Mr Tuscan - My Bike Journey

Hey all.

I thought I’d do a little introduction of me and my bike.

I’m not new to life being 46 but I’ve always loved transport of all kinds, being a HGV driver, Bus Driver, Crane Driver and of course Cars Ive had over 30 of them.

Today I drive a 24t Coach for a huge national company and travel around 85k every year on them, so much so that when I get home for my time off the last thing I want to do is drive my car despite it being a nippy 2 seater, it sits on the drive going nowhere, it does not give me that buzz anymore.

So, yes you guessed it, I thought how do I get this buzz back........mmmmm bikes maybe?

So I tried, not really wanting to be a speed demon and more into enjoying the view I decide to go the cruiser route and bought myself an AJS Regal Raptor, yes I know one of those rubbish Chinese poor built bikes, but that said I also wanted something that was very simple to tinker with, being able to tinker was a big must on my list for buying a bike, I like to spend time in a garage twisting nuts

I’ve become well aware of the different styles of bikes and the different buzz people like to get, for me at the moment cruisers seem to fit the part as they are so easy to deal with.

I passed my CBT 10 weeks back and have since covered 500 miles on mine, I’ve had no issues with the bike what so ever, it does feel a bit delicate, lots of plastic where it could have been metal, however this does make it a light bike of around 120kg, so easy to handle at low speeds.

I’ve had one corner which I took too quick as I thought I was missing a turning, stupid of me, but I got away with it and did not dump me or the bike, I was lucky, lesson learned ,it’s not a car and will throw me if I’m stupid, the lesson learnt was ‘next time if you think you miss a turning, continue on and turn around at a safe point, it’s a bike treat it with respect’

The only other issue I’ve had with it, is I’ve grounded the bracket on the exhaust twice and the second time it tried to dig in and throw me, again I was lucky and somehow corrected myself before coming off.

This bike has silly low exhausts on either side and when going round a roundabout and keeping it tight in lane the right hand exhaust flange bracket makes road contact, which surprised me as I did not think I was leaning that much, looking at how these cruisers are designed it’s a bit of a flaw/limitation.

I have since been back to said roundabout and went through the same move a few times to correct that issue, ie take it slower and not worry about the car pushing from behind, better to be slower and safer than quicker and dead!

Now I know all of you know this stuff but for me it’s so great to be learning something new again and something that gives me that buzz that I’ve been missing, the bike certainly does that, it’s a weird feeling of a thrill crossed with anxiety I think, it’s like a love/hate relationship that you need to keep going back to ha!

Anyway, I take my theory in 4 weeks time, so have an app on my phone that I’m using to learn and I expect to go direct access for my mod 1 in July.

I’m looking forward to the ride and sharing it.

Here’s a picture of my not so little 125

Cheers

Simon

Good luck with your direct access

You been looking at any bikes once you passed ?

Das and a Harley, least you will bemused to bike grounding going round corners

Glad your enjoying it

Good luck with your direct access

You been looking at any bikes once you passed ?

Erm I may have got carried away and I have this little number under a cover having odd little jobs done to it