Delurk - arrgh and other matters of an "etc" nature.

Blah blah "What to buy?" blah blah

Well Done!

Something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ducati-Monste...38QQihZ007QQcategoryZ9919QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Small, light, low, grunty, handles, goes round corners and stops, sounds
lovely, cheap, stylish, perfect first bike.

 

you wish

 

actually a mate of mine did have one as a first bike. he totally loved it.

 

I used to use mutt lots and slrn a bit, but then got into deploying
Mozilla software for clients, and I decided that I'd better use them
myself, otherwise I couldn't support them. Then I realised that
supporting users is painful. I'm mostly doing development work these
days, so there's no need to compromise any more. I might switch back
when I have time.

I just fired up slrn, was pleased to see that L in the group display did
exactly what I expected etc. Don't think it will take me too long to
get back into it.

 

Shhhh

 

I fail to see just how you intend to hold the back of the bike down
and do these 'bar checks' on your own anyway, even if you were a 20
stone moustachioed harridan with gorilla arms and strength to match.

Either you get a less wispy confederate to lean on the bike while you
do your wiggly thing at the front (which, tbh, you only need to do
once in a blue moon or when you've used spanners) or you get it done
at service time by one of those nice men in overalls with the dirty
fingernails and cheesy grin.

If you really want to do it yourself and put the overalled apes out of
business, this is how:

Obtain, by fair means or foul, a pair of coffee tin lids. Steal 'em
from Sainsbury's if neccessary, they have a foil inner seal anyway.

Lay down a lid on your patio/driveway/flat roof where you park your
bike. Ensure the lid is flat on the deck, the raised rim uppermost,
looking like a small, sad, shallow baking tray.

Drizzle a couple of dribbles of oil into the lid. Slip the second lid
into it, in the same orientation, flat face to flat face - and rotate
a few times to ensure a film of oil is present between the lids.

Wheel your bike over to the lids, now sitting on the deck, one inside
the other, oiled up and ready. Persuade your front wheel into the
centre of the lid, apply stand (side or centre, but centre for
preference) and once you're sure it is stable (and it should be, as
you've only raised the front by a couple of mm) then you can have a
wiggle of the bars.

Lock to lock is easy and doesn't scrub your tyres. You can easily
check for cable fouling, lock stoppage and thumb against tank
trappage. If you dismount and take the wheel between your hands, you
can easily wiggle it side to side and back to front. Because there's
still weight on the wheel, you can feel for notches in a real world
context, probably more effectively than with the thing in the air -
and with no time or balance constraints.

I've used this method to diagnose/eliminate front end problems several
times very successfully. It takes a bit more prep than waving it
around, but it works well and is essentially free.

HTH

 

Turn around and point yourself in the opposite direction. CS are a
dodgy bunch of bastards on a good day.

You want a nice used bike from a private sale via a genuine seller who
can provide you with all the paperwork, test certs and service
records. Or from a dealer who will provide you with similar and a
warranty to boot for a few dollars more.

Don't go buying bent/damaged/recovered 'repairable' lumps of crud from
bottom feeding scumsuckers who are low enough to get under the belly
of a roadkilled stoat.

 

That'll look very nice with a string of onions dangling from each bar
end, dear. Go for the beret on top of the lid for the full effect.

 

It's just a scratch.

 

SLRN.... FFS Phil, a real techie that wanted absolute control would dial
up a 1200bps modem, and whistle the exact tones to establish a
conversation, whilst keeping track of every single bit and byte in their
own mind.

 

<cough>

"flesh wound"

 

Well Done. Who did oyu do it with?

Wel ldone that girl.

The red ones are the fastest.

The ER5 is quite tall and I'm a giant 5'2" .

You'll need something that's a bit of fun and you won't get bored with too
quickly. May I recommend the SV650. They can be lowered quite a lot [1].
It's a great first big bike and very user friendly.

[1] Our training uses one.

 

ogden says...

That's it...Jihad launched

 

Champ says...

Who says?

 

Cat says...

Avoid avoid avoid.

Sharks of the worst variety.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki SV650 K3
Suzuki GSX-R750L
Yamaha 250 Flat-tracker
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

*cough*spazztrakka*cough*

 

Well done. Prices always drop in winter but if you wait till then you will
have lost a summer on a decent bike. I had an ER5 for 7 years and will
always recommend them to a beginner/commuter/cheapskate. Depending on how
short you are there is a lowered seat available for the ER5. prices are
fairly low, especially when compared with things like CG125s (mshp). If you
go and have a sit on an ER5 and think it too big and heavy (about as big and
heavy as the Honda 250 G5 I had some years ago) then look at the Yamaha YBR
125. Janet and I rode one in Greece last year and it did a very good job of
pulling 2 people about. It has the feel of a slightly bigger bike and the
move from YBR to ER next year would be very easy.

John

 

An outfit called Motag, they're national and franchised it seems, I booked
the whole affair in a bit of a headrush after opting to move to a place
with a garage. Didn't do a whole amount of research and just went on the
recommendation of two friends. It wasn't "cheap" apparently, but the
instructor I had was an absolute *star*, I've never felt so well looked
after, frankly.

'fank you

I dread to think how slow the blue ones are then! The red one was about as
fast as a pug 306.

Conveniently, being a supermodel (hah!), I've got nice long pins, the
floor being too far away isn't seeming a problem on any of the bikes I've
sat on.

In terms of fatigue, and larger bikes, would it make sense to leave the
"first big bike" till a little later, and get some early miles done on a
125 or something. I'm not keen to pass up the legal permission to ride a
"proper" bike, but having only spent 4 days with someone watching my back
I'm anxious not to spoil my early excellent experience by being out of my
depth; and I do ache a bit after all that pushing the thing places.

 

Aside from the pushing, did you not find the 500 much easier to ride
than the 125?

 

Them SV 650's handle a binning quite well though. My pal's managed to lob
his down the road 4 times with very little damage done. Brake pedal snapped,
fairing scuffed, pipe scuffed and 4 bar end weights fucked, but for a new
burd, I reckon the CB500 would be an excellent place to begin.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19.