by simon baird

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

motorbikes

This morning I went for a lesson on one of these: It's called a Honda 400cc something-or-other. My one was blue. The instructor was very good. I basically rode around in circles in a fenced off area of carpark for about an hour in first and second gear. For variety I threw in some stopping and starting. I managed not to drop the bike or cause any major catastrophy. At one point I had to dodge a forklift that was cutting across my track. I don't think that was supposed to be part of the lesson though. My instructor has one of these: It's called a Triumph Rocket III and is the biggest and most powerful motorcycle ever produced. It has a 2.3 litre engine! I wonder if I can ride that for my next lesson. Probably not.

2 comments:

Gomez said...

I'd like to learn to ride a motorbike, but I've never even driven a manual car. Also, do you need to get your learner's permit again?

simon said...

Yeah it would be harder if you never used a clutch before. The bike learners is 5 multiple choice questions. If I remember correctly, one of them is "helmets should be worn ... a) only during rush hour, b) unless you're in a hurry, c) by pregnant women, d) ...", I can't remember the rest. You scrape a pass on that little test and you get a sticker for the back of your license. I aced it. 5 out of 5. Oh yeah.