Should I buy a motorbike?

Aye, you should get one. They're gid fun. Here's some pics of my two current bikes and some of my mates.
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my GS and Stac Pollaidh[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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Slovenian border.[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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My GS at Longniddry[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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VFR, GS and Dignity[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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Ferg on the back wheel.[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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R1150GS[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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tantallon bass rock[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr
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C90 in a field[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr

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Lammermuir Run[/url] by yodagoat[/url], on Flickr

I think it's a wise old dude indeed who doesn't rag the tits off any bike that they ride – bigger / faster bikes can get you into a whole world of trouble if you've not got the experience under your belt to start with. Being a six footer, the small road bikes all looked a bit silly so I took the trail bike route, started with a TS100 which was s**t & then moved onto an XT250 which was great to learn on, took it off road too & got used to skidding & sliding all over the place.

Juan – thanks for the heads up on that one, I do believe that parts of my mates SRX came off one I crashed about 10 years ago 😥 too little pressure in the rear tyre & got into terrible tank slapper at 60mph before the front tyre dug in & catapulted me off the front – must have been quite spectacular but sadly my mates ahead didn't even notice & dissapeared up the road leaving me unconcious in a ditch 😆

Thanks for all the info guys. Def up for this and the over whelming positive posts from everyone just seals it.

Think the best route will be to do the CBT and then look at doing lessons straight away and getting the direct access sorted. It makes sense to do that and get a bigger bike more suited to my stacture.

All the info above is great but looks like i'll be doing a lot of reading up to get a better perspective of everything.

If anyone can recommend any tutors / schools in the Stockport / Manchester area that'd be grand. Also any advice on good books etc

Keep the Pics coming, they're getting me all giddy 😀

If anyone can recommend any tutors / schools in the Stockport / Manchester area that’d be grand. Also any advice on good books etc

I would highly recommend MSM at Belle Vue Stadium[/url]. The instructors are all very experienced and good at what they do. Other people have also had good experiences with them.

I wouldn’t recommend a certain instructor in the Sale area.

here’s my VFR…[which is more than capable of delivering a srious blow to the un-initiated :)]

and my road spec gsx-r before i went track spec on it 👿

an is right if a bit OTT. Going straight to a sports 4 makes it harder to learn to ride properly and less fun. Simnply pout they are so fast along a stright that you are still fast point to point without cornering properly and cornering at low revs / low loading the bike does not respond properly. So if you do overcook it a little you don’t have the skills to get out of that situation as you haven’t learnt how to handle a bike near its limits ( as almost no one can take a modern sports bike to its limits on the road and a newb will get nowhere near. Unlike cars a bike used gently does not respond in the same way it does usd hard.

I went from a Triumph 955i Speed Triple to a Ducati Monster 696. 112bhp down to around 75bhp.

Now, I had the Trumpet for 6 years and did nealy 30,000 miles on it. I loved it. It was a big sledgehammer of a bike. Brilliant engine, comfy, good looking, superb handling. But red line it and by the time you hit third you’re going seriously rapidly. Then you’ve got to stop it and get it round the corners….

But the little Monster was more fun. I could wring it’s neck, thrash the spuds off it and it never scared me, never got me into trouble and was just like riding a little BMX after the S3. I caould just slap it into the bends with 100% confidence.

Bigger isn’t necessarily better.

God I miss that Duke. 🙁

I’d say No even after riding for 17 years on a motorbike myself.

However, they are great fun…. but death traps.

If you do get one…. do some training with the Police.

Try not to become an Organ Donor to soon 🙁

yodagoat nice pictures but

Just after the Slovenian/Italian border guard on the Virsic Pass

Virsic pass doesnt have a border…

anyway as for motorbikes my first bike has been good, not too fast but quick enough to get away from idiots when needed. Cheap to insure too.

God I miss that Duke.

Well I feel for you mate, angela is out off the road due to a tarmac/rider interface. It’s been a week and I already miss it 🙁

haven;t read the thread – but did see the tantsllon castle pic, my favorite castle, but fwiw you should never have to ask the question – just do it. if it’s in you you have to try and decide for yourself.
i have one of these, have only seen another 3, and i love it

i now know a lot more about 12v elctrics than i used to

25 yrs, including 1 as a london m/bike courier – no organs donated so far

As an old fart (in my day a good clubman racing machine had about 45 bhp) I feel that too many people follow the marketing and overbike. The best way to me to describe a good rideable bike is that it should be nimble, which seems to cover weight and power combination.

I always liked the editorial by Peter Egan in Cycle World discussing the ideal bike where he said “I don’t trust a bike I can’t see through”. Sums up quite a lot really.

I got an SV 650 when I got back into biking 10 years ago. Superb bike, plenty of useable power, handling pretty good (Some heavier fork oil and extra preload with pieces of PVC pipe as spacers helped). Lovely noise with a fruity can, too. I haven’t ridden one, but the Kawasaki ER6 and Versys (same engine) are really highly rated. Triumph Street Triple has to be the ‘small’ capacity bike, though. I’ve got a Triumph Sprint 1050 and am looking to change it for something smaller and probably, less powerful, possibly a Triumph Thruxton. However, a friend has just bought a Moto Guzzi Griso and I think I may be in love ……….

If i could start again (go back a few years to when i passed my test) i wouldnt buy something with under 70bhp or thereabouts.

I was told not to buy something with 140bhp and have never EVER regretted doing so. ive done over 16 thousand miles now and never ran wide on the cbr125 or the zx9r. I dont drive like a maniac and i believe that you can choose a big powered bike thats known to be easy to ride / stable at speed without killing yourself on it. considering how quick and how fast an sv 650 could go,you can still fly into a corner over 100mph on one of those just as easy as a big 900.Its still going to be the same head on the riders shoulders.. they just have to take it easy and know the limits no matter what bike they choose.

something else id like to say.. so many people mentioned a bandit 600.i recon i would have come off one of those long before the zx9. its the most horrible feeling and heavy bike ive ever been on.

theres so many ifs and buts though. you could buy a powerful bike with good handling and fresh suspension and quality tyresa and be safe on it. you could also buy a low powered bike from the 90s that will have you in a hedge because of the way it rides due to the way it bucks around on our U.K roads with the oil in the forks/shock reaching the ripe old age of 20! Its not always going to be a powerful bike on a left hander that kills riders.

what next? dont get a 29er for a first bike because the speed it picks up will be a bit too much for yer capabilities? lol

Martin – unfortunately you still miss the point. It is far easier to learn to ride a smaller bike properly and this makes you safer. A big sports bike does not handle the same way at 3 / 10ths as it does at 9 / 10s. so if you get into trouble / overcook things on the big bike you have not got the skills and reflexes to get you out of the trouble.

It is much harder to learn to corner properly on a bigger bike. Partly because they are so fast down the straights that you can keep up decent speeds by without cornering hard and partly because of the weight and dynamics due to the size of the tyres.

16 thousand miles over a few years is not experienced I am afraid.

Note the folk who are saying get a middleweight on this thread are the people with decades and hundreds of thousands of miles of experience. There are very good reasons why newbs on big bikes are way over represented in the accident stats and they are very easy to spot and avoid out on the roads.

Yes you can pootle along slowly on a big bike – but you simply cannot develop the skills to get you out of trouble when something goes wrong as easily and it is harder to learn to ride that big bike than a middleweight.

You argument

you could also buy a low powered bike from the 90s that will have you in a hedge because of the way it rides due to the way it bucks around on our U.K roads

is spurious. Its knowing what a bike feels like reaching the edge of the performance that helps you develop as a rider – and this edge is closer and less sudden on a smaller bike.

Note the folk who are saying get a middleweight on this thread are the people with decades and hundreds of thousands of miles of experience. There are very good reasons why newbs on big bikes are way over represented in the accident stats and they are very easy to spot and avoid out on the roads.

Yes you can pootle along slowly on a big bike – but you simply cannot develop the skills to get you out of trouble when something goes wrong as easily and it is harder to learn to ride that big bike than a middleweight

I totted it up recently and I’ve done roughly 110,000 miles on bikes so far, in about 14 years. So that’s a reasonable average milage.

But I’m with TJ. Hving a big bike ‘just becasue’ isn’t the way to go IMO. I downgraded to my Monster and I very much doubt I went any slower than on the S3. It’s an odd thing to explain and even harder to quantify, but having a smaller bike was just more fun. I[/u] was in charge. I could barrel into a corner and feel totally safe, whereas the S3 always seemed to wnat me to go faster, and ‘mock me’ the Monster was just a tiny little BMX of a bike in comparison. I could fling it on it’s side and then get back on the gas earlier. Light, agile and fun.

Oh. It sounded better too. 🙂

Sorry for thread highjack but have been reading this with interest, and understanding about half of it.

I think I will be ready by spring for my Big Bike Test – what should I go for ?

I am a small person (152cm) who doesn’t like going silly fast, but I do want to be able to overtake stuff on the A9, and ride on motorways safely. And commuting although I guess I could keep the 125 for that.

So far suggestions include a Honda 250 and something in the 400 range. Much as I would like to ponce around Italy on a Monster. Will 250 be Ok for me ?

Would like to go on motorbiking weekends away with friends.

P.S cost/insurance not an issue due to good job and more years than I care to admit of clean driving

Hels – something you feel comfortable on. ER6 is a good bike or cb 500. Both come with half fairings and they are a decent balance of power and weight. CB 500 is a fantastic bike but it has had a charisma bypass a 250 might be a bit slow.

Perhaps the cb 400 super 4 would be a good bet. Unfortuatly there is not a huge choice around the lower end of the middle weight market. One of the small monsters is a good bet as well if you need that charisma.

Thanks TJ – that looks like I might be able to get my leg over it !

Only one way to find out…

my wife got laid off 2 years ago, to cut costs i got rid of the second car (mine) and did my CBT and bougth a bike to commute on.

its was ok, i was never a bike fan, it was a pain in the arse in bad weather though, hassle getting your gear on and off, somewhere to store it in work etc etc.

i ddi save a far whack on fuel and insurance.

dont listen to half of them on here, 90% of them are ‘fair weather riders’ 😉

oh if you do get a 125, may i suggest the Honda Varadero, its a big bike with a small engine, some of the other 125 are scary to ride, with the vara you sit nice and high up.

Hels – how tall are you in old money? A female friend who is 5’2″ had one of the cb 400s an issue with them is as a small capacity 4 they need a lot of revs. What sort of style of bike do you want?

I’m definitely a fair weather rider, especially since yesterday when I got caught in a tropical deluge on the way up to Hartside. Wearing leathers. My boots were 3/4 full of water when I got home. I’d just cleaned the bike and it looked lovely, so I thought I’d go and show it off ………. Had to clean it again when I got back. 😈

I think I’m about 5 foot 1 in old money.

I want a motorbike that looks like a motorbike e.g. I don’t want a sports bike cos they look silly and uncomfortable, and I don’t want a harley cruiser type bike as they also look silly and I am not a hairdresser. (all IMHO of course).

And if I am being honest it has to come in blue, but I think the process will be:

– pass my licence
– sit on some bikes to see what I can get both feet down on
– find out what comes in blue

Hels – there are ways of lowering seat heights on bikes – cut down seats and lowered suspension.

cb 400 super 4 should be OK and meets your criteria, ER6 or CB 500 as well.

Tehre will be others as well.

CB 500 is a fantastic bike but it has had a charisma bypass

TJ, you’ve said that before and I’ve taken you to task on it. Have you ever ridden a CB500?

I did 34,000 miles on one. It was my only transport. It taught me how to ride a bike. I did make a few mods – Different sized tyres,: A 140(I forget the profile) bridgestone BT90 or 91 on the rear and a slightly lower profile on the front tips them forewards a tad, and improves the ground clearence and grip. Slightly heavier for oil and a couple of washers added for preload under the fork leg caps firms the forks up reasonably well, and a braided front hose and better pads sharpens the brake. This is pretty much the way CB500 cup bikes were prepared for the track and makes a difference.

But the engine is a wonderful little unit: Revvy and punchy. And the handling is light and nible, right over onto the footpegs….. 🙂

Charisma bypass???? Nope, only if you’ve never owned one!

PP – just from 2nd hand knowledge – but its very dull looking and its a typical honda – very good but souless. No? Compared to your monster?

I think they are very good bikes but do they have charisma?

Perhaps the cb 400 super 4 would be a good bet

I wouldn’t get an inline 400cc bike, sorry. All revs and no action. Plus most of them are imports with all the hassle that brings, and most likely have been owned by a newbie, not serviced, crashed etc.

There’s plenty of smaller bike you could ride easily Hels, and remember you can always get the seat lowered if you cant reach the floor!
Twin cylinder engines are more tractable and need less gear changing to get anyhwere.

I’m biased, but from what you say you like, a Monster should be top of the list, followed by a Suzuki SV650.

Monsters are lovely little bikes: VERY light, easy to manage, stable handling, well made, reliable (if looked after, like all Dukes. You’re better with a higer milage and a full service book than a low milage and no history. Dukes need riding!)
Mrs PP had a Monster 695, which is a tiny little thing, and drop dead gorgeous to look at….I fell in love with my 696 🙂

Mrs PPs 695
They reall ARE tiny. Mrs PP isn’t short, but she could get her feet flat on the floor with her knees bent, it looked like a kid’s bike on her
<img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/4830991639_907c98e0f8_b.jpg&#8221; width=”1024″ height=”719″ alt=”IMG_0966″ />

My 696, which is a tad higher in the seat, but more modern and a better bike to ride
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IMG_0963[/url] by PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr

Other choices?
Suzuki SV650
Kawasaki ER6 or ER5
Honda CB500 (Not as small as they look though, but better made than the other 2 above)

Err, can’t think of any more, but there must be some! 🙂

PP – just from 2nd hand knowledge – but its very dull looking and its a typical honda – very good but souless. No? Compared to your monster?

I think they are very good bikes but do they have charisma?

Well, not compared to the Monster, but it was more ‘fun’ then my S3, and not boring at all 🙂
Sure, it’ll do the commuter thing day-in-day-out with no hassle (And get 60+ mpg if you want it to) but turn the wick and it’s like a little sportsbike, think GPZ500 but with more midrange. Nice’n’rorty!
Was a right giggle round the TT circuit on Mad Sunday too. And touring round France 🙂
More charisma than the GSXR600 I tested when I owned it, put it that way!

I think your annecdoes (sp?) have been coming from the wrong people… The ones with the blinkers!

If I needed another commuter bike for mid-distance work I wouldn’t look at anything else, TBH

Mine was the half faired S model, identical to this but without the gopping bellypan

Thanks also PP.

I think you are talking me into a two bike system, the 125 to get to work and a Monster for fun and looking and sounding cool (it comes in Blue)

Now, best go and buy a house with a garage…

…and don’t forget you combine your love offroading with an engine.

I rode offroad as a youngster and had an urge to get back on a bike, did my direct access so that I could progress to doing some long distance enduro/rally type events which inevitably have some road sections between the dirt. It’s also pretty hard to really hurt yourself on one if you ride vaguely sensibly, although agree with the posts above regarding attitude being the most important thing.

Got a KTM 250 in the spring and have been loving some trail riding near home and in Wales, and then did my first hare and hounds a couple of weeks ago, which was a brutal lesson in falling off but so much fun.

Can I stand up to say – I am an offroad motorcycle rider and not a hooligan (it seems we have an even worse reputation than mountain bikers).

Bikes. Are. Fantastic.

But I’m with TJ. Hving a big bike ‘just becasue’ isn’t the way to go IMO.

In most cases, passing DAS and getting a fast sports bike is just for bragging rights not riding enjoyment.

Somebody I know was telling use how he’d been on a Bikesafe course with the Police and told by the copper right behind him on a lardy tourer that he could (physically and legally) go much faster around bends -In the next sentence he was telling us that his sports bike will do 160mph, although he was shaking riding it at 100mph 🙄

Indeed….

I have to admit I quite fancy a shot of some offroad, but one thing at a time… and (confession time) dodgy hand injury means I have dropped the throttle more than once on longer rides (it tires) I have been told to buy a Touring Grip but that sounds almost as “pipe and slippers” as the bar muffs however potential safety issue…

Indeed….

Oh yes, and that riding it for longer than 45 minutes is painful…. “but it looks good, though!”

TandemJeremy – Member

“There are very good reasons why newbs on big bikes are way over represented in the accident stats and they are very easy to spot and avoid out on the roads.”

Course, a big one is the self selection- the sort of person who does DAS and jumps on an R1 is often the same sort of person who’d be a liability on anything. Wheras the people who choose to get into biking on a sensible bike are ironically the people who’d probably be fine if they got an R1.

Sort of like the hi-viz thing- people who wear hi-viz are less likely to be in an accident but nobody can say how far it’s visibility, and how far it’s the fact that people who wear hi-viz are generally more careful anyway.

So, in conclusion, do your best not to be killed, it’ll do wonders.

I am a small person (152cm) who doesn’t like going silly fast, but I do want to be able to overtake stuff on the A9, and ride on motorways safely. And commuting although I guess I could keep the 125 for that.

Well I recommend a SRX. Either the 400 or the 600. They are amazingly light (actually lighter than a R1) and have a very low saddle. Have a look on SRX600.net for more info. Plus as a bonus it has the correct number of cylinders.

Martin you say 16000 milles. How much it is in real mileage AKA out of motor and dual carriage way. When I give my mileage, I take out the commute to work as it’s motorway and town.

Northwind, ive been riding around on my own bike and 2 different 1999/1998 R1s this afternoon.Its the first time ive ridden them and although easier to corner they dont feel that much different to the zx9 power wise. they werent great examples and the suspension and brakes werent as good as my own bike.i did enjoy the slightly smaller cockpit and the feel of floating through corners,though. i want a fresh one!

Jeremy. you talk like its impossible to ever learn how to ride on a motorcycle with 900cc.if i told you i bought a 600 2 years ago it would have been a different story.a 2007 zx6r would have been fairly acceptable in your eyes but the 2001 zx9r never was. compare the two on paper and get back to me on that one.not much in it.

but what exactly IS the correct way to ride a bike? who knows.you probably know more folk with amazing skills that have fallen off,dont you? well so far,i havent.Its not that i am a good rider. maybe i have been lucky. maybe i have been careful. we just dont know. does it matter? why did you go calculating my mileage over 2 years and go out of your way to come back and tell me im inexperienced?
As i started off with.. yet again,you were on a forum for hours on end posting/replying about something that i was actually out doing this afternoon. riding 2 R1s and the zx9,enjoying myself.not overshooting left handers or tank slapping down country roads.

If i fell off tomorrow and got out of it with no injury,jeremy.. id be happy that i got this amount of miles in before my first fall.
One guy that used to pop into the shop where i worked once said “you will fall at one point.dont know when but you will fall,but it happens to everyone” I thought this attitude was so wrong. do you have this attitude too? do you have it when riding the mountain bike?

without your helmet on? ;o)

Ok, out of curiosity I decided to check on Autotrader to see hox many SRXs are for sale. None. And on ehay? Er, none. On the other hand on Autotrader there’s 400 SV650s and 13 Monster 600s, 434 Bandit 6s, 181 Hornets…

Juan. i live in Inverness. i have never driven to elgin (before today)or beyond in all that time ive had it. ive also never driven south on the A9 to perth (or beyond).it bores me. I rode around the cairngorms a few sundays ago. that was about 195 miles with no stops.amazing ride.had to go into reserve near the end.
I sometimes ride to Ullapool over the west coast after work. or do a loop over to gairloch.. then back up through Kintail. sometimes it might be out to loch maree then past torridon etc.all tight twisty stuff around gairloch thrown in with some amazing open roads at achnasheen. a bit of everything.

I rarely commute on a bike.After the first few years i dropped a huge amount in the miles i had done.cleaning the bike through winter and going long journeys in near zero temps was something i did after i passed my test.. but the notion wore off a bit.with all the snow up here last year i think the bike sat for about 3 months unused.there was far too much snow so it just didnt happen.

twisty – http://photos-by-martin.digimig.co.uk/p54706359.html

straight – http://photos-by-martin.digimig.co.uk/p54706362.html

Lalalalalalalalala…. I want a motorbike, but i’m not listening.

I have enough money for the das