UKC

As a life long biker I am currently enjoying riding around Kalymnos on a 150cc scooter.
It is great to see hundreds of climbers all clearly enjoying the scooter experience. ( The majority on 50cc).
Has anyone on returning home to the UK decided to return to motorcycling after a break ( a friend of mine on this trip is getting revved up about buying a bike after 30 years) or actually returned to the UK and taken their bike test ?
Or was it simply a little two wheel holiday romance that goes no further ?

In reply to tintinandpip:

If we had the weather...

In reply to tintinandpip:

I enjoy it in Kalymnos, but wouldn't really want to ride a scooter in the UK - traffic and weather being the main differences.

In reply to tintinandpip:

If only I could have! Despite having two 750cc bikes in my garage, and having passed my full bike test in 1993, I couldn't get to hire a bike over 50cc. Why? Because I've still got my old paper license, which doesn't show the date I passed my test in the horizontal bars. Solution - hired a quad instead - random steering and almost complete absence of brakes made for an entertaining 11 days

JW

In reply to tintinandpip:

I'm surprised more people don't. My old moped was cheap to run, cheap to insure (<£100 per year) and great for getting out and about.

I didn't climb at the time but Kalymnos is showing me it's easy to get out and about with one.

I guess one problem is that the CBT test limits you to a single person on the bike, and the full text is pretty expensive. I think one for a uni student could be great though!

In reply to tintinandpip:

I lived in Bermuda for 4 years and while there I rode a 125 Vespa (modern twist n' go version) and then had a 6 speed 150cc sporty thing called a Suzuki Raider after the Vespa. Awesome fun. The Suzuki was a revtastic hoot and almost as fast as a 2 stroke. $5 every so often to fill these bikes up. Nice weather. Great climbing. Do I miss that lifestyle?

In reply to tintinandpip:

Not in Kalymnos, but have the motorbike bug. Unfortunately stacked it 4 months ago, broke my left arm badly, sprained my right thumb badly and not been able to climb in 4 months! (Should get the thumbs up for getting going again on Wednesday). Will be back on the bike once I can pull in the clutch mind!

In reply to tintinandpip:

The worst thing about Kalymnos is the noise and stink of those bloody scooters.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Would you prefer everyone to have a car instead? That would be just lovely.

JW

In reply to James Malloch:

I used to have a little 50cc Aprilia hairdryer when I was a student in Liverpool. It was brilliant - £2 a week in petrol, no parking costs and great fun to drive. And the added bonus that when I started to learn to drive (after it got nicked, sob) I only needed about 10 lessons before I could take my test.

In reply to John Ww:


Yes, as it would be cleaner and quieter, not to mention safer.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Well, you might wish to consider the impact if every scooter were to be replaced by a car - what a complete hoot parking would be.

JW