But my course, as I should have expected but somehow didn’t was full of people “like me”. In that they want reassurance that they are safe on the road and not taking too many risks. I think I was probably an extreme as I had (by far) the shortest biking experience. In fact, at 31, I was one of the youngest (2/3 younger than me there, couple my age, mostly middle aged or over).

The day did not start well it was wet and foggy as I rode to the start. But by the time the two hours of hazard awareness and scare-you-safe examples in the class room (very informative, but, should be pretty obvious to the sensible minded) had finished, it was clearing out. By the time we got to Glossop on the ride it was a nice day.

We rode about 4-5 hours. Several stops for debriefing.

I was basically told what I expected and hoped for but feared wouldn’t be true.

I am a safe rider with good riding skills.

He said (frequently!) “you are very cautious, which I can’t fault, but…”

Basically, I lack confidence. I passed my test 9 months ago, I’ve had a bike for 6 months and done less than a thousand miles. I lack experience. And confidence. I’m slow round bends and round-a-bouts, and I don’t go for overtakes that are there. My observation needs some work, generally it’s really good, but, there is more. I went for two overtakes that I had to cancel (and I was very safe in doing so as I followed the system and gave myself those chances to stop) because of cars in hidden dips. That the police officer said the evidence was there for. One black car I could have seen earlier and realised I’d not passed it therefore it was out of sight, therefore the overtake wasn’t on.

The other rider was much the same. Only he had two years experience. He was on a brand new bike with 500 miles on it though and not used to it yet. He wouldn’t get it up fast enough though. Didn’t accelerate away and was dangerously slow on the motorway.

They can’t “instruct” you (much) just advice and feedback. But it was a good day and I felt reassured. I felt the difference as I rode home, doing filtering and overtaking much more happily. It was strongly recommended that I do some advanced training, IAM or something. But, if I’m happy making progress as I do, then it’s fine, I’m safe and a good rider.

But I really want to corner faster and overtake more. I worry about my bike a lot. It backfires, jumps into 2nd and I have no faith in it under me. I’ll run it through the winter on the odd nice day to keep my hand in, then buy a “newer” or new bike early next year and see about the Advanced Licence as a way to get me out on the road with some structure.

Still, loving my free bikesafe t-shirt and buff

When I put them in properly they really cut the noise out, didn’t transfer helmet noise into my ears and didn’t mean I heard the “internal” noises I heard with the Uvex plugs.

After an hours ride, it did feel like they were a bit big maybe. But, they need a bit more testing. So far the best of the bunch.

That said, I’ve ridden once since without plugs at all, and that wasn’t great either after riding with them. Hmmm.

The first I tried from the set were Howard Leight Laser Lite. They suck. They’re too long so they make contact with my helmet lining and rub on it, transmitting any helmet noise/vibrations directly to my inner ear as loud high frequency sounds.

Bloody rubbish. Better riding without them.

Up the M1 from J30 to J35a, over the Woodhead Pass, through Glossop and back via the Snake Pass. There was not a lot of traffic, but I’m not particularly fast (bike just about able to touch 100 on the motorway, and I’m about up for 40mph on corners), and it took just over two hours. And it was a bloody great two hours too.

View Larger Map

As I came up to the actual Woodhead Pass proper, I went for an overtake on a big lorry, but there was something coming. I’d opened the throttle right up, and as I shut it off in a hurry the bike hopped into neutral, slight panic later, I shifted gear up (into 2nd of course) which locked the rear as I was doing 40-50mph. Massive panic later, I shifted to third and was ok.

As I came out of Glossop I found the Glossop Triathlon was on, so until I was clear of the Snake, there were LOTS of bikes going up (very slowly) or coming down (pretty fast) and lots of pissed off drivers trying to kill me by overtaking bikes when I was. Bah.

Other than that, it’s glorious to ride down the snake, the smell of pine woods and bracken… You just don’t get that in a car.

So, after finally getting my bike, I found that the brake light didn’t work for the rear brake. So I got a bit of help from some really useful people at the Kawasaki Rider’s forum and fixed it myself. That felt great. So when the right indicator also stopped working I got more help there, and ordered a Haynes manual.

The advice was the bulb had probably gone on the rear right indicator. Found out from the Haynes manual that it took the same bulbs as my old Picasso, of which I still had one spare. So I replaced the bulb, and she was back on the road.

Then I decided to try an oil change, ordered my parts from the internet and waited for them to arrive. Of course, when they did arrive I dropped the bike wheeling it down my (uneven, flagged) drive, nearly taking out the neighbours car.

Since it was lying downhill on uneven flags it was a bitch to get it upright again, and when I did I found that the rear brake pedal had been pushed down and bent under the engine, jamming it on. Finally got that sorted out and got the belly pan off to do the oil.

That’s when I found that the bike has a custom exhaust system, and the exhaust pipes have been re-routed over the engine oil sump plug. So I did a partial change only, via the filter.

Anyway, bike was back on the road and the oil was half decent. Only half.

So that was when I found the front wheel slip a bit and heard a huge bang when riding. Getting home I found that the metal tab on the swing arm to which the chain guard was attached had snapped off. Plus the front-forks were leaking oil. Plus the oil light had started to come on when the engine was warm from riding and I was idling at traffic lights.

Sigh.

So I hunted round for a proper mechanic, a guy at work’s neighbour restores big engine bikes, and does other servicing and repairs. Honest contact. So I arranged to send it off to him. I think that was now nearly a month ago, taking the bike up last week. I got it back yesterday.

The front tyre was fucked. The fork seals were fucked. The exhausts were blowing. Something was fucked to do with oil in the engine and some bolt inside the engine had sheared off. Also, some critical frame boltage was dangerously loose.

Scary.

But, it’s all been fixed, I have a new tyre, and it’s had a full service. I’ve only had 20 minutes out on it, and I’m not sure how much is psychological, but the grip is much better, the engine is quieter (exhausts fixed) and smoother. Gear changes are better. The front brake much sharper.

I can’t wait to get her out on the proper roads for a real test.

Only I’ve got to drive the family car (and family) down for two weeks in the sun first.

Of course we got there and it wasn’t ready so we had to wait 30 minutes (with whiney kids) for the guy to get back with the freshly MOTd bike. It wasn’t good news. The bike had passed it’s MOT fine, but he wasn’t happy with the rear brake so he wanted to strip it down and sort it out before I could have it. They said it’d take an hour. So we went home having arranged for them to deliver at “tea time”.

About “tea time” we got a call to say that for logistics reasons with the delivery van (engine on the back that they’d couldn’t get off because the recepient was out when they arrived…) they couldn’t deliver. They’d do it the next day in the afternoon.

Thing was, I’d be at work then, which made it a bit of a pain, but since work is 15 minutes walk from home we arranged for them to call me when they set off and I’d be there. Of course, I’d got home after work and eaten my dinner and was getting ready to bath the kids when they finally turned up. And when they did the ramp on the truck broke and the bike took a drop onto it’s suspension. All seemed ok and they left.

Did a bit of riding, bike taking a bit of getting used to after a few months of no riding, and riding on much less sporty bikes. This bike goes pretty nicely. But the gears are a lot taller, I’m having trouble timing my downshifts right for the engine. Too much engine braking causing me to loose the backend. I need more practice.

I’ve ridden it for about 2 hours in 2 small rides.

Yesterday morning the weather was glorious and I was really looking forward to a ride. By the time I’d done my family duty and could have got it out and gone for a ride, it was pissing it down. It rained all day and all night. Today? Weather gorgeous again. So I really regret the fact that my wife is on a 12 hour shift and I’m at home with the kids. Which is terrible because usually I love that. But as it is, I have a “new” bike and I’m stuck in on my own.

The bike? Kawasaki GPZ500S. ‘91 J Plate.

Question is, after all the hassle getting my licence and bike, am I really fated to ride out?

Every story/thread/blog I’ve read about doing a BikeSafe day has been full of awe. People are amazed at the ability of a Police Class 1 Motorcyclists. These guys are riding big Pans and BMWs and keeping up easily with the people on the course who are riding Supersports bikes with bags and bags of power. These riders I hear are awesome, and what people learn on the course has really improved their riding.

The Police Class 1 licence sounds like something I’d like to know more about, so, I snagged a copy of  Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider’s Handbook, the course book that goes with the full licence course (which I assume is police only) and I’m currently reading through it.

One thing in the first half of the book has caught my attention particularly:

Local Road Knowledge

Increasing your local knowledge of the roads can help your riding. Town riding puts heavy demands on your observation, reactions and riding skills, and you need to be alert at all times.

…

But even when you know the layout of main road junctions, one-way streets, roundabouts and other local features, always plan on the basis of what you can actually see - not what usually happens. Inattentiveness is a major cause of accidents and riders are least atentive on roads thye know well. Nine out of ten accidents occur on raods that the rider is familiar with.

Nine out of ten accidents occur where you feel safest? That’s a bit of an arse really. Extra attention is needed where logic logic dictates you need it less (know where you’re going, the interval of the traffic lights etc). But it’s the old addage, familiarity breeds contempt, and you get lazy. Then something happens and you crash.

Which you really don’t want to do on a bike.

Once I was old enough to learn to ride or drive, I learnt to drive. Even that was a fight. My dad didn’t want me to, it was only because my mum did and paid for it that I learnt to drive. Dad beleived 17 was too young and that young people shouldn’t be allowed on the road. Once I passed my test, I didn’t have a car to drive until I was 21 and moved away after finishing university.

From then on it was a case of time/money. I either had one or the other, but never both. Tempted every summer, but never managed it. Then came kids. Still no time or energy.

Then work was recruiting hard and running out of space, so there was talk of the office moving. Currently, I walk to work, if the office moved I’d need transport. So I thought I’d get a 125 and do my CBT then run around on that on L plates.

The biker’s at work soon talked me out of that telling me that 125’s were no good on Sheffield’s hills and much less safe than a big bike. So I decided it was time to do my Direct Access course so I could get a proper bike.

Then my vascectomy appointment came through and delayed all that for healing, but I did eventually get out in Oct 07 to start learning to ride.

I failed my first test in November due to speeding. My second test in December was cancelled due to the examiner getting a flat on the test prior to mine. My third test in January 08 was cancelled due to Snow. My fourth test in January 08  went well enough for me to hold a full bike licence.

That just left me waiting for our annual bonus payout in March so I could buy a bike. Which is when our family car died, and instead I had to replace that.

Biking for me seemed doomed. I now had no budget for a bike. I wanted to get a Bandit or an ER6F. New, or 12 months old. Something like that. But I can’t afford it.

However, I did just spot an old 500 on the internet for only £800 and decided to buy it (after checking it out further). So I don’t forget to ride, can build up some no-claims and find out if I really will have time to ride and continue to enjoy it, I’ve bought the old bike. I’ll keep it for at least a year and see if I get time to ride it, enjoy riding it and can build up the confidence etc to buy a bigger bike next year.

And because I’m a tragic geek I’ve set up this blog to chronicle my use of it.

I go to pick it up tomorrow, photos then