Yet another newbie but a not bad one, honest ;-)

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Good morning everyone.

Had a bit of a lurk and thought you sounded like a knowledgeable, helpful bunch of peeps who could do with another nonuffin jamming up the works

I live in sometimes sunny Somerset. Got my first bike in 2017 and have been completely hooked ever since.
Had a introductory day into off road riding last week and it was instant love, can’t wait to go back and do day two, sorry I waited so long to do it.
Want something a shortarse can ride on and off road, seriously considering RE Himalayan but going to wait until after ADV festival at Ragley to decide then maybe joining the TRF?
Read the 40 page RE Himalayan thread, good stuff. Would be interested in knowing which RE Facebook group everyone uses?

Being new to all this at the moment I’m doing my best not to let the excitement make me jump without looking!

Suspect I already know a few of you by different usernames, if so feel free to say hi, your secret identity is safe with me

Looking forward to joining in, asking lots of daft questions and maybe at some point in the future having something useful to contribute!

[steve the grease]

You could do worse than get a Serow , they are quite low in the saddle and a forgiving bike to ride. OK you ain't going to be doing any burnouts , but to introduce you to green laning you will struggle to find a better bike for the price they go at. I started riding a l o n g time ago on an knackered bantam around an old RAF camp in Cheshire, no knobblies , brakes or indeed any way of stopping the engine, I still have the scars. Welcome to the group you should find some good roads/lanes in rural Somerset get ont bing maps ( ordinance survey) and look for little crosses or little dots , (but not dashes) which designate byeway open to all traffic (BOAT) or the dots are unclassified county road UCR. The diamends are county boudaries I think. There are some UCR's to the east of South Moulton by the look of it. I personally think the TRF is a good organisation, but not everyone agrees , it depends on the local group I guess.

[Alun]

Hello and welcome to ABR

[Godspeed]

Welcome!
Plenty of fantastic byways in North Somerset.... I’m just based in Bristol

6985691C-5C3B-413B-A823-93A0EDF33E1B.png (912.25 KiB) Viewed 3205 times

[daveuprite]

Welcome Slowlycatchymonkey:

Whatever you do, don't copy anything that Godspeed does...

I agree with others on here, if in doubt always go small and light, especially at first. Nobody ever said "What I really need is a bigger much heavier off-road bike".

[geoham]

Hello and welcome to ABR from Northern Ireland

[Stewie]

Hello and welcome from West Sussex, some great stuff down the west country.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Thanks for the welcome and advice it’s appreciated.

Looking forward to finding out where the good places are in the West Country and soon my day two introduction to off road riding with trailquest in Ledbury

Thanks for the heads up on Godspeed

[Boggs]

Hello and welcome from Co Durham