The Day of the Bike!

Well, the Great Day arrived last Saturday (22nd. August), when I received a phone call from the bike-transporting truck driver to say that he was at Yass and heading in to Canberra and how the heck did he get to my place because his GPS was RS and he didn't have a map!

Suffice to say that he found the place and the motorcycle was duly delivered that afternoon.

Here's a shot of it in the garage.
Not very flattering but I had to take an "on arrival" photo:-

(Sony DSC-F717)

I didn't ride it until the following Sunday morning, taking advantage of a relative traffic-free suburbia to get used to the on-road experience.
The funny thing was, I'm breezing along at what I thought was an indicated 50 kph (in the 60 kph limit around town), pushed it up to an indicated 70 kph along the 80 kph-limited arterial roadway, and thought to myself "This seems rather speedy - maybe it's just because I'm not used to sitting on a bike, exposed to the environment".

When I arrived back home and was checking over the bike I just happened to get a very clear indication that there are two scales on the speedo: The inner scale, in a dull red, is in kph. The outer scale, which I was referring to and is in easily-read white characters, is in mph.
So when I was reading what I thought was 50 kph I was actually doing 80 kph and ditto for the 70....I was hitting 110 kph!!!
No wonder I thought it was breezy!

There will be little opportunity for riding this weekend as the forecast is for rain and I prefer to gain experience on dry roads before tackling anything as adventurous as wet weather.

Old-age crisis? On-set of senility? I don't care either way!!

Last weekend I attained a "life target" that had been sitting at the bottom of my mind for years and years, gathering dust and becoming mouldy but never objectionable enough to throw out.

I gained my motor-cycle learner's permit!

I'd always wanted to own and ride a motorbike but had never actually done anything about it.
All it needed to prompt me into action was my son going for his license over a month ago and then buying a lovely learner-legal 1980's Yamaha "Renaissa" cafe-racer bike. A great little machine and not often seen on the "For Sale" sites.
(That's Drew's bike, below).

(Photo Sony DSC-F717)

So I made a booking for the compulsory 9-hour (4.5 hours per day) learner's training session which is run here in the ACT by "Stay Upright" under contract to the Territory's government.
On Saturday 8th. and Sunday 9th. August I joined 10 others at the training site and had a ball......tiring at times, but good fun all round.

The Sutton Road training area is near Queanbeyan and was once the driver training facility for the Australian Federal Police. There is a closed-circuit track and also a skid-pan.
The facility is now used by various organisations for motorbike education, advanced driver training (cars), heavy-vehicle training (trucks, forklifts etc) and to train Commonwealth-car drivers in evasive driving tactics.
This is the motor-cycle training area.......

(Photo from Nokia phone)

I was the eldest.....by the length of the home straight! Most of the others were half my age.
Three females, eight males. Two male trainers (Andy and John). Nine Honda CB250's and two Yamaha Scorpio's. Helmets and gloves were provided for the course.
Here's me and my Honda. No, I'm not wearing an astronaut's skull-cap under the helmet....it's a compulsory hair-net!

(Photo from Nokia phone)

At the end of the weekend only one person had failed to pass all modules so ten of us were handed our certificates and on the Monday I got myself off to the motor registry, handed over my certificate and was awarded with a rider's endorsement (restricted) on my driver's license.
It was a great feeling.

This past week has been a matter of (a) buying protective equipment and (b) selecting and buying a suitable motorbike, both of which have been accomplished.
The equipment acquired so far consists of the most important (and expensive) item - the helmet, and suitable gloves.
Next on the PPE front will be boots and jacket.

The bike was a harder choice.
I would have loved to have bought something along the lines of the type bought by my son but my 63-year old back and joints might just have a bit of a gripe about being in a bent-forward position most of the time!
So I then leaned (pun intended) towards the cruiser style, finally settling on the Yamaha Virago 250cc (learner-legal) and as late as this afternoon it was just a matter of selecting which one to make an offer for.

But then I saw this.........

(from Ebay)

A 1980 Honda CM400A, with 2-speed semi-automatic gearbox.
"So what?", you say. "A frumpy automatic...why not buy a scooter?!"

Well, this old bloke chose this bike (which I've bought from another "old bloke" in Melbourne) for a couple of good reasons....well, to me they were good reasons:-

• Late 1970's/early 1980's....yet with both electric & kick-start, disk brakes and alloy wheels.
• Its rarity in Australia. They were never sold here, yet share most mechanical bits with the CB400 series, which were available in Down Under.
  
• Semi-automatic gear-changing makes for one less thing (clutch operation) for me to concentrate on when learning out there in the big world.
• The larger engine (400 cc) is learner-legal yet capable of maintaining posted highway cruising speeds.
  
• The included "stuff" with the sale....a top-box for the back, a screen already fitted, spare starter, spare light and some additional bits 'n' pieces, including manual.
  
• Price. At $2,000 it was less than half what I was looking at for a Virago. If nothing else, I'm not going to be a whole heap of money down the tubes if I don't like the bike or bike-riding.
  

Now, if you would like to see how a pristine example presents, have a look at this on YouTube.

I should have mine arrive later this coming week, all being well. Can't wait!