Morecambe on a sunny March day

Vixen by the seaside

Trip out to the seaside - Morecambe is just a short ride away from my house, so I can easily ride there on a lunchtime.  Traffic is a bit shocking though in places, you can avoid most of it, but crossing the Lune, one way or another, usually is a drag.

Sunny day today, misty coastline.

Parked in the taxi rank of a small car park.  Bikes seem to be generally exempt from charges, I saw the attendant and asked him, he said I could leave it there or take an entire bay if I wanted...

Manual override

I just realised, somewhat belatedly, that my Vixen didn't come with any kind of user manual.

One trip to Halfords later and I buy the 'Chinese (Taiwanese & Korean) 125cc Motorcycles, Four-stroke single and twin cylinder engines' Haynes Service and Repair Manual, for about £16.  The back says that amongst the applicable models is a Lexmoto HT125-8 Vixen.

Chinese 125cc Motorcycle manual and toolkit

I figure that a mini-toolkit for my backpack will also come in handy.

Some reading to be done...

Buy on Amazon:
Chinese 125 Motorcycles Service and Repair Manual (Haynes Motorcycle Manuals)

Petrol

I was due to go to town to buy a few bits and bobs... It's a sunny day so I decide to take the bike and ride to a slightly further away supermarket, just for the fun of it.

On the way I check my trip meter, it says 117km.  I have no idea how many miles (or even km) I get to my tank of petrol, so decide to top it up, to give me an idea how far my £11 has gone so far.

At the petrol station I have the usual fumble, as it's all quite new for me - in which order do you take off your gloves, helmet, open your petrol cap (and then reverse the process)...?  I kept on doing things like sitting on the bike ready to go only to realise I'd put my keys in my pocket, so would have to remove gloves, fish it out, etc.  Anyway.

£5.32 is all I manage before the tank is full, full, full!  So I spent about half of £11 on 117km so far?  Fine.

So, I fill up okay and discover that the petrol cap, in fact, just clicks back into place.  If you align and press, the lock pings back and it's secure...  Or so I think.

I ride on to the supermarket, buy my bits and bobs, then get back to the bike, repeat ill-timed repetition of gloves, helmet, keys, backpack, zipping up coat type of thing, and then notice petrol pissing out of the tank, through the engine, and onto the floor.

Cue imagination of large explosion (see above).

The petrol seems to be coming out from under the petrol cap.  The tank was, I confess, probably somewhat over-full.  What the hell do I do?  I run back into the supermarket and grab a load of paper roll destined normally for jam spillages, and run back to the bike and mop up the petrol.  I stuff some under the cap and it stops the flow for now.  I clean every bit I can find, every drip, and in the progress manage to rip a side-plate off.  One of the plastic ones that says 'Lexmoto'.  I say rip, but actually it came off in my hand - it had cracked next to the screw and was only held in place by two other plug-like fittings. 

I sigh deeply.

So, with a pocket full of tissue, I set off.  Half way to town, the tissue I wedged in is pissing out petrol again.  In alarm I pull over and mop it all up again.  Stuff more tissue in.  I just need to get home I reckon.

Almost home and the petrol has stopped.  I did turn the petrol cap a bit to the left, almost like screwing it in.  Not sure if that helped, but the petrol definitely stopped.  I rode around for half an hour just to check everything, but it was all fine.  I retuned home.

One of my neighbours came over to say hello.  He owns a big red racing bike.  Big and red.  He likes the bike though and the look of reminisence comes over him as he tells me how he started on two strokes, moved over to four and is now on a big v twin.  At least I think that's what he said.  I know the difference, in theory between two and four stroke engines, and that a v-twin is a two cylinder engine where they are shaped like a 'v', but as to the advantages and disadvantages of each, I'm still unsure...  Still, it's nice to talk to a local biker and be kind of accepted into the fold, as it were.

Ride to Jubilee Tower

Ride out at lunchtime to Abbeystead then Jubilee Tower, back through Quernmore.  Took about 45 minutes.

Google map http://goo.gl/maps/x29z

Me at Jubilee Tower

Lovely ride, grey day but roads (lanes) were empty.  Bit wet and muddy but bike held the road.  Steady 60 on most straights, minor worry about how to handle cattle grids at such speed, but, they seem okay.

Struggled with starting and choke when I set off.  Somehow I managed to get them mixed up and struggled to get up the hill at the start...  *sigh*

Lunchtime ride to Littledale

Sunny March day so I took the little Vixen up to Littledale for lunchtime, it's not that far:

http://goo.gl/maps/BvQc

Lexmoto at Littledale

Nice country roads, lovely day.  Visor up, not cold.  Engine sounds fine.

Today I learn, quickly, about going up, and more importantly, down very steep muddy country lanes.

I have/had no idea really.  I find myself shooting down a muddy lane at an alarming gradient and wonder to myself what the best course of action is.  Do I try and slow down, go into a low gear, keep power on through curves?  I have to keep clear of the front brake as they're so twisty...  In the end I back brake to slow as much as I can, then go round under power, though some are so tight that I have to hard brake just to stop flying into hedges.  Hairy, and I still don't know the best way to approach this.

In fact, I realise that I still know very little about riding.  When I'm heading to a curve at 45 or 50mph, I was slowing right down before, but I'm now realising that I can corner at a much greater speed than in a car, or than I thought.  But how fast I can I go?  How far can I lean?  No one ever told me...  What gear do I go round in?  Do I need high revs?  *sigh*  I once was pillion with a friend, many years ago, who went round a roundabout with me, and all our bags, so fast, and so far over, that we created a shower of sparks as we cornered.  Only later did he say, 'wow, you don't normally recover from those'.

Anyway, made it there and back, wonderful ride.  Only fright was two racers that shot past me at such a speed, and so close, that they made me wobble!  Ha!

I also got my first nod from another biker today.  Ah, nice.

Pick up in Preston

Within a week of paying for my Vixen, it was ready to be picked up from Freedom Bikes, in Preston.  I could have had it delivered, but figured that it was only half an hour drive home, so opted to go down and drive it back.

I hadn't ridden anything since my CBT about 8 months earlier...  So with some nerves and trepidation did I enter the shop.  Friendly shop.  The guy there quickly showed me round the bike, did the paperwork, then wheeled it out the back into a small car park.  He started her up, said to call him if there were any problems, and disappeared behind the fire escape door, which closed firmly behind him.

The engine then cut out.  I tried to start it, but it wouldn't catch.  The choke was on full, which he assured me it needed as it was brand new, and you needed it if it hadn't had a run for a while, for a few minutes.  I tired  again ... no joy.  I imagine the engine flooding, if such a thing is possible.  I used to have an old car with a choke and that was a nightmare.

I manage to turn the choke off, and it starts this time, with plenty of revs.  In fact, so far, it has always wanted a lot of revs to start up.

I behold my new bike.

Pre first ride

The guy in the shop, before leaving, told me I could practice in the car park before going on the road, as outside the gates was a busy main road...  I was supposed to push a button and ask the gate guy when I wanted to leave.

So, I glove and helmet up and try to get the Vixen off it's big stand (it has two, a side stand, and a larger, more stable one).  Just as I'm doing this, unsuccessfully, a girl comes out to empty some rubbish.  I can tell that she lingers, enjoying watching me puff and pant and almost topple the bike.  In the end I get it, and I can finally check my mirrors and put her in gear.

I figure I'll do some figure of 8's first.  As soon as I move, the gate goes up and I feel obliged to ride under it.  Now I'm at the junction, in the middle of Preston, there are people and cars and trucks and dogs and everything.

So, deep breath and wobble out.  I kind of remember.  I'm a bit jerky and wobbly, I struggle with indicators, gears, brakes, everything.  There's actually a gear number display, but I try not to look at it.  I find myself looking at the indicator switch when I try and use it.  It's fiddly.

Pretty soon I'm in three lanes of traffic and in another world.  It goes okay.  I remember things.  It's actually fun, even in city centre traffic.  I start to smile...

First stop, petrol station.  Petrol cap off, no problem.  I put £11 of fuel in, it looks quite full after that, no idea how much was already in it.  I reset the trip meter.  Cap back on.  Ah, not so easy.  It seems to have a lock, a spring, and a line-up bit.  I struggle and fiddle and create a small queue behind me.  It seems you have to push it down, then turn the key.  But this, whilst firm ish, still seems to move and doesn't convince me that it's on correctly.  No time to lose, I pay and get out of there.

The petrol cap is fine.  I bomb out of town eastwards, it gets quieter, I pass through small towns, then villages, then am completely lost.  I stop and consult my phone (Google maps, tell me where I am).  I'm 35 minutes in the wrong direction, is where I am.

I plot a new course and head off again.  Now on dual carriageways I get her up to 65 without too much bother, but more than that she starts to complain.  Cars whoosh by, leaving me hardly any space.

I stop again and realise I'm shaking with cold.  I have an open face helmet (the wife said it looked nice), no scarf, a pair of jeans with nothing under them, a t-shirt and a super thick Frank Thomas black leather I got on eBay for £40.  And some summer riding gloves.

It's March.

I put on a scarf I have and zip up everything, put down my visor.  Carry on.  Better.

I get back to Preston for rush hour.  Things are a bit hairy.  Busy roundabouts with junctions that fly off onto the M6, trucks, dual carriageways and fast, fast cars.

I find my road and head in the right direction, 1 hour and 10 mins since I set off.

Sitting in traffic looking ahead I suddenly realise that I'm driving like I'm in a car.  Cautiously, I look about and then head off between the rows of cars in the queue.  I start grinning as I fly by endless lanes of stationary traffic.  Hahahahahahaha!

Then was a fairly long ride home, which was mostly straight single national-limits roads, on which rush hour traffic didn't tolerate sub-70mph bikes.  They overtook with frightening lack of consideration.  All I can say is don't wobble around on those roads, at 5.15 pm.

I get home about 45 minutes later, shaking, cold to my core.  I can barely get the chain lock (eBay Oxford Chain Lock) to operate.  I spend 10 minutes trying to work out the best way to put it on.  I then try to put it on the bigger stand, almost toppling the bike...  I leave it on the side stand, lock the steering (key operated on the side of the bike) and go to sit by the fire at home.

Conlusion: Bike is great, the only thing you'll miss is power on open roads, but for everything else so far it ticks all my boxes.  Very happy.  Also need warmer clothes...

Buy on Amazon:
OXFORD MOTORCYCLE BIKE MULTI-PURPOSE GP CHAIN AND LOCK 1.5M