Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)
  • OT but not quite… Motorbikes
  • Wozza
    Free Member

    I’m 27 and quite fancy the idea of a bike.

    Is riding a motorbike a huge jump from riding a MTB or do some of the skills carry over?

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Slightly. But not entirely. I found it a wee bit unhelpful at times, they’re similiar enough that I kept on feeling like I knew what to do, but different enough that actually I had no clue :mrgreen: So there was a bit of unlearning to do. I think it was an advantage, in the end, but it didn’t really make a huge difference either way I reckon. Probably driving has as many transferrable skills.

    Still, it’s ace, do it. DOoooooo it. This is basically the worst time in british history to get a bike licence, mind, you’ve just missed the old easier test so now you have to do a more challenging one which actually requires you to be able to ride a bit. This apparently is outrageous, according to many bikers 🙄 But still, doooooo it.

    Dibbs
    Free Member

    I put a deposit on one of these yesterday. 🙂

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    uplink
    Free Member

    Apart from a keen road sense – I don’t think a great deal of the skills are compatible but it’s quite intuitive

    I went the other way mind & only really found bicycles in my 40s

    The old test [1976] was pretty easy
    Shortly after my 17th I borrowed a mates 250 Yamaha & did a quick couple of spins around the block with the examiner watching – Test duly passed & within weeks I had a 900 Kawasaki 😀

    gusamc
    Free Member

    I went singlespeed, motorbikes, dirt bikes, mountain biking.

    Offroad I think things are close, power was the difference, reading terrain, picking a line, understanding and feeling grip and braking, body position etc etc all seem pretty similar to me.

    On road, you should have learnt that rather a large amount of drivers/cyclists/pedestrians are **** and in an accident you’ll geneeally come second – I’d suggest they would be pretty sound motorcycling building blocks.

    Wozza
    Free Member

    Northwind are you the voice in my head?

    So it’s a case of watch out and assume everyone wants to kill you?

    lobby_dosser
    Free Member

    you got one then dibbs? you’ll have a lot of fun on it.

    I just put a deposit on one of these yesterday

    need to sell my duke (still think the duke looks better than the SM)

    smogmonster
    Full Member

    If anything, i found years on a mountainbike made it harder to learn to ride a motorbike, especially when i pull the left hand lever expecting the rear to brake to come on……..it still doesnt come naturally to me that its the clutch.

    richtea
    Free Member

    I guess there is a little overlap between a bike and a motorbike, but it’s very small.

    As Northwind said, just dooooo it! They are amongst the best toys you can ever own!

    And what’s with all the KTMs on STW? STW KTM riders meetup, anyone? 😀

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Book yourself a CBT & have a go… 🙂
    Fantastic, so much more involved than a car but so easy to get into trouble. Will get another in few years when kids are bit older.

    Wozza
    Free Member

    That’s it, i’m definitely sold on it now.

    Cheers.

    jackthedog
    Free Member

    I’m 27 and after a lifetime of riding mountain bikes I did the Direct Access last september.

    I must admit I went into it quite confidently as I assumed my years of real biking would help me get to grips with the art of motorbiking. In truth I found it helped very little – certainly I didn’t seem to have any advantage over the other guys doing the course at the same time.

    The feedback you get from a mountainbike – and the way you can manipulate it beneath you do make it do what you want just isn’t possible when you’re riding around cones, sat in the saddle, knees pressed against the tank of a shonky GS500 under the watchful eye of an instructor/examiner.

    In fact I was the only one there who managed to drop the bike whilst on a lesson, getting cocky whilst practising U-turns. I never considered the bike’s finite steering lock and went down. Once it goes, it goes, and the only useful thing my mountain biking taught me there is how to get back up off the floor without being too embarrassed.

    If you are thinking about it, go into it with fresh eyes and don’t assume anything. That way you’ll probably be more receptive to the teaching.

    It’s good fun though – get it done :o)

    ski
    Free Member

    Hmmm, I have just been invited to a classic scrambler weekend in Wales, going to have the use of a classic BSA scrambler 250cc I think?

    Not been on a motorbike since trying to top out my mates F1SE back in the 80’s!

    Am I going to kill myself?

    😉

    turboferret
    Full Member

    Ski, you’ll be fine, and have a **** good laugh I’m sure.

    Good thing about a 250 is it’s pretty difficult to completely trap yourself underneath the thing when inevitably you fall off, and the thing is on top of you, often burning your leg on the exhaust, and if you’re lucky, spilling petrol on you too 🙂

    Getting trapped under my 750 off road was a regular occurrence, I’d often have to dig my way out 😀

    Cheers, Rich

    -m-
    Free Member

    Doing CBT on a Honda 125 I found that the size and weight meant it did respond more like a bike as far as low speed balance was concerned. Once I moved on to a 500 to do my direct access cycling was no use at all…

    (and yes, I dropped my bike doing U-turns as well – several times 🙂 )

    gavtheoldskater
    Free Member

    i grew up with motorbikes, my dad raced and then built race bikes and sponsored riders. i always had a dirt bike to muck about on. i did schoolboy trials, trials, enduros and years of greenlaning (in the days when there were green lanes).

    never was i encouraged to ride on the road, and it was’nt until i was in my 30’s did i get a road bike (ducati superlight). i loved that bike but could never get the niggling worry out of my head of the risk involved, especially when i had kids.

    i sold that bike about 4 years ago. over winter i started thinking about bikes again after seeing some great used deals around, i bought a honda vtr sp1. the bike is utterly amazing. but, the worry remains everytime i ride it.

    i hope this does’nt come accross as big headed, but its not my ability that scares me its the idiot coming on the other side of the road that does (in my first month of owning the ducati i had a car cut a corner coming at me and ended up taking his wing mirror off with my elbow). there are a lot of people driving who should’nt be.

    as i say i love the sp1, i can sit in the garage and look at it. but if i had a double garage i would sell it and buy a caterham super 7 – same thrills, a bit safer (maybe).

    p.s. ok, i might have to get a crf250 as well and race the odd mx meeting!

    FOG
    Full Member

    Do it. After 35 years of motorcycling I have to say it is the best buzz ever. Yes its dangerous, yes other drivers etc. are kn*bs but it is a feeling like no other when you get a bend just right.
    However do not read my post in the thread about near death experiences which is why my wife wont allow me to have a bike anymore!

    BigButSlimmerBloke
    Free Member

    yes, the same, but no, it’s different.

    cycling skills transfer well to motorbiking, but the engine and controls are different (surprisingly), and it might take a while to get used to the speed, because a- you go fast, and b – it seems even faster, because you’re used to cycle speeds and the protection of a car.
    It’s brilliant. Do a CBT, which is a day, and you’ll get the general feel for it (possibly finding out that it’s not for you, but if you like cycling, that’s pretty unlikely, IMHO)
    Observation and staying within your/the bike’s limits are the key skills, and if you do any road riding, you’re probably pretty tuned in to being aware of what’s going on round you. You will need to take a more aggresive stance on the road (don’t ride n the gutter, occupy roadspace), but that’s about it.
    Remember and let us know how you get on.

    Wozza
    Free Member

    So nothing like MTB other than it’s seriously good fun.

    I’ll give it a go.

    Thanks for the advice, especially the bit about not being overconfident.

    hot_fiat
    Full Member

    Nothing like an MTB, unless you buy a KTM. I suspect there are so many of us on STW because its just like riding a downhill rig that somebody’s strapped a 100hp engine to.

    It is indeed seriously good fun. Do it!

    My other baby:

    richtea
    Free Member

    its just like riding a downhill rig that somebody’s strapped a 100hp engine to.

    I’ve a 950 SM too, spot on description 😆

    lobby_dosser
    Free Member

    I’ve got this up for sale if anyone is intrested. 2008, 2k miles, new tyres 200miles ago, scot-oiler, tail tidy & rim tape.

    g36the(at)gmail(dot)com

    simon_g
    Full Member

    I did my DAS a couple of months ago.

    The one thing that MTB seems to help with is slow-speed balance – people who lack any 2-wheel experience seem to have a hard time getting their heads around what the bike is doing underneath them. Beyond that it can actually be quite hard to un-learn what applies to pedal bikes – my problem on u-turns was that the instructor wanted us to look over your shoulder and keep looking back down the road while you bought the bike round. Years of cycling on the road had meant I was used to keeping the bike dead straight on when I do that so I don’t swerve into traffic, and I found it hard to get the bike to turn enough to make it round. Got worse with the big bikes and their limited steering lock.

    The general awareness, hazard perception, etc that comes with road cycling helps quite a lot, except motorcycling brings it’s own challenges when you can be going faster than a lot of the cars.

    Give it a go if you’re interested – book a CBT which is a day on a 125cc bike and see if you like it. If you wanted to continue, you’ve got the first step out of the way.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Since we’re posting pics, my own SV:

    Fettled to oblivion 🙂 Old pic though, it has different GSXR forks and a single-disc conversion with a fireblade 330mm disc and single R6 radial caliper now, for 170.5kg fully fuelled and oiled 😀 I’m even a motorbike weight weenie. Grinding some of the paint off the left hand side using some handy tarmac has reduced that further.

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