Improvements.

Having got bike back, MOT'd and serviced I'm having much fun.

However, I suck at riding, and the paltry horses in the thunderkitty
serve only to provide genuine *thrill* when I unstick the back end
racing 125s and BMWs off the lights and happily fishtail up the road.

The speed limits and shallow bends of london's roads are boring as sin.

Should I look at trackdays, or advanced riding courses, or sack off road
riding as a dull deal and go offroading?

p.s. what tyres for a Thundercat? These ones are worn out.

 

It's bound to be dull if you stick in London, & no amount of extra
horses or advanced riding courses will change that. If you're going to
stay there & want to enjoy motorcycling, you need to get in the habit
of very early Sunday morning starts to get to some decent roads before
they clog up with cars.

Off-roading will mean a van or car & trailer.

Mich Pilot Road 2 (or 3 if they're out yet).

 

If you want fun riding in London you get a big trail bike and use pavements,
junctions, narrow gaps, pedestrian bollards and one way roads as a
playground with regular wheelie action. Never ending pleasure.

 

Post corrected.

I used to live in London, & did that sort of thing a lot on the Fantic.
But even back then (late 80s) it got to the point where every plod I
saw stopped me to 'check the bike wasn't stolen'.

 

I lived in London too but never caught caught, you Slowped

 

I never got caught doing anything wrong, just got stopped by every ****
with a blue light.

 

I was technically banned at the time driving on a dodgy non English licence
with no documentation WAF. Stopping wasn't an option. The roads blocked
with bollards were my best friend.

 

There are speed limits in London? Faaark. Since when?


Why limit yourself? Do all of them, with the probably exception of the
advanced training. **** that.

Some of us are doing Silverstone on Easter Monday. Come along. We'll
also be doing the offroad school in Wales again at some point, the more
the merrier.

Road-based ride-outs seem to have died a death round here, but you might
find someone to bimble with on sv650.org, particularly in the TVSF
section.

I dunno, I rather enjoy my commute.

Maxxis Supermaxx or Promaxx, I forget which I have on the KTM but they
seem absolutely fine and they're a hundred notes a set cheaper than
Michelins.

 

For excellent mileage and very good grip wet and dry, my current choice
of tyre is the Pirelli Angel ST. Got one fitted to the rear of the
Versys at the moment and it's excellent, even though I squared it off
slightly doing nearly 4K miles on motorways across Europe. It still has
5mm of tread left after 4500 miles and still grips well in all
conditions.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

They're fairly bendy, but I generally only push them in traffic,
sprinting for gaps and making a bit of defensible progress compared with
the flow of cars. I have to remind myself I'm driving without a real
licence, so I'm sure plod won't give me a cuddle if they want to chat
about my conduct.

TBH, that '**** advanced beardy training' was a response I wanted to hear.

Both these things are of interest, who's the trackday organised through?
I'll need to read their blurbs because I don't know how trackdays work.
I expressed an interest in the offroady a while back, and now have the
advantage of being able to get there and home again. Woo.

Worth a look, ta.

I enjoy my commute a little too much, and it being my only 'fun' at the
moment I get a little reckless sometimes. Clattering a van mirror is one
thing, but squished under a truck doesn't sound like fun.

 

The thing about riding in London is however much of a **** you think
you're riding like, there's someone sitting next to you at the lights
who'll make you look like Jesus. It's like having a whole city of
sacrificial dickheads at your beck and call.

(Now watch while I pick up three tugs in the next week)

You turn up with a roadworthy bike, a full set of leathers and possibly
a licence. And then you go play for 20 minutes at a time.

Nothing wrong with a bit of danger, biker-girl.

 

This is true, and sometimes I do get passed by clearly speeding nutters
who pull over 100 in the 50 limit, but it's an unusual day when I'm
overtaken by anything. I'm not thinking my riding is impressive, but
more likely that I'm way outside acceptable risk ranges without knowing
that I am, and I keep expecting a massive spill to restore cosmic balance.

Lovely, bookmarked and endiaryenated. Thanks.

I hope the licence isn't too vital. Do they require any medical crap?

Chicks dig scars.

 

Jesus riding on the Thames, presumably

 

If you're not crashing, you're not trying.

Keep an eye on the site. At some point it'll fill up, though I wouldn't
expect that to happen for at least a month.

There's a disclaimer form, that's about it. Licence just needs to be
valid - doesn't matter if you're in that first-two-years thing, just so
long as it's a full one.

True dat.

 

The offroad school looks good. Quite fancy a bit of mud plugging. Is
that the Yamaha one?

Trackdays will have to wait until I get a new set of leathers due to too
many pie/face incidents...

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, cat

Ah, the good old "Unconscious Incompetence" stage. Always fun that.

I hope to grow out of that one day.

 

Yeah, the Yamaha Off Road Experience.

 

Fat fucker.

I have a set of 1 piece leathers that have been worn twice. You're
welcome to give them a whirl, but I think you're a tad shorter than
me ..

Paul.

 

I am a bit, it's a good excuse to get some new leathers anyway as the
current ones are getting a bit tatty and I'm fairly sure white, black
and purple is not going to be this seasons colours.