Matts biking journey to date

[mattrg]

How do folks, thought i'd drop into BB and introduce myself as i'm still pretty new to bikes but starting to get the hang of it.

Always wanted to get into biking but was full of the usual rubbish excuses like "i'm a nutter me, i'll kill myself" but decided this was bobbins so put my big boy pants on about a year ago and started on the road that has quite quickly led to a two wheeled addiction

Did my CBT in August and bought this to trundle about on learning the ropes..

1 by matt goodman, on Flickr

Did my DAS in November so got myself a CB500 as the next step up...

2 by matt goodman, on Flickr

Got one of these for a bit of off road action (Have an MX track nearby, great bike control practice)

pbike by matt goodman, on Flickr

Then found that they did pit bike super-moto at Whilton mill so got some slicks for it. D

pbikesm by matt goodman, on Flickr

Excellent practice for technique, a couple of mates race CB500's in the Thundersport 500s who have been giving me plenty of tips on track. I've done 5 evening sessions now and getting much quicker so rather inevitably I ended up buying this (ex thundersport CB500)...
3 by matt goodman, on Flickr

It's currently looking like this while we give it a good going over (fork rebuild, renewing of all brake components, good engine service etc)

cbstripped by matt goodman, on Flickr

Cosmetics will be sorted over the winter, mechanicals is the important bit for this year.

I bought the CB rather than a supersports for a few reasons.

- The aforementioned mates that race them (see where this is going)
- I want to develop my technique so having something not that quick should push me to improve my riding rather than relying on straight line speed.
- cheap as chips to fix if it goes for a run down the tarmac.

First track day booked for Malory on the 7th August (in the Novices of course) so looking forward to that, perhaps see some of you there.

I'll be selling the road CB soon with a view to picking something up a little sportier for the road once i've done a few sessions on track.

Edited by mattrg on Monday 13th July 18:07

Edited by mattrg on Monday 13th July 18:09

Edited by mattrg on Monday 4th September 22:06

Edited by mattrg on Friday 8th December 17:35

Edited by mattrg on Friday 8th December 17:41

[clen666]

Welcome along, great introduction!

[sradmarty]

Fair play mate, u don't do things by half!

Been looking at cb500's recently as a bit of a workhorse, how you finding it?

[mattrg]

Thanks fellas!

Sradmarty - not doing things by halfs has been noted by the wife

The CB isn't a bad bike (not that I have a huge amount to compare it to) mine is very low mileage for one of these (18k) and still feels nice and tight and is very cheap and easy to maintain. Feels to me like it handles pretty well but I might change that review when I've ridden some other stuff.

[moanthebairns]

you've raised the bar, now all your posts need to be this good. They don't count if we have to wait another year.

[mattrg]

moanthebairns said:

you've raised the bar, now all your posts need to be this good. They don't count if we have to wait another year.

I'll try to keep the standard high, hopefully with tales of track day heroics (wobbling around in novice counts, right?)

Would have joined earlier but didn't think trying to keep a ybr125 on 10 year old Chinese tyres shiny side up at a VMAX of 60 would make for good reading

[srob]

Good work! I remember seeing James Toseland racing a CB500 at Cadwell when he started out. He didn't do too badly from there

[sradmarty]

mattrg said:

Thanks fellas!

Sradmarty - not doing things by halfs has been noted by the wife

The CB isn't a bad bike (not that I have a huge amount to compare it to) mine is very low mileage for one of these (18k) and still feels nice and tight and is very cheap and easy to maintain. Feels to me like it handles pretty well but I might change that review when I've ridden some other stuff.

as you're confidence grows you'll probably want more but you seem to have a good attitude to learning and building up to it.

Sure some big names cut their teeth racing these, James Toseland rings a bell.

Look forward to your updates

[Dick Dastardly]

mattrg said:

not doing things by halfs has been noted by the wife

I'll be showing this thread to my wife. I'm now only the second from worst man ever born.

[mattrg]

Dick Dastardly said:

I'll be showing this thread to my wife. I'm now only the second from worst man ever born.

Happy to be of service

[Gusto]

Nice - I fully agree that motocross/off-road can teach a lot about bike control. Great intro - someone will be along in a minute to tell you you have done it all wrong but ignore.

[Mr OCD]

Epic read

I'm after a cheap TD bike myself and never even thought about one of these CB's!

• goes off to eBay*

[StuB]

Hi Matt, welcome to BB. Profile needs an update

Good luck with the TD & keep us posted with progress.

Nice Monaro/GTI too.

[mattrg]

Mr OCD said:

Epic read

I'm after a cheap TD bike myself and never even thought about one of these CB's!

• goes off to eBay*

I gave £749 for this one. Spent a couple of hundred quid on bits to get it recommisioned but good value even so.

If you can get one like this with the flat bars, rear sets and race plastics to get rid of the courier riding position then you're laughing. My mate who races has fun with the "faster" bikes on track days on his. He's not trying to be a hero in the wrong group here, this was in the fast group.

http://youtu.be/qSYk9pHGh9o

Edited by mattrg on Monday 13th July 21:17

[Biker's Nemesis]

Hello

[mitzy]

Hello , good to have you on board with all your lovely bikes


Welcome to the madhouse

[Deranged Granny]

Excellent introduction, and a great start to biking.

I've always had an unexplained love of CB500s and have long thought of getting one as a cheapo track hack. Love the idea of wringing every last drop of speed out of it! It must be a great way to hone your skills.

I've seen your mate's videos before - they're great to watch

[bogie]

Welcome, its nice to see someone bitten by the biking bug and throw themselves into it so enthusiastically

[Tall_Paul]

Welcome. Nowt wrong with a CB500, great little bikes. If you're a fan of youtube, there's a great guy on there who rides one round some amazing roads in the alps, Schaaf. Worth a look, plenty of alpine passes, peg scraping in his vids https://youtu.be/g9VjA_HulCE

Edited by Tall_Paul on Monday 13th July 23:39

[clen666]

mattrg said:

I gave £749 for this one. Spent a couple of hundred quid on bits to get it recommisioned but good value even so.

If you can get one like this with the flat bars, rear sets and race plastics to get rid of the courier riding position then you're laughing. My mate who races has fun with the "faster" bikes on track days on his. He's not trying to be a hero in the wrong group here, this was in the fast group.

http://youtu.be/qSYk9pHGh9o

Those leathers have seen better days!