New to bikes at 40++

[fatporker]

Good mag all New on here, new to bikes, had a lot of experience in cars both road and track, just never got round to bikes.

So having obtained my CBT I decided being my anal self that I would get me a 125 so I could get down to nitty gritty and really practise and learn ... Honda cb125f arrived last week ... so jumped on it and off I went. I should add I have started big bike training been for 3 sessions so far

Bike fine it's an interim tool ... I cannot believe the closeness of cars to bikes I have a guy hanging about 2 ft off my back at 30mph built up area so I take my time back off the guy in front do my checks still there .. no Int whatsoever to back off me .... wtf. So I pull in earliest chance and off he goes not the least bit aware of what he was doing. I am sure this is a regular phenomenon to all u bikers.. I guess my question is if I was to do this every time I won't get anywhere ... what's ur experience on this

I am obv lacking confidence with my new toy but I cycle almost daily into London I see the idiots on the road .. I am just wondering how u guys deal with such issues given we are taught to own the lane ride in the centre of it ....

Many thanks .. looking forward to getting past this stage of the learning curve
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CBT Done Theory Done ... Now for the rest of it

[defblade]

Passive tailgaters (ie ones who don't know they're doing it, just never look further than 6 feet past their bonnet) you can't do anything about as such, just double your space to the vehicle in front and brake gently so they have time to react. Or pull in and let them past.

Aggressive tailgaters will simply overtake you when you're on a bike, even if you're already at the speed limit, and even if there's no proper room to do so - this goes double while you're on L plates.
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Honda Varadero 125cc => Suzuki Bandit 650 33bhp => 77bhp =>
BMW K1200R Sport 163bhp => Aprilia Shiver GT 750 95bhp

[Rogerborg]

Riding well out towards the RHS of your lane helps, but as with cycling it won't stop it altogether if you're anywhere near the speed limit.

It does wind me up no end, which is why you did the right thing by pulling over. The sooner the better, before you get the red mist on. I have stopped once to remonstrate with a particularly bad culprit, which in hindsight was a mistake. Luckily (for me) he was a codger, and just shrank behind the wheel.

The worst oblivious offenders are geezers and tarts. Candidates for doing it deliberately are Audi- and White-Van-Man, so that they can spend longer stuck at the next set of lights.

I agree with ditching the L plates at the earliest opportunity. As a bit of an aside, are you aware that if you've passed your bike theory, there's nothing stopping you booking a module 1 test on your own 125? It won't get you closer to a full A license, but it's only £15.50 to do it under real conditions on a bike that's less capable than the 600cc+ that you'll use for your real bite at it. That's a bargain to familiarise yourself with the test and work through any nerves.

Oh, and enjoy the obligatory rant from Teflon-Mike when he shows up. Don't read too much into it - he won't actually have read what you wrote either.
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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

[fatporker]

Yes I did my theory this week and have started the big bike training ... as for doing it on my 125 ... i have got the 125 so i can practice what i learn in my own time and space ... that's the way my brain works ... i am comfortable on the bike just need to get more used to the everyday activity and the situations which you can only get from miles under your belt !!! ... I am looking to do the MOD 1 in a few weeks i have actually been up to the examination pod and had a play round it ... so i know 1) what to expect 2) whats required ... i just need practice ... thnks for your replies
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CBT Done Theory Done ... Now for the rest of it

[arry]

[Holdawayt]

As above, road positioning and riding defensively helps with this sort of thing. You'll be taught all of that in your lessons though hopefully.

I don't tend to get many tailgaters, I try to make progress (filter) whenever possible so people don't tend to stick behind me for long enough to be an issue.
All the best with your training, any problems stick a thread up and we'll do our best to help.

Tom.

[fatporker]

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CBT Done Theory Done ... Now for the rest of it

[Rogerborg]

[Andy_Pagin]

[fatporker]

I am away a lot so it is difficult to do "official big bike training" .. so my idea is practice on the 125 when i am away(which is where i have the 125) ... and when i go home i arrange a lesson ... so i had to pass the theory to enable me to book the MOD1 .. i was horrified to see that there is a long wait for a slot on the MOD 1 that is I guess coz all the motorbike shows have been on and the spring is looming .. so its a case of when i can get a Saturday test ... i imagine i should be fine to go after one session with my guy .... it all sounds a little strange i know but my set up doesn't give me flexibility during the day only at weekends .. hence why i got the 125 to practice evenings and then be ready to go... I went to see the set up I am not worried about the MOD 1 per se obv all about the day and usual exam nerves ... but i have the focus to do it ...

So i see myself one more big bike lesson .. then MOD 1 .... then MOD 2 i reckon will be another couple of intensive lessons before i will be of the required standard. Add to that i manage to put a good few hundred miles on the 125 then i hope that will be suffice to see me done and dusted on the MOD1 and MOD2 pre summer
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CBT Done Theory Done ... Now for the rest of it

[Andy_Pagin]

You're taking more or less the same route to a licence that I did aged 45. It's a good plan. A big advantage of being an old git is you don't get the exam nerves in the way a teenager does, non of that teenage desperation to impress and prove yourself to the 'village elders'.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[Teflon-Mike]

Stock answer & Extras: Tail-Gaters - Back-Off Salient extract:

you are riding a vehicle, probably less than half the length of a car; there is NOT very much bike behind you to begin with, and that is likely to make it seem that anything in the mirror is closer to your number-plate than it possibly actually is. More so if you are an existing car driver... used to, what? An extra ten feet of metal, between where you are sat and your rear number-plate?

Large vehicles? Vans in particular. They are tall and wide, and FILL the rear-view mirrors, even if they aren't actually all that close; the wind-screen is also almost at the front of the vehicle; big exectutive or conventional saloon car? There's probably five foot of bonnet stuck out in front of the driver... and THAT is what you subconsciously look for; we are genetically programmed to seek 'faces' in any scene we look at.

But point is, these things can conspire to exaggerate, our perception of how close a following vehicle is, and significantly add to our over-estimation of the risk they actually pose!

So STOP staring in the mirror; don't obsess on them.

Long term car drivers are notorious for a lot of car driver habits, that include mirror dependency, assessing 'risk' emotionally not rationally, and even more hugely exaggerating the gulf between real risk and perceived risk based on the 'sensation' they have, on a bike, in direct contact with their surroundings, sat over an engine, not isolated and insulated from the world around them by a sitting-room on wheels.

It's quite normal; BUT, its as likely and probably more so, that it is YOUR notions of what's going on and who's more in the wrong that are 'wrong' than other traffic, at the moment.

Worth a thunk... when you are next driving the car... just check how often you are following the two-second-rule... then ponder your ideas, as a car driver, how close is close.... THEN.. 30mph is 15m/s, so normal following distance aught to be 30m or 100 foot.... park bike on the road outside your house, and then get in the car and try park that far from the bike... using just the scale of the bike as a guide... then measure it... I will lay odds that you will park probably half that distance away, and you'll get out and STILL think "That's huge!" Then go get on the bike, and look in the mirrors at the car, and see how close that 'huge' gap looks when you are sat on the saddle.

However, do have to congratulate you for pulling over, "Get-Off; Get-Safe; Start-Over" it is something so many are loath to do, and will escalate problems trying to 'make' tailgater back off, or trying to get ahead, and not actually deal with the problem.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Pjay]

[Baggyman]

Rocks in tank bag.

Practice lobbing them in the air just right so that if they are too close they land on the following car's bonnet.

...Actually saw a guy riding a Panther do that once..
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Old fart
Baghira, modded GS1000 and the T150 I bought in 1978 when I was 21

[Rogerborg]