Had a wonderful (scary) trip today...

[NutsyUk]

Was a rather lovely day here in norfolk today, and I decided to take a ride to Norwich, I needed to see how long it would take me and work out the safest way to get there as ill be regularly riding there soon...

Anyway lovely journey there took the B roads sun was out... Really really nice.

While down there I popped into a great motorbike show room shop just south of the city... Ive now pinned what my new bike will be...

It all depends on a few things, and includes work situation down the line. But the new Z650 Kawasaki.... serious <B for that one. But around 5-6 grand new. The z650 is replacing the Er6... Er6 is still on the list as a close second. It all depends on money later in the year.

I applied for a job today. Truth be told I dont expect to get it but if i did. I would be able to afford to buy the bike... At the very least on 9% finance.

I know i know lots of ifs and maybes... But its nice to have something to aim towards.

PS yes I am currently saving for my direct access.

Anyway thats were the fun ended.

On the way back it was starting to get dark, but I was suffering low blood sugar having not eaten a bean all day. So I stopped in at the Mac Ds on the west of Norwich on the A47, was going to top up the tank there too...

Ate by the time I got going it was DARK! and things went from bad to worse. My lid sheild started to mist up. But it wasnt mist i think it was salts. I couldnt rub it clean... Theres me trying to do 60mph on my 125 on a really busy A47 being blinded by oncoming traffic lights... So many people had there high beams on, pissed me right off.

And it still didnt end there. It got foggy.... REALLY foggy. I couldnt see 5 feet in front of me at times. I was going slow and there was people still blasting along at 80... I had to get off the road. I was shitting bricks by this point. Got to Dereham and parked up and fiddled with phones satnav. Tried to get home by the side roads and avoid the A47...

Set a route and followed. Visor up my glasses protecting my eyes from the cold wind (still streaming though) face frozen and im blindly following the satnav. Truth is I dont know the routes all that well. Anyway I come up to a turning and low and behold... It decided on a different route and put me back on the A47 D: ..............

So I was stuck on the A47 again for a few miles and the fog got REALLY bad again. I had to slow down to about 20mph I really couldnt see anything. Waze (i was using waze, need to get a proper thing its shit) showed me a right hand was coming up. Waze being Waze, it seems to lag behind by about 10 or so meters. And I couldnt see the turning... So I had to stop in the middle of the road in the fog, oncoming traffic still coming and me hoping a turning was a few feet in front of me.... Turned out i had missed it, but by only a few meters.

Still....... Not fun. From there I had nice quite side roads all the way home. Still couldnt see shit. I nearly went into a sign on a triangle split...

Got home safe... A little wiser and a few years older. (hearts about to give out)

I didnt panic. But it really was scary.
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Yamaha FZ8/Fazer800 (split headlight one) 2014, gingerly getting used to the massive increase in HP and not killing myself in the process! That was easy to get used to.
Kawasaki ER6F 2007 650 Gonna sell as a project bike!
Lexmoto XTR S 125 Sold!

[Beehive Bedlam]

My commute was also through dense freezing fog 6am this morning.

Keep at it when the spring comes and all the fair weather riders come crawling out of the woodwork expecting a nod. You will be a much better rider than they are.

Edit - Just read all of your post sounds like a lot of your problems were down to being a noob.

[NutsyUk]

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

^^^Good riders will always be good riders even if they've been off the bike through winter.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[Poundshop Dave]

[chickenstrip]

[Lord Percy]

[NutsyUk]

not to say my peen was bigger than yours (or something) but the fog was even worse than that at times :p

tbh even at one point i wondered. Did i actually get hit on the A47, died and the really dense fog is actually me riding through purgatory :p
____________________
Yamaha FZ8/Fazer800 (split headlight one) 2014, gingerly getting used to the massive increase in HP and not killing myself in the process! That was easy to get used to.
Kawasaki ER6F 2007 650 Gonna sell as a project bike!
Lexmoto XTR S 125 Sold!

[Beehive Bedlam]

I'll post pictures if it's worth taking any of my morning commute as it's going to be much like today freezing dense fog.

[mattyfattyboo...]

I love Waze, used it to get me around Europe many times.

[NutsyUk]

[secretagentmo...]

[NJD]

Ignore faggy fuck face over there because other day he posted some garbage about being on the IOM for the TT back in the 1920's or something or another and constantly changes not only his username but birth date. Bollox to the majority, beside his "i need help" threads, of his posts in truth. Basically ignore the noob comment.

Sounds like you encountered some conditions possibly beyond what you either expected or are comfortable with, all I know is I wasn't there riding alongside so can't really comment but what I will say is that after a couple of winters being billy big balls on a tiddler I'd rather catch the bus and leave the bike for the once a week dry days when you can whizz around to your hearts content. There's no fun in being freezing by the time you get on the bike only to endure an even less joyous commute or ride. Ride when you want to and if the weather permits.

Glasses are a pain in the arse and I switched to contacts because of the fogging up. There's only so many stops at a red light you can deal with before feeling like you're going to rear end someone because you literally can't see bugger all. Contacts aren't for everyone and to be honest I've probably put up with more of them than I should have but the alternative is being blind (a.k.a "no your vision is fine, it's what most drivers are going around with") or glasses, sod that.

I've done small mileage thus far throughout the winter months and a total of one social ride. Can't be arsed.
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The do it all, T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶l̶u̶m̶p̶,̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶N̶o̶o̶d̶l̶e̶

[Albigularis]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Rogerborg]

Good job on not dying.

Your visor is likely fogging on the inside. RainPal would have saved your life. If it has pinlock posts (two small nubs sticking through it), I'd recommend fitting a Pinlock insert. If not, a "Fog City" (or equivalent) self adhesive insert would be my second choice.
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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

[Mawsley]

[pepperami]

[pepperami]

[onlyJaz]

[owl]

[G]

I was using Waze in the van yesterday - it was pretty much dead on with it's GPS for turnings in the fog. (Ok, for the most part it wasn't too bad.)
Also, the traffic stuff saved me twice from nasty jams.

[NutsyUk]

LOL Mike great story, reminds me of The Raven by Edgar Poe...

But yeah its really strange... And scary, as i said I had to really slow down tbh i think 20mph was a exasperation of how fast i was going i think i even was going 10 at times.

And Roger yep got a pinlock anti fog up on the way... But i do think a lot of the issue with my visor was salt... i rub the inside too when I pulled up at a parking slip road and it wouldnt come off... Tbh prolly a mixture of everything.

Oh and still plenty of idiots on the road too... (and yeah maybe im one of them :p ) but i discovered loads of people dont signal when coming off round abouts... Really wound me up as I was trying to come into one but I couldnt tell if the path was safe or not simply because loads of people didnt signal. (this was before the fog)

but Golly, that Z650 I saw in the shop.... I wants it!!!! The only single thing I didnt like about it. One thing........ The tail light. They got the leds arranged in a the slashy Z shape of the new brand. And that seems really really naff. but everything else about that bike is just beautiful to me.
____________________
Yamaha FZ8/Fazer800 (split headlight one) 2014, gingerly getting used to the massive increase in HP and not killing myself in the process! That was easy to get used to.
Kawasaki ER6F 2007 650 Gonna sell as a project bike!
Lexmoto XTR S 125 Sold!

[Rogerborg]

Why a Z650 over an MT-07? Not that it's a bad choice, I'm just wondering.
____________________
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

[kgm]

Sounds scary but you find waysnro deal with these things as you gain experience. Fog is always crap though, not much you can do except slow down and be as visible as possible.

FWIW I like my er6, it makes a fantastic commuter and can be plenty fun at the weekend but I'm not sure I'd want to spend 6k on one... Sadly whilst they were adding other unnecessary toys (slipper clutch...) Kawasaki don't appear to have fixed what IMO is the er6's biggest flaw - its suspension. The seat is also useless for pillion purposes now too, not that it was great to begin with. Good everyday bike otherwise though.