Please...

I suppose. I'm clocking about 6k annually on the BMW, 3k on the Ducati,
and another 3k on the other stuff.

That's not as much as last year, because this summer has been so wet in
the UK, and I used the car more than usual on my 40-mil-each-way
commute.

 

Hey, that's a low blow!

 

Except that in the US, you can learn on any bike of any capacity, and
people get a bit confused when they discover that a cuddly 900cc Honda
will actually out-accelerate *any* car on the road.

 

Ah yes. I forgot that a Presidential election was looming.

 

Oh, *arse*

**** off, English ****.....



--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 156 TS 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Hey Russ, how many guns do you own?

 

s/any/most of them/

There's some pretty hairy road legal four-wheeled stuff out in the US...

 

I shall pray to our Lord for your friend Isaac and hope the sweet baby
Jesus will preserve us all.

 

This is bureaucracy gone mad. Is it really any safer than the old system
where you were familiar with the highway code and skillful at riding
up to 30mph by the age of 17 after several years of riding a pushbike,
then you got a 250cc Superdream, and when you passed the test you bought
a real motorbike?

 

If working well means "it's so fucking hard to get a license then I
don't think I'll bother" then I'd agree with you. Bikes have become
another middle class, middle age pastime due to the actions of the UK
government in the early 80s.

 

I didn't take the CBT and I'm still here.

 

*sigh*

Yet again you're being a fucking know-it-all.

You weren't there Nick, others were.

 

Only if you were a tosser[1][2].

Otherwise you were familiar with riding at speeds up to a (claimed)
60mph (probably 45), bought a Yamaha RD350 and put 250 sidepanels on
it/bought a Yamaha RD250 and put 350 barrels and heads on it, passed
your test and then bought some old fucking nail of a CB750, GS750, XS650
(or heaven help you 750) or a Z/H kwack[3].

But your point is well made. Yes, the mortality was a little higher
(possibly didn't matter, we weren't losing many brain surgeons) but most
people made it through with a few scrapes/breaks. I think the strategy
was to get bikes off the road and I think it worked, you don't see many
being used as transport (at least I don't) these days; they're all toys.

[1] All 16er specials did over 50; at least before they restricted them.
[2] No one in their right mind would buy a superdream.
[3] Or, at least something like that.

 

The CBT isn't a bad thing. Direct access is the biggest load of
bollocks anyone's ever come up with regarding motorbike training.

By making a gradual route up the bike riding ladder such a long winded
and boring process but offering a short cut around it so a few hours
on a school bike (1) and a short practical test means you can go from
never having owned a bike to having whatever you can afford to buy and
insure you increase the odds of new riders seriously injuring
themselves.

(1) Like a 500cc twin gives you the basics of riding a 160mph sports
bike.

 

<cough>

DAS.

 

[1] Yeah like my mates FS1E which indicated 45mph with me running alongside
it.
[2] I bought a 250N and crashed it the first night I legally rode it on the
M1. This was a public duty AFAIAC. But I still rate the 400N.

The argument for the introduction of compulsory training is fundamentally
the same as the one for drug prohibition.
"To protect the numpties from themselves"
You may well have ridden a 350 with 250 markings (and good luck to you) but
if you went around bragging to all and sundry (as you do) somebody less
able, sooner or later, was bound to be influenced and over-reach IYSWIM. The
legislation is as much for them as anyone else. So I disagree that the
strategy was to get bikes off the road. More like 'get more XR2s and Novas
on the road'

 

Not a lot different from the old part 1 and 2 test though is it?

I did a CBT, then I did a test on a 125. I was then licenced for
anything.

 

Nice one.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Agree, agree.

 

At this point, I feel honour bound to mention that Zymurgy has five.