Merak – actually do listen to those with experience – I have ridden motorcycles for 40 years. If you are craving more power after a years riding I bet you two things. You have never maxed out the bike you have – full throttle to the redline in 3rd and that you have never scraped the pegs and have huge chicken strips on your tyres 😉

You will find virtually all experienced motorcyclists will tell you the same thing – those that do their apprenticeship on 40 hp bikes become better riders more quickly than those who go straight to 100 hp bikes

some 650s are suitable but not many. there is a huge difference between a 600 sports bike with 100+ bhp and a 600 single tourer with 45 bhp

I started with something cheap… very cheap. Figured if I binned it I would be less upset than something newer and shiny!

I went with a TDM800 as a result. About as exciting as a Blandit of Hornet or something – but with a touch more character from the twin. I only ran it a year or so – then switched to a 955i Speed triple which was considerably more entertaining!

Some people spend a lot on a first big bike – not sure I would have done that even if I had the funds!

Another thing that really illustrated this point I keep banging on about. a few years ago I joined an mass ride. 100+ bikes. I set off at the back on my bmw r1100rs ( tuned to 95 bhp and loads of torque but heavyish and upright) I set off at the back of the line but soon got fed up of how slow they were going and started overtaking. After a few miles I got up to the front – the leading bike was a hardtail chop with a gs thou engine – riding really hard to keep ahead of a power ranger on an R1. Next was a yamaha 550 single road bike, then a chap on an 80s twin shock gs 1000 then me. NOw my bike is faster than those two in front but could I get close – could I heck. I had overtaken maybe 40 power rangers on sports bikes to get towards the front but couldn’t get close to a 40 bhp single and an 80 bhp twin shock bike and I was trying hard enough to almost run off the road! I backed off after that point!

One of the power rangers I had overtaken crashed behind me trying to keep up with the leading group on the ride. an R1 crashing because he didn’t have the skills

Its not the bike that makes you fast – its the skills you have as a rider and the best way to get these skills is to thrash a small bike

allthegear – Member

I really, really, really, want a sidecar outfit…

After hearing what he said about it, ive no inclination to try it! Tries to flip over and throw you off turning left. And the swept bars with back to front ‘stem’ just look all kinds of wrong.

He uses it to take the dog over to the woods for a walk. The dog loves it!

those that do their apprenticeship on 40 hp bikes

I’ve got one of those too and it’s great, don’t get me wrong. I simply recommended the Blandit, as I believe it is an excellent first bike to get on after you pass your test.
Just my opinion, like arseholes we all have one 😉

🙂

You have never maxed out the bike you have – full throttle to the redline[/I]

Agree.

When I bought the then newly revamped zx9r in 1998 it would get to 100mph from zero in 5 secs, count it – One Mississippi Two Mississippi Three Mississippi Four Mississippi Five Mississippi…

And that was with ‘only’ 130bhp at the back wheel.

it’s better to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow

I’d agree with tjagain it’s the rider skills that make the difference. A chap around our way in his eighties who used to wear hunting/shooting/fishing clobber on his bike, sadly recently passed away (not on bike), road a Honda Dominator single for years which I think was only about 45 bhp. No-one could ever keep up with him, you might be faster on a long straight but never seen anyone go around corners like him, so fluid and flexible in his riding. Turned out he was an ex-TT winner and works rider for BSA and others in the fifties and held loads of track records over the years.

Back to OP. Honda for build quality and reliabilty. Transalp’s are a great first bike, not excessive power but enough, comfy go anywhere bikes & cheap enough over 20 odd years of production. Enjoy whatever you end up with.

it’s better to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow

Its also better to ride a slow bike slow! Like turning up to a uplift day on a hard tail. Keep up and you’re a riding god. Dont and well hey its the bike!

One of the best days I ever spent on the bike, was a trackday at knockhill with my nemesis (or maybe I was his nemesis) on a race prepped R1, tyre heaters, the whole deal, and me on my daily driver and road tyres (I did take the top box off before we went on track, even I have a limit). Every straight he would depart, just about every corner I’d catch him up, we must have passed each other about a hundred times that day.

And ya know what? I think I’m supposed to sneer at this atgni guy with his superbike that he couldn’t ride. But he was having a great time too so who’s the loser? He was safe, he just wasn’t fast, nothing wrong with that.

(shit, that was my last track day, May 2008 🙁 )

Northwind – I ain’t laughing at them – I am merely pointing out that its easier to learn to ride properly on a smaller bike or else you end up like that guy

I think the point thatsome are missing is that even some of the small bikes are bloody fast these days. My Goldwing was the second fasted production bike in the world when it first came out. Now a 600 bandit would leave it for dust….its also a decidedly unpleasant place to be over 90mph if the road has any bumps or bends

I’ve got a Dommie too although I can guarantee I’m nowhere near as quick as the old boy above 🙂

I now have an 09 Honda Transalp 700, great bike heated grips screen etc.
It does its job of commuting perfect with the odd day out thrown in
Past my test in the summer of 2015 and bought a Mk1 Bandit 1200 as it was fairly cheep but a bit impractical as it was loud and naked and not good at 05:00 for the neighbors.
Awesome bike for the money though
Test rode a street triple r and a tiger xc both great bikes.
Fancy a bobber next, would love an enduro but the thought of the local scrotes knicking it bothers me.

Just don’t get carried away on a public road… that’s probably the best advice… no matter if you’re ragging a small bike or a big bike.

Most seasoned bikers like to regale newbies with stories of how they/their mate was faster on a Honda step through than a power ranger on an R1. Who cares. Its not all about being fast. The beauty of a motorbike is that the more exotic/performance end of the spectrum is affordable to so many more people than an equivalent exotic car.

I do have to admit, my current bike is a bit of a handful – It’s the last gen Multistrada 1200, and as far as I can tell it’s designed to turn anyone riding it into a hooligan!

(Note: The road is about 20m behind the bike in this photo, Just wanted a photo on some mud 🙂 no way am I taking it proper offroading!)

It hasn’t got the new fangled DVT engine, so it’s lumpy low down and over eager slightly less low down! Midrange is for silliness…

Great fun in the summer or dry open roads, but in the winter on busy roads it’s a bit of a ball ache to keep nice and smooth.

Good news is apart from a bit of rust on the front disc bolts it’s doing remarkably well at handling the salt. I thought it would fall to bits in record time, as I assumed no one who owns a Ducati has ever taken it out in winter before! 😛

Still, my 1980 R100 is the one I love most! 🙂

Watching this with interest as looking to get through my test in early Summer.. Was planning on getting chuckied up to the eyeballs on an MT09 Tracer but I’m re-thinking that now! Mainly as I don’t want to drop a brand new/nearly new bike.. Hmmm..

Grenosteve – That BMW looks awesome! I’m a BMW man when it comes to cars but looks like that also applies to bikes! It’s cool as that thing.

That R100 is lovely. Kudos.

Northwind – I ain’t laughing at them – I am merely pointing out that its easier to learn to ride properly on a smaller bike or else you end up like that guy

You might end up a better rider on a small bike, but it’s worth also considering what and where you’re going to be using it. I do a lot of motorway and A-road commuting, and a 600cc Japanese inline 4 is ideal – reliable, a decent amount of power for overtaking and pulling onto the motorway, and cheap to maintain.

It may well have made me lazy, and there are certainly a lot of better riders than me out there, but that’s not something I particularly care about – going for trackday or a weekend rideout with another 20 bikers has no appeal to me, I need efficient transport that can get me past the traffic and park at the door.

I’m hoping to finally do my full license this year, if only so that I can take the L plates off of my RS125, and not have to keep doing CBTs.

Passed the DAS 13 months ago with 2 other guys after spending a grand total of 4 days riding experience. Both the other guys bought superbikes and both have binned them in to hedges at least once in the past year. I went with a new CB500X because it was comfortable, fast enough, only £5k new which is remarkably cheap for a well spec’ed bike and most importantly reliable.

It is a little bit buzzy on the motorways but will easily keep up with traffic, it’s excellent around town, fun on the back roads and still does over 80 MPG. It will do over 100mph but I haven’t been above about 85-90 which is plenty fast enough for me on a public road (if I want to go fast I’ll take my MGBGT to a track).

After doing nearly 7000 miles on it last year I don’t think I will be looking for a bigger bike any time soon. I keep looking at the Honda Crossrunner but can’t see any advantage the 800cc bike over the 500cc one for how I ride.

on the back roads and still does over 80 MPG

I wish I could get anywhere near that out of the Ducati. 😥

What is the Ducati doing, out of interest? My S1000XR seems to be settled at 47mpg – not bad but not amazing, either. Might have something to do with how it forces me to be accelerating all the time!! 😈

Also – get it off road – it’ll be fine.

Rachel

Around 40/45 for weekend rides, I don’t use motorway much though.

Going to work and back across Sheffield, mostly filtering then having fun on the country roads near home, it gets under 30. 😯

I cycle most of the time though, so doesn’t bother me.

Hate to think what I got going over the Col du Gand Saint Bernard… 😆

Over 47 years I’ve had (by way of “big” bikes, by my era) Guzzi Monza, Honda Revere and, for the last 17, SV 650 which I can’t really fault. It certainly coped fine two up with all the camping gear to Italy.

Borrowed 650 BM last year and was mighty impressed. 400 miles in the day round mid/north Scotland and I was fresh as a daisy at the end (would have been a bit stiff on the SV). Not going daft but nobody passed us and got 75 mpg. I would have one if I was in the market.

As said by others, you don’t need enormous power – much faster bikes existed in days gone by with less bhp. I recall coming up behind a group of sportsbikes a few years ago on a twisty Highland road and was forced to pass the lot and didn’t even need to use the full 18bhp of my Beta Rev3. Anyone who’s ridden a 400 by 18 Michelin on the road knows how much fun that was 🙂

I’l chuck in a bit of a “left field” idea – Honda CRF250L. Good for commuting if you’re not using lots of fast roads. Great for the back lanes and very capable if you want to do a bit of trail riding.

Not doing down big bikes at all but personally I think there’s as much fun to be had on the lanes exploring as there is riding twisty tarmac.

I enjoyed the Transalp I had but I sold it on for a TTR250 which got me out and exploring. Lighter, easier to manoeuvre in tight places and would not have been a handful to pick up if I’d have dropped it (I didn’t!).

Rich.

ooh – like the CRF250L – a true adventure bike. If I was going to go for a trip around the World (and, let’s face it, I am) then that’s what I would take; definitely not a BMW 1200GS!

Rachel

I have a CRF250L for sale with all the right mods if you’re interested!

Cho Jin. I might be in March!

ooh – like the CRF250L – a true adventure bike. If I was going to go for a trip around the World (and, let’s face it, I am) then that’s what I would take; definitely not a BMW 1200GS!

All I can say is, Long Way Round….

… Claudio proves you absolutely right! when he gets to ride that little 250 for a few days and has a far easier time than the other two! 🙂

I love the GS, never owned one but had few as courtesy bikes, and they are great all round bikes, but I wouldn’t want to try and handle that weight off road.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv8pcxriyL8[/video]

It’s not just the physical act of handling the bike, it’s also the effect it has on locals when a bunch of “aliens” arrive on huge bikes. It makes them fearful and unsure of your presence. You’ll never connect with them and miss out on the best part of the trip.

Small bike == friendly, less threatening

Honda CRF250L

Like it! Not what I was after ultimately – but who says I can only have one motorbike 😉

I mentionned a Transalp above as a good all-rounder, another Honda I had I really rated was a rarer NX400 Falcon, there’s a few imported here in the UK (Brazilian market) – has the XR400 single engine but with electric start and lower comfier seat. Smooth for a single, would do 80, economical and good on crap roads too. Seem popular with adventure long trip riders for some of the reasons mentionned above i.e. not too OTT.