Advice needed for a newbie

[Mountain_Man86]

[Nobby the Bastard]

It rhymes with gonorrhoea.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[ThunderGuts]

Any update Tony? How did your training days go?
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TG.

[Tony Norton]

Hi All,

had 4 days training with mixed results.

Road work not too bad, got told off for "straight lining" roundabouts. 4th day was Wed 16th, it pissed down! Abandoned the session after 4 hours, by which time I was soaked through to the skin, in spite of leather trousers and an allegedly waterproof biking jacket.

Having difficulties with the slow riding. Managed the ride at walking pace, followed by the manual handling. Did the slalom once, but not with the figure of 8 tagged on the end. Did the figure of 8 on it's own but dropped the bike after, according to my instructor, about 10 "8"s. Luckily I had fitted some bespoke engine/crash bars a couple of days before, so no damage to bike or self.

Going to get some private practice in before I go back to the school. My Grandson will ride my bike to the site we use while I follow on in my car, armed with cones and diagrams. When I can string the manoeuvres together, from walking pace through to figure of 8, I will go back to the school for a couple of sessions, which I hope will see me A2 ready.

Cheers

Tony N

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

good luck with your practice and test when it comes
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PRESENT: 2018 BMW S1000XR SE Sport.
PAST: 2009 Kawasaki ER-6F. 2021 Zontes ZT-125U.

[ThunderGuts]

Keep at it. Wet weather is good practice too as your test may well be in such weather. Often it's the "peripheral" issues, like dealing with a misty visor, discomfort from wet clothes etc.. that can make life harder with wet weather learning, rather than the bike itself.

For wet weather, get yourself some waterproof hi-viz PPE overtrousers and wear them over your bike kit. I've got a pair that were inexpensive (£20 I think, they're ex-work ones) and have kept me dry even after hours in the rain. Leather isn't the best in the rain.
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TG.

[Ayrton]

If you want cheap waterproofs then look on ebay for surplus police/ military stuff. It's usually Gortex so is better quality than whatever you'd buy new for the same price.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383994234506?hash=item5967d7068a:g:X9kAAOSwXIpgPktN

[Zen Dog]

The technique I was taught for slow speed riding (and it's always worked very well for me) is as follows -

1. As you approach the start of the u-turn/figure of 8, begin to drag the rear brake. Don't use the front brake at slow speed, it makes the front dive and upsets the bike, making it feel like it wants to fall over.
2. Begin to slip the clutch and to apply a little constant throttle. The clutch should be neither fully engaged or disengaged, but slipping at the bite point the whole time. This ensures that the bike is always trying to "push" forward, but the same time you won't stall, and any "chugginess" from the engine is smoothed out.
3. Control your speed during the manoeuvre with the rear brake, keep the clutch slipping and a constant throttle throughout.

It's a little bit fiddly to do the first few times because you're trying to get the clutch slip/throttle/rear brake all correct at the same time, but once you get it right, you can ride very very slowly if you want to, and the bike will remain stable the whole time.
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Current - '94 VFR750FR, '00 VFR800FI Previous - '10 Street Triple R, '92 MZ ETZ301, '05 TTR250, NSR125R, KMX125, "Honda" Win (chinese copy of an old Honda design with a C90 engine)
My bike trip around S.E. Asia 2010/2011

[A100man]

[blamski]

[Ribenapigeon]

Oddly when manouvering slowly i find tilting my hips forward helps. I have no idea why but curious if that works for others? Im hardly aware these days after ten years riding that I use any special technique though unless the ground is particularly rough.

[ThunderGuts]

Sitting up nice and straight, but relaxed, bit of gentle grip of the tank can help sometimes, keep head up etc.. and look where you're going not right in front of you (which almost seems counter-intuitive when doing something like figure of 8 as you can end up almost looking behind you).
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TG.

[Tony Norton]

Hi All,

As I have said before, I have arranged for my grandson to ride his bike to my place, and from there ride mine to a location where I have been practicing for Mod 1.

The practice has been going quite well, having mastered the slalom, figure of 8, "U" turn, controlled stop and slow riding. Not enough room, in my estimation, for the "faster" tests, 8 through 11. This latter raises a question - why the hell are the speeds measured in rounded km/h. We're not in the EU any more! Perhaps the suits that sit behind desks dreaming up fiendish ways to test us are closet "Remainers"? Anyway, my Mod 1 test is booked for 15th June, with an instructed day's practice on the 14th. Wish me luck.

While I, hopefully, have your attention I have a question. I have been trying to modify my profile to cover a change of email address, but I keep getting the message "Your postcode does not translate into a map reference. Check it and try again". Why? My postcode is a perfectly normal urban code that even the Post Office seems capable of finding, as I get my copy of MCN every Wednesday on the dot.

I don't know if this will get edited out, but here goes. My new email address, effective now, (my old one will expire on 16th June when I get disconnected from Virgin Media - my choice.) is now edited in my profile.

Happy biking

Tony N.

[BRUN]

glad its going ok Tony, is your mod1 practice on the actual test site

its very useful to have that practice on the actual site, invaluable

[Tony Norton]

Hi Brun,

no, my practice is not on the actual test site. My instructor tells me that, due to the size of the test site, they use the "Avoidance to left" diagram. I wonder, does that mean that the alternative to an emergency stop is to mount the pavement?

Cheers

Tony

[Freddyfruitba...]

[Ste]

The postcode thing has been broken for years and years.

I suppose it's possible that it might be fixed eventually.

[Tony Norton]

Question is, as the address in my post was obviously edited, if someone wants to pm me, how can they when my old address expires?

[BRUN]

best of luck with the mod1, i was surprised at how tight the u-turn felt, but as long as you 'look where you want to go' like with normal riding you will be fine

i buggered up my first mod1 on the figure of 8, just made a mess of it, my entry/exit on 1 was too tight iirc which left me with no room to come back around properly, again looking where you want the bike to go works wonders on this aswell

their wont be a pavement on the site, it will be like a flat car park with what looks at first like a sea of cones

[Freddyfruitba...]

[blurredman]

I think postcode has been broken since conversion to HTTPS and TTL 1.2?
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 17k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 39k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.

[Ste]

[Tony Norton]

Thanks for that Ste,

worked a treat with a blank Postcode.

Cheers

Tony

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[BRUN]

how did it go Tony ?