North West UK Newbie.

[Matlock]

Hi all, I picked up my 2012, 8k miles, White CT from a private seller on Saturday and rode her back home, which for me is Formby, a small town to the north of Liverpool. I'm very impressed with the bike so far. I've come from a Yamaha TDM900, which I've still got and will still be using for winter commuting duties. I'll be using the CT for commuting and as much touring as the wife will let me get away with  Next year it looks like Ireland (NW200 races) and the Scottish Highlands are on the agenda.
A few jobs to sort out before then, firstly a service. I usually do the basics myself, but I'll get a Honda main dealer to do the first (anyone got any dealer recommendations in the NW UK?). Then it'll be fitting some electrical upgrades - heated grips, satnav feed, power socket & Optimate lead. Finally I'll want to change the luggage system so I can use my Givi hard luggage instead of the silver Honda 'butty box' top box that's currently fitted. I can see there's a lot of advice on the forum to get me started with the upgrades.
As for me, I've been riding since I was a nipper off-road (trials). At 16 I followed the then traditional UK route of a Suzuki AP50, followed by a Yamaha RD250 at 17. Since then, and that was a very long time ago, I've had a variety of bikes and even a couple of seasons of road racing in the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club in the mid 80s. As well as the CT and the TDM, I have a 1990 Yamaha XTZ750, the original Super Tenere that I'm restoring. Something will have to go in the Spring, as there's not much room in the garage now 
I've toured bits of Europe and the UK over the years, but there's still a lot to do to tick off all my wishlist! Oh and Matlock is my user name as that's where I grew up, but somewhere along the line I made the terrible decision to trade the glories of the Derbyshire Peak District for the flat, urban landscape of Merseyside. I'm looking forward to CT ownership and hopefully contributing to the forum.

[capobob]

  to the Pack!

[leadfarmer]

Hi

Welcome to the fray

We used to blitz up to Matlock and back from Lichfield back in the early 90's in my GSXR days, there are some stonking fast sweepers up there 

[MotoGpNick]

 

[Dave56]

  along to the CollecTive Matlock.

[steve]

 

[Stevensweert]

  from The Netherlands Matlock !

[scotsy]

  from Leigh

Ian