Post by livelearnandhavefun on Apr 13, 2020 16:32:20 GMT
I've just joined and I'll give you a little background. I learned to ride my mates Raleigh cycle on Sunday it was brand new and his father wouldn't have been to happy with him if he found out the lad next door was riding it. It was round Park End shops in Middlesbrough back in the day when the shops were all closed a bit like today I suppose with all this Covid 19. We spent hours and hours of fun bike sharing over the school holidays I soon picked it up after a few falls and the odd bruise. We use to practice riding in a figure of eight and breaking especially hard on the back break and sliding the back wheel out which built up my confidence. My first go on the bike of a bike was my cousins bike which was either a Triumph or Norton it's over 50 years ago so I can't remember both my cousins had a bike I do remember going up Green Lane on the back with no helmet and the sound and vibration and sheer power left a lasting impression on me.
I've just bought my first road bike in over 40 years and the strange thing is I am enjoying sitting watching videos on YouTube about improving and polishing my motorbike skills such as low speed control and riding a course with braking and figure of eight ect. Obviously there are some very good and not so good tuition out there it's just a case of seeing what's relevant to my needs and my current skill level. My first bike was a Yamaha FS1E and I loved the freedom it gave me and it served as a work bike. The bike was delivered to my parents home from Mat Newton's Motorcycles and I was 17 and had just passed my car test a few weeks or so before. I jumped on the bike and learned to ride it myself which looking back was the wrong way but there was no help I was aware of back then. I had my first accident while in Guisborough just on my way home from work some guy pulled out from a side road while I was on Guisborough High Street
He accepted it was his fault straight away probably because of all the witnesses and he begged me not to get the police involved. I took the estimate for the damages to him the next week to his home I knocked on his door and give him a receipt for repairs I paid which came to just shy of £50 and he started getting stroppy and denied it was him then I could smell drink on him and thought I should have called the police at the time of the accident he only agreed to pay up after I had a few carefully chosen words with him. It was a lesson learnt from me and he got off very lightly I just hoped he hadn't caused any problems for another biker.
I passed my test at 19 on a Gt250 Suzuki then went to watch Barry Sheen and Kenny Roberts ect around the race meetings all over the UK with my mates. I bought a Gt750 Suzuki next and had an accident which was my fault and I was off work from British Steel for over 14 months and that was the last road bike I've owned which was 42 years ago. My next there bikes were all motocross Bultaco 370 then YZ 250 Yamaha and finally a 420 Kawasaki which was over 35 years. I use to ride on a track up Charlton Bank an old farmer would
charge me and my friends £10 for the day to ride and some weekends we would get together a do a little sand racing down South Gare
January this year I went on a test ride it was a Yamaha Fz6 which looking back was just too big and heavy to manhandle into my shed old bike as well 2008 with 20,000
miles on it. Then after a lot of soul searching and looking at bikes and reviews on the net and utube I went on test ride on Ktm 390 Duke from Teasdale Motorcycles Thirsk
This bike is the best handling bike I've had the pleasure to ride. Then I saw a Hyosung Gd250 n on ebay for less than half the price and with no way of knowing when I'd get a chance to get back out there and practice and grow my skill base I brought the bike and its been sat there locked up I've took the battery off and just ordered a battery optimiser and it's anyone's guess to when we all get a chance to get out on the bike which will only be used to ride on the twisty B roads, I am not interested in touring now or commuting its just not my thing.
I worked as courier delivering car parts all over the UK and Europe for many years and I drove more hours in a Sprinter van than was safe often leaving Middlesbrough to drive down to Dover then onwards through Europe through out the year in some of the worst conditions and there's a few story's I could tell about accidents that happened to other drivers I knew or heard off because of lack of sleep or just pure unlucky which comes from many thousands of miles behind the wheel.
I was speaking to my uncle at the reception of my mother's funeral and I was telling him what had happened to me on two occasions while driving in the early hours of Holand and Germany I was so tired and dropping to sleep I'd put the rock music on loud and wind the window down to keep me awake but with no services to pull in it was sometimes a battle to stay awake I told my uncle who was a HGV driver I sensed I was noding off and I could feel a precence sat in the van with me silent in the dark as I am motoring along and I turned to the passenger seat and said I know you are there and you are here to help me I will pull into the next service station and have a sleep I could also smell pipe smoke which made me wind the window down even more now this happened twice and I explained to my uncle I didn't know who it was because I didn't know anyone in the family who had passed and could drive he said it was my grandad who got the fist taxi in the area I thought he was just a head crane drive. So I do believe after these two similar experiences a few years apart that there are things we don't understand.
I am very easy going and I am open to any help or sensible advice for me going forward with my skill learning process for this year
Stay safe Thanks from Mike
I've just bought my first road bike in over 40 years and the strange thing is I am enjoying sitting watching videos on YouTube about improving and polishing my motorbike skills such as low speed control and riding a course with braking and figure of eight ect. Obviously there are some very good and not so good tuition out there it's just a case of seeing what's relevant to my needs and my current skill level. My first bike was a Yamaha FS1E and I loved the freedom it gave me and it served as a work bike. The bike was delivered to my parents home from Mat Newton's Motorcycles and I was 17 and had just passed my car test a few weeks or so before. I jumped on the bike and learned to ride it myself which looking back was the wrong way but there was no help I was aware of back then. I had my first accident while in Guisborough just on my way home from work some guy pulled out from a side road while I was on Guisborough High Street
He accepted it was his fault straight away probably because of all the witnesses and he begged me not to get the police involved. I took the estimate for the damages to him the next week to his home I knocked on his door and give him a receipt for repairs I paid which came to just shy of £50 and he started getting stroppy and denied it was him then I could smell drink on him and thought I should have called the police at the time of the accident he only agreed to pay up after I had a few carefully chosen words with him. It was a lesson learnt from me and he got off very lightly I just hoped he hadn't caused any problems for another biker.
I passed my test at 19 on a Gt250 Suzuki then went to watch Barry Sheen and Kenny Roberts ect around the race meetings all over the UK with my mates. I bought a Gt750 Suzuki next and had an accident which was my fault and I was off work from British Steel for over 14 months and that was the last road bike I've owned which was 42 years ago. My next there bikes were all motocross Bultaco 370 then YZ 250 Yamaha and finally a 420 Kawasaki which was over 35 years. I use to ride on a track up Charlton Bank an old farmer would
charge me and my friends £10 for the day to ride and some weekends we would get together a do a little sand racing down South Gare
January this year I went on a test ride it was a Yamaha Fz6 which looking back was just too big and heavy to manhandle into my shed old bike as well 2008 with 20,000
miles on it. Then after a lot of soul searching and looking at bikes and reviews on the net and utube I went on test ride on Ktm 390 Duke from Teasdale Motorcycles Thirsk
This bike is the best handling bike I've had the pleasure to ride. Then I saw a Hyosung Gd250 n on ebay for less than half the price and with no way of knowing when I'd get a chance to get back out there and practice and grow my skill base I brought the bike and its been sat there locked up I've took the battery off and just ordered a battery optimiser and it's anyone's guess to when we all get a chance to get out on the bike which will only be used to ride on the twisty B roads, I am not interested in touring now or commuting its just not my thing.
I worked as courier delivering car parts all over the UK and Europe for many years and I drove more hours in a Sprinter van than was safe often leaving Middlesbrough to drive down to Dover then onwards through Europe through out the year in some of the worst conditions and there's a few story's I could tell about accidents that happened to other drivers I knew or heard off because of lack of sleep or just pure unlucky which comes from many thousands of miles behind the wheel.
I was speaking to my uncle at the reception of my mother's funeral and I was telling him what had happened to me on two occasions while driving in the early hours of Holand and Germany I was so tired and dropping to sleep I'd put the rock music on loud and wind the window down to keep me awake but with no services to pull in it was sometimes a battle to stay awake I told my uncle who was a HGV driver I sensed I was noding off and I could feel a precence sat in the van with me silent in the dark as I am motoring along and I turned to the passenger seat and said I know you are there and you are here to help me I will pull into the next service station and have a sleep I could also smell pipe smoke which made me wind the window down even more now this happened twice and I explained to my uncle I didn't know who it was because I didn't know anyone in the family who had passed and could drive he said it was my grandad who got the fist taxi in the area I thought he was just a head crane drive. So I do believe after these two similar experiences a few years apart that there are things we don't understand.
I am very easy going and I am open to any help or sensible advice for me going forward with my skill learning process for this year
Stay safe Thanks from Mike