flybikeslee

not mine but looks awesome

Daytona-Dave

Boring,,,needs painting

flybikeslee

and mirrors

Ultra_Nexus

So you noticed this time....

I don't like it, yours looks loads better.

j8mie

The mirrors are terrible on that bike. I have a lovely view of my shoulders, and it does play on my mind a bit, but forces me to do my life saver check more often. I've not had the pleasure of riding in the wet. Cheers for the tip about the tyres.


Your not the first person to say that to me. No danger of me jumping on a supersports bike once I do my direct access. I'm in no hurry to attend my own funeral. That's one of the reasons they changes the bike test. Keep novices of silly fast bikes. ATM 60mph feels fast enough


Well I've been riding for a few weeks now, and my confidence is starting to build up a bit. I'm using the bike to do my short commute to and from work when it's dry, and have had the chance to do a couple of longer rides when the roads have been a bit quieter. The roads round Reading are always busy, all the time it seems .

I have noticed a few things thus far.
1) Controlling the bike at slow speeds is harder than I thought. You really wobble about which has taken some getting used too.
2) Despite my L plates, most people wish to drive up my arse, and I've had to circle a roundabout on more than one occasion to get rid of someone behind me (one was a learner motorcyclist ).
3) Avoid slowing the bike down using just engine braking. It's caught a couple of people out who've been behind me.
4) Don't try and corner at car speeds.
5) You really notice just how shit are roads are, and you need to keep your wits about you at all times.

Welshman

When you get on a bigger bike you'll find low speed control is easier as the bike will weigh double your 125 so the centre of gravity with you on top will be lower.

A bigger bike without L plates also has more presence and you should find that some, but not all, people will give you a wider berth. A few touches on the brake to light up the brake light coupled with using your left hand to gesture that they should get back a bit usually has the desired effect.

flybikeslee

beginning to get the urge for a 1000cc....

unclefester

Things to work on - most ( not all of which ) will stand you in good stead for the bigger bike.

1. Be smooth with brake and clutch - learn to use the throttle / gears, up and down the box. Practice good clutch control and learn your clutch bite point until you can hit it without looking at the lever.
2. Do NOT use front brake while turning the bike, you're not Marquez, It will fall over and you'll look a tit
3. Gentle dragging of the back brake / slipping the clutch on a tight turn can help - have a play with it. It will serve you well on the bigger bike.
4. Look where you want to go - especially on a tight turn, if anything you want to look past the point you want to go - almost back on yourself - that forces you to start the turn If you are practicing between painted car park lines, don't grab the brake / panic if you go wide - they're just painted lines!
5. You will always go where you look - look at the kerb .... you WILL hit it Same goes for women - i don't think this works as a technique.
6. Core strength makes things easier - you do not need tense arms. Tense arms simply amplify any problems through the bars. You know you are too tense when you hands / arms start to ache. If you do get stressed, talk yourself through it out loud - no one else can hear you yabbering away inside your lid.
7. Observation, again and again and again. Look for stuff in the road so that you can plan to avoid it before you need to sweve to avoid it. Expect people to do dim things, even if people are looking right at you it doesn't mean they've seen you.
8. Practice your mirror checks. Mirror. Signal. Shoulder check. Move. Mirrors / shoulder check before you move off. Ride as if you are invisible to ALL other road users and remember you weigh 1/10th of what a car does, if you are in the right place at the wrong time, you don't live to be right.
9. Tailgated by an idiot / speed freak - let them past calmly and without getting involved - they can continue on their way and have their accident / bad day / hissy fit with someone else.
10. Strong cross winds are not a day for taking a 125 out.
11. Don't be bullied into riding in the gutter - make people actually overtake you otherwise they just shove their way past which is more dangerous. You know how that works as it's something that always happens to scooter riders.

Above all - relax and enjoy it - no one does anything well that they don't enjoy. I took mine on an 80 mile a day commute for a month to get some miles in before doing DAS - the miles were time well spent.

Welshman

Maybe as you move off but performing the so-called lifesaver before overtaking is not a good idea. You should know what's behind or coming up behind you before overtaking - that's what your mirrors are for. If you take your eyes off the road ahead to look behind it'll take you 2 seconds to regain the picture of what's in front - this was advice from a Police Class 1 motorcyclist who trained police motorcyclists.

unclefester

That's the problem with CBT / DAS and real world riding - there's more than a few differences. If you don't do them on DAS you can fail it if you miss them repeatedly. I was told once you pass your DAS, forget it all and start learning all over again. There's a few other things, position on the road being one of them that differs too.

DAS = change lane = always always blindspot check / quick shoulder check.