To tie in with my new blogs I thought it would be nice to hear about all of your first biking experiances, weather you are a new biker, or been biking for years, share you memoirs here.

It will also help me not feel so silly when I cant do simple things on a bike! My personal trait is having difficulties getting into neutral first time!

I think this will help us learners by hearing about issues that experianced bikers had, or have still. Especially with questions!!

Look forward to hearing them all!

Here is a link to my first blog in caes anyone wants to have a read! http://ukbikecom.blogspot.com/2009/01/1-before-even-getting-on-bike.html

Biker Binny

First time as a pillion - on the back of a friend's Lambretta, returning from a city-centre cinema late at night, up Chapeltown Road.  A car swerves, he smacks into the back of it, and we spill off into the road.  Scooter a mess, rider and passenger OK.  I think I was 16.  I've been a nervous pillion ever since.

First time on my own bike - bought a banana-yellow Honda C70 from Watson Cairns in Leeds at age 19, and picked it up late one Saturday afternoon.  Was shown the controls by the salesman ("yeah, yeah, I know all that") and then pulled out into Lower Briggate in the Saturday rush hour.  Home 20 mins later with a grin a mile wide.  The next week I loaded it up with all my worldly goods and set off back to Uni - from Leeds, over the Pennines, through Manchester centre (no ring roads then) and along the North Wales coast.  I loved it, and bikes have been part of my life ever since.

Just for the record, and to give all the modern newbies a laugh, my clothing for that epic trip was:

Pair of Mum's tights, under long-johns, under jeans, under nylon overtrousers

Vest, t-shirt, two jumpers, leather jacket (second hand, off a mate, £5), nylon anorak in reserve if it rained (it did)

Two pairs normal socks, white wool seaboot stockings, rubber wellies

Leather mitts with PVC trimmings with Damart thermal inner gloves, not at all waterproof

Centurion jet helmet with clear flip-down visor

Red scarf to protect the face.

When I compare that with the kit I ride in today, I can only say that we have come a long way.

--

2003 ST1300 Pan Euro
1995 Yam XT600E
http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

The Yamaha QT50. My dad's, in fact, although it was always a bit of a mystery why he wanted one and then still walked everywhere - actually, no, not that much of a mystery if you've ever ridden one...a fairly charmless automatic with a flat-out 29mph top speed, the handling qualities of a Raleigh Chopper and all the stylishness of your gran's favourite china dog ornament. Still, for a skint 17 year old, it was rubbish but cheap. Back in the day, a full car license qualified you for mopeds, so at least there was none of the indignity of L plates, just hop on and go. It was, at least easy to ride: only crashed it once, when it was literally blown off its wheels during a gale. I sort of killed it, in the end, after getting a job some 20 miles away. Tried it once on the QT, max throttle down the dual carriageway - it seized twice on the way there and three times on the way back. Perhaps I should have known slightly more about the importance of oil, not sure - it was a while ago. Anyway, that was me on the bus, followed by a few years of ultra-cheap (and dreadful) cars before getting enough cash together to sort out a bike and take the test.

And this was that bike (loosely, I may have a photo of mine somewhere, but this isn't it):

Honda's H100SII. Not a bad little thing to run around on, actually (sadly, no use to man nor beast now as its power and engine size fell between the legal definitions of moped and bike-test-suitable learner motorcycle when the rules changed). Took me quite some time to get the hang of the controls, though - coming off of cars (a Skoda 120L, to be precise), my entire braking technique consisted of forgetting to use the front lever, stamping on the brake pedal, locking up the rear and then trying not to crash. As for coordinating throttle and hand-operated clutch: well, there were two options...either stall embarrassingly, or overrev and fire uncontrollably towards the nearest obstacle. Kick start only, and an utter ***** to restart with a warm engine, something I ended up with a lot of experience in trying...

Words cannot begin to convey how happy I was to move on to a middleweight four-stroke multi with electric boot and a sidestand...

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

First day rode it around the woods at home, crashed it due to exposed tree root, scuffed elbow. Continuing daily saga until legal to get on the road.

Crashed it the first day and the second, Bought new grips and wrenched the pedals back into shape.

Next week, toiling down a notoriously steep and windy hill near home, Fizz in fourth and me wondering why I was only doing forty MPH.

Mused that must be in wrong gear so in my ignorance shifted up through the box into first and over the hideous cacophany that was a protesting Yamaha gearbox, nearly got thrown over the handlebars. Hmm!! perhaps forty is as fast as it goes then.

Over the next month or so, lost it on a few bends trying to take then flat out without shifting bodyweight, resulting in new handlebars and headlight unit plus indicator lenses. But rode it to school. Open mouthed girls (agog that is) at my steed and leather jacket.

Decided after a few months of relatively scathe free activity from the first fresh flurry of tarmac dirtiness,  some routine maintenance was in order.

Managed to strip clean and re-assemble the carb no problem utilisingmercifully intact OE tool kit, but my cousin had informed me that that polishing the inside of the cylinder head and the piston crown was worth at least 10mph, so I stripped it to the base gasket, polished like nerd, broke a ring putting it back together, deciding that it would be OK.

Blew a hole in the piston within fifty miles. 60cc big bore kit had to be the answer. I reckon I must have bought/p/xed at least a dozen of these before leaping aboard my firebrand of a GP100 a year later. (Car ran me over on that one - swapped it for a BSA- never again, that was a ****in' hideous thing. Them were the (sepia toned) days

Sideways through time

I had never been on a moped before my CBT (about 4 months ago) so i guess that was my first biking experience. I knew nothing about bikes and nothing about riding on the roads (i remember the instructor asking me about the highway code and i was like "what's that?") so it was actually pretty scary! The place i did it was basically just a shed with some bikes in and a (very) small piece of tarmac, i nearly crashed into the hedge on my first attempt. I did get better but even after a few hours practice i wasn't sure i wanted to go out on the roads. Thankfully the instructor was very good and i passed in the end.

Anyway i only have a few months to go now before i turn 17 and can get a 'proper' bike and take my test and i can't wait! Although i have actually got quite fond of my moped

--

2003 ST1300 Pan Euro
1995 Yam XT600E
http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/