A few months ago I was chatting to a mate at work about how we both fancied another bike. It's been nearly 3 years since I had one and well over 20 for him and I think even then he had a battered 250 of some description. Ended up with us both agreeing (or so I thought) that something like a Transalp, BMW GS would be ideal for a bit of fun, offroad, touring, commuting etc. funds/family permitting……….

I saw him last night and he's getting one of these next week …… 😀 and 😯

He promises he will go to a 'refresher' so recommendations urgently please before the silly bugger does himself some damage.

ps. I'm not jealous at all

Oh dear.
Has his wife checked the life and incapacity insurance is up to date?

Nail almost on head Ian – recently separated from his wife and she wouldn't let him have one !!

As far as being aware of the dangers, he has done the same job as me for a lot longer so knows the score.

In the N.East England BTW re training recommendations.

someone i know brought a brand new motorbike in a moment of madness three years back. as he was using it for the first time, he fell off just as he was leaving his garage and broke his elbow. not used it since.

Jap hypersports is just not the way to go. I've ridden for 30+ years from the age of 9 (gave it up last year though) and I would've pleaded with him to get an 800GS or Transalp or ER6 or something that you can master, dominate and enjoy, laughing to yourself as you ride around the outside of the noob on his R1 who's too frightened to open it up, too uncomfortable to be enjoying it, gums bleeding as their teeth are clenched so tight in panic!

But, I hope that he's a naturally talented rider and enjoys it. I'd recommend he goes on a police run course, they are pretty good. I had a MAC course from a retired copper after buying a new Honda about 13 years ago and it was fun. Main points I re-learned were looking well ahead, personal ride commentary and road positioning.

I wish him luck and miles of smiles.

My thoughts exactly Naranjada. I hadn't seen him for a few weeks otherwise I would have tried to steer him in another direction. He has mentioned the police course but I wondered if there were any alternatives to consider.

He is a good driver so I think that will translate to some extent at least to his riding. I'm pretty certain he will need new underwear the first time he opens it up as I don't think he has any concept of just how vicious a bike like an R1 can be. I can still vividly remember two first rides, one a 1100 Katana when they first came out and more recently a Fireblade. Takes quite a while for the brain to catch up until you're used to it !

Most of the police forces around the UK run Bikesafe courses – I did the one in London and it was excellent. Some classroom time about hazards/dangers, and legalities of filtering, then a couple of long rides out – one in town, one out in the countryside. The police involved are non-preachy and give good pointers on parts of your riding to improve, and how to take further advanced training. Only about £40 including lunch too.

That said, if he's fresh to biking again then just booking a day through the local motorcycle training centre and getting some miles on the bike under supervision would probably be a very good idea. Modern sportsbikes are pretty easy to ride, but it would be worth looking at one of the courses that the likes of Circuit Based Training do to learn to corner properly, but they also teach how to do an emergency stop mid-corner. One of the biggest causes of fatalities are people braking in left-hand bends, bike sits up and tries to run wide – if you're lucky into a ditch or hedge, if you're unlucky into an oncoming HGV.

I'd love one Woody but no way on am I ever going to buy one. There's no chance of me riding one of them steadily all that power would be too tempting.

Don't want to be another red streak on the road.

Wife recently left him and he buys an R1, classic mid life crisis.

Dead by Christmas

Thanks for all the feedback, with the exception of Pigface…..tosser 🙄

Drac – you've probably met him!

He is a pretty sensible guy and I'm sure he's had so much advice/dire warnings that he will take it very easy and he definitely will get training. He's bought a decent helmet and I'm going to fish out my old leathers so at least he'll be properly kitted out.

Yam R1, classic "wife's left, must buy bike" bike.

In all seriousness a refresher really needs to be sought by your mate, he'll sh!t a brick first time he turns that throttle if his last bike was a 250 20 years ago.

Point him int he direction of this forum for some sobering advice (all the guys on here are pretty well screwed together and not idiot 17 year olds who watch Ghostrider videos all day)

http://www.themotorbikeforum.co.uk/

Probably Woody if he's been on a few years.

Make sure he rides with his organ donor card…
More seriously, it's the rider that make a bike fast, not the engine.
A born again of this age is a newbie. Full stop. So let him buy something like a F650, a CB500, ER-5, ER-6, ducati monster 600 and so and so, basically anything around 50-60 bhp. As said above, a course with an instructor or a plod should do.

(now waiting for all the owner of a jap inline 4 to come on here and tell about how nice and stable their bike is at 180 mph on the motorway…)

Too late Juan – he picks it up on Tuesday. There was a very nice 4 year old GSR600 with only 850 miles on the clock that one of the girls at work was selling which I thought was ideal but apparently the R1 was cheaper!

But as you say, it's the rider and not the bike who controls the speed.

Out of interest, can any bike be chipped/detuned?

I did my DAS three years ago, rode about 35k miles back in prehistoric times, but never bothered taking the test. I did the DAS for commuting flexibility, but no need has arisen yet, so still no bike. 😥

At the time I read about a few bikes which can be bought with reduced power output. I can't remember if this was to take a mid sized bike below a certain output to enable younger intermediate license holders to buy these particular vehicles, then get the restriction taken off when they qualify.

If there was a way of taming the huge power of your mate's new bike, would he consider having it detuned for the first few months until he's got his eye in?

On of my mate's employes had a similar bike and wrecked it. All he did was give the throttle a quick blip. The wheel spun out on the straight and he slid, expensively, down the road. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic!

Personally, I can't see the point in having such excessively powerful bikes available to ride on public roads!

problem is woody it's just too tempting. He'll be opening full trottle all the time. Not only it's just stupid when you have 180 BHP on open road, but he just won't learn to corner/brake properly, as he'll be resorting to the power to catch up on the straights.

Spongebob

Out of interest, can any bike be chipped/detuned?

Certainly large capacity carbed bikes can be restricted to 33bhp, this is usually done with washers under the carbs considerably reducing the opening into the inlet.

Very simple to install and remove.

Cheers, Rich

An R6 might have been a better bet if he was hell bent on a Sports bike.

Really good forgiving handling, but only really silly fast if you rev the tits off it.

If he has a bit of sense and is at least a litle bit scared of it, then I am sure he will be fine. But as Juan said he wont need to learn how to ride as he will just have to twist the throttle to catch up with the traffic even if he trundles around corners.

Bazzer

Problem with restricting a 180BHP bike to 33BHP is that you will have a 33BHP bike that is geared for getting on for 200MPH. It might be ok as restricting air may just strangle it as the revs rise, so you might have low down torque stil, but I am guessing an R1 makes 33BHP pretty low down the rev range.

Bazzer

Then maybe your mate could buy a srx 400 for about 400 on the bay, trash it for A year and then get on the R6…

juan – Member
(now waiting for all the owner of a jap inline 4 to come on here and tell about how nice and stable their bike is at 180 mph on the motorway…)

Never been that fast on mine, but it is a very stable bike. Anyone heard of Gyroscopic effect – that is what makes it stable at highspeed. Juan if I have missed your point I am sorry.

I wouldn't ever suggest an R1 as a first bike, but if he has got it then there isn't a lot more to say about which is the best bike for a newb…

Get him to sit on the bike and play with the throttle until he can choose a particular rev spot from idle at will (obviously don't spend to long doing this as you'll really p155 off the neighbours!!)

Once he can do that he'll probably have half decent throttle control, it's then just a case of knowing when to trust the tyres and knowing when you have warmed them up, absolutely nothing other than experience will enable him to do this.

Get him on a schooled track day, that'll teach him more about how his bike handles than anything else… Roads are not as grippy as a track though.

As for all litre owners being scared of the power and failing to corner properly… Gross exaggeration there me thinks, I quite often go out with guys on smaller bikes, and I never lead because they can't keep up (Yes due to straight-line speed and acceleration) but I also never have a problem keeping up with them in the twisties (When I have got my tyre pressures right that is!)

You can learn to corner on any bike, if you force yourself. If he doesn't TRY and hold corner speed, the bike will be irrelevant, he will never corner quickly, all a small bike does is introduce you to how important holding corner speed is to keep up with more powerful bikes.

Cornering "properly" on the road has nothing to do with the power or speed, but about placing yourself in the corner properly to see as far ahead as possible and avoid dying! Obviously the better you get at this the faster you can go safely, however that may just mean he reaches the limit of a 400 faster if he is a quick learner.

That's all for now.

Have done practically the same myself and can only repeat the advice already given – get a few hours tuition on smaller bikes at first. If he doesn't I reckon your mate will seriously scare himself and go off bikes completely! Why not approach a local training school and pay for a day's refresher on their bikes before he gets to grips with the R1?
I did the CBT and DA on a 500 and 650 in winter – now have a Daytona 🙂

20 or so years is a hell of a long time – i would advise him to take a few days or even a weeks refresher training. Get out there with an instructor on hios own for a couple of days, maybe evn get the instructor to put him through a bit of a mock test to see how he rates him.
Bet his neck, knees and wrists will give him a lot of grief for the first few weeks, might actually make him think about getting something a bit more upright.
Surprised he can get insurance without building up a few years NCB.
Does he know any other riders in the area, would be usefull if he could ride out with one of the sensible lads who won't try and show off or get him trying to race other bikes too quickly.

Does he know any other riders in the area, would be usefull if he could ride out with one of the sensible lad

He does but they're all Paramedics and it would be a very bad idea 😯

It was chucking down rain today until the afternoon and he hadn't ventured out so I txt him to make sure he didn't feel tempted to take it for a spin until I'd finished my shift 😆

He is going to go on a Police training course and will take it from there. He has had so many dire warnings that he is under no illusions what might happen and has a healthy respect and understanding of his own limitations and relative inexperience. He also now has a very nice set of leathers (loaned by someone else who was also concerned) and a good helmet so hopefully he'll be fine and take it very easy at least until he has had the training course.

I did a Police rider course in Cambs and it was excellent – even though I don't have a (motor) bike any more I still remember all the stuff on positioning and observation and it taught me skills I'll use for the rest of my lift as a cyclist / driver.