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Two wheels on my wagon

November 9th, 2021 · Posted by Skuds in Life · 1 Comment · Life

Today I reached the end of a long and double-delayed journey when I passed the road test to get my full motorcycle licence. It took nearly four years, but I got there in the end.I started the whole process in January 2018 when I bought a 50cc scooter, having never ridden any sort of motorbike before. Unfortunately, at the point when I started the cycle of theory and practical tests I got my cancer diagnosis and had more than a year of chemotherapy and recovery from the operation which put everything on hold. By the time I was ready to go the rest of the world wasn’t, due to pandemic issues.

Once things were opening up a bit and driving test backlogs were being caught up with, I had to start again anyway because my CBT and theory test expired, and we locked down again at the end of 2020 so it took three or four months to get that scheduled. And then I had another, much smaller operation, just to delay things further.

Last month I reached the final stage, the module 2 road test. I failed that and thought it would be my last chance before winter set in, but managed to get another slot this week. Arranging a motorbike in November is a bit a of a high-risk approach, especially for somebody who has become very affected by the cold now, but the weather today was fantastic. Having failed the first attempt partly because of going too slow, I passed today with a minor black mark for going too fast!

To say I am chuffed is an understatement. Despite the setbacks, I was determined to get this done before I hit 60, and now I can go shopping for a proper bike. I have already given the trusty YBR125 to a young relative whose own bike blew up this week.

Now for the difficult choice of what to get. I enjoyed the Yamaha MT07 I trained on, but like the look of the Suzuki SV650. The Honda CB500F also looks good and could be cheaper to run and insure, but then there is the new Kawasaki 600 cafe racer-type bike coming out. Or would I be happy with a decent 300-400cc bike?

This all sounds a bit midlife crisis, but being realistic it is a three-quarter-life crisis at best. I may only have 10 years of riding left, so have to make the most of it, so need to make some sort of decision and purchase soon.

 

 

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One Comment so far ↓

  • Frankie Rosewell

    I’m so happy you did it!! Looking forward to going out for a ride once you decide what your getting