Heyulp

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

G'day from Sydney, I'm looking to learn to ride pretty soon, I've been toying with the idea for years and I've been thinking about it a lot more lately. The recent catalyst is that my girlfriend wants to get a scooter or bike as a comuter, so if she goes and gets her license, well then I've got to get one, you can't have your missus displaying more guts than you.

I'm 26, and I've driven cars since I was old enough, but I can't help feeling that the heyday for really cool cars has been and gone, now that every car tries to pretend it hasn't got an engine. You can't have a proper exhaust anymore, you can't have bits of the motor showing and there are way too many specialist tools needed on modern cars for their to be much fun in repairing them yourself. You can't even have the supercharger sticking out the bonnet anymore The country that made mad max is letting us down.

If I could I'd drive a car with the bonnet and guards removed, and a straight through exhaust, but that would be illegal. Naked bikes however come pretty damned close in stock form, and they look pretty easy to pull apart.

So yeah I want something with lots of engine sticking out, that makes a lot of noise and has lots of shiny bits, and I want to spend evenings pulling it apart. That's really as far as I've thought this through, although I've got a few bikes in mind, and NSW is much more flexible now on what you can ride.

I'll have more of an idea after training, first order of business is getting myself a jacket and helmet before I go off to riding school.

[Sprint]

Some interesting LAMS bikes for sure - welcome to PSB CZ

S.

[Dubs]

Ola

[Kristy]

Welcome, enjoy the learning experience Glad you're following through with the bike thang... I don't think it ever truly disappears even if people try their best to ignore it/not feed the interest...

[Kickass Koola]

Welcome. Don't drink the water.

[D.J]

Welcome once you try you'll never go back..

DJ

[blackhorse]

Do it and feel the wind, welcome !

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

It's looking like I won't be able to take pre-learners till early July, the next month is booked up in most places. NSW has just extended the P plate system on bikes out to 3 years, and everyone wants to get their Ls before the new rules come into force. I almost got a day this week, but it got snapped up before I could go into the RTA with cash , stupid not having a credit card for online bookings.

So yeah, 6 weeks twiddling my thumbs before I can actually get on a bike. The new laws won't apply to me anyway, cos my unrestricted car license and age get me out of the green P's stage, it's just frustrating not being able to have a go now that I've psyched myself up for it.

[Calehawley]

man i love bikes, and the stoke people get from them!

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

Just booked my prelearner course, 2nd and 3rd of July out at Penrith. Feeling a bit nervous now to be honest.

[Tom. A. Hawk]

Dude i am only a newbie too, but seriously, my bike is now my favourite possession. The Landy is officially the wife's car now. And i've only got a little miniblade, but it is just so much fun

You are gonna love it !!!!

[Tom. A. Hawk]

Sounds like you'd be wanting an old cruiser but most of the cool ones you can't ride until you get an open class. My instructor has an old Harley from the 40's he loves riding and working on.

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

Well now I've really got a dillema. I jumped on a last minute opportunity to spend 10 days in Bali, so now I'm on an island full of suicidal step through riders and I can't walk down the street without every third person wanting to rent me their bike. It does seem like the way to get around, and trying not to hit them in our rental car is getting really stressful.

But I promised myself when I decided to get a bike that I wasn't going to squid, which is pretty much the national sport here, I doubt there's a full set of leathers on the island. The better rental places might give me a helmet of dubious origin, but jackets are very rare and I haven't seen anyone wearing gloves since I got here.

I don't know if I can say I've been to bali if I haven't grabbed a scooter and a Vodka bottle full of fuel, made an offering to the local gods and taken my chances in the third world chaos.

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

^^No I didn't ride in Bali at all, except once as a pillion with a local guy. I stuck to my original plan of learning in Australia.

And tonight I made it through the first session of my prelearner course . It was pretty cold, and it rained a bit. Props to dririder for keeping me warm. Starting with learning things as simple as how to mount and dismount, then flinstoning it around in neutral, then balancing it rolling along with someone pushing. I struggled at first with having to always come to a stop with my left foot, so as to keep the right on the brake, on a pushie you just throw a leg down whichever side needs balance.

I was very shaky riding around the circuit at first, because I was finding that if you take a corner super slowly, things get tricky to balance just like on a bicycle, but I was so nervous that I couldn't loosen my arms up properly to help me control the bike, and this also made it hard for me to roll the throttle on evenly to maintain my speed, so I was fighting for balance while bucking the bike through the corner.

I did get the hang of it after a few laps so I'm allowed to come back tomorrow for the second half. The final exercise involved using 2nd in the straights and first through the corners, and I started loosening up and getting some flow happening at that point. Shifting gears with my boot feels awesome.

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

Well fuck me, they actually gave me a license, and I can ride a motorcycle on public roads all by myself. Ok so all I've done is show I can control a bike around a closed course at 25 km/h. Apart from a bunch of very slow brake riding clutch slipping turns, the hardest thing you have to do is make an emergency stop.

Still I'm pleased with myself, On Wednesday I'd ridden pillion a couple of times on a scooter, now I can get on a bike (front brake headcheck sidestand front brake off rear brake on, clutch in, killswitch, key, starter, fast idle, friction point, rear brake off) and ride off on it. I can even change gears up and down, and make a controlled stop. (set up, front brake, rear brake, clutch in, gear down, left foot down).

It gives me the ability to now get a motorcycle and a quiet street or carpark and start applying what I've learned in my own time. I think everyone else in the course had some dirtbike or overseas riding experience, so I was quite pleased I got through first go.

[Sumatie]

Well done! You guys have some great bike destinations over there.