Loss of Confidence

[XTreme]

35 minutes ago, Six30 said:

you packed motorcycling it when you got a scooter.

You never started.......why not begin by taking it out of the van! 

[Motobiker]

There are a lot of complaints about the rear shock on the Africa Twin, including my variant. But, it seems fine to me. On road. Certainly not a pressing issue to replace it. Ask me again in a couple of years. I’ll probably go for something familiar like a Wilbers, made to measure and like everyone else rave about how the bike is transformed. Because of course it will be, swapping from a tired budget OEM to one made by specialists.

but right now it’s nowhere on my priority list. In fact nothing is, aside from paying off the loan early.

[boboneleg]

9 hours ago, Mawsley said:

Having firmed up my interest in the CRF300R, I'm not convinced I'm bothered about a rear shock. I think I'd need one if I was ragging it hard off-road but that's never going to be me. Did your's make a difference on road?

Absolutely Dave, you can set the preload or whatever other adjusment to max and it'll still bounce around like a bitch even on the road.  Sit on one and see how much it sags when it takes your weight, I'm 88 kilos and the shock can't handle that.  It's made for 40 kilo skinny Thai women

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, boboneleg said:

Sit on one and see how much it sags when it takes your weight

It'll never survive that fat cunt sitting on it......it'll be the size of a Grom when he gets off!

[MooN]

Hey Tango, mostly good advice above I think. Age is certainly a factor but it's likely a combination of all the above, the time off, age, the bike etc. I would suggest doing a one or 2 day refresher riding course.  If you can afford it cos the good ones aren't cheap and you need to find one adapted to your needs ( ie not a GSXR competition rider training day) but a " stage de reprise de guidon" done by a professional. 

[Tango]

14 hours ago, MooN said:

Hey Tango, mostly good advice above I think. Age is certainly a factor but it's likely a combination of all the above, the time off, age, the bike etc. I would suggest doing a one or 2 day refresher riding course.  If you can afford it cos the good ones aren't cheap and you need to find one adapted to your needs ( ie not a GSXR competition rider training day) but a " stage de reprise de guidon" done by a professional. 

Cheers MooN, good advice.

I'm actually getting better the more I get out on the bike. I guess I'm getting used to the pogo-ing and the tramlining.  I think that it's more to do with the bike than me. I went for a short spin on my OH's Bonneville and felt fairly comfortable on it, apart from adjusting to the larger front wheel. 

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, Tango said:

Cheers MooN, good advice.

I'm actually getting better the more I get out on the bike. I guess I'm getting used to the pogo-ing and the tramlining.  I think that it's more to do with the bike than me. I went for a short spin on my OH's Bonneville and felt fairly comfortable on it, apart from adjusting to the larger front wheel. 

You need to come down here for a course in Motorcycling Tourettes and Water Avoidance Bob!

 

[Sir Fallsalot]

7 hours ago, Tango said:

Cheers MooN, good advice.

I'm actually getting better the more I get out on the bike. I guess I'm getting used to the pogo-ing and the tramlining.  I think that it's more to do with the bike than me. I went for a short spin on my OH's Bonneville and felt fairly comfortable on it, apart from adjusting to the larger front wheel. 

Tramlining could just be the tyres you have fitted a different make might take that affect away

[Tango]

32 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Tramlining could just be the tyres you have fitted a different make might take that affect away

I think you could be right, mate. I think that if I were intending to keep the bike I'd change them, but I guess I'll just have to put up with the tramlining for a bit longer. 

[MooN]

13 minutes ago, Tango said:

I think you could be right, mate. I think that if I were intending to keep the bike I'd change them, but I guess I'll just have to put up with the tramlining for a bit longer. 

you're not going to keep it then? 

[Tango]

8 hours ago, MooN said:

you're not going to keep it then? 

Probably not, @MooN. Apart from the handling issues I'm finding that it's just a bit underpowered. I think that something like the upcoming Tiger 660 or a Tracer 700 would be more suited to me.

[XTreme]

3 hours ago, Tango said:

Probably not, @MooN. Apart from the handling issues I'm finding that it's just a bit underpowered. I think that something like the upcoming Tiger 660 or a Tracer 700 would be more suited to me.

I'd check out the F750GS too Bob.

[Tango]

1 hour ago, XTreme said:

I'd check out the F750GS too Bob.

There's no need to use language like that, Pete!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

On 30/08/2021 at 13:25, Tango said:

I don't think so, Pete. I wear reading glasses, but the last time I had my eyes checked, which is just over a year ago, my distance vision was 20:20.

Interesting to hear your story though, as sometimes there can be a factor that we completely overlook. 

Well time to go speccy librarian on this one. 20/20 vision (a measurement which doesnt exist anywhere but America) simply means normal vision. Normal vision which happens to be driving standard vision is not the sharpest vision by a long chalk. Dont get me wrong its a fine level of vision, completely adequate for driving but half the population will have started off with so much better vision than 20/20 

What you really want to know is has the vision deteriorated? The answer as you age is likely yes and sometimes drops occur rapidly, too rapidly for your brain to make the compensatory adjustments. This can lead to a loss of confidence in many areas without the person realising why. So um tldr- worth getting them checked again and asking what your previous eye test result were from a few back. 

If its vision (it may not be, balance and reaction times also slow whether we like it or not) then be fucking nice to yourself, cut yourself some slack, you dont have to maintain the same level of function throughout your life unless youre a Dunlop

Kind regards

Cursey Nursey

[XTreme]

40 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

sometimes drops occur rapidly, too rapidly for your brain to make the compensatory adjustments. This can lead to a loss of confidence in many areas without the person realising why.

That's exactly what happened to me!

[Buckster]

On 08/09/2021 at 09:38, XTreme said:

I'd check out the F750GS too Bob.

Rebadged Loncin.

[Tango]

On 08/09/2021 at 22:07, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Well time to go speccy librarian on this one. 20/20 vision (a measurement which doesnt exist anywhere but America) simply means normal vision. Normal vision which happens to be driving standard vision is not the sharpest vision by a long chalk. Dont get me wrong its a fine level of vision, completely adequate for driving but half the population will have started off with so much better vision than 20/20 

What you really want to know is has the vision deteriorated? The answer as you age is likely yes and sometimes drops occur rapidly, too rapidly for your brain to make the compensatory adjustments. This can lead to a loss of confidence in many areas without the person realising why. So um tldr- worth getting them checked again and asking what your previous eye test result were from a few back. 

If its vision (it may not be, balance and reaction times also slow whether we like it or not) then be fucking nice to yourself, cut yourself some slack, you dont have to maintain the same level of function throughout your life unless youre a Dunlop

Kind regards

Cursey Nursey

I was working with a colleague quite a few years ago in our workshop. He dropped a tiny spring on the carpeted floor. I spotted it straight away and picked it up for him. He looked at me and said " Fuck me, Bob, you've got eyesight like a shithouse rat!"

So maybe we could adopt this as the imperial standard for eyesight classification?

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 hour ago, Tango said:

I was working with a colleague quite a few years ago in our workshop. He dropped a tiny spring on the carpeted floor. I spotted it straight away and picked it up for him. He looked at me and said " Fuck me, Bob, you've got eyesight like a shithouse rat!"

So maybe we could adopt this as the imperial standard for eyesight classification?

Shithouse rat would make an excellent standard classification  

You’ve probably had the same conversation I’ve had a billion times when you’re driving somewhere new looking for something and you read the sign from a distance and say “it’s over there”  the other person says

“where”

“there”

“where, I can’t see it”

“over there, it’s on that sign”

“what sign? …

“that sign”

”how on earth can you read that?!?!, really can you really read that?”

”yes” 

then silence.

and then because you’ve had that lovely gift since birth you find yourself looking at them and wondering how on earth they can’t see it

 

[Tango]

3 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Shithouse rat would make an excellent standard classification  

You’ve probably had the same conversation I’ve had a billion times when you’re driving somewhere new looking for something and you read the sign from a distance and say “it’s over there”  the other person says

“where”

“there”

“where, I can’t see it”

“over there, it’s on that sign”

“what sign? …

“that sign”

”how on earth can you read that?!?!, really can you really read that?”

”yes” 

then silence.

and then because you’ve had that lovely gift since birth you find yourself looking at them and wondering how on earth they can’t see it

 

Yep, that's the one.

[XTreme]

17 minutes ago, Tango said:

Yep, that's the one.

Made a bike decision yet Bob?

[Tango]

23 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Made a bike decision yet Bob?

I'm waiting for the Tiger 660 to be launched, Pete, so I can give it a test ride. I think the launch date is next month sometime. 

[gymwitch]

On 30/08/2021 at 13:09, XTreme said:

Good thread Bob! Here's my experience with this!

About 3 years ago when I sold the red XT I honestly thought it was game over. Reason being was that for a few years prior to that point I felt things weren't right.......it wasn't coming naturally to me anymore. Driving a car was harder too.

I didn't lack confidence as such.....it was a case of I was having to work much harder to do things that always came easily. I spent about a year or so without a bike and accepted that it was probably time to call it a day before something went wrong out there.

Then one day I had a moment of enlightenment because I jumped in the car and drove off forgetting to take my reading glasses off. Immediately everything became so much easier and I felt like I always had.

Incredible I know......that for many years I'd been riding and driving round with my vision impaired and didn't know it. The loss of distance vision just crept up on me slowly. Age has a habit of doing that!

But would the same transformation happen if I got on a bike? I just didn't know!

After some deliberation I took the plunge and bought the Strom! And I was a bit nervous getting on at first with glasses on because I just didn't know if the impaired vision had been the only cause of the difficulties I'd faced for some years!

I was only going to take it just up the road for a quick 5 minute test to see how I felt......and what adjustments I'd need to make as I was now wearing glasses.

Well the quick trip up the road ended up in going out for about 45 minutes and blasting the shit out of the thing......in a way that I hadn't been able to do for over 5 years!

I was back! I literally came back from the dead! Because I could now see where I was going at last!

You sure vision isn't a factor with you?

Exactly this with me. I know my prescription needs an update when i start to get 'dithery' on my bike....double and triple checking everything which makes me nervous. Then i remember and get my eyes checked. New specs, driving back to normal

[XTreme]

52 minutes ago, gymwitch said:

Exactly this with me. I know my prescription needs an update when i start to get 'dithery' on my bike....double and triple checking everything which makes me nervous. Then i remember and get my eyes checked. New specs, driving back to normal

Yeh.....it creeps up on you gradually!

[skyrider]

1 hour ago, XTreme said:

Yeh.....it creeps up on you gradually!

i havent got to that stage yet 

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

On 14/09/2021 at 18:19, Tango said:

I was working with a colleague quite a few years ago in our workshop. He dropped a tiny spring on the carpeted floor. I spotted it straight away and picked it up for him. He looked at me and said " Fuck me, Bob, you've got eyesight like a shithouse rat!"

So maybe we could adopt this as the imperial standard for eyesight classification?

Haha... I've only ever been told that I'm "cunning as a shithouse rat" but clearly don't qualify for the eyesight classification, being -13  I guess I'll just have to live with the disappointment