Well Jayne and I did our CBT yesterday and it did not go well. Apparently we are not yet at the standard where we are not a danger to ourselves and the rest of humanity if we go out on a motorbike. Fair enough. Neither of us had ridden a geared motorbike before and trying to get the hang of a totally new thing in your 50’s in just a couple of hours is a bit of a big ask.

On the plus side, we both really enjoyed it and I am thinking about getting a ‘proper’ motorbike instead of a bigger scooter. As I was only intending to get a 125 scooter I and have been riding my 50cc scooter on the roads for months I could have got a CBT on a twist-and-go with no trouble but I thought it might be more fun to have a challenge, but also keep my options open.

It turned out that when I was not in the wrong gear, riding a bike was good fun, and it was easier to work up through the gears than I expected. I also found it easier to get my leg over (oo-er missus) and get on the bike than I thought it would be. So now I am parking the plans to get a Peugeot Speedfight 4 or Honda PCX scooter and thinking about a second-hand Honda or Yamaha bike instead.

Having said that, I intend to keep using the scooter around town a bit until such time as the oldest grandson is old enough to use it in about 5 or 6 years, but it will mean that I will have a car, a motorbike, a scooter and a pushbike which is a bit OTT considering that I do my daily commute by walking.