I failed my motorbike test today...

[Dogg Thang]

Gah! Not to worry - first time I got on a bike was Monday. Considering that, it actually went really, really well. I got flustered being watched and didn't react quickly enough to a hazard. It should have been easy so I've only myself to blame.

Still, it's been fun trying to learn to ride a motorbike and take a test so quick!

[infoxicated]

Wow! :)

Myself and a mate have been considering taking our compulsory basic training, although I've never driven a motorbike before, so I'm a little wary. With fuel prices going through the roof I'd been thinking of making my daily commute a little more economical, and without resorting to a pushbike a motorbike seemed to fit the bill.

Over the summer a number of them got stolen from the car park at work and I went right off the idea.

[Dogg Thang]

Well I'd totally recommend taking a training course - even as quick as mine! It's easier than you might think and, as long as you're safe, great fun too. What I really wanted to do was get my license and go to the US and ride across Arizona or Nevada - I have a real hankering for the desert. You know - cheap motels, truck stops and that sort of thing. I have some holiday time coming in October and this was a real last minute urge.

So I'll still go through with that but it won't be this holiday, not having passed the test. Probably next year.

In spite of failing the test, It's been a great experience so far. Having bikes stolen would be very off-putting though. That is understandable.

[infoxicated]

That whole desert, truck stops thing is something I always wanted to get around to at some point too. I'm thinking I might have left it a little late in life now, though - I have a heap of responsibilities now that preclude me from just disappearing off into the unknown.

I think it was growing up watching stuff like Smokey and the Bandit that did it for me. I wanted to drive a black Firebird across the USA and have adventures along the way, possibly stopping in remote towns to solve local problems with modern day outlaws who operate above the law.

Or was that Knight Rider. :?

Yeah. Might have been that. :wink:

[Lance]

.
you must be extremely careful when riding bikes in any area that has any traffic whatsoever but yourself.
extremely. especially when you are new to bike riding. most bike accidents happen in the first year or even in the first few months of first bike ownership. mine happened at two months. someone who didn't see me pulled their car right in front of me and my head went through their windshield.

but don't think that experience will stop wrecks from happening; my neighbor just had a serious one a few weeks ago. even though he's an experienced rider, some relatively new [and thoughtless] driver of a car pulled right out of a parking lot at the side of the street he was on, crossed four lanes of the street and went right in front of him, so his bike hit her car. he had the presence of mind to tuck himself into a ball, jumping up first and getting his head between his knees while rolling over the top of her car. the bike was destroyed. he came down on the street minus his left boot and broke the toes on his left foot, hit the back of his head, suffered nerve and muscle damage to his back, and got put out of being able to work and into a lot of pain and therapy despite having done the perfect thing to minimise damage to himself.

i love bikes. i've had five of them; but there are things you must think about before getting one. and after getting one. the consequences of crashes are much harsher than they are when you drive a car, so you can never let your guard down for an instant. be careful. and good luck.
.

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

I got my driving permet and will soon get my license....my parents would kill me if i got on a moterbike.


how high are gas prices over in Europe? Ours are about 3$ a gallon and with almost every person driving that is really high.

[eLhabib]

insanely high in europe!

we count in litres tho. 1 litre costs about 1.10 euros. 1 gallon is 3.785412 litres, so that would be about 4.16 euros a gallon. 1 euro right now is about 1.226 USD, that brings us to a TERRIBLE price of

5.10$ per gallon!

...so stop complaining already! :x

[Lance]

.
the gap is closing, though; back when i was a lad, the prices in Europe were already into the multi-dollar range, about 3 dollars U.S. per gallon [U.S. not Imperial], i think, when prices in the U.S. were 40 to 50 cents per U.S. gallon.
.

[eLhabib]

oh well, then it's ALL GOOD I guess :roll:

I even resorted to riding my bike to work most of the time... :x

[Drakkenmensch]

Over here in Montreal Canada, where Katrina has had NO effect on supply of crude or refining, fuel prices have still increased outrageously, reaching a current average of 1.37$ per litre in canadian money, peaking in some places at a whopping 1.54 per litre.

In terms of US dollars per gallon, that converts to an average 4.92$/gallon and a maximum price of 5.54$/gallon.

[Roger]

1 litre costs about 1.10 euros
You think YOU'VE got it bad. Over here in Finland one litre of 95 octane unleaded cost as much as € 1.49 per litre - that's the equivalent of $6.93 a gallon!! Now it's down to about € 1.32, but that still is far from the "pre Katrina" price of about € 1.15 (FYI Sales tax and fuel tax amount to about 75 % of the price).

And no, there is no shortage, 'cause most of the oil refined in Finland is imported from Russia. The largest oil company in Finland is EXPORTING its gasoline to the US nowadays, and the huge profits from that trade is driving up the domestic prices as well. Bastards and robber barons, the whole lot :x

[Drakkenmensch]

I have a theory about how the price of gasoline will change in direct relation to what the oil companies say to the media. It's based on watching the news:

If the oil companies tell the journalists that prices will go up because of supply difficulties, then prices will go up a little over the next few days.

If they tell the journalists that prices will go down, then prices will go up a LOT.

It's when you don't hear a thing from the oil companies in the news for weeks on end that prices actually go down.

Silence is truly golden.