house we went for a 2 hour ride up to Bedfordshire using the country lanes. Was genius, our little old 2 strokes smoking away and thoroughly annoying walkers. A hiccup when i discovered engine braking going round a tight mini roundabout, which locked up the rear but I managed through no skill of my own to keep it upright. Good times...

[fatsamurai]

Picked my bike up from Middlesborough and rode it home back to Hull via Whitby and Scarborough.

Quite fun apart from the wind upon the moors