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First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 10:38 am
by gse123
After passing my CBT earlier on today, I just went for my first ever ride on my PCX. I loved it! :) Such a smooth ride compared to the clunky old mopeds I used on my CBT.

Didn't go to far (just over 10 miles this time) and it went really well (apart from impatient car drivers right up my arse on an a main road as I had the cheek to stick to the speed limit! :lol: )

Quite a good little run for practice - a couple of roundabouts, an A road (single carriageway) followed by a slow 20mph ride through a windy new housing estate.

Can't wait to get back on tomorrow!

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:45 am
by Qnapper
Enjoy and have lots of fun. We love ours using it more than the car these days.

Be safe

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:58 am
by WhiteNoise
Cheers! You did it! ;) The fun is just beginning, & there's more where that came from!!
Talking about up your arse....I'll be moseying along (say at 35-40) & a monster truck comes outta nowhere like a bat outta hell, then passes me by the skin of his side steps. He's cussin' & I feel his breezy breath as he brushes by! Fool! This has happened on country roads not highways! Good 'ol boys, ya gotta love (?) 'em :? (Funny thing is, I do o_O )

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:37 pm
by you you
WhiteNoise wrote:Cheers! You did it! ;) The fun is just beginning, & there's more where that came from!!
Talking about up your arse....I'll be moseying along (say at 35-40) & a monster truck comes outta nowhere like a bat outta hell, then passes me by the skin of his side steps. He's cussin' & I feel his breezy breath as he brushes by! Fool! This has happened on country roads not highways! Good 'ol boys, ya gotta love (?) 'em :? (Funny thing is, I do o_O )

Is there anything you want to tell us....

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:34 pm
by WhiteNoise
.....is there something you wanna hear? Okay. Thanksgiving is his coming Thursday :D Plans??

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 2:28 am
by PCX-rider
Congratulations! Have fun! :D I advice you to test the brakes properly, to learn how the bike reacts if you have to do panic braking because of trafic incidents. What happend if you brake hard with the front brake and block the frontwheel?

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 11:53 am
by JGC
Congratulation on passing your CBT, Enjoy your self on the PCX and ride safe. Don't let the drivers intimidate you into going faster than you feel you want/need to!! In the same token though don't ride in too close to the curbside either as that'll invite some plank into a none safe overtake of you!
PCX-rider wrote:Congratulations! Have fun! :D I advice you to test the brakes properly, to learn how the bike reacts if you have to do panic braking because of trafic incidents. What happend if you brake hard with the front brake and block the frontwheel?
Good advice here too, good to practice this on a quiet industrial estate or empty carpark.

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:23 pm
by gse123
Thanks Guys. Took it out for a bit further today, to visit my dad which was 25 mile round trip. Not particularly far I know, but it certainly felt like it for my 2nd time ever out on the road on my own!

Was a good ride, as it took me on a good stretch of the A6 (single carriageway) which let me experience riding at the bikes limits in terms of speed performance (mine got to exactly to the speed limit of 60mph at full throttle)... was quite an odd feeling having the wind wobble you around a bit at that speed!

There were also a lot of roundabouts on that route (about 10 - 11 in total) including some that for me were quite intimidating. I thought I did ok, apart from on one I got beeped by a car behind me once I had entered the roundabout... but I could not tell what for. As far as I could see I was in the correct lane, and was not close to anyone else.... maybe I wasn't moving off fast enough for their liking!

Just gotta keep riding to build my confidence! :)

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:58 pm
by you you
gse123 wrote:Thanks Guys. Took it out for a bit further today, to visit my dad which was 25 mile round trip. Not particularly far I know, but it certainly felt like it for my 2nd time ever out on the road on my own!

Was a good ride, as it took me on a good stretch of the A6 (single carriageway) which let me experience riding at the bikes limits in terms of speed performance (mine got to exactly to the speed limit of 60mph at full throttle)... was quite an odd feeling having the wind wobble you around a bit at that speed!

There were also a lot of roundabouts on that route (about 10 - 11 in total) including some that for me were quite intimidating. I thought I did ok, apart from on one I got beeped by a car behind me once I had entered the roundabout... but I could not tell what for. As far as I could see I was in the correct lane, and was not close to anyone else.... maybe I wasn't moving off fast enough for their liking!

Just gotta keep riding to build my confidence! :)
You're doing we'll. you've certainly got the right attitude

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 1:02 pm
by figurehead71
qed wrote:
You're doing we'll. you've certainly got the right attitude
I echo that, well done on finalising your CBT and now the real training begins.

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:12 pm
by Taz
avoid Swindon, its roundabout central. I seem to remember around 7 mini roundabouts all adjacent.

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:39 pm
by EmilyJEG
Taz wrote:avoid Swindon, its roundabout central. I seem to remember around 7 mini roundabouts all adjacent.
This?

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:42 pm
by Taz
Yes. Scary for us foreigners who are not used to roundabouts;)

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:49 pm
by EmilyJEG
I've never seen it in real life, but it seems pretty scary to me too. I'm sure there must have been a less ridiculous method of keeping traffic moving - everywhere else seems to manage it...

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:02 pm
by you you
EmilyJEG wrote:I've never seen it in real life, but it seems pretty scary to me too. I'm sure there must have been a less ridiculous method of keeping traffic moving - everywhere else seems to manage it...

Driven in Paris?

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:05 pm
by JGC
EmilyJEG wrote:I've never seen it in real life, but it seems pretty scary to me too. I'm sure there must have been a less ridiculous method of keeping traffic moving - everywhere else seems to manage it...
Yep seen it and done it real life, bloody football ground right next to it!! I've been there a couple of times with coaches, It's not as bad as it looks though.
QED as for Paris, never want to try it, London is bad enough but Paris is worse!

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:55 pm
by philvb
gse123 wrote:After passing my CBT earlier on today, I just went for my first ever ride on my PCX. I loved it! :) Such a smooth ride compared to the clunky old mopeds I used on my CBT. Can't wait to get back on tomorrow!
Grats on the CBT and getting to ride your PCX for the first time!

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:09 am
by gse123
EmilyJEG wrote:
Taz wrote:avoid Swindon, its roundabout central. I seem to remember around 7 mini roundabouts all adjacent.
This?

Remind me to never ever go to Swindon

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:02 am
by maddiedog
EmilyJEG wrote:
Taz wrote:avoid Swindon, its roundabout central. I seem to remember around 7 mini roundabouts all adjacent.
This?
The traffic engineers in Atlanta, Georgia, USA just put in something even more ludicrous... It's called a "Diverging Diamond Interchange." The Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverging_ ... nterchange

Here's what the one they put in looks like:
Diverging_diamond.jpg
Diverging_diamond.jpg (104.21 KiB) Viewed 1723 times

And here's a diagram of how it works:
pedcrossings2.png
pedcrossings2.png (78.69 KiB) Viewed 1723 times

The circles indicate where pedestrians cross, the arrows indicate traffic direction. Basically, you approach the intersection. At a green light, you proceed to the wrong side of the road, then at the 2nd intersection, switch back. It does help traffic move more, but there have been several major accidents from people panicking and driving off the road, into each other, etc...



Back on topic, congrats on passing your CBT. Sounds like you are having fun -- just make sure to take it easy, and remember it's better to stop and not take a risk than zoom into traffic and get run over. ;)

Re: First ride on my PCX....

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:13 am
by gse123
Was looking forward to another ride today - a test run to a new job location where I will be starting in a couple of weeks however I woke up this morning with a really sore & painful lower neck / shoulder so decided to leave it for today... as I can hardly turn my head to do a shoulder check etc.

I think it is due to a combination of sleeping in a funny position last night, and possibly being a bit tense on my previous rides (I realised that I am gripping the throttle really tightly all the time)