Hello everyone (updated with exciting pics & a riot vid)

[Jamey]

Hi all,

There's a good chance I'll be posting and asking for help and advice in this forum over the coming months so I thought I'd take the time to introduce myself and say a proper hello to you all (I may be a biking newbie but I'm an old pro when it comes to forums )

I'm a 33-year-old chap who's recently decided to get a bike license and a bike for commuting to work (14 miles each way, Croydon to West London).

I've been driving a car well over ten years now and for the last six years I've also been cycling to / from work most days, however I've had more than my fair share of mechanical misfortune with my bike and despite being good at maintaining and repairing it (and even building my own wheels) I've become fed up with the hassle.

When I was 16 I had a little Honda MT50 for a year so I've done my CBT once before but obviously it's long since expired now. At the time I planned to graduate to a 125 when I got to 17 but for various reasons that never happened and in the end my next vehicle was a car, albeit a couple of years later.

So I've read the very helpful posts on here about getting a license and I'm currently at the very beginning of that process.

I had a theory test at the weekend but while I passed the questions section with no problems I failed on the Hazard Perception, I was too cautious with my clicking and only clicked once per hazard to avoid being disqualified but I now know (from reading up on here afterwards) that you can click quite a lot before you trigger the anti-cheat thing so I have another theory test booked for Thursday evening, hopefully this one will be a pass.

At the end of the day I've not had any fault accidents in my 10+ years of driving and six years of cycle commuting around London so I'd like to think my ability to spot hazards must be reasonably decent

Once I've passed the theory test I plan to do one of those five-day courses that include the CBT.

After that I'm thinking I'll probably get a Kawasaki GPZ 500 (another very informative post btw - the "which commuter 500" one) for the actual commuting.

So with a bit of luck I might be ready to start riding to work just in time for winter

Anyway like I said, there's a good chance I'll be asking you all for advice on things so wanted to say hello. The main thing I'm currently worrying about is bike security because I live in a small one-bedroom flat without a garden or any outdoor space at all so I have no choice but to keep the bike on the road outside my flat. There is a solo motorcycles bay not far from my front door but it has no street furniture (ie locking points) on the pavement next to it so I can't even chain a bike to anything, I'd just have to lock the discs / wheels and hope that nobody wants a GPZ enough to bother hoiking it into a van.

To be honest, if my cycling experiences are any indication then it's not so much theft I'm worried about - it's vandalism. I used to lock my bike outside the flat and while nobody ever nicked it, plenty of them tried and gave up, damaging parts in the process so I know that the local undesirables probably do walk down my road after dark. I live fairly close to the town centre so it's not too surprising.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't get too far into the whole security thing here really as I haven't even passed my theory yet let alone actually purchased a bike. This is first and foremost me saying hello, the security stuff I'll save for another time once I have a full bike license

So hi everyone, I'm Jamey, nice to meet you all.

[Pete.]

Welcome Jamey!
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[SweenyT]

Hi Jamey and welcome to the forum

Seems like you have it all pretty much sussed. Just be careful with the clicking x amount of times as I swear I only clicked 3 times on one clip and it scored me a zero - I passed but I wasn't a happy camper.

As for parking up the bike outside your flat, get a decent (someone on here will recommend one) disc alarm or make sure the bike you get has an immobiliser/alarm and get a bike cover - the cover wont do much but is just one more thing a thief has to wrestle with. I sometimes have to leave my bike on a busy side street whilst I'm at work and usually wrap a heavy duty chain to the back wheel and lock it to either street furniture or to the drive chain and have an alarm disc lock on the front. It wont do much if someone wants to take it as they can lift it and load it onto the back of a van if it's chained to itself or snip the lock but it will give them a bit more hassle and maybe give me/someone time to chase them off. The whole idea is to make it harder for them to take it. I'm on my second chain adjuster and second D lock cause some a**hole has decided to try and move it when it's just been disc locked at the back (minimum security) cause they think it's just sitting there.

My mate had his bike nicked from his front garden. It was double chained and locked to his Ninja with a post blocking it - thankfully they left that - so no matter where you put it your bike will always be at risk.

If you do a search on here you'll find locks/chains etc are highly recommended and I hope you never have to go through doing out and not seeing your bike where you left it.

Good luck on the CBT & DAS
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Current ride - 2005 Suzuki GSX-R600 K4 - 2x 2014 Honda NC750s long term courtesy bikes - 2003 Fazer FZ6 written off as idiot reversed into me - 2009 YBR125 - still have from new

[Jamey]

Hey, thanks for that.

Yep, I'd already thought that a cover would probably be a good idea for multiple reasons.

Admittedly I did try using a cover over my pushbike back when it lived outdoors and in some ways I think it did more harm than good as the fact that people couldn't see the bike underneath meant they invariably thought it was worth looking to see if it was any good, so most mornings I'd come outside and find it had been lifted to have a peek.

But nevertheless I do still think it's probably good to have one over a GPZ (or whatever I end up buying).

I'm hoping that 500s are less "nickable" than smaller bikes purely because the market for them is more limited because thieves can't sell them on to kids with provisional licenses like they can with 125s.

Or am I kidding myself?

[SweenyT]

I've only got a small front garden and I cover mine, I've noticed it's been lifted on occasion possibly cause someone wanted to see what bike it is or to see if its chained up etc but so far it's been relatively ok, besides I have nosy neighbours

Unless there is a garage or someone's garden space you could rent/put it in, there's not much you can do aside from locking it up front and rear and making sure you have an alarm/immobiliser on it. It's unfortunate that you have to go to such lengths but that's one of the joy's of owning a bike in a large town/city, there's always gonna be some scroat who's looking to take bits off it or nick it. Just remember when you finally get one to check the bike over before you ride off as I've had my clutch lever adjuster and speedo cable loosened off before.

Anyway I'm sure there are several people on here who unfortunately have the same problem and may come up with some better (practical ) solutions.
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Current ride - 2005 Suzuki GSX-R600 K4 - 2x 2014 Honda NC750s long term courtesy bikes - 2003 Fazer FZ6 written off as idiot reversed into me - 2009 YBR125 - still have from new

[Jamey]

Yep, that all sounds sensible.

Well I've got a new top worry now anyway - whereas previously security was my concern I've now read a load more posts on here where people talk about failing their mod 1s and mod 2s (some of whom are like me, with many years of driving experience) and now I'm scared of those instead

Not that I was taking it lightly before, you understand... Just that I was thinking the prior road experience would give me a good chance of passing both first time. Now I'm less sure

[SweenyT]

I wouldn't worry so much as you'll only end up psyching yourself up. Nerves and luck play a big part on the day.

I've had nearly 20 years driving experience and been riding push bikes on and off for most my life and passed everything first time. The road experience you already have especially as a cyclist does help. You'll have to re-adjust to some things like road positioning and overtaking and will have to make more observations/learn lifesavers, etc but on the whole you'll be using the road as any other road user and you'll find that your perception awareness will increase as a biker. As long as you take lessons with a good approved instructor you should be okay. Just take it one day at a time and if you still feel unsure when the time rolls around then check with your DAS instructor whether you can spread your lessons over a few weeks as opposed to taking it all in one week.

I ended up doing my A2 as the DAS test date was 2 months away and I was mega impatient but I did my CBT then got a 125 a couple of months later and rode around for 8 months or so, then when I felt ready, booked a 3 day course ending in my Mod1 and a week later Mod2 which I took without my instructor present. I'm still riding my 125 and will upgrade when my restriction ends as I still havent decided on which big bike to get

At the end of the day you wont know whether you can easily and safely pass the tests until you you take some lessons so no point psyching yourself up from now.
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Current ride - 2005 Suzuki GSX-R600 K4 - 2x 2014 Honda NC750s long term courtesy bikes - 2003 Fazer FZ6 written off as idiot reversed into me - 2009 YBR125 - still have from new

[bigguy]

Hi Jamie, welcome on-board one of the best bike chat forums there is out there,(in my opinion) with regards to you putting a cover on your bike if and when you get one just be carefull about the weather as where i live i dont have a garden or anywhere to leave my bike so i have to leave it on the road, twice whilst having the cover on it the bloody wind and rain blew it over,once whilst i was at work and my wife phoned me to come home to pick it up as people just passed it and stared,on both occasions the petrol leaked out and burnt the paint work on the bike and the cover,,so this is just a wee warning as to what can happen,,good luck mate with all your tests.

[Jamey]

Good tip, cheers... Is there anything you can do about that? They should make a cover with a vent in the side or something.

[ThoughtContro...]

Is there no wall where you can attach a good ground anchor? That and an Almax chain/Squire CS65 plus the alarm immobiliser would be about as good as you can do. You can't stop professionals who really want it, they'd come tooled up for the job. Fortunately GPZ500s aren't likely to be in their target category.

It's the opportunist scrotes you've got to deter, with at best their cheap Machine Mart bolt croppers. Vandals and dickheads who'll just damage the bike you can't do much about either. A good alarm will at least give you a chance to come charging out.
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Prize cunt
--
"In a world of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act" - George Orwell

[bigguy]

a friend of mine says to make sure to tie it up at the bottom maybe use some bungee cords but you gotta watch for the kids blagging them as well,,sometimes its a no win situation,,just find a big bloody lamp post next to you and that should do,,good luck mate.

[Jamey]

Unfortunately there's no lamp post near the solo motorcycles bay. I'll try to post a picture of it so you can all see what I mean.

And a wall is out of the question as I can't park it on the pavement (I'll get ticketed) and there's nowhere at the front of the property where I can have it.

[whitedevil]

Put it in your living room, i hear the gpz makes a fine clothes horse
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GPZ500 sold ~ CBR600FS-2 sold ~ ZX6R sold ~ Street Triple R

[Rogerborg]

Don't sweat the tests. The pass rate for motorcycle theory, mod 1 and mod 2 are the highest for any vehicle category.

I'd be more concerned about the security. Hassle the council to put anchor points in the motorcycle bay or ground anchor near your property. Worse case, get a tub or half barrel, fill it with concrete and use that as your anchor point.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Jamey]

Ok so despite living in Croydon (aka The Cronx) I braved going outside in these riots to take a few pics of the parking bay.

Here it is from the left:

https://img202.imageshack.us/img202/2793/img1303ge.jpg


Dead-centre:

https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5930/img1304d.jpg


From the right:

https://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3783/img1305b.jpg


My place is not shown in these photos but it's along the road to the left, a fair few doors. As you can see that tree (well, sapling) is the only thing you could lock to but even that's not technically alongside the bay, it's slightly into the car parking bay to the left.

I can ask the council if they'd be prepared to install any ground anchor points but there are none in any of the other parking bays across the borough so I doubt they would agree tbh.

As I said I live in a flat and I don't own the garden so have no access to that. The paved area at the front also does not belong to me and even if it did it's down some steps so I couldn't really get a bike up and down those every single day.

[Jamey]

Just so you all know what it's like here in Croydon tonight, here's a little video I filmed outside the Richer Sounds just round the corner. These are the reason I'm worried about bike security

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGOaWsrk2BY

(admittedly it's not usually quite this bad round here, but still...)

[stinkwheel]

I'd be tempted to "borrow" one of those concrete temporary bus stop bases, dump it next to the tree and lock your bike to it.

I can pretty much garauntee it's nobodys job to go round picking up errant concrete bus stop bases.

I also reckon if you drilled two holes in the kerbstone and attached a bit of heavy box-section steel to the front face of it with a couple of M8 rowlbolts, nobody would bat an eyelid. Especially if you wore a flourescent vest and hard hat as you were doing it.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/download.php?id=79974
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[shereen]

[Jamey]

If I can lift the bus stop base on my own (to borrow it) then surely so could anyone nicking a bike, though?

I like the idea of installing my own ground anchor point though. That might be a goer. Only thing with that is that it pretty much rules out asking the council if they'll install one as I then become number one suspect if they do ever notice.

[shereen]

[Blob]

[Jamey]

Although I can see what will happen... I'll get home from work and find someone else has locked their bike to it.

[stinkwheel]

[Jamey]

Now that's the kind of lateral thinking I like.

So what materials should I use for this then? Box section steel or a proper ground anchor? And what fixings?

[SweenyT]