Hi Crash106, Many thanks to yourself and of course Bullet ( who I had the pleasure of schooling me in L3 last week ) for the warm welcome!
I must say that Maxi scooters are great for their convenience, comfort and of course handing and speed these days. In recent years I have owned a Gilera Nexus 500 which I had the misfortune of righting off when a car pulled out in front of me, then switching to a T max, fantastic handling for a scooter especially around London's back roads, switching to a Gilera GP 800 which was fantastic for long motorway journeys and capable of shaming a few 600's of the lights, not quite as good in the twisty's as the T max but a great scoot all the same. I could not agree more with you in their ease of use on a daily commute, good for carrying my essentials at the time, oh not to forget the wife from time to time too !! In my progression through the maxi scooters I just found myself wanting more involvement and control... Hence started running the Shiver along side the GP800. The shiver is a great bike, fantastic V twin engine, pretty sharp handling, good riding position, and muscular looks.... One problem I found it did have was a very snatchy throttle, having it re-mapped helped, but at the time I was starting to focus a lot more on my input on the bike. I then sold the GP and went for the Ducati Streetfighter S ..... what a great bike, loved the design, the engine, the sound it made above 6000 rpm, and the handling was immense ! The power coming out of the bend was incredible !! The problem was my inconsistent riding style... I was reading a lot of articles on riding input and so on in all the publications, then i read about CSS, went onto the internet to research riding schools in UK, I concluded CSS was the way to go and haven't looked back since.
What I have learned at the school is invaluable, and for me personally, I put into practise all things I've learned there every day I ride, admittedly its been a great deal to take in and I now find I'm wanting more and more days at CSS ! You can never stop learning and improving your skills, and I'm still a long way off from everything they have taught me being second nature. So yes it has given me a lot more confidence on my road bike, my control is way better now, vision, space, and stability massively improved !
I cannot wait to get back their next year on as many occasions as possible. Also looking forward to some track days when I feel comfortable enough too, ooohhh and did I mention it will all be on a Ducati 848 Evo ! Hate to be repetitious but roll on 2011 !
All the best
Ed