My first bike ride! - Saturday

... was a bit of a double-edged sword to be honest.

I had to get a new mirror last week as there was no right hand mirror on the bike (by the way, its a Kawasaki GPZ500), so we got this one from a breakers cheap, and before I'd even got off the driveway, it had broken! I literally just adjusted it and it came off in my hand. It had some damage when we bought it, but you couldn't see that until it came apart. Hey ho!

So I set off without a mirror, which wasn't too bad as dear Hubby is on his big, bad Aprilia so I felt safe following him.

We hit the back of a traffic queue, so this was my first opportunity at filtering. I was a bit scared, but Pat set off but I bottled following him. Once a few other bikes came past, I though I'd follow them through, and after about 5 minutes I saw him in the Somerfield car park, so I pulled in and we stopped for a little rest. My first time out on my bike, and I had been really quite nervous! Had a quick drink (it was INCREDIBLY hot on Saturday) and saddled up.

Pat had got on and started, I pressed my starter button, and.... click, click, click. Poo. That's the starter solanoid, meaning my battery's gone flat. Poo, poo, poo.

Some helpful chaps came and after 3 attempts to bump start it, they got it going. So being as my battery's dead we decided its best to just get home and set about working on it. So I'm back on the bike, clutch in, knock it into first gear and the engine cuts out. Bottom!! I'd left my side stand down and the cutout switch was activated. And it wouldn't start again.

Well Pat totally lost his head at this point and he was this close to getting a belt in the chops. I felt totally stupid, and there he was telling me what an idiot I am. Nobody needs that. I could have cried, I really could.

I had no breakdown details on me either so we went back home to get them (on the back of his Aprilia) and phoned the RAC. We were only 10-15 minutes away from home, so they said they'd get the recovery guy to phone when he's nearly there.

When we got back to the bike, he was already waiting for us (we'd come in the car this time). He'd confirmed the battery's not running on full charge, so its either that, the alternator or the regulator rectifier. Its just not charging properly, so its going to keep doing that until I sort it out. Got to get it done by Thursday as I need to ride to a bike meeting 20 or so miles away. I'm determined to make it there under my own steam and not on the back of the Aprilia!

We shall see.

On the bright side, I did at least get to ride it for a short while, and its got rid of my fear of it, as that was the first time I'd even moved the bike under power, so I'm now champing at the bit as I really, really enjoyed it!

And I got to do a bit of spannering on the bike to get the battery off and charging. Hopefully its just that, as its not holding a charge. A new battery is quicker, cheaper and easier than either a new alternator or a new regulator rectifier. Fingers crossed!