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Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:38 pm
by markbo
Hi all
I’m a back to bikes biker - took delivery of Gary’s (from rugby) yellow firestorm yesterday (he told me he’s been on this forum for a while so i think a few of you will know him (and the bike)).
First time on a bike for 35 (yes that’s 35) years – last one was a Yamaha xs500 which i think i gave to my brother in 1981 but he’s denying all knowledge since i asked him what happened to it (although my memory is telling me he used it as part exchange for the mg roadster which is now sitting in his garage)
Took delivery (via PJS Transwift who did an excellent job of bringing the bike down here to sunny Kent) and i have to admit to a few butterflies when i jumped on, wondering how to put it into gear, how to even change gear, what the hell am i doing.....etc.
Half an hour later ..... now i remember .... except i don’t remember this much power on tap, or this much acceleration!
Suddenly i feel 19 years old again - until it comes to going round corners, isn’t the bike going to fall over if i lean too far? I seem to remember scraping my knees on the road before but it goes against all my instincts to do that now, and what the hell do you do at roundabouts!!
Learning curve is steep but at least it’s one i’ve been up before, just hoping i don’t fall before i get to the top... literally!
Looking forward to many years of biking and thanks for the wealth of knowledge available here – my mechanics skills are as rusty as my biking ones.

Mark

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:41 pm
by Kev L
Welcome to the club mate, :thumbup:

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:41 pm
by Flatline
Welcome aboard buddy

Glad you are enjoying the bike

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:44 pm
by Virt
You've got yourself a bloody good firestorm mate, but now i need to go down the road and shout at Gary :lol:

Welcome :thumbup:

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:50 pm
by markbo
Virt wrote:You've got yourself a bloody good firestorm mate, but now i need to go down the road and shout at Gary :lol:

Welcome :thumbup:

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
don't do that he was a perfect gentleman, he didn't even want to sell the bike to me unless i saw it first!
am i glad i persuaded him otherwise - i just hope i can get some of the potential out of it.

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:51 pm
by markbo
Flatline wrote:Welcome aboard buddy

Glad you are enjoying the bike
i'm LOVING the bike - the question is, what does it think of me??

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:07 pm
by AMCQ46
Welcome to the yellow club :thumbup:

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:25 pm
by markbo
AMCQ46 wrote:Welcome to the yellow club :thumbup:
uploaded an "avatar" of my other yellow machine

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:58 pm
by markbo
i've just remembered that i had a question i wanted to ask (senior moment brought on by the excitement of the new bike!).
Gary fitted manual cct's - the word manual implies they need some sort of human involvement, is that the case and if so what do i need to do and when?

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:53 am
by lloydie
markbo wrote:i've just remembered that i had a question i wanted to ask (senior moment brought on by the excitement of the new bike!).
Gary fitted manual cct's - the word manual implies they need some sort of human involvement, is that the case and if so what do i need to do and when?
Hello and welcome .
The manuals won't need adjusting for at least 15k if at all .
Hope you enjoy the bike after all them years without one ,might be worthwhile short shifting first gear for a while till your used to the front wheel lifting again :-)

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:56 am
by agentpineapple
welcome to the forum buddy, i'm in east London, not to far from paddock wood, there's a few members in your area, one of them (tony mon) is having a get together over the bsb brands weekend later this month, maybe you can pop along, take it easy on the bike to begin with mate, they ain't the most powerful of bikes, but still plenty powerful enough to get your sphincter pulling on your pants :lol:

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:13 pm
by lumpyv
hello and welcome .

go steady till you get used to it :thumbup:

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:26 pm
by VTRDark
Welcome to the mad house :beer:

(:-})

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 4:28 pm
by sirch345
Welcome aboard Mark :thumbup: mind how you go,

Chris.

Re: Oldie newbie

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 7:33 pm
by markbo
thanks for the encouragement and advice - i'll be taking it slow and get as much road time in as i can, weather permitting, i think i'll be a fair weather rider this time around !