baptism of fire

[danclarkie]

Hi just wanted to hear your views on my baptism of fire im about to receive (maybe)
heres the story:

bought a bike off ebay its 130 miles away, got to collect it, never ridden geared before (ridden couple of scooters including a gilera DNA with the bike riding position and i got a full car licence and my own car so im ok with gears in that) if i cant arrange a vehicle to tow the bike trailer i lent im going to have to drive up there with a mate have him take my car home and me ride the bike the 130 miles home, On a CBT so no motorway, also im 17 so a reeeeal neewbie to this. any advice/prayers greatly recieved
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Bah Humbug

[tokarev]

Can't you rent out a van for £50. Thats the best option. If not then good luck mate.

[NickD]

Don't worry about it, it's not rocket science (if it was, I couldn't do it).

After 10 miles you'll ether have the hang of it, or you'll be in a nice comfy ambulance. Either way you'll make it home.
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I was only doing what it said on my licence officer....
Tear along the dotted line!

[danclarkie]

lol at 17 no one is going to lend me a van, me and a mate looked round, would you hand over your transit van to a couple of likely lads?
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Bah Humbug

[Nath]

You'll be fine. You'll probably stall a bit and make a few of the usual just-starting mistakes(who's never accidently changed down rather than up? ), but once your moving it's really quite easy and on a 130 mile journey you'll probably be completely confident by the time you get home.

130miles is a long journey on a 125, but not ridiculously so. I once did over 100 in a day on my cg125 purely for pleasure(wasn't riding to anywhere in paticular) and enjoyed every minute of the ride, though did end up a bit tired when I got home.

Don't pick roads that are too fast as getting overtaken alot is frustrating plus long straight roads become boring at slow speed.
Practice clutch control on the bike for 20mins before you set off, in a nearby carpark or something. Just so you can figure out and get used to where the biting point is in your own time.
Prey for good weather
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[mr.z]

Sounds odd but take a big bottle of water.. tis thirsty work...

If your tired/uncomfortable/cold/hot/hungry/thristy PULL OVER and fix it, all these little niggles will out you off someing chronic, which can in turn be very dangerous..

Dont forget to keep an eye on whats arround you, make all the observations you need to, life savers e.t.c. and the fact you need to make your presence known, rideing in the gutter is asking for somebody to put you in the ditch, ride like your driveing a car, use all your road and dont take any sheeiit (if its your priority then take it, leave space for them to go and they will and you'll be in a less safe situation)

If your following your mate back thats an advantage, he can sit in front while you stay behind, this will help defend you against people trying to make stupid overtakes... or swap arround so you dont get tailgated.. just make sure he stays a speed you can manage, otherwise it will be a total nightmare trying to keep up and accidents will happen!

Don't worry too much about it, i had my cg a week before going 200 miles in a day on it, completely exhausting (all 60 roads) but totaly doable.

Totaly agree with nath too - finding your brakes are too good/worse than you expect on the road is a bad time to find out! also lights, horn (not what you want to be fumbleing to find when a taxi is about to flatten you!) you'll have the controll in minutes, if you drive allready you have the road sense, good luck anyways
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[danclarkie]

ewan mcgregor eat your heart out eh
thanks for all the supporting words, lots of my mates seemed to say "not possible" heeh forget that im up for the challenge
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Bah Humbug

[Gazdaman]

A mate's gonna have to take you up there anyway, just get them to follow you all the way home. Having a 'blocker' is usefull if you're on a slow bike or aren't very confident, or in this case both.

Agreed on the point of learning clutch control somewhere before you set out.

Gaz

[ian_s]

I bought my bike before I did my CBT. I got a friend to ride it home (NS125 on the motorway!) whilst I blocked him in my car.

[impaler]

If you're riding back through unfamiliar territory, try and stop halfway back and top up on fuel - the last thing you want is to be desperately hunting down a petrol station on an unfamiliar bike
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Monster m600
Web, blog, Bikepics page
An optimist will tell you the glass is half full. The pessimist, half empty. The engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be.

[niff5855]

I did it. Picked up my GPZ500 from Nottingham (To Bristol)

Bit shaky until I got on the motorway, by the time I was home I was knackered, bufferted, freezing (no leathers), be careful when you exit the motorway and take it easy. You get used to doing mph =, so be aware.

Also, if you're tired, aching. Stop for a rest/coffe/burger, whatever.
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Live fast - die....erm...well...old !!!

[The Tot]

Your bum will take a hammering from riding a 125 single (assuming it is), so it's a good idea to rest after an hour or 2 in the saddle. 240 miles on an XR125 was the most i could have tolerated on my bike.

Bring a road atlas with you in case you want to replan your route.
You might want to think about going around the block near the sellers area and ask him questions before setting off. And if you can, get somebody to drive down with you as their support and companionship will be a heartwarming feeling if ever you get tired or break down .

May i ask where it is you're riding to and where from and on what bike so i can give you some hints on routes if you're in the south east area, pretty much covered the whole of SE england on my XR from Oxfordshire down to Kent.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[yambabe]

Hate to put a dampener on, but as you've bought this bike off ebay and I'm therefore assuming you've not actually seen it yet, are you sure the bike is up to a journey of this length?

What you gonna do if you travel 130 miles to find out you've been sold a shed?
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[instigator]

[map]

[Ric]

id suggest not to do it, but if no other options exist go for it

i had trouble gettin arround town on my bike at first, mind u it was fine on open roads (no stalling)

find a quiet road/cresent near where u buy it and spend an hour or so gettin used to it

[danclarkie]

just to update, my dad intervened and picked up my bike on a trailer how un rock and roll is that, but been riding the bike for about 2 hours in total now my first ever geared and id say im quite confident with the gears now the odd 1st -neutral-2nd moment and a couple of times i pulled the clutch in with the revs still on but now i think i got it ok, still a bit shaky changing gears whilst turning but im sure that will come
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Bah Humbug

[Ric]