Importance of picking the right first bike.

[Das68]

I Passed my test about a year ago (i've always been a car man) , I did my research and brought a lovely 2013 Street Triple ABS.

Over the past year, I have been out on it many times (short trips) but only covered about 300 miles. I haven't managed to gain much confidence, and never felt happy on the bike.

I sold it a couple of weeks ago and was going to give up, but decided to try once more.

I bought a 2010 mk2 CBF1000, the difference is night and day, straight away I felt comfortable and much more confident.

I'm now enjoying the motorcycle, and its put a big smile on my face.

SO if your struglling , don't give up try a different bike.

[Val]

Picture of the bike or this thread has not happened
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Yamaha Fazer FZS 600, MT09, XSR 900

[davebike]

Did you feel confident on the bike you did your test on ??

If so get a similar bike build confluence then what ever bike you fancy

Alternatively go back to the training school and get some post test training

At 300 miles since test you to new to even look at bikesafe let alown and Advanced training
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[Das68]

Passed my test on a Honda Hornet 600 (older one) , which I liked , and is why I brought Street Triple.

Every review says the Street Triple is the Modern Hornet 600 and better.

But I just didn't gel with it.

The CBF1000 is much better , much smoother , not as hard and bouncy on the road, less pressure on my wrists , gives me much more confidence.

[Eddie Hitler]

Could have been as simple as badly set up suspension.

My current ride felt f**king awful on the 200 mile ride back home. Was totally wooden, couldn't trust it in corners etc. A days worth of fiddling with the suspension, I found out the settings had been set to "hard" front and back. No wonder. A few adjustments and it was a totally different bike.

[recman]

[stevo as b4]

I really don't think people had this whole ' I can't seem to get the hang of this biking thing or feel comfortable on my bike' when they used to ride 250's-500's as a first bike?

Also there's plenty of people on BCF that say your first bike even after passing DAS is really not important at all? But I guess it depends on if you want to learn/improve and ride the bike all the time to rack up road experience and confidence, or if you just want to have a nice piece of kit that you want and looks good/stylish is capable, but the rider isn't or does not want to put in the effort to get good?

[Das68]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Hell of a das, dat.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[recman]

[pompousporcup...]

R1 on your das there was me enjoying a cbf600

[Polarbear]

STR is notoriously sensitive to suspension settings as Eddie said.

I had mine set up professionally and it was so different you wouldn't believe it.

That said, a CBF1000 is a quite different bike from an STR, much more of a relaxed ride.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[winz]

I can see where you are coming from.

I learnt of a CBF600/Divvy and quite enjoyed them. After passing I bought a Hornet and totally loved it. But I recently purchasing a CBR1100XX Super Blackbird it feels so much better than the smaller 600.

I have found that the larger bike fills me with so much more confidence in corners (it's been modified and jacked up and the forks lowered slightly). It's just more planted with the extra weight but feels nimble in the corners. Being a larger chap too the more power assures me during overtaking, although triple figures arrive at quite an alarming rate.

Saying that, I haven't picked up my Hornet from my parents yet and bought it back to Bristol. I am sure it will be a bit of a shock as I have totally fallen in love with the BB, but I am not too happy with the fuel consumption isn't that great to use around town.
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Current Bikes: BMW K1200S
Previous: Honda CBR929RR, Honda CBR1100XX, Honda CB600F

[Das68]

My point of the post is purely that sometimes its the bike that doesn't suit the rider and its worth having a go on another bike if your not getting where you think you should.

I'm sure the Street Triple would suit more riders than the CBF1000 , particularly if you are smaller, younger and lighter than me.

But also I think the CBF1000 is a great first bike, as its very stable and easy to ride, comfortable but still nice to look at and fast enough for most riders.

[rubyhorse2]

no one picks the right first bike, mine was a sachs XTR...possibly one of the worst 125's around.

But hey, half the fun is having different bikes, i used to buy a new one every year

[blurredman]

Always in pursuit of the perfect bike. Though chances are not many people find it.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 52k.

[Pigeon]

[arry]

[talkToTheHat]

Even my underpowered rolling armchair become extra recalcitrant if the tyres are underinflated or squared, and feels super-twitchy on overinflated tyres, or if I've left the rear preload set for a big pillion. New (not square) tyres feel a combination of amazing handling and oooo-shit as I give the bars a shove and she turns significantly quicker than expected.

Fork oil is another unknown to sort. When I first had my big bike, i had no confidence in the front end at all. I was complaining that it felt wooden and I was getting loads of chatter. Garage I was with at the time thought I was taking the piss. Then I blew a fork seal so with the help of a friend we did a full fork service. What came out looked like used straight 40 oil, in went the recommended 10 weight oil and fresh seals, bike was transformed. Seems previous owner didn't like the front diving when he put the brakes and had put in some sockets as preload spacers and super thick oil. The next time I killed a fork seal, I cut the improvised preload spacers down by 10mm as I felt the bike was still a bit high in front.

On a bike that's proper adjustable, the chances are it will be wrong for your weight or typical application. If your bike feels "wrong", check tyre pressures and shape, return suspension settings to default and see what happens.
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