Kat and I got up early on Saturday morning to participate in SMART - a day long advanced rider training course put on by the Gold Coast City Council. I thought it would be good for Kat to come along so she could at least learn some basic safety before learning to ride herself.
We arived at the council chambers at Bundall and proceeded indoors to the training room where they had set up a motorcycle simulator for us to have a go on (I didn't get to it) whilst waiting to sign in and do license checks. Once we were all present the guys kicked the day off with introductions and then some basic stuff on protective gear and what the agenda for the day was. As all this was going on, one of the trainers left and as I found out, checked our bikes for registration and roadworthiness. On return he called out a few bikes asking where the rego label was and then asked me to step outside. He then said to me that he could not allow me to participate on the course this particular day as my rear tyre was not roadworthy! I realised that I was due for a new one but was a little surprised when he told me as I thought that it would have been ok.
I went back into the training room and sat through the rest of the introductory session until we all headed out to the bikes - it was then that I informed Kat and whilst we were both a little dissapointed it was a fair decision. We left Bundall and headed straight down to the Motorcycle Tyre Shop on Lawrence Drive at Nerang. I got one of the guys to check front and rear tyres out and he said that my front was scalloped and so would be best to replace both. I decided on the Michelin Pilot Roads as this was what I had on the back and wanted to convert the front to the same. I gave him the ok and we then headed off to check out the other bike shops along the street. We managed to browse through a few dealerships before returning to pick up the GSX in her new "shoes".
All up it cost $450 fitted and balanced which I thought was a pretty good price for these tyres. I know.....it was a big shock to a former cruiser rider who was used to paying just over $200 for both, but it is a very different bike and it does require a good quality tyre. The ride back to Kingscliff was spent getting a feel for the new rubber - I had worn a flat spot into my old rear so was getting used to the handling again.
So I had to settle for new tyres instead of a day of training - a good investment either way. We managed to reschedule our SMART day to mid September, the last weekend for the year that it is being run - really looking forward to it.
We arived at the council chambers at Bundall and proceeded indoors to the training room where they had set up a motorcycle simulator for us to have a go on (I didn't get to it) whilst waiting to sign in and do license checks. Once we were all present the guys kicked the day off with introductions and then some basic stuff on protective gear and what the agenda for the day was. As all this was going on, one of the trainers left and as I found out, checked our bikes for registration and roadworthiness. On return he called out a few bikes asking where the rego label was and then asked me to step outside. He then said to me that he could not allow me to participate on the course this particular day as my rear tyre was not roadworthy! I realised that I was due for a new one but was a little surprised when he told me as I thought that it would have been ok.
I went back into the training room and sat through the rest of the introductory session until we all headed out to the bikes - it was then that I informed Kat and whilst we were both a little dissapointed it was a fair decision. We left Bundall and headed straight down to the Motorcycle Tyre Shop on Lawrence Drive at Nerang. I got one of the guys to check front and rear tyres out and he said that my front was scalloped and so would be best to replace both. I decided on the Michelin Pilot Roads as this was what I had on the back and wanted to convert the front to the same. I gave him the ok and we then headed off to check out the other bike shops along the street. We managed to browse through a few dealerships before returning to pick up the GSX in her new "shoes".
All up it cost $450 fitted and balanced which I thought was a pretty good price for these tyres. I know.....it was a big shock to a former cruiser rider who was used to paying just over $200 for both, but it is a very different bike and it does require a good quality tyre. The ride back to Kingscliff was spent getting a feel for the new rubber - I had worn a flat spot into my old rear so was getting used to the handling again.
So I had to settle for new tyres instead of a day of training - a good investment either way. We managed to reschedule our SMART day to mid September, the last weekend for the year that it is being run - really looking forward to it.
Labels: Mods and Maintenance, Safety, Training
posted by Beaker at 8:46 AM
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