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Swagga:
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to the world of motorbiking, having done my CBT at the start of May and recently gained my full A licence. I'd say I've definitely been bitten by the bug.

I was looking around at bikes and none of them seemed to tick all the boxes, then I saw the V-Strom mentioned and my eyes lit up. It has pretty much everything. So I went for a viewing and test ride and bought myself a 2015 DL650 XT - yellow with gold rims (looks great). It has a full set of hard boxes which have already proved super useful. Was able to get 4 bottles of wine, 16 bottles of beer plus the misses and both our work bags in the boxes with room to spare. The side adjuster for the rear spring is really handy!

Here's what I love about it and what I was looking for.
* Predominantly a road bike with off-tarmac capability (need to work on my own off-tarmac capability though)
* Fun to ride
* Fuel injected
* Gear indicator
* Not too expensive
* Fairly low mileage
* Not too loud when I don't want it to be (don't want to be that bloke)

Already started to add some bits to make the bike mine (or maybe just more like everybody else's..?)
* Crash bars
* Centre stand
* Radiator guard
* Kickstand spreader plate

It was a lot bigger in the flesh than I expected but I'm getting used to the larger size already, it certainly takes a lot more control to keep it upright! My 125cc that I used to learn on seems tiny now but I remember even that seemed fairly daunting when I started out. It's the first bike I've ridden where the dash remains static whilst the handles move, which really disorientated me at first and I started the test ride with a bit of a wiggle whilst I convinced my brain to accept the changed frame of reference.

I'm looking forward to learning the tips and tricks associated with motorbikes/motorbiking generally and also more about the V-Stroms specifically.

I'm living in Wiltshire right now but I'm moving to Cork in Ireland at the end of August.

Asmith61:
 :welcome: great introduction  :thumb:

Dabbist:
Hi and Welcome.  :welcome2: I only joined yesterday, myself.
If you're new to bikes I'd strongly recommend that you take some advanced training as soon as you think you're ready to. I did ROSPA but IAM is pretty much the same. It's actually fun and very cheap to do.
In the meantime the most useful fact that I ever learned (and you must have heard it before) is that car drivers cannot see you!  It's not deliberate or malicious, but our brain is wired to see what we're looking for and, since less than 2% of road users are on motorcycles, they're not looking for us.
Above all, though. Have fun!

Hugo Magnus:
 :welcome:

Keith60:
Hello &  :welcome2: 

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