bazza123:
Sorry to derail slightly but your paying £1200 a year car insurance!!! how old are you btw? Do you live in a rough area?
I didn’t think that was too bad tbh I’ve got a 52reg ford modeo 2ltr diesel and my insurance is 800 with 8 yrs ncb its more to do with age I guess.
Mate you need to shop around! I’m guessing your about 26/27 right? I’m a bit older than you but I have a 2.2 vectra petrol a year older for £260!! Only one more year NCB too. Try Admiral or Adrian Flux - seem quite competitive ATM.
NewLad:
it is very VERY easy to lose that pink card and everything that goes with it!
This is why I sold my bike
Too true, sitting on a duel doing 70 just seem so slow on a bike, I didn’t used to think anything about winding it up to 160+mph back in the day, on private land obviously. Now days I have too much to lose and a family to support.
Very true, my last bike was a R1, so when I hit 160 I had another gear all on private land
Just built this from a bare frame over the last year from secondhand parts, Its an 83 Honda Cx custom 673cc,about 70bhp and 55-60mpg, no good for going down the motorway to work on though, just for rides out on weekends
Nice job Kev, I like the CX used to fancy a custom model, had two CX’s and liked them both. the Deauville I have now is not much more powerful than that.
I wouldn’t have a clue what you have to do to pass a bike test these days, it seems to change on a weekly basis. Like a few others, my full bike test consisted of a bloke with a clipboard standing at the side of the road, with me trying not to knock him over when he stepped out & prompted the emergency stop.
I did the full apprenticeship from a C90 ‘chicken chaser’ field bike at 14, FSIE at 16, RD250DX at 17, 350 Elsie at 19, GS550 at 21 . . . all the way to becoming a riding God with a (then groundbreakingly new) GpZ 900r at 25.
Where I grew up, if you didn’t ride a bike, you didn’t get no ■■■■■
Up till the age of about 40 I used to thrash the arse off 'em, 'round about 40ish you discover that your body can’t quite cope with the adrenaline.
I don’t think a Gixxer of any CC would make a good first bike, you need to explore the boundaries in stages, a plasticfantastic like a Gixxer puts you at stage 3/4 before you even start.
Wheel Nut:
The problem is Ross there are some bad attitudes to bikers on these and other transport forums.
I would suggest anyone riding a Gixxer, R1 or GPZ on the road is not up to the job
I recon so Malc, too many people have absolutely no idea what a modern 1,000cc Jap bike can do, also, most crashes that inexperienced riders have on big sports bikes are when the rider ‘chickens out’ & stands it up mid corner & stacks it rather than just lean it a bit further.
Once you pass your test, sign up to ROSPA. It will improve your skills no end, not to mention lower your insurance too. If you don’t want to do that, try Bike safe, normally a day course run by coppers.
I did Direct Access about 10yrs go - passed; most likely because the examiner followed me in his car, not on a bike. My instructor said that you do not have to wait for them, so just pull into the traffic as normal, dont worry about waiting for a gap you can both fit in, so I lost him fairly quickly - All I kept hearing on the ear-piece was “please pull over and wait”, “thank you, now carry on”.
how old are you btw? Do you live in a rough area?
all on private land 
