Went to the Manchester Bike Show

So, being a Manchester bod, it'd be odd to not go to the bike show that's on this weekend.
Here are a few pictures...

 What looked like a large scooter... until later

 The ER-6N

 The Vulcan. It was rather comfortable

 a gorgeous V-Max

 The MT125 looks so cute.

 VSX950, I believe. It too was very comfortable

 And then there was this scooter. The Housemate lying down for scale

 Suzuki Intruder. Again, I really find these cruisers comfy.

 Custom trikes

 The Housemate with her boyfriend

 A Street Triple. They've changed the look a bit since I last saw them

 A Ducati of some kind...

Music While Riding

Something that seems to polarise a large portion of bikers is whether he should or should not listen to music while riding.

The major argument for riding without any music is that it prevents you from hearing the engine of your bike and traffic around you. In counter to this, I hear others say "But cagers get to listen to music without anyone complaining!"
To me, the reason not to listen has more clout than the counter. Largely because drivers don't need to be as aware of their surrounds as us.
[Please note: I say need to be, not that they shouldn't be. In an ideal world, a driver would be as aware of everything around them as bikers need to be.]

Next, you hear about how much music can affect your mood. For instance, putting on some really fast metal music can get the adrenaline going a bit, and cause you to ride faster or take more risks. There's no real counter to that one, apart from "I know, and I accept that."
For me, the choice goes down to what music you should listen to then.

So, where do I actually stand on this?
I listen to music.

My counter to the first point is that I don't have the music at any level that is over-powering. I can hear my engine, and I can hear the traffic, and as I go faster, these get louder than the music.
But when I'm going slowly, or stopped at lights, it gives something to take the edge off the boredom.
Then, my music of choice is currently psytrance. It has a consistent beat range, and isn't the most energetic of music. It's sort of soothing...

What about you all? Where do you stand?

Is Maintenance For Me?

I wonder if bike maintenance is something I should even attempt on my own again...

My YBR's chain has been scarily slack, and when I measured it yesterday, it was at about 2 inches! Given the recommended is at most 20mm, it's at a scary level.

"Right," says I. "Let's sort this bad boy out."
With tools in hand, and the Haynes manual open at my side, I went to work.

After I got the slack right, tightened all the bits back up and... found the back brake was now seized.
And I can't find what I've done wrong.

*sigh*

I should also point out that the first time I tried to adjust the headlight angle on my bike, I somehow caused the bulb to blow, even though I went nowhere near the thing.

I am a numpty

So, with a new bike comes new interesting features.
One of the things that I got with the XJ6 was Oxford Hotgrips - brilliant for the colder days. Unfortunately, they're wired straight to the battery, with no auto-off.

Can you see where this is going?
Well, ha! You're wrong.

Although, probably very close.
Instead it was another feature of the XJ6 that caused me to completely drain my battery dry.
That feature is...

the parking light.

What insane person throught that the parking light rotation on the key should be the one further along than the steering lock? I mean, seriously!

You put the steering lock on, and you're going to be away from your bike for some period of time, most likely.

What numpty thought it was a good idea?

Anyway.

I came back to my bike, after ~9 hours and the battery was deader than a really dead thing. Instrument panel showed no life whatsoever.

This meant I had to get the AA out to come and give me a jump start. [No, not alcoholics anonymous...]. Had the engine running for about 40 minutes in total, hoping that would be enough to charge it; and my initial check at the end of the day seemed to indicate it was.

Except it wasn't.

While the instrument panel came to life this time, there just wasn't enough juice to start the engine.

Today's morning commute to work was brought to you by my YBR125.

It showed to me just how much snappier the XJ6 is in comparison, in almost every way. More responsive brakes, clutch, gears, everything!

I'm going to see if I have the ability to bump start the bike when I get home.

Taking odds that I dump the clutch and drop it?

When I did the thing...

Had a bit of a camera fail. When I got to the Rocket Centre, I discovered that the camera had actually crashed and had stopped filming at some point - I hadn't even left the proper Manchester area - so didn't get my approach.

So, this is just a short video.

Where I ramble about an impending nice day

I contemplated contacting the company the moped rider was for for a few days. I eventually decided I can't be 'guardian angel' for others, especially since I didn't get the registration plate clearly.
I just hope he doesn't injure himself.

When I went for a trip to bolton

The other weekend, I took a trip out to Bolton Motorcycles, just to have a look at bikes. Some highlights of the ride are here:

Just to point out: at the roundabout, yeah, The Housemate went into the wrong lane, but I had to slow because it was obvious the car driver was going to pull out when he shouldn't have

It's Such a Dilemma!

While I passed my test back in October, I've still been riding around on a YBR125. And the reason I even have one is due to my own impatience... because I bought it in the September, when I already had my module 1 booked. I was just getting stupidly itchy to be on a bike.

How does this lead to a dilemma? Let me slowly explain...

I bought the bike on finance, and part of that agreement is that you aren't allowed to sell on the bike until the finance is cleared. This didn't bother me at the time, as I had planned to stick to a 125cc for a year, to "cut my teeth" properly, so to speak.
It's now been 5 months, and I want on to my bigger bike now! There's only so much I can take being unable to safely use a motorway or higher speed dual carriageway.

So, I've been searching for an XJ6N, which is affordable. And, I've found a couple.
My problems arise in that, if I wait, I can pay off the YBR faster by doing lump sums in to the account, but that leaves me 'stuck' with it for longer.
I could put it up for sale, and if it gets interest quickly, I could use my next wages to pay it off - but it would have to sell, or I'd be a bit stumped with money.
Or, I could say 'fuck it' and buy the XJ6 anyway, giving me 2 bikes for a short spell. But I don't know how that would go with insurance and whether I could afford to in the longer term [I have money for a rainy day right now]

Gah!

Also, the weather is meant to be crap this weekend...

Video 002: Yeah, I'll come up with a title card thing eventually

Here's my second video.
I wonder if I should add NSFW warnings on these, due to the way I fucking swear a lot?

Decisions, Decisions

I'm currently still pootling about on a '12 plate YBR 125, since passing my test. It's not hugely bothered me, since I pretty much just commute, and it's been a tad cold for long journeys.

For a while, I've had my eye on an XJ6N, which was the first non-cruiser to grab my attention. You see, I've always wanted a cruiser type - still do - but while flicking through bike sites, the XJ6 just went "HIIIIIIiiiiiiii!"
I can't say for certain why. It's not the fastest bike. It's not the sleakest. But, reviews I've seen since have said it's reliable. And there's a reason it's a popular bike [I since found] for motorcycle schools in the UK.

However, this weekend, I've added a second bike to that list now. It's in the same sort of league - popular in the schools - as the XJ6; the ER-6N. I had a sit on one of these when I went to Bolton Motorcycles over the weekend, and it was rather comfortable.

I'm still wanting the XJ6 mainly, but I think I will be happy if an ER-6N pops up before the XJ does...

And then I can go a little bit faster than the YBR can get to (:

A Wild video appears!

The Pain of Not Getting to Ride

I know I'll be preaching to any biker choir here, but not being able to get out on the bike sucks.
For me, my reasons are two-fold.

1. The obvious "bloody white stuff falling from the sky" that we've had on and off for a couple of days;
2. I normally wear glasses, so when riding I prefer to put in contacts

Now, I'll explain the second one more fully.
For short journeys, I would normally be OK with wearing my glasses. And my daily commute is short. However, at these colder temperatures, as soon as I stop [or worse, while moving] my glasses will steam up unless I ride with the visor open.
And my eyes have been sore from continual use of contacts recently. Largely because I've went from rare use - once a week on average, for a few hours - to having them in from 8am till about 7pm.

Couple this with the harsh lights that seem to be getting used at my work, and by about 3pm my eyes have been burning each day.
Therefore, I'm resting my eyes.

But gah, I want to be filtering through those lines of cars. Those people cursing other drivers for causing them to be stuck moving only a few miles an hour.
Instead, I'm stuck in public transport hell; sitting on a packed tram.

Pity me?

How I got my license

I posted this on a thread in Reddit, but felt I would share it here too.

CBT
Did this with a place in Paisley [near Glasgow] called Bike It. 4 of us for the day, me, 2 younger guys, and this "old" ned/chav. I actually figured he was younger than me, but alchol and other abuses took their toll so he looked mid 40s. 
The initial parts of the day were great. Explanations, etc. 
Then, it came to getting on the bike. I listened and watched the explanation of how to get the bike moving, thought "yup, looks fine enough." Kicked into first, added throttle, let up the clutch. Stall. 
Started the engine back up and tried again. Stall. 
Repeat... I'm moving! Stall. And the bike falls over and snaps the clutch lever.

Once I was able to get moving - and didn't need to stop - I was fine. Slalom, figure 8, etc.

This set up for pretty much the rest of the day where I was nervous with the clutch, just uncertain on how to use it right. But, somehow I passed. I have a feeling it's because I went out on the road with the ned, who was terrible. And he probably distracted a lot from mistakes I was making. However, my road awareness was reasonably good due to 17 years behind the wheel.

It took me a bit to realise [as in a number of lessons] what I had done wrong to begin with, and why. I'm also not sure how the instructor didn't catch the mistake. 
Basically, I misunderstood his directions. I was trying to release the clutch slowly the entire time I was moving, rather than waiting until the bike was stable. So, I was dumping it each and every time.

Lessons
I started off with lessons with the same guys. Mainly because they were highly recommended and I liked their attitude. 
They'd joke with you when appropriate and politely point out mistakes. Never getting angry [as I'd hope from any instructor, really.] I acquired the nickname "Captain Chaos" from them, because "While 95% of the time, your riding's great for your level, and what we expect; it's the other 5% where I'm almost chewing through my helmet!" 
I realised I'd need more frequent lessons than the one every other week I was doing, so put my riding on hold while I saved money. And then money fell on its arse.

8 months later, I finally got back to learning with them, and requested a day's refresher [well, 2 lessons] of clutch control and basic moves. I only needed 1, and was forced out on the road after accidentally proving I could do a U-turn in the width of a single car parking space. 
Very soon started towards my DAS with them and sat my theory test. Just before I was ready for my mod 1, I got a job offer for Manchester.

Manchester -> DAS
It was almost 2 months from moving down before I was able to recommence lessons. But with the people I went with, it was a set course of training [although, not back to back days]. 
Started off on a Saturday, the whole day on 125cc. We pretty much did most of the mod 1 moves, being shown any tips and tricks we'd maybe need. Then onto a road ride. 
It was actually quite gruelling, as we went to a block of streets that allowed for weird combinations of left and right turns as the instructor felt was needed, and helping us get the lifesavers sorted for the right timing.

Sunday was a short day. Just the morning, on 500cc bikes, redoing the mod 1 stuff with bigger bikes.

I had my mod 1 on the afternoon of the Tuesday. Started on the 500cc again, as a refresher, then onto Gladius 650s. 
Almost straight off, there was problems. One of the guys taking his test that day - for the 3rd time at that point - was someone I can only describe as a fat useless bastard. 
We were to move forward in a straight line on the bikes, at very slow speed, just to get a feel how much the clutch could pull. He drifted towards me [due to looking at the instructor rather than straight on]. Without thinking, I pull the front brake to stop from hitting him, and the bike goes down. Fortunately, I took him down with me. 
He failed his mod 1 that day, and I later found out he continued to fail it at least 5 times [some people should just give up]

Ultimately, I failed my test that day too. Somehow, I screwed up the slalom [bike didn't turn when I wanted it to], got angry with myself and called a stop to the test, in case I injured myself. [I could have gotten away with a minor]

Resat the test 3 weeks later and passed - got a minor for not turning back in to the box after the swerve. He let me redo the move, because everything else had been perfect to that point.

Mod 2
I sat the mod 2 about a fortnight later, I think it was. [2nd October] Ended up with 4 minors. 3 of which I know for certain when they occurred. 
1 was for going 35mph. 2 others for being too cautious around buses. "Are you planning on picking up passengers too?" asked the examiner in my ear... 
The 4th was for missing a rear observation. No idea when.

While waiting to tell if I'd passed - although, I thought I'd failed due to a bit of sloppy cornering at one point [but was disregarded due to the level of the rest of my riding] - he grilled me about the buses. Going on about my acceleration and the bike being nimble. 
"So, do you want to send off for your new license or just have me do it?"
"... I passed?" 
"Well, anyone who rides like that around buses deserves to suffer. Yup, you've passed."
He hands me the certificate, "And hold on to that, you'll need it for the 3rd stage of your test." 
While my brain, slightly mush right now, is going "... 3rd stage?" he walks out before I can ask what he meant.