Thanks for visiting the coffee club page, what's been going on over the last few months?
The last few months have been very hectic to say the least! A lot of things have changed in my life and I've been rather distant to say the least so let me explain...
In early 2021 combined with the ever changing environment unfolding around us with regards to transportation and the use of private cars and the fact Governments/ local councils around the world are actively making it harder for anyone to get around by motor car I decided to go for my motorcycle licence with the aim of taking up motorcycling to combat the ever growing traffic congestion and road narrowing which is happening in most cities.
Time for a change?
My journey started in May 2021 when I enquired about buying a 125cc motorbike to try and future proof my method of transport. As we were in the middle of the pandemic buying a new motorcycle was near on impossible unless you were willing to wait for an unspecified amount of time for it to arrive so instead I started looking for a second hand motorcycle and again this was challenging trying to find something suitable that was nearly new as well as local as I couldn't travel to collect it as I didn't have a CBT certificate (Compulsory Basic Training) and road types would be restricted for me, I.E can't use Motorways. Anyway, I started to buy the relevant safety gear/ clothing so that when I finally did get a bike and complete a CBT I'd be fully prepared with the correct safety clothing.
A couple of months had passed and I spotted a 2020 Honda CB125R for sale at a local motorcycle dealership so off I went to see it and I bought it on the spot.
As soon as I bought it I knew I had to get my CBT done so the dealership kindly delivered the bike to my home for free. Another month had passed and it was August and this was the earliest opportunity to sit my CBT. The motorcycle training school was local and the guys there were absolutely fantastic as this was the first time in my 45 years I had ever ridden a motorcycle. I met the requirements on the day and my CBT certificate was issued. The CBT is valid for 2 years but I decided I wanted to gain my full category A licence which would enable me to ride any unrestricted motorcycle and most importantly without L plates on.
A few weeks later September was here and I wanted to sit my DAS (Direct Access) before the winter sets in but in order to sit your DAS you have to sit a Theory test with the DVSA and once again this proved difficult as there were literally no available test dates in Scotland for the remainder of 2021 due to, yes you guessed it, the pandemic! I could have travelled down south like so many other people in Scotland did but I just decided to write off 2021 and try again in the New Year.
A New Year!
January 2022 arrived so I started to look up available dates to sit my Theory test and the earliest available test date was in the middle of March so I booked it and waited the time to sit the test. I sat my test in Edinburgh and passed first time! The Highway Code element of the test was a piece of cake however I did struggle on the Hazard Perception element as I'd class myself as a professional driver with over 24 years of HGV and PSV experience under my belt and I was spotting potential Hazards too early and what I deemed as "Not a Hazard" I was loosing points but in the end I gained the required points and passed the test!
Taking a gamble!
Straight after passing the Theory test I decided to take a huge gamble and I went in to my local Honda dealership and ordered a brand new Honda CB650R. This was a massive gamble because I never had the licence to ride it but due to the state of the world the wait time on a new bike was anywhere between 1 and 6 months.
After I placed my order and paid a deposit I went back to the Motorcycle training centre where I sat my CBT and booked my DAS. My lessons started a month later in April. Due to test date availability I had to split my 2 tests (Mod 1 and Mod2) over a 3 week period, again this was because of this bloody "pandemic" Anyway, Mod 1 training was done in the first week and test at the end which I passed first time. I had to wait a further week before starting my Mod 2 training so I went back to work for that week then the following week I done my Mod2 training and test at the end of that week and again I passed this test which was a pure delight!
L plates gone!
Taking the L plates off the bike was a great relief and the difference in other drivers attitudes also changed. Having L plates on felt like I had a target on my back as car drivers would do their upmost to try and get past me, some nearly knocked me off my bike when they were overtaking but as soon as the L plates were gone so was the tailgating and dangerous overtakes. I ran about on the 125 for a few weeks then I placed it up for sale as I knew my new bike shouldn't be too far away from being delivered. I advertised the 125 on facebook market place and Gumtree. After a few days of being advertised on these platforms I deleted the advert as I was bombarded with utter pish from dreamers, some were really rude too lol! I then decided to take out a paid advert on autotrader and the bike sold within 3 days to the first person who came to view it!
2 weeks after I sold the 125 the dealership called to say that my new bike had arrived and would be ready for collection 2 weeks later once they carried out its PDI. The dealer called me back a few days later to say the bike was ready as they managed to squeeze it in to the workshop early. The following day I went into town and collected my new bike!
Needless to say it felt like Christmas had came early when I collected my new bike and I couldn't wait to get it back home to start fitting all the wee extras that I had been buying over the last few months as well as taking it out on the road for a blast!
YouTube
Initially I hadn't planned on doing any YouTube videos with my bikes but when a new hobby takes hold you end up watching YouTube videos of the bikes your interested in as well as join Forums/ Facebook groups and I soon realised that people actually watch this stuff and people in the facebook groups were always asking questions on "how do fit this or that to their bike" so I made a video on removing the bar end weights and fitting new ones as on the CB650R they can be difficult and that was helpful to the guys who watched it so I started adding more videos to my BMC Workshop channel and kept the videos in a separate playlist like I do with my current cars/ projects.
Not to everyone's taste
The MOTO vlogs were uploaded regularly on the BMC Workshop channel and new subscribers were joining but I was noticing quite a few existing subscribers were also leaving, presumably viewers that were there for the minis? My aim with the channel has always been to try and provide content that people find useful as well as enjoyable but the MOTO vlogs clearly didn't appeal to them even although they videos were in a separate playlist so I've decided to start up a new channel dedicated to my Motorbike vlogs and my journey into motorcycling and I've called it BMC MOTO.
Both channels are linked to each other via the home page banner and links within the "About" page. I feel it's best to separate the channels that way the people who subscribe to either channel will see the content they want to watch rather than a video popping up that they have no interest in. Most people would just skip by it but some instead withdraw their support to the channel and unsubscribe which is fair enough...
BMC Workshop going forward...
Due to getting my motorcycle licence and purchasing the bike the mini projects have had to take a back seat for the time being. I've literally no money left at the moment as all my savings have been spent on acquiring my licence/ buying all my gear and purchasing a bike. I am hoping to work on Angus (1977 mini) over the winter period and all that car really needs now is door skins/ door frame bottoms and a few welds here and there to finish the bodywork off.
Annie (mini thirty)
Annie has now been MOT'd (video to follow) and with this year's MOT she picked up a few advisories with the main one being the steering rack so she will require a rack before the next MOT. The other advisories were just small items, play in a Ball joint and a missing CV boot strap. I'm also hoping to get out on some road runs with my mate Rod and his mini special if we can both be days off at the same time.
Apologies for the long post and my absence over the last wee while. Hopefully mini content will resume shortly and if you wish to subscribe and help support my new channel that would be great!
All the best,
Sean
BMC Workshop/ BMC MOTO