What an embarrassment

[samkent6]

Hello again everyone. Had my second lesson today which is my second time ever riding a bike. It was on a 125. The instructor seems to think I'm doing very well and wanted to progress me onto the 500 today. I feel very comfortable with the 125 too already.

We pulled up into an enclosed paddock and he got me to sit on the 500 to feel the weight etc. Immediately I noticed they're a lot heavier. Got me to ride a couple of laps in first gear (no issues pulling away and turning, but when I pulled up after, I pressed too much of the front brake, because the 125 brakes sucked, and nearly dropped the bike.. thankfully I have a fairly strong legs and arms so I managed to save it. But my god that was embarrassing. I continued a few more laps and weirdly he still asked me if I wanted to ride the 500 for the rest of the lesson. But after that, I feel like I've taken one step backwards.

Got another lesson on the 125 again next week and possibly the 500 again. I'm not sure how I feel about it after that

[owl]

You didn't drop it, no problem

and even if you did, still no problem, you're there to learn, don't let it get in your head
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Observation is the greatest source of wisdom.

[Evil Hans]

Don't sweat it, once you absorb the fact that it feels different simply because the big bike is better in every way, you'll be fine.
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050. And it's Red.

[colink98]

im sure the examiner has seen it all.

as far as anyone else is concerned you needed to work that leg a little didn't you ?
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PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[NJD]

Reads at you pressed the front brake at slow speed to come to a stop and IMO is why you dropped the bike.

Examiner is a fish cake and wasn't watching you properly or you've forgotten, amongst it all, to recall what happened and was said.

Rear brake at very slow speed coming to a stop and, providing you don't stomp on it, this won't happen again.

Getting you to do slow speed and wobble around at a dead stop isn't really confidence inspiring stuff to be honest because it's where you'll feel the weight of the bike the most. Understandable you've got to do it so you don't take a nap on the ground when the light turns green/red, slowing down and taking of, but I wouldn't spend more than a short while on it, in my imaginary instructor land I've suddenly somehow devolved. Providing you can demonstrate you're able to control the bike without dropping it a couple of times I'd be saying "yes, I feel ready to go out on the road." Well, providing your not brown trousering too much and actually are ready.

I dropped the GS 500 on a lesson once, almost, and the instructor and student sodded off. Foot down to save it and pulled it back up, instinct hulk mode kicked in. Kids looked on, local yobbo's who'd probably byklyf me in todays world.. a year and a bit on, but beside that all was fine.

It happens. Training school bikes get abused way more than what you've done. Recent video demonstrating student riding into parked car proves the point.

On to the next lesson. Point out to the instructor what happened last time and work on it.

Training on the road is where its at, the Module 1 is only about twenty minutes IIRC. Get em to get you out of the yard as soon as you can.

Still, my advice is given because I turned up for first ever lesson and "You ride a 125 regularly for work?" followed by "Yes, good. Right we've run out of 125cc's, or can't be bothered, so here's the big bikes and we'll crack on in the sunshine to x,y,z for the day, sound good?"

I'm still ere, yo.
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The do it all, T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶l̶u̶m̶p̶,̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶N̶o̶o̶d̶l̶e̶

[Pjay]

[bamt]

Yep, don't see an issue at all here. Fwiw Mrs Bamt dropped and broke a lever on the big bike doing he mod1 practise, and feel off once too (overbalance when stopping, not strong enough to recover). She passed both tests first time, but felt at the time that it was too much for her.

[samkent6]

[Rogerborg]

[samkent6]

[Rogerborg]

Shake it off. You didn't drop it, you saved it. You're getting less likely to drop it the longer you ride it.

<Old Man Roger Tells His Anecdote Again>

When I was still tooling around on a 125, I dropped a chum's brand new Bandit 650. By new, I mean fresh from the dealer. His face. My face.

It put me off bigger bikes for a while, and I prevaricated about getting licensed up and told myself that 125s are just fine.

That was a mistake. You don't learn to handle a bigger bike by doing anything other than riding a bigger bike. They're more stable and safer under most circumstances. The only exception is at 0mph if you end up leaning them over.

You've done that, you rescued it, you won't do it again.

Any more time on the tiddler will be wasted, I assure you from experience.

</Old Man Roger Tells His Anecdote Again>
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[davethekwak]

'Almost' dropping a bigger bike is not unusual even after you've been riding for years. 'Actual' dropping of the bike is a much rarer.
Every time the bikes balance surprises you through your biking career it will feel like a lucky save because of the weight. Reality is the odds of actually dropping the bike are small.
Forget it and move on.
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ZX6R G2 (1999) & ZX6R F2 (1996). I like ZX6!

[Johnnythefox]

When I did my DAS they offered optional damage waiver insurance, £15 I think it was, no worries then about damaging their bike. I'm aware that its a nice little earner for them but for £15 to not have that worry over the 4 days seemed to me fair enough, perhaps you could take up something similar?

[samkent6]

[Nobby the Bastard]

If you think that's embassarring, try having a whole motorway stop and wait for you to run from the central reservation to the bike, pick it up and then push it to the hard shoulder...
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Andy_Pagin]

OP has learnt two important lessons.
Firstly a big bike is a lot heavier than a 125 when its NOT moving, so you need to think a little harder about keeping it upright when its NOT moving.
Secondly big bike front brakes actually work. Ok that's a bit unfair, 125 brakes are designed to pull you to a halt from a mere 70mph if your lucky, big bike will typically have brakes that can to the same thing from 160mph, so they're that much more powerful at 20mph.

There's a third lesson to be learned, how to look and feel a complete idiot when you drop the bike outside a secondary school at chucking out time, or Tescos car park during the post school run rush. This is what most of us do sooner or later. Enjoy.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[WearsTheFoxHa...]

When I went for my Mod 1 in November, we done some practice in the training centre before going up to the test centre. Last thing to do was the emergency stop, I only went and snatched the brake, locked the front and went flying. The bike stopped up the other end of the car park, I stopped with a broken elbow, cracked ribs, ligament damage in the wrist and a lovely two-tone purple hue all down my right side a few days later...

*That's* how you drop a bike on a lesson.

What hurt the most was I had bought a Shark Spartan Carbon, and that was written off the third time I wore it, £100 a ride to offend my jockanese spenthriftiness.

[Yorkshire Geek]

I dropped a Gladius when I failed to swing my leg high enough and just kicked the bike over. Broke the brake lever, felt a total twat, got over it

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

I was wheeling a CBF600 from the mod 1 bit to the school's lock up and spazzed it slightly down this alley - it went over and took this little fence with it. It was an awkward spot and righting the bike was pretty tough, not least because the frame tubing is filled with depleted uranium. Luckily no-one saw me.
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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

[Westbeef]

It's all experience, you now know how crappy a 125's brakes are and how much better a bigger bikes tend to be .

[grr666]

[Bozzy]

Dropped my SV in the back garden because I forgot to put the side stand down

Also dropped it on a car park practising U turns. I stalled - momentum did the rest. Felt a cnut picking it up in front of a coach load of old age pensioners.

Dropping a bike happens to most of us. Don't sweat it. Doubly don't sweat 'nearly' dropping a bike!
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2004 SV650S >>> 2009 Street Triple R