New biker at 48 advice please! !!

[CormacBaptist...]

Hi. My CBT is booked for April 14th. I'm a 48 year old guy with very little riding experience. Soaking up YouTube videos at the moment. Loving the look of the BMW F750gs as my first bike. Getting a Nivala jacket and pilot gloves. Very excited to start this new (midlife!) chapter in my life... going through cancer treatment so want something to be excited about. Looking forward to chatting with you and hearing advice etc. Many thanks. JC

[BRUN]

best of luck with it all

I did my CBT and half way through, I thought this isnt for me, oh well I tried it, but once out on the road I loved it, so even if you find it hard at first stick with it

nice that you wont have covid lockdowns to deal with either

[A100man]

48 eh? You should fit the demographic nicely...

Brace yourself for some salty speech, don't take offence too easily, and ignore any FortNine videos you've watched, then you'll do OK.
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[Moth]

Good luck with the CBT, but please don't let passing that be the end of your training.

Coming into anything with very little experience is always hard but consistently riding safe & enjoying the ride can be a lot harder than you think.

Get the CBT done & don't be afraid to ask what your future options are with regards to further training to build up your confidence.
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Watch the cloth, Moth.

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[Zen Dog]

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[to v or not to v]

its too bloody wet and cold to ride a bike at present. wait until the spring!
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current bike Yamaha Thunderace.
its old and fat, but its a damned good ride. the bikes not bad either.

[Keithy]

WOT Zen Dog and the chubby Caledonian ^^ said.

Get your CBT and decide if you want to go the Direct Access route. If you are in this for fun, rather than commuting, then get your full licence soon as, don’t piss about with a 125.

I wanted an F750GS too, until I did my DAS course riding one! Too heavy for me as a noob, you may feel different. Best bike is the one that fits you well.

Hope your treatment goes well, stick with us and we’ll (the others, not me!) steer you right

[grr666]

[stinkwheel]

Beware of learning to ride off the internet. There are as many youtube experts as fleas on a dog, there's usually some truth in everything they say but if you try to concentrate on them, (countersteer, vanishing points, bodyweight shifts, peg loading, leaning in, leaning out, trail braking etc etc.) you'll forget to ride the bike and look where you're going. Learning to ride is a progressive process. I've been doing it for 28 years and I'm still learning new things.

Two things I usually tell new riders. 1) The throttle is an analogue control. 2) Look at where you want to go, not at what you want to avoid (this is easier said than done).
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[growingpains]

Good luck with the CBT and DAS, and of course wishing you all the best with your treatment.

I'm also a new rider fitting the GS demographic. I took my CBT and DAS last year and got the BMW 750 GS.

All the advice here is sound - and you will drop the bike. In my case so far, it was when I thought the kick stand was down but discovered very quickly that it wasn't. Lesson learned, look down to double check the stand did actually click into place. Oh and my first time filtering in London traffic got my heart and sweat rate up, no margin for balance errors!

On the BMW, I'm happy with it so far. Yes, it's heavy but practice your slow control and don't notice it that much. Great in both the city, on B roads and definitely keeps up to speed on the motorway. Quick shifter is a bit crap but TFT screen is excellent.

[davebike]

Well good luck and enjoy a new means of transport I think bikes are addictive well I have been riding since I was 16 with a pedal to start moped!
65 now still ride a lot all weathers NC750x and a MSX125

Riding a bike is NOT like driving a car or van training is vital with modern traffic but DO NOT read or watch video aimed at post test training the DSA want to see things done their way
Please do not regard a DSA test pass as the end keep learning and keep safe
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Dave
NC750Xdct + others at work !
davebike1@gmail.com

[Diggs]

The chaps who advise not to get a new bike are bob-on. Whilst I am sure there are exceptions, everyone drops their bike in the first year.

Its a shame that old bikes are so expensive, as to my mind the perfect 1st bike after passing one's test would be a CX500, GS550 or similar - heavy enough so that you learn how to move them about, just about fast enough to be fun, crap brakes and handling you you learn anticipation and practical enough to do some long trips. A year on one of those and you will be able to ride anything...
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Now - Speed Triple, old ratty GS550, GSXR750M
Gone (in order of ownership) - Raleigh Runabout, AP50, KH125, GP125, KH250, CBX550, Z400, CB750FII, 250LC, GS550, ZXR750H1, Guzzi Targa, GSX750F, KH250 x2, Bimota SB6R and counting...

[A100man]

[ThunderGuts]

As per all of the above really. Enjoy the learning process, but getting your licence is just opening the door to a whole load of other learning. As said, the requirements of the test are all about "by the book" riding and don't necessarily correlate to the "best" riding; just do exactly as your instructors say until you've got your licence, then think about other things. You won't necessarily drop your bike, but it's most probable early on, particularly if it's top-heavy. You think you know what you want, you'll buy it and you'll think you've got what you want, but sometime down the line (probably 6-12 months) you'll start to realise you want something else.

1) CBT then DAS so you can get yourself a bike capable of living in traffic and with enough go for you to learn on (as opposed to a 125 which you'll be wringing the neck off all the time and you can almost handle like a bicycle) - you will find two camps on this though, some will suggest riding around on a CBT for a while, others (me included) straight to DAS. You presumably drive and know how a road "functions", so I'd just go straight for it

2) Follow the instructions of the instructor to the letter until you've got the licence

3) Get yourself a middleweight naked bike, £2k-3k at most, less than 80bhp ideally and ABS is a bonus as with a new rider it's all too easy to grab a handful of brake

4) Ride it and learn it, then you can start thinking about further training and what bike you really want

My 2p worth, but it's pretty much what I did.
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TG.

[Freddyfruitba...]

[Nobby the Bastard]

[Bhud]

[Nobby the Bastard]

I don't get why people have the thing about countersteering.

If you can cycle, you do it automatically. Thats how you go round corners.


You don't need to force it, the only people who consciously do it deliberately are racers to get into the corner faster.

Absolutely of no use on the road.
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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."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[Bhud]

It's true, people say all kinds of stuff about countersteering. However, Fortnine was advocating counterleaning, which is something he got from his experience off road, and which can get ugly when done on the road. Imagine you're riding along, and there's a bend. One type of rider will countersteer and lean off one side. The other will countersteer and just stay in line with the bike. Both of these will work. But he was suggesting lean in the opposite side, i.e. greatly increase the lean angle of the bike, while the rider keeps his body bike upright. Potentially dangerous, and takes away the safety margin in case you need to suddenly turn in sharper, mid-bend.

[Nobby the Bastard]

I can see it working off road because if you are leaning away from the corner you can step away from the bike if things go pete tong using your unloaded leg but on the road?

(Thats what they do in speedway where the inside foot is dragging on the cinders)

On the road you tend not to go into corners with the assumption that the back wheel will be sliding so either upright in line with the bike or, if it floats your boat, hanging into the corner.
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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."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[Bhud]

Enduro riders can get away with it on the road and on track. But I think they have to be pretty skilled and experienced, and their tyres have to be good, and so does the road surface. Italians do it in the Alps. On the whole, though, if you need to do that on the road you're probably going too fast for the road.

[Ste]

[Zen Dog]