Last Sunday it was finally time to ditch the training wheels and move onto something a bit bigger, but not before a few hours on the road on a 125 bike to iron out a few poor habits from the previous training session which could easily catch me out on something with more power.
If you haven’t been following the Learner’s Journey blog, at the end of last year the fantastic folk at Michelin very kindly agreed to assist me in obtaining my motorcycle licence and in return I’ll be covering the whole journey from start to finish.
Back in September I polished off the CBT, and now sights are firmly set on Mod 1.
Sunday’s session started with a quick 10 minutes of slow speed riding on the AJS125 under the watchful eye of instructor Roy before we headed out onto the open road.
Although my CBT certificate was now tucked away safely at home until further notice, I knew I’d been guilty of changing gear without closing the throttle on several occasions during our last ride. Plus there we a few other things that only more time on the bike could cure, so we spent a good three hours riding around Lampeter and completing the loop out to Llanwnnen and Llanybydder.
Despite the windy conditions, my confidence was definitely on the up, and apart from a couple of stalls as we worked on hill starts, progress had certainly been made.
Back at the Gerry’s of Lampeter training centre in Talsarn it was time to swing my leg over an XJ600N. By modern standards this is not a powerful bike, but weighing in at close to 200kg and with considerably more ponies than the Chinese 125, I was admittedly nervous.
Roy assured me that the bigger bike was much easier to ride, and in fairness he was right. However, until I’d found that out for myself I just had visions of shooting off uncontrollably into the fence at the other end of the yard. It reminded me of a maiden visit to a firing range a few years ago, and just as our host handed me the gun he told me that if I hit anything other than the target we’d have to pay for the damages… suddenly that target seemed so much further away.
Luckily nothing of the sort happened. To pull away on the big bike was much more straight forward. With so much low down torque just off the biting point, I barely had to open the throttle to get the bike moving which was very different to what was required on the AJS where I’d often under or over-rev the bike from a standing start.
Within 15 minutes we were doing a slalom, figures of eight and several other Mod 1 exercises; and what’s more I felt far more in control than I ever had on the 125. My clutch hand had never been an issue, but now my throttle hand was working much more in tune with it. Plus the longer wheel base and lower centre of gravity makes it feel much more planted, as long as you don’t go over that balance point where all that extra weight certainly makes itself known!
After just short of 90 minutes on the Yamaha it was time to end the session, but after a quick chat with Roy he’s confident that one more session is all we need before I take the Mod 1.
As we don’t have a suitable Mod 1 test centre in Ceredigion anymore, I’ll be looking to book that in Chester over the Christmas and New Year break as it ties in nicely with annual leave and family visits – but before that, I’ll need to take (and pass…) the theory test.
Luckily that’s something that can be done in Aberystwyth, along with the final Mod 2 test on the road…
Many thanks to the team at Michelin UK once again for their fantastic help and support.
With tyres for a wide range of motorcycles and scooters, you can check out the full Michelin range here.
