Hi folks

Been on the forum for a few days now since signing up in an excited flap on seeing cheap bits in the sale section

Lets see, what do you need to know... I'm based in the Southampton area, and I've been riding for about 2.5 years now. Started out when we had a baby - wife needed the car for all her important 'showing off the baby and generally having a good time while I was at work' stuff, so I did some maths and decided that in the long run a 125 was cheaper than the bus. So got myself a cbt, a YBR125, some top of the line bargain basement textiles, and off I went. 1st day I ride into work I get random bloke coming over to chat to me - in part the general biker friendly/nosiness, in part because my dad (who also works there and rides when it's sunny enough) has told all his colleagues that I've got a bike, so I get lots of 'Hi [Barold], lets get a look at that...oh by the way I'm Paul'

Fast forward to a shade under 2 years later. CBT coming up, might as well do a test rather than pay £100+ every 2 years. Shame it's October, but that's how it goes. Theory test (random clicking through the stupid hazard perception part), Mod 1+2 in high winds and rain respectively, and I've made it. Now to start shopping for a bike.

Look around a bit , think about how much I can get for the 125. Call it a grand, perhaps stick a few hundred to top of that for the new bike. Then I hit a stroke of luck. Also known as a car. Silly bugger decided he'd turn right while I was coming the other way. Bike gets written off, I get a payout of about 40p less than I'd originally paid for it.

Picked up an '03 plate FZS600 in January for about £200 more than the payout, and been commuting on it ever since. 3-4 of the riding colleagues have Fazers, so I'm not short of company

I'm a pathetically cautious cornerer, and I'm yet to truly embrace the 'must overtake everything and get to the front of every queue' mindset that some bikers have, but I'm getting the hang of filtering again, and I've progressed from taking 37 attempts to get it on the centre stand down (my 125 technique of lifting the back wheel with one hand while putting that stand down with the other doesn't seem be a transferable skill) to 2-3 rocks.

So I'll probably lurk here for a while until something falls of the bike and I need to ask a suitably stupid question. Something about engine oil perhaps...or whether cleaning the brakes with WD40 before a big ride is a good idea...

Barold