Oh yup!

**Dare** · 1st July 2008, 22:47

Introduced myself a good while back, well i've been around a bit since then, and finally uni has persuaded me and a mate to get off our asses and onto two wheels.

Happily everything went without a hitch, BHC no problem (Thanks Riderskills!), mate dropped in first minute (not naming names!) but otherwise all good. Learners today no sweat either. Now looking around for a bike to get my greasy mitts on! Not really looking at anything specific *cough* 250 bandit in Napier *cough*, just hopefully rather sooner than later!

Asides from that, biking is damn addictive, I can see what all the fuss is about =)
I'm just trying to persuade my previously mentioned mate that an rg250 might be a tad expensive/powerful for our modest budgets..
But who am I to talk!

Also shoutouts to meeky_mouse if shes around!

**CookMySock** · 2nd July 2008, 09:57

Originally Posted by BaDDoGNZ

I'm just trying to persuade my previously mentioned mate that an rg250 might be a tad expensive/powerful for our modest budgets..

nah they are plenty docile, until he full throttles it and revvs it out.

Now the problem is not what it seems here. After he is used to riding it up and down the street, you KNOW what he's going to do next don't you? He's going to find a bit of straight road and cane it in 2nd and 3rd gear aint he ? On the face of it, there is nothing wrong or dangerous about this - against the law - yes, dangerous - no. It is REALLY unlikely he is going to find some bendy road and go scrape its' footpegs, so we won't even talk about that.

So whats the problem you ask ? The problem is - caning that bike in a straight line (quite safe ish), is going to spook him quite heavily (not that he will admit this), and after a few times at this, he will be expending all his energy in just keeping his feelings in-check while riding, even at nana pace. This is not the way to build confidence and skill on a bike. He/you/anyone has to FEEL safe and in charge of the vehicle, and this is not really feasible on such a weapon once he has felt its' anger. It is even possible he will be unable to reconcile this, and after some months he will give up his motorcycling career because "its not really for him" - a tragedy.

DB

**PirateJafa** · 2nd July 2008, 10:07

Good post DB.

And Baddog, Bandits are great bikes!

If all else fails, post a Looking for a new bike thread in the SMC forum. It only took us three weeks and four hundred and eleven posts (Yes, 411 fucking posts) to find Zim a bike.

**Meekey_Mouse** · 5th July 2008, 14:00

Wow! What an adventure... I'm sure BDNZ will be on here shortly to give you the full story and the rest of the trip!

Went down to Napier with the guys to view the bike, it's a really nice little runner

Went past Wasp27 on the test ride, but I don't think he recognized me on the Bandit

I rode the Bandit from Taupo to Napier and apart from the few things we knew of, it didn't miss a beat! BDNZ was going to ride to Auckland last night but with it being his first time out on the roads on a bike, he made a good call and stayed another night.

Aero165 and myself rode out 15 mins through Oruanui Rd to SH1 with him, left him there to go the rest of the way with the guys following in the car and by the time I rode back home (half of which in falling snow) my hands were so cold it really hurt to pull the clutch in. Don't think I'd like to be BDNZ right now

I'm hoping the rest of the ride up to Auckland isn't too bad... BDNZ only has my old vented race gloves, so I'm pretty sure his hands are going to be extremely sore and cold.

All the best with the new toy, you're riding it really well

looking forward to hearing that you made the trip safe and sound!

**Dare** · 5th July 2008, 23:43

DB: Good post, i've heard that rg250's are angry bikes after several thousand RPM, but we shall have to see what he buys I guess! Good general advice though! Thanks =)

PirateJafa: Well as you can see I now have a bike in my posession, but I shall let wade know about that. Thanks!

Meeky_Mouse: Checked KB at last I see! =) Well you got my txt I'm guessing, you guys really are the kindest people I've met in a long time! Thanks again

Well to take the story from there, we battled on in the snow for a bit longer, and at Tokoroa I pulled over to massage life back into my hands. Most painful experience of my life! Thankfully after that it warmed up a tad as we moved north. We took a few stops but it was for my hands more than anything else. As we entered auckland sometime later in dark and drizzle, it hailed! Thankfully not for long. Well in any case I made it safe and sound. Not bad for third time ever in the saddle =p

Onto the bike, well I don't have much (anything really) to compare it to but it felt pretty torquey for such a small engine, having just jumped from cars cruising at 10k took some getting used to, but it seemed happy to cruise at whatever speeds the cars were doing. There is a noise coming from the front disk that I can feel through the bars under 60k, so thats definitely being looked at. Apart from that theres a few small things to do but nothing majorly wrong with the bike. All in all i'm happy with what I spent!

Now for it to stop raining so's I can go and practise!
Oh, and I took a couple pics over the last couple days, this one came out quite nicely I thought =) Excuse my enthusiastic colour editing...

**CookMySock** · 6th July 2008, 07:07

Nice bike bro! They have such an awesome sound ay.

Hah yeah you picked the perfect day to ride it home - bloody freezing !

You have a good time on it now ya hear!

And be careful and listen to ya Mum.

DB

**fizbin** · 6th July 2008, 09:27

what size hands are you i have a set of winter gloves here that i was going to throw on Trademe for $1 but if they will fit you, you can have them. only worn them a couple of time they just don't fit me right but they are as warm as hell

**Dave-** · 6th July 2008, 12:54

hey hey dude, nice looking bike.

weird how our paths keep crossing on the internet....

**Nagash** · 6th July 2008, 13:02

Haha, good choice of bike mate, those things can really rip quite well.

Good on yah for riding yesterday.. I was just coming home from a short tour yesrterday aswell.. gear was completely soaked through the couple days riding before and it was *so* bloody cold.. When I stopped in Waihi for some food, the locals around me had the most shocked looks on ntheir faces to see me shaking myself to near death with my hands in a variety of colours from black, blue, red and orange.. Got a free coffee for it though! Yus!

Looks like you got a decent riding spirit already, will be keen to ride with you some time! Come down to one of the Wednesday skills nights some time (6:30pm at Shell Westgate, every wednesday). There's a few North Shorians there.

**Dare** · 7th July 2008, 02:21

DB: Haha, of course!...

, and yes, it does sound quite nice!

fizbin: You have mail! But incase you don't check your mail, yes that sounds pretty awesome! I have some sketchy as gloves that came with the bike but I don't think they will be going anywhere but the bin!

Dave: Wierd, yes. Slightly disturbing, also yes. Maybe string theory is trying to tell us something...

Nagash: Thanks! Sounds like you got closer to hypothermia than I did! And yes I'll come for a ride/skills thing, just got a few things to sort out before I can ride daily!

Speaking of which, The bike came with a very nice leather jacket and helmet, unfortunately these are both too big for me (i'm 5'9 but quite slim, the guy that sold it was about the same height but stockier). If you know anyone that wants to buy, or more usefully swap one of these for something more my size, then let me know! Cheers! =) Pics and sizes to come later, along with a post in a more relevant topic/section.