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The second one: there are lots of A roads like this in the flat rural areas on the eastern side of England. (Lots of inland Spain is the same.) They're straight, open, very light traffic, and lots of bikers do motorway speeds on them. I'll assume I would be doing 100 on the approach to this junction, like the dead guy.
I always remind myself that these junctions are used by locals. And a lot of crashes happen near people's homes, when they're driving with muscle memory and thinking about something else. It's just the same with rat runs in London. So I expect drivers to creep over the line and quite often just carry on, into someone else's path. So if there's a car coming the other way, I'll brake from 100 or whatever to 40, whether he's indicating or not.
There's very little space, so the braking needs to be fierce. When there are miles between junctions on these roads, you settle into a high speed, lose awareness of it, and you don't really sense how much speed you're shedding when you brake. So I don't brake just by feel, I'll check the speedo.
There's a risk of being rear-ended by someone who doesn't decide to slow down. I would have been near the middle of the road, so I'd move across, close to the left hand verge. This movement across the road makes me more noticeable to the guy behind and the guy who's about to turn across me. (I think it's IAM approved for this reason?) I often do a lane change in London just to get noticed. It also makes you think about your positioning and other people's awareness of you. Better than zoning out and riding on autopilot.
Being near the verge might also give me a potential escape route if the guy behind doesn't brake, or the guy who's turning goes through with his manoeuvre and we meet.
So I reckon the worst that would happen is that the guy turns in front of me when I'm doing 40, I brake some more and I hit him at 20. Annoying, but could be worse.
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Yes… I don’t disagree with your logic.
Some time ago, paraphrasing, I was told “they might say “that biker was riding like an absolute cock” but at least that means they saw me”… or words to that effect.
One of the test rides with an advanced rider guy last year, I was told I was very active on the bike; the tester thought it was very curious. I move a lot and I make big gestures.
One of the “it’s not a criticism but…” comments was how I’d move my body on the bike and look right out around corners rather than just move my lane position slightly on some of the tight country lanes. I think that it really helps to keep loose and move around. Standing on the pegs over speed bumps and potholes (instead of slowing down) upsets people too.
Did I mention yesterday I got 3 thumbs up and one middle finger within the first half hour or so of the ride?
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If I was getting a bike purely for fun and not to get places, I’d be looking at 2 stroke. Cagiva Mito 125, Aprilia RS250 etc
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Rs125 was as good if not better than the mito. I had a the 7 speed mito...just meant there were more gears to get get wrong on the road. As a track bike it might have been brilliant but i'd never know as I never took it on track.
RS250/rgv250 meant I could out handle any bike in the bends, all I needed to do was look where I want to be and the bike did everything else. On the straights most things beat me and out braked me as I braked very little as I had issues with braking and being in the right gear for the power band.
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Seems very strong money to me. That generation F650 rust like hell. That one looks the exception, maybe hence the price!
But the Rotax engine basically last forever, the injection on that version is good, the 'GS' is the one you kinda want. They did a Dakar one too, which is just like a 2005 MTB 'all mountain bike' has way too much travel and geo not changed, so rides like a bucking mule.
Get some big metal boxes on it and they are great for back lane and B roads.
Great for a beginner as big single is friendly, bags of low + mid range, any gear is the right gear. They fall apart on faster a roads, when anything remotely road bike shaped will fly past you as you wobble around in the wind. But in the first few thousand miles of riding, probably a good thing to stay below triple digits. -
Joy of finding some new roads, in the sun, no wind and no midges yet = fricking ideal.
That E10 fuel though, bastard, twice in one day could only find E10. Runs fine on it more or less, but park it for more than a week = carb gums up = bucking bronco in traffic just about every time until theres enough space to get it blown out.
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Maybe carry some Liqui Moly shooters under the seat?
I’m only just reaching reserve for the third time on the F3 since buying it on Saturday, so I’ll have another few tanks until whatever E10 shit has been purged. Putting Liqui Moly shooters in every other fill-up of E5 to try aid the process.
If I was caught short and put E10 in the bike, I’d want a shooter ready under the seat to try limit the damage.
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Partly down to how you hang off the bike, but they are there to stop you damaging the leathers on your elbows.
This what you think you look like, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcz5_6Ox5s4
But reality is that your not tucking in your elbow and you are a telephone call away from the apex.
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Thanks for the advice. I reckon there's a bit of movement on price and it ticks almost all other boxes. Despite having a full licence for about 5 years I've not ridden anything bigger than a 125 and will be looking to ride it for a year or so before moving it on again. Hopefully it'll hold it's value over that time.
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This looks great!
I've always fancied a Benetton one (which I reckon would be a great bike to convert to electric by the way, so much fairing to hide everything behind!)
pdlouche
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Jackytwoshoes
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@coppiThat
That an old Funduro? One of the mechanics loves them, especially the ooooold versions. But then maybe he was being sarcastic. Can never tell.