Tips for buying a Honda CT110 "postie bike" please

JL wrote:

The system cares. If you want a full bike licence in NSW you have to
pass the MOST.

Aye, try any of those on the hairpin going down to Berowra Waters Ferry!

The tactic of getting a bike which is easier to pass the MOST on, is a
valid one.

But, you have to understand the entire MOST.

A postie will allow a U-turn much more easily than lots of bigger bikes,
but, there is still the quick stopping business, which also has to be
passed. With its fairly small brakes, a postie isn't the ideal for that
bit of the test.

Oh, and you aren't allowed to change bikes in the course of the MOST. ;-)

The Z50 would allow even a learner to do figure of eights in the U-turn
box, but would, like the postie, be a problem with the stopping
business, since it's hard not to lock up the front end.

The OP, or rather, his wife, wants a quick fix and, realistically, there
isn't one. She'd still have to spend the time and effort to learn to
ride the postie properly. And, a decent postie bike has long since moved
out of the two-cases of beer priced range.

Please explain about this orientation business?

The MOST is a straight forward competency based test.

Dunno about that either.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:14:25 +0800

I do a U turn in about the same space as the Most requires when I
leave the garage.

I don't have to, but I figure being able to can't hurt.

It's a right pain on the Norge, dead easy on the other Guzzis.

Zebee
- doing her bit for Theo's Law.

 

I have this little roundabout at the house end of the driveway, about 40
metres in circumference.

I am not really familiar with the most but did a few skills courses at the
National Safety Council in Mt Lawley before they converted it to parking
space for ECU. My unlimited motorcycle test consisted of riding around the
block on a 125 Vespa, sans helmet.

Theo

 

Zebee Johnstone wrote:

Do you think there is a real physical/mechanical difference, or is it
something to do with a new, virgin, 26 grand motorcycle?

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Yebbut, take it in the context, that was the point of getting a postie
- 'cos then passing that bit of the test is dead easy.

Y'know it's interesting, you've got me stumped, I wouldn't compare the
Galston Gorge Hairpins with the feetup U turn at all - most of the
hairpins are cambered and I do them at about 10 times the speed I'd do
a feet up U turn, and they don't seem as tight as the MOST test box
anyway. You start at the far left and chuck it down hard on the apex -
I treat them as a normal corner I don't try and ride them like a feet
up U turn - leaning the wrong way and riding the brake like a trials
bike

Yeah that's a fairly valid point, and you'd certainly know better than
I would but given the advantages across a number of parts of the test
(cone weave etc as well as u turn) would have thought it was still
better than a bigger bike

<shrug> Like I said you know that test far better than me but I would
still think it's a pretty fair work around if you have a weakness in
one area.

The level of the skills required is far higher than the car test
requires. The L's course opens with quite a stern lecture which about
safety which seems very intended to scare the pants off the boys

<shrug>That's my experience YMMV.

JL

 

JL wrote:

Compare, if you will:-
going to an auction, with no auction experience.
buying an untried postie bike.
getting it home.
getting it to pass a Blue Slip test.
then wife has to get used to riding it, and a postie feels very
different from a GS500.
do (and hopefully) pass MOST
sell postie.

or

wifey goes to a proper riding instructor and gets taught how to do the
U-turn properly on her own bike....maybe an hour.
(It is a perfectly teachable technique. The current size of the box is
such that, once they have been taught how to do it, they smile and don't
see it as a problem.)

Current U-turn box size means that leaning wrong way is only required in
extreme cases.

If you arrive at the hairpin on the inside, with a car coming down the
outside (wider) track, you are bloody nearly doing a U-turn.

A lot of it is confidence. If the wife in question isn't prepared to
spend a wee bit of time, one way or the other, then I dunno how she is

I agree, if the person is likely to do the appropriate practice on the
alternate bike. It seems somewhat wasteful, but it ain't my time/money.

I dunno what they charge, but both StayUpright and HART do a pre-MOST
course, and then allow folk to use their bikes (as in what they did the
course on) for the real MOST.

However, the GS500 isn't a serious handicap to doing the MOST, and it
makes more sense to me that she learns to ride what she'll really be riding.

Yup! But is that a problem of the bike test or the car test?

I know which one I'd change if I had the power.

....and the knicker off the girls.

Does the name Ali remind you of anything?

regards,
CrazyCam

 

You think 50kgs is "only a little more" than the 250s weigh? Holy dooley,
that's only a little less than what I weigh! I suppose it's all relative -
but when I changed from the GPX to the GS I had to haul around almost a
whole extra "bettyweight"! (and geez, didn't I notice it!)

betty

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:22:35 +1000

Higher CofG.
Different arm position
greater turning circle.

The Norge has more weight up high than the T or GT. It also has fewer
degrees of movement in the bars. I'm also more "in" than "on top", the
ergonomics are different.

Makes it a great bike for high speed, less good at really tight tight
turns.

Having dropped it once doing that turn, I'm now very scared of doing
it and am slowly learning to do it again.

I'm pondering a lowering kit, see if that helps the confidence level.

Zebee

 

Yes, I have, She won't.

I agree

No, always on weekends. but we aren't far from Beecroft. Why?

 

Sound advice.

 

Geez, I thought it was only about 20kgs, but I quick look shows a CB250
at 135'ish kg, a GPX250 at 138kg, while the GS500 is 180 kgs.

It just seems light to me compared to my 285kg K1200GT I suppose.

 

I tried the u-turn with my K1200GT ans had trouble.

I worked out the problem when I found I couldn't make the u-turn even
wheeling the bike with full lock.

David

 

I agree 100%, and have suggested she do some one-on-one time with the
pro riding instructors rather than learning my bad habits.
We will be "looking into it".

 

I live in Beecroft, at the end of a dead-end street, with a big turning
circle.

I also have time, during the week, and have, in the past, had quite a
few learners round to prepare for their MOST.

I was tempted to make an offer which my wife would later make me regret.
(SWMBO became increasingly unhappy about me teaching folk without all
the appropriate insurances.)

regards,
CrazyCam

 

David wrote:

That doesn't mean that it can't be done.

A few years ago, the turn box was smaller, and a GPX250 couldn't be
walked round on full lock. Lots of learners still managed to pass the test.

I watched a bloke do the U-turn, in the old, smaller box, on a Leadwing,
but, to be fair, he was the chief riding instructor of NSW at the time.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

I don't remember your street being that boring or bogan.

Theo

 

OK, I get your point Reservations withdrawn

Mmm ? Have they made it bigger ? I can remember laying out a U turn
box for Ally to practise in and then trying the TRX in it and finding
it a bit hard; and that's a bike that wasn't particularly heavy and
which I was VERY comfortable throwing around (far more so than any
I've had since. I could only get it around comfortably by doing the
trials style trick.

I suppose so, but I'd still do it with a lot more momentum than I
would a feet up U turn - which means I s'pose it's a head issue for me
more than anything - which I guess is as much about that focus on
"must not go outside the lines" as opposed to the turn actually being
hard. I dunno I'm a lot more comfortable leaning hard when I'm moving
a bit than when I'm doing 10Kph. I don't think there's a corner on
Galston I'd do slower than 45 on the KR1, (haven't taken the Raptor
down there yet) that'd be the lefthanders, the rights can be done a
lot quicker provided no one is on the other side of the road.

....snip lots of good advice

You and me both !! I've long argued the car test should emulate the
bike, even represented that opinion to the Aust Council on Road Safety
(fat lot of good that did)

Yeah indeed, to the point where each time the latest girly has done
the L's course I have to convince her that it is actually possible to
survive riding a motorcycle. I think it's at the right level for
testosterone charged 18yr olds (which do indeed make up the majority
of the attendees) but it can be a bit OTT for the somewhat less
agressive members of the fairer sex.

Oh indeed, but she didn't start that way- she came out of that first
day of the course seriously thinking about not going back - that
speech was very effective in scaring her...

JL

 

I suggest you contact Crazy Cam if you're on Sydney's North Shore -
he's assisted at least one(1) of my ex's to get past their P's and a
lot of other people from here as well.

Better yet he works for beers

JL
(1) Scratching my head now, I can't recall Cam how many of my ex's
HAVE you tutored ?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:36:58 -0700

The RTA do provide women only courses, the more demand, the more
courses.

I think it would be interesting to see how many currently licenced
riders could pass the MOST.

I don't think I could do it on the Norge[1] but I expect I'd have
found it dead easy on the T.

Zebee

[1] obligatory Norge reference. They track us on these things you
know.

 

I definitely would have passed it on the TRX at the time I had it as I
practised it with Ally, however I definitely couldn't have passed it
on the Bandit (there's no way I could have got it through the U turn
or cone weave - maybe Cam's head instructor could but I'm pretty sure
I couldn't have). Definitely could on the KR1 (although the poor
turning circle and having to keep the revs over 6grand would make it a
royal pain in the arse. Raptor maybe, dunno, probably. Then again my
skillsets are down through the fact I've barely ridden in the last
18-20 months

JL