The Future!

[Flamzypants]

Hi guys, been a loooong time since I posted but I'm having some thoughts and wanted some advice!

Last time I was here properly was way back in July 11, all enthusiastic with a shiny 125 I'd earned working my first job through the summer leading up to my final year of university (Little parental help on the money :p).... 1 week later I take a wrong turn at a roundabout, end up on the motorway and get rear-ended by a dozy polish git at 3am in the morning doing about 65 before I could get to the next exit >.> The police were quite understanding but I still got 3 points for my mistake, a broken wrist, totalled bike and lost my job sadly because it involved some heavy lifting and some delicate hand work.

Sounds bad but thankfully extracting money from foreign insurers seems to be going well, I haven't seen much of it but I'm expecting a small chunk before the academic year is out, they've refunded me the value of the bike so far which kept me fed, mostly ^^ With said chunk I'm hoping to get back on the bike, I'm going to be moving to Chichester and commuting from there to Portsmouth (Maybe Southampton or Brighton), hopefully, to do teacher training and potentially being put in lots of different schools so the train is out of the question.

My niggles are thusly! I'm a little bit scared of getting back on, firstly because I think I'm not going to feel comfortable or have any confidence on the next thing I ride, and that barely 7 days in I managed to have a major accident and could have easily been killed since I skidded across a few lanes.. I remember how much I enjoyed riding but it's not stopped the occasional flashback, I'm not sure I'll ever feel safe on a motorway on something so exposed. I can't really say that I'm afraid of things beyond my control because it was my error ending up on the motorway in the first place, although I was clipping 70 and the guy claimed just to not have seen me -.-

The other problem is how to train, as I understand it I have until the new year to get an unrestricted licence before shit goes down. My wrist still isn't fantastic, I can't open heavy doors and it gets tired pretty easily. I'm not sure if I'd have the time to buy a 125 and practise before moving up but DAS is fairly expensive at most places, can't say how much time I'd need to readjust and do the mods. I have to say in the one week I did get to enjoy, I picked everything up pretty damn quickly, taught myself gears after doing cbt on an automatic and wasn't stalling every other set of lights and made a trip from Bournemouth to Reading....though the return journey was when... ahem..

All in all I'd like a reassuring pat on the head and maybe some tips on the least painful way to get a licence without a bike. Or feel free to tell me to get a boring car, with 4 boring wheels and room for a nagging girlfriend. Apologies for the wall of text.
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CBT - 30/06/11. RIP Sinnis Stealth 18/07/11. Theory passed! CBR125R 16/08/12. Mod 1 Booked.

[Rogerborg]

Which wrist is limp? If it's the right one, I'd suggest trying a crampbuster. It's easily swappable between bikes, i.e. you could just slap it on a training school DAS bike if you find that it helps.

https://www.msa-direct.co.uk/ProdImages/scott_crampbuster2.jpg
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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

[andy-b]

Maybe training on a schools bikes with an instructor will get you your confidence back? Got to be better than heading out on your own on a vulnerable 125 again.




Andy
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CBT passed 13/02/12 Theory passed 22/02/12 Mod 1 Passed 28/05/12 Mod 2 Passed 29/06/12
Current bike 59 plate Keeway Speed 125 Now sold - 1989 FZR 1000R EXUP - 1996 SLR 650 and 2003 ZX9R

[Alpha-9]

I nearly ended up on a motorway once, you know what I did?
Turned around and went back

Because fuck that, not worth it for legality more than anything

Those cramp buster things look handy but dangerous to me, seems like you could easily accidentally push it down and if the bike did do down it could land on it and force your bike to rev itself to oblivion

Chances are next time you're on a bike you will be alot safer, just jump back on and don't sweat it and you'll get your confidence back. Try not to think about it, because you'll only talk yourself out of it.

Stop thinking - Start Riding
I thought of that all by myself
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Fzr-600 1999

[Rogerborg]

[daemonoid]

[Alpha-9]

[daemonoid]

[Alpha-9]

[iMark]

[Recluso]

Welcome to the broken wrist club!

As someone very recently in a very similar position to yourself, the first piece of advice - TAKE YOUR TIME!

No really, don't rush. When it comes to getting back on, start with little rides. Go pootle around the block. If you have friends near you, see if they would be willing to go on a couple of little rides with you but explain to them WHY. i.e. that you're building confidence back up after your accident.

Were you referred for physio? When I did mine I got referred down once the orthos were happy the bones were mended. More to the point, how long has it been since the accident? I was told that it would take a good year for my wrist to be more or less completely back to normal. I was also given a load of exercises to do which were designed to help build the tendon strength back up. If you have all these, KEEP AT IT. I dilligently set aside 15 mins or so a day to do them. I was warned that this year would be the worse and 5 months on, I DO find that after a particularly strenuous day, my wrist gets very achey and feels a bit limp and crap. I did my Mod 1 on Tuesday. I spent the best part of the entire day on the bike. Two days on, my wrist is STILL feeling a bit tweaky and naff.

On the training front! You could consider the 125 restricted test. Which is in fact what I'm doing (I've got no chance moving a big bike around at the moment). As far as I'm aware, if you do your test this year BEFORE the new legislation, then you will not need to do the step up testing to a 'full' license. So your restriction will expire 'normally' as it would have done anyhow. But I will need to be confirmed on this.

Something I did, with the help of my lovely instructor was, on my very first ride (so the first time I got back on), was that I went out for an hour WITH my instructor. Just on a wee YBR that they used for training and we went for a little pootle. Having someone like that just behind me, in radio contact was AMAZINGLY reassuring and a huge confidence booster.

You're going to be nervous. It's completely natural. Hell, I still get twitchy at the junction where I plowed into the taxi and that one was all my fault. But don't let your worry dominate you. It'll make you smarter. But you're completely capable of overcoming it.

On the motorway front. I wouldn't even consider them yet. Motorways are bloody scary in themselves. Right now, your first big step is to get back on that bike.

You can do it! But take one worry at a time.
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'Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken.'
Honda PS125i > Yamaha YBR125 > Yamaha XJ6 Diversion > Yamaha Tracer 900

[Flamzypants]

That crampbuster looks interesting! I might have to give it a go, 'tis indeed my right wrist.

Thanks for the replies, I think I'll get in touch with my local training school in advance and see what they can do for me. It sounds like it might be worth grabbing a 125 for a couple months to get some practise on, I should just about have the time for that xD

And we get a club ;o Sweet.
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CBT - 30/06/11. RIP Sinnis Stealth 18/07/11. Theory passed! CBR125R 16/08/12. Mod 1 Booked.