Modern Vespa

I hope it thaws in my road - I'm not up to such antics with the GP800, and I'm supposed to be visiting friends in Portsmouth over the weekend.

My front garden will have a Dalek in it for quite some time, staring in through the kitchen window...

all the lovely snowmen in my square have been demolished by the local yoof

I am sure it will be fine. I have used the tube this morning, but will need to scoot later! That means a 300 yard push to reach clear roads.... or maybe a bit more.

When my LX's battery died I had to push it a mile home.

I just look at it as another mini adventure!

My road is still all ice, and its in shadow for most of the day.... so I spent half an hour at Earls Court today, waiting for the controller to decide we could leave the platform.

Arrrgh. Please thaw quickly, ice!

quite warm with bright sunshine here...

Dessita this you?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1134763/Caught-video-Britains-biggest-runaway-snowball--fool-tried-ride-it.html

I passed!

How did the theory go Dessita?

Whoo-hoo! Well done!

Congrats!

Now go burn those L plates!

A great feeling, well done!

Thanks very much, it's a good feeling.

The Examiner said 'I can see you've been riding a while!' which was good but he gave me a couple of minor faults for going too slowly!

Imo I was just riding to the conditions but I'm glad that I was cautious rather than rushing into things in the slippy conditions.

Congratulations from me, too.
What's a couple of minors - we can't all be perfect!

congrats!

Genie - Sidewalk isn't that the same as path ?
Thawing out nicely in Kent thank you very much although the Fox was having a hard time on the frozen slush this morning.
I know it's a cliche but the car park/ forecourt was a sheet of ice and we'd run out of rock salt which made it all the funnier. Yes we fell over.
Another courtesy car got badly damaged which is becoming a running joke because if it's not a demo that gets bent it's a courtesy car.
Wonder if the weather holds it looks like I'll be photographing lots of Audis on Saturday. Oh joy ! So I can't join you for a ride. Bum.
My biggest problem that's work related is actually getting out of bed.
Just another 5 minutes.
Billy-no-scoot

Well done ! Isn't it the 2nd best feeling in the world passing your test?
Proud of you mate.
Billy-no-scoot

Hello, on the stickers we have a problem - reflective vinyl is too thick to cut to the size that I wanted originally.

Do people mind

a) Paying a bit more for reflective stuff

b) Sticker being bigger, so 10 x 10 cm rather than 7 x 7

Thanks

Kate

Sorry, only two options -

1) 7 by 7 non reflective,
2) 10 by 10 reflective, more cost

Either is fine, thank you.

i don't mind one way or the other. seeing as i plan on putting the sticker on my glovebox, perhaps reflective isn't such a big issue for me personally but may be for others. i'll go with whatever the mob wants.

For me bigger is always better. Not bothered about the cost either.
Wonder I want to thank you for giving so much of your time to this.
Can I give you a house point ? At least a Gold Star for your RE book.
Regards
Billy-no-scoot

I'M SO GUTTED I DIDN'T MAKE IT TO HAMPSTEAD HEATH OR PRIMROSE HILL, I AM SO SO ANNOYED
my friends who live in maida vale walked to primrose hill and had a great time.
it was bad timing to go out when we attempted as there was heavy snow falling and it was really annoying walking against it!
gutted!!!!!!!!!!!

i passed too!!!!
woohoo, very happy, but still not done, practical here I come!

Joe, tell me all about yours, as I'm just getting thrown right in, no lessons, all the info counts.
what did you find hard, how did you do on your u turn, emergency stops and lanes and signs and stuff?
can't believe you had it in the icy roads!

Wonder - I prefer reflective, smaller, more expensive, but majority shall win either way

I so miss Velma already and tomorrow she's going out, I hope.
my road was impossible this morning to walk on, let alone push a scooter. it was so slippery and so much ice. It's also soooooo hilly, I don't want to think of how me and Velma would manage down the hill onto the main rd.
but it looks much better now and I just burned a fiver to TFL, but then again, they gave me a day off yesterday

now I built my snow man, had the day off and have to work, i want it all melted and I want it now!

Congratulations!

wooooo!!! well done dessa!!! when is the practical test?

Great News for you, Well done!


I paid for 1 lesson with an instructor which was in effect a 'mock test' and I reckon it was the best money I've spent with regards to the process.

I was surprised by the narrowness of the road that the U-turn was asked for, I achieved it but I reckon it would've been pretty tight/impossible on a bigger motorbike. I just gave it plenty gas and controlled it on the back brake.

The emergency stop wasn't all that great but it was evidentally good enough, I had made the decision not to grab handfuls of brake and as long as I stopped without skidding or slipping in today's conditions I would be happy, that seems to have been sufficient.

There was quite a lot of 'pull over at a suitable place' then 'pull away when safe to do so', I didn't react in the way I had done when I was a 17 year old car learner and just pull in, I really searched for a decent spot and chose well.

My pulling out from behind a parked vehicle was a bit of a laugh, I was asked to stop behind a transit van, I done all my checks but obvioulsy couldn't see through the vehicle as you could with a car, so I thought 'I'll just edge out until I can assure there is no oncoming traffic', it was about this point that the van pulled away itself with no indication or anything

I was picked up for going too slowly and also advised that contrary to the various books you read, it's not always best to pull in to the left lane to let folk past, the examiner advised me to 'impose yourself on the road, you have as much right as the speeding cars to be there!, do't just let them pass as a matter of course'

I don't know if you have a lot of speed bumps where you live, but I held the inside line , this stopped me from weaving in and out, he thought this was good practice.

When he asked me the questions about the scooter and also the pillion rider, he asked me to stop, he said I was going into it 'a bit deeply!', I must be a bit boring


Hope that's a bit of a help, if you've got anymore questions just ask.

Dessa, congratulations and where is your practical test booked for?

thanks guys for all the help, I just need practicing handling George (might ride it for a week straight to work etc to get used to it) and finally doing all u turns right as I've managed one here another one there but it's never certain I'll get it right, and it has to be really

I'm booking my test now, doing it in Hendon?
I've looked up on birds eye multi map the routes, and want to go ride near the area this weekend.

Joe, I didn't understand the hump bit, you mean you didn't go over them in the middle of your lane?
aren't you supposed to do that though?

Well done Dessa.

Joe's hinted at some of the things the examiner will look for. He'll expect you to hit 30 in the 30's, 40 in the 40's etc - so get that speedo calibrated somehow!

Slow speed control is the key - anticipating traffic light changes and roundabout entry.

It'd be a very good investment having a day's 'refresher' training with an instructor, you'll enjoy it anyway!

I know, I know, I'm not trying to be cheeky and get all your advice for free here without bothering with trainning, it's just so expensive as I said earlier, around £300 in average for a day's trainning, I can fail the practical test how many times to still be in profit? £80 each time... you do the maths
So, sorry I'm not being a cheapskate, but I am!

some stuff happened and I am saving every penny, so will have to give it a shot and I hope it's £80 I spend, not £160, nor £240....!

so I'm just going to ride and practice A-LOT, bf has passed without the trainning and is being really nice in taking me around, so fingers crossed, I'm in it to pass, raaaaaaaaaaa

Better still then - when slightly warmer weather comes around with some dry roads - we could have an informal UKMV training day. There are some here with IAM etc experience, and certainly some friends from elsewhere who could help. Those who want slow machine control advice and on-road advice can get some hints from more experienced riders.

We can get that speedo calibrated as well.

just have an hours lesson, no need for a whole day..............

ta jim, I will not turn the offer down, the DSA website is not taking the booking now, so when I have a date I'll put together a plan, then we could have a wee ride out and about in west london somewhere so it's not far out or anything and you can point fingers at all my bad habits

if we could do a sunday afternoon all the better, but I'm not being picky

Very well done Dessa. Proud of you, well I think we all are.
Sleep well all.
Billy-no-scoot

Yes, come to West London which is my bit, down by the river, nice lunch to be had!

Well done Joe and Dessa for pass results! I think IAM style coaching is a great idea.

Genie, how about you and I joining ELAM?

Great news Dessa and Joe. Well done!!!

Sticking my nose in again;
Speed Humps go from one side of the road to the other although there's a gap between the end of the hump and the kerb.

Speed Cushions are squares of raised tarmac in the centre of each lane.
These enable motorcyclists to go to one side of them, or between them on the crown of the road.
In some places (e.g. the road that goes from Highgate Tube Station to Muswell Hill) they are at such distances across the road to enable the wheels of buses and other large vehicles to go either side, thus not throwing the passengers off their seats.

Hey Dessa well done on the test pass thang.

Getting some training in with an instructor is well worth the money and as people have said you'll enjoy it.

BUT i'm not sure about £300 for a day.... that seems abit steep to me.

When I did mine I paid £270 for two 4 hour sessions, the hire of the bike and the test fee. Maybe you should consider taking your test down here on the sunny south coast, its cheaper and there's far less traffic, oh yeah and its nicer down here

Nice one, Dessa!

I'd prefer smaller stickers (it's what you do with it that counts, Bill).

+1 for it being expensive.

Mrs BB and I did a day's training with an excellent guy from http://www.rapidtraining.co.uk/ . We hired him all day, just for the two of us (oooooh! Sounds kinky!) and it cost £150 each ( http://www.rapidtraining.co.uk/course.shtml ). We went on our own bikes, though (I don't know if your £300 includes bike hire, or free retraining if you don't pass first time), so that may make a difference. But the quality of training we got from Rob was so many degrees better than anything either of us had when trying to pass our tests.

I'm looking forward to seeing the stickers.

How many of you made it in using scooters this morning? The roads were almost devoid of two wheelers this morning, despite the fact that the main routes were absolutely fine. My council hadn't gritted my road this morning despite it being a thoroughfare that usually always gets the gritters!

The motorcycle parking bay in Smithfield was 3/4 empty. I did brave the journey and apart from the first 500yds it was fine.