Confessions from a first time rider

[Paladin]

Hi there & welcome to KB!!!!

Good gear might save your skin & bones.. but good rider training might save your life!!!

Please get in touch with Andrew & Lynne @ Roadsafe & book yourself into a training course!!! Tis the best investment you can make for your new passion!!!!

http://www.roadsafe.co.nz/

Enjoy!!!

+1 on Roadsafe - Andrew & Lynne are very cool!

[Disrespective]

Long time, no write. Restricted test passed as of this morning.

8 Months after losing ten years of driving experience in a car and having to use L-Plates again, i've been liberated... I feel like a teenager in heat.

The test was sat in Kilbirnie, Wellington and the tester was an older guy who was very polite and generally an all round good bloke. Very easy to deal with and happy to talk bikes after the test which was nice.

We used an ear piece which worked perfectly except for once when his instructions were a little hard to hear but after signalling him to repeat it, it was all good.

He had me ride around the streets a doing left circuits around a block of houses and then right circuits around a different block. A U-turn was thrown in there for good measure too.

Then he took me down towards Lyall Bay where we went along the beach front, around the airport and back along the 70kph zone to the first roundabout then left and back towards the Bowling Club where we started.

All in all i felt it was a pretty easy route however there were a few niggling issues i've been trying to iron out but haven't really perfected yet so got told about them.

Regardless, now it's time to book a riding skills course, then book a Full test for a few months down the track.

Fun fun, can't wait.

[KelvinAng]

Congrats!

It's funny, when I did the restricted test I didn't have to do the U-Turn despite what I've read on here. That was done in Dunedin. When I did my full license test in Christchurch it was much more thorough and there was the U-Turn test which I had do to twice... the first time round I got a bit nervous and started to walk my Hornet halfway through the turn

What were some of the issues you were told of? I found it strange that I've been told I accelerate too slowly and that's being non-courteous to other road users... but that's a casual remark I think more than something to warrant points deduction in the test.

[marine0089]

The test was sat in Kilbirnie, Wellington

Big congrats on passing dude.

Was that through the AA in Kilbirnie? Sound like an easy course. When my time comes I might do it there also.

[Itchy_Kiwis]

Hey congrats on the restricted!!!!
for other rider experiences see
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...d.php?t=109567

[Disrespective]

What were some of the issues you were told of?

Well there was one point where i could see the traffic was stopping ahead of me and the cars were creeping so i just left my feet on the ground and slid them along until i stopped. Apparently that's not ideal.

I also don't use my rear brake enough. I knew that before i went into the test and is something i have been working on.

Lastly, i was indicating into and then out of all round-abouts. You don't need to indicate in if you are just going straight through apparently.

Was that through the AA in Kilbirnie? Sound like an easy course. When my time comes I might do it there also.

I booked it at the VTNZ on Adelaide road and got asked where i would like to sit it. I was pretty happy with the way it went over there too. I had only ridden around Kilbirnie a few times before the test but that was enough.

[KelvinAng]

Well there was one point where i could see the traffic was stopping ahead of me and the cars were creeping so i just left my feet on the ground and slid them along until i stopped. Apparently that's not ideal.

I do that when riding the Hornet at very slow speeds as well (like when being stuck in a traffic jam) and was told of the same thing in a bike riding course organised by Ride Right Otago (http://rro.org.nz/). The instructors in the course suggested that if I were to leave my legs dangling about (I don't slide them but have them hovering just above the road) it does shift the weight around a bit more than if I had my feet on the pegs and that may make the bike a tad harder to control.

Thanks for sharing.

[marine0089]

I booked it at the VTNZ on Adelaide road and got asked where i would like to sit it. I was pretty happy with the way it went over there too. I had only ridden around Kilbirnie a few times before the test but that was enough.

I'm in Newtown so know Kilbirnie quite well and that VTNZ is where I sat my learners so will go back to book my restricted.

Cheers for that.

[NOMIS]

so what ever happend wit that rapid lil hornet of mine? i saw you took the headlight off :-( *tear*

im not allowed to ride bike no more ...... miss that hornet lol

[Disrespective]

Oh she's still ticking along just nicely. The streetfighter look wasn't for me and i had a mate with some spare dual headlights off a Ducati Monster (not factory) he had bought recently and we decided to swap and see what happened.

I'll hold onto the little one for a few more months until i've done the full license thing and then hopefully sell towards the end of summer then buy again in the winter when prices are low.

Why no riding? You realise hurting yourself hurts your motorbikes feelings right?

[Tink]

Well, i've been wanting to ride a motorbike for years and years.

BANG ON... SINCE I WAS 14!

The years passed and the desire was replaced with various other activities which probably had less chance of pain, as much adrenaline, but more mother appeal.

SHEESH MOTHERS!!! MY DAUGHTER HAS A NEW HELMET NOW AGED 12..[/QUOTE]

and then this year, many years after i last tried to ride a motorcycle

After half an hour pootling around on a GN125

And then i had a nice new blue licence in my wallet. .[/QUOTE]

NICE FEELING THAT


What i thought would take mere days, actually ended up taking many months of looking .[/QUOTE]

TOOK ME 3 MONTHS... NICE BIKE HONDA...

Opening up the throttle on a hill or on the exit of a corner is a feeling i can't describe.[/QUOTE]

WAIT TILL ITS A BIGGER BIKE

I seem to be terrible at remembering to turn off my indicators.[/QUOTE]

STANDARD... put a extra on.. higher up maybe... it worked for me on the honda I rode.

I'm clearly still a learner but i imagine that that will be how i feel for many more years to come. Currently hill starts are my target to master..[/QUOTE]

OH THEY ARE NOT HARD..... seriously

Well either way, watch this space. Add your first time stories and perhaps someone can make use of some of them.[/QUOTE]

Excellent story....CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE !

[gijoe1313]

Good to hear, lil'ol'hornets are excellent bikes to get around on ... I still have mine! I guess its all been a learning curve and the grins you get on a ride makes it all so understandable (if you're a biker of course!)

Have fun and keep learning safely!

[Disrespective]

Another update for you all.

Today i finished the defensive driving course with a driving practical. What i didn't realise was that i could have sat this practical on the bike. The tutor (for lack of a better word) said that she would have followed me around and pulled over like on the test and talked about the hazards. Either way i was already there and in the car so we did it that way. I won't bore those with the details of what the hazards were unless someone really wants to know.

So i finished it and was told that there aren't many in her courses that can drive as safely as i did today... I definitely kept things quieter than i normally would but i'd also be a bit gutted if she ripped into my driving seeing as i've been doing it for over half my life now.

The course itself was more of a refresher on common sense and good driving (and a little riding only after i mentioned i was doing this for a bike) than anything else. I wouldn't say i necessarily learnt anything, rather i was enlightened on things i might want to do more or less of. Reality is it's worth doing if you've never done one especially for someone who's learning to ride/drive.

So yeah, i got my bit of heavy paper/cardboard with some funny colours on it and booked my 6F test for next thursday three months ahead of schedule.

Next steps are to A: Pass the test (not really worried about this) B: Advertise and sell the hornet C: Find and buy a more suitable tourer than a naked 250 and finally D: make the most of NZ's great roads and go on some trips to places i haven't been yet.

Bring it on.

[mrchips]

I did this course but tutor said i had to sit the practical on the bike seen as it was toward my bike licence.... done this bit via a bike instructor tho cos she only did cars.

Was a good run through for the full test + got some handy tips.

Good on ya & good luck on the 6F !.

[Mokadah]

use your left thumb and go press-press-press if you want them canceled. You can just randomly press-press to check that they are off also - very very occasionally you will find them left on, so check it regularly.

This. It's scary how often you see bikes cruising along with an indicator going, so giving it a press-press for luck as you approach every intersection is a good plan. Deliberate post-corner press-presses and random press-presses are also advisable

Neat story though, nice to be reminded of that feeling!