A bit of advice for younger bikers, and a bit of my history.

[L-Jam]

EDIT: I just want to say a big thank you to all the people who gave me good karma for this, I know it's only a few clicks but people don't do it often enough IMO for helpful posts. It made me feel really appreciated for writing this

Before I start, I just want to say I'm not trying to convince you all to follow my route, to do what I say, whatever you do is obviously, completely up to you. If you did something completely different, write a thread, I want to know!!

Right BCF, earlier whilst answering a thread for some kid I came to the realisation I actually have something useful (hopefully) to contribute to the forum, and that is my experience as a young rider and the best routes to take. I'm not saying my way is the be all and end all, but it's been a great way, largely inexpensive and loads of fun, whilst keeping me alive, legal and (hopefully again) a pretty decent rider!! So here goes, let me know if it helps because I see this as my first major contribution after over 4 years of membership

P.S. anything you think I should add, tell me and I will!

Dear new bikers, young primarily because older people won't take my advice and will do what they want, and that's completely fine.

If you've spent a year on a moped or 125, and are looking at posting one of those threads about which bike or what you should do, read this.

First of all,

GET YOUR TEST DONE.

There is absolutely no point staying on a CBT when you can pay roughly £600 and get your test done, do it ASAP because the rules are changing soon to make it harder. The test itself is not difficult if you listen, and go to a half decent school. You already have road experience from a 'ped or whatever, and hopefully (like I did) learned to respect bikes.

I myself managed to do this:

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/1ff3d754.jpg

Break my arm in a few places, when my cousin crashed in front of me on his ped.

My ped was this piece of wank:

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/3fce576f.jpg

nevertheless, I had great fun on it, and learned my lessons early not to take the piss when out with mates.

What you need to do next, is sort out gear. You can get some basics for relatively cheap, then when you want to get some nice stuff, just get it as and when you can over the years. The biggest benifit about having nice gear, apart from the obvious it does its job better and looks better, is that you actually want to wear it. Crucial for younger riders; I never used to wear my old Frank Thomas boots because they looked ridiculous, they were my Dad's old ones, bright Blue and Green. Generally speaking, get your gear in neutral colours, black or grey, or white if you're cool like me.

Helmet. I had a £60 RST helmet for a few years, but got a nice £500 worth AGV for about £170 last year in a sale. It doesn't have to be expensive, just make sure it fits. Make sure it's tight, because they loosen up worse than a granny's cunt after a few months of use.

Jacket. get a decent leather Jacket if you haven't already got one, I have an RST one for about £100 which is absolutely great. I always wear my Leather RST, but occasionally if it's pissing down or freezing wear my textile one. If it's your first jacket, I would say get a textile, because of the British weather. They look good and keep you warm and dry.

Gloves. Don't bother with summer ones, it never gets too hot that winter ones are uncomfortable. You can always get some summer ones at a later date. Make sure they're warm, comfortable, well made, and waterproof. £40 should do you fine.

Boots. Get a pair of boots. I'm telling you to get boots for two reasons. One is that obviously, they protect the fuck out of your feet and ankles, the thing I would be worried most about never being able to use again apart from stupid things like dying or whole limbs. Secondly, if you wear nice trainers on a bike, changing gear and rain etc., ruins them. I learnt this the hard way, absolutely ruining a pair of white air force 1s I bought for college. I now have A pair of white Alpinestars that look the tits, for about £100, but you can get RST ones for cheaper, get black if you prefer, you get less people staring at you in black Put your trainers in a rucksack with your books, leave all your bike gear in an office of your form tutor or something, that's what I did. I had a good relationship with my form tutor, so she always made sure it was looked after, and at the end of the college/work day I would go to where my bike gear is, chuck it all on and ride home. Simple as that, no carrying shit around. Finally, I feel I can ride a lot better in boots, and for that matter complete gear, because I feel safe and proper, warm, and the police won't pull you over if you don't look like a trainered tracksuitted up chav, which was great for me because I never restricted my bikes (on private roads).

G has made the point that if you prefer, get a pair of Army boots; they're cheaper, more useful day to day if you spend all day in your boots, and are probably the best option aside from dedicated motorbike boots.

Bottoms. Get textile bottoms to slip over your jeans or chinos or whatever, no point getting leathers first. They just arn't practical in the real world. I still haven't got a pair of leathers, to be honest I just wore my jeans back and forth to work and college, but then it was only really 30mph roads, not a massive commute. I only put my textiles on if it was raining or if I was going out for a ride, or a long ride. I do want a pair of leathers now though, for trackdays and days out etc.

G then made another point (get your own thread ) that you can get kevlar jeans; they are a great invention for people who don't like to look like a power ranger all the time, or for those sunnier days. They are a bit less protective than good dedicated motorbike bottoms, but a million miles better than a pair of jeans from River Island. I wear jeans often with the full realisation that if I come off over about 40mph, there is a very real chance that my bones will be ground to dust. It's just a risk I take, just as riding a motorbike is a risk.

Onto bikes. Don't jump straight onto a supersport 600, the insurance price will dick you, and you're better off learning how to ride properly on an upright, forgiving bike. It's much more fun learning to ride quickly and filter effectively etc., on a bike you're not scared of dropping, and you know its limits and can come close to them. Sports bikes are very, very intimidating if you start taking the piss quickly, and you will probably end up binning it unless you take it slow.

If you want the power, get a Hornet, otherwise I would say get a GS500 (I picked mine up for £600), or an ER500 or CB500. The benefit of these bikes are they have great MPG and cost around £350-400 to insure, and are mechanically easy, cheap to source parts from and nothing really goes wrong. You won't have to worry about the pain in the arse of restricting a 500, and I think naked bikes look decent, certainly all my mates thought it was the fastest thing since a fucking Bugatti Veyron, and compared to their 1.2 Corsas it was. I used to love coming out of college and blitzing past all the cars every afternoon. Beleive me, I completely understand you want a faired bike, so did I at your age, but I dropped my 500 on both sides multiple times, and I'm not a small guy (6 foot 5, 90kg) due to general n00bishness.

Do a year on your 500, love it, fuck all will go wrong with it, and you won't damage it as much generally if you crash it or drop it at low speed, compared to buying a new set of plastics.

This was mine, a 97 plate GS500E, cost me £550, all I ever had to buy for it was a tyre and some brake pads. I then sold it for the same price. Go figure.

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/Photo355.jpg

Then, after you have another year NCB, a years good experience and are a year older, you can get a fully faired bike safe in the knowledge you will be able to ride it decently, you will be able to look after your bikes a bit better and you can afford the insurance. This means you can skip out the half-faired half-arsed SV650 completely, and get on the sports bikes. I got a CBR600F, with a custom HRC paint job, for £1900, and insured it for £500. I was 18 at the time, which was great. I still managed to drop it on both sides though, no damage really done Someone on this forum actually has it now, although I only think they made one post or something.

Here it is:

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/IMG_0289.jpg

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/maceeeeeeeeeeeeb.jpg

Now, by this time, my friends, teachers, girls etc., thought I was Valentino fucking Rossi, they'd never seen a kid my age on such a nice bike. I used to absolutely obliterate my mates in their cars, and everyone had big respect. You get a lot of people saying, "I would love a bike", but no one actually does. Apart from you lot, because you're on this forum.

After I finished college, another year wiser and more experienced, I had a gap year, in which I worked a bit, dossed around etc. This enabled me to save up £3k, and I traded in my CBR for £2000, giving me a £5k GSX-R 750 K7. I've had this bike for just over a year now, and don't really know where to go from here as I don't really have an interest in a 1000 at the moment, although I will get one one day. I love the handling and the power is insane, and obviously being a modern superbike, it looks the tits and destroys any car this side of £100k. It cost me £320 to insure last year at the age of 19, and this year I've just renewed my policy for £300, the first time I've kept a bike for more than a year.

Here it is!:

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/IMG_0749.jpg

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/IMG_0752.jpg

https://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu53/BikerJones/IMG_0750.jpg

It's nice to look back at my evolution, and the gradual upgrade has helped me become a decent rider, and without being big headed I don't personally know a kid my age with a bike that could touch mine, and I laugh at all these blokes on their 1000s without a clue how to ride them. I worked hard for it yes, but did it slowly, and now am reaping the rewards; in uni everyone chats to me asking me how the fuck I have a Gixxer, blah blah blah, and I love riding it day in day out. I hope my story has helped/inspired people!!

Thanks for reading if you did, I hope it was helpful/interesting.

As a sidenote, I just realised I have a gold blob, for the first time in my entire 4 and a half year BCF span!


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Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[Tyson10]

Thanks for sharing mate, great read

Im not a young (28) rider but a new rider, first time on a bike was 3 weeks ago for the CBT. Defo doing full licence as i want to be confident i can ride safely rather than jumping on a 125 and riding on my own with only a CBT for experience!

I had been looking at a Thundercat for my first bike but something keeps telling me to get a 500 first and get 8-12 months experience first.

Think that would be the best way to go?

[Nick 50]

Very good write up

Its a shame this country is now lacking in youths like yourself who have maturity and the fortitude to work hard and save to get what you want out of life.

Have to say that's the nicest CBR6 of that model i've seen . Normally don't like the look of them, put it really suits the HRC colours.

[keggyhander]

[Red Devil]

Good solid advice there.
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Thundersport Pre-National Sport 600 2014 #92
EMRA Roadstock 600 2013 - 3rd
www.facebook.com/MattJohnstonRacing

[Tyson10]

[Knightsy]

Cheers for the post mate, it's a solid read and some good advice too.
Nicely done
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09' Versys 650 | 07' FJR1300A

[L-Jam]

Tyson it depends on yourself, personally I would say get a 125. By all means get your test done quickly, because your test will be done and out of the way, never to be thought of again (unless you get banned ) if you're anything like me, you will get bored of a 125 very quickly though. I was bored of it by the time I'd finished my 14 hours training and did my test. If you're older, have a bit of road experience and are sensible, a 500 is perfect because they are nice, upright bikes, light, but crucially they are a big bike, so you learn big bike tekkers, but then I had a year on a moped, so haven't really experienced biking that way. If I had gone straight onto a 500 though, I would probably have had a much bigger crash, because being a cocky 16-17 year old I naturally used to test the limits. 40mph limits are a lot easier and safer to test than 100mph ones. It just depends on your temperment though. To people that say 500s are slow, it still touched 110mph. I remember in the first few weeks I had it, I was becoming cocky and revved around a car to overtake it from a standstill. Not fully appreciating the power I had on tap as I dropped the clutch, I pulled a huge wheelie past the car! Shat my pants, looked fucking awesome though

Keggy, I was on a 'ped at the time, so no clutch, the size of that was due to the swelling lmao it's not normally that size! But yes the photo makes it look like I have two fingers hahaha only just noticed that!

Cheers Nick, a lot of people have said that, it's unique. The lines go really well with the bike I think, and the colour scheme makes it look very modern for a 12 year old bike. Does help that I love the HRC colours!
____________________
Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[bikertomm]

I look up to you L-Jam

And will hopefully do a thread like this at some point circa~ 2 years



You've inspired me even more to just splash some cash on the test.

Really need to get it done.

Nice bikes too.
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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[L-Jam]

Cheers mate, funnily enough the person who inspired me to get my shit sorted was Luke_VFR, or X as he was later known, who died the other week. Shame he was a bit of a cock, because his R6 was absolutely gorgeous. His R6 thread was pretty much the first one I read when I joined BCF.
____________________
Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[bikertomm]

Yeah, I thought he was really entertaining, subscribed to him on facebook, felt like I knew the guy. Gutted for him really.


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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[recman]

Very good write-up there young man.

Your experience and advice is not only useful to the younger biker, its quite helpful for the older novice like myself.

[Tyson10]

[Rogerborg]

[G]

[L-Jam]

G, I completely agree with you; I can only vouch for myself and my experiences, otherwise the post could have got very, very, long if I talked about all the things you can do. I will put in your point about the army boots though, it's a good one, one I've never considered but one that a lot of people do. I don't see anything wrong fashion wise with wearing a decent pair of army boots on a motorbike either, people expect you to wear boots at the end of the day, my point is just that motorbike boots are better for the sole reason that they are designed specifically to be on a bike, so you may aswell start at the top.

Again with the kevlar jeans thing, I will put it in, I'm not condoning not wearing protective gear for the sake of fashion, in my opinion that's the most retarded thing a kid could do, something I was often guilty of.

With the SV, I do agree, my point is mainly that a 500 is cheaper, and is less likely to be ruined should you drop it than if you have a fully faired SV. But I think in the eyes of someone wanting to move up the bikes pretty quickly, skipping out an SV is probably a decent option, because you don't have to arse around with the ball ache that is restriction. And yes, you can dick up any bike from a crash, my point was just that generally speaking low speed spills on a naked bike mean you don't have to pay for the plastics. I guess the best idea is just not to crash

With the GSX-R thou, I didn't really want to go into massive detail, because that's a personal question for another thread; what do people think I should move up to. I didn't realise the weight difference was that small, to be honest I am just content with the 750 I am in love with at the moment. That being said, if someone offered to swap their k7 1000 for my k7 750, if the insurance wasn't that much more steep I would bite their hand off. My Dad had a k7 1000 TT edition for a while with the two Yoshi cans, absolutely beautiful bike, wish I took it out for a little ride before he sold it
____________________
Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[G]

The fashion point with Army boots was wearing them off the bike - I happily wear them most of the time, be it working in a well paid IT office job or on my own in a workshop. The former generally kept a bit shinier, however.
Just because a boot is sold as a 'motorbike boot' does not always make it 'better' (presuming you have a definition of that).
I have crashed quite a few times in Army boots and been pleased with their performance.

Not many SVs are fully faired - and the cheap older ones only came as standard in half or naked varieties.
You still have to restrict a 500cc bike, you just don't get a big change when you take them out.
You also don't have to replace fairings after a crash - gaffa tape does a decent job.
In my experience sometimes fairings can actually act as a bit of a buffer between the road and the more useful engine casings.

Sorry, I mis-read K7 and thought you said K5; the twin exhausts on the K7 probably do add a bit more.

As for 'moving up' - me I had to do the litre superbike to realise I preferred smaller bikes. Not the same with everyone.

And finally - if people really don't want to be hurt (so many don't really care), then further learning to ensure you avoid accidents is always the best way and far more important than the correct kit - as you suggest by the not crashing comment .

[L-Jam]

Again on the boot thing I agree, I was alluding to my Alpinestars though which I think we will both agree are more safe than any army boot in 99% of situations regarding bike crashes. That's why I suggested getting Alpinestars, not £20 Nitros or something.

You do have to restrict a 500 still, yes, but at the wheel a ten year old GS will probably give out about 40bhp if you act sorry and say the throttle restriction has probably come off and you didn't notice because there seemed to be no power increase or something, and the law will probably let that slide as opposed to a 60bhp SV, which is nearly double. That said, as far as I know, people don't really get done for the restriction thing unless it's through their own fault; a big crash, getting pulled for something else like speeding etc., unless you're really unlucky. To be honest I think the whole restriction thing is stupid, the problem is though that Darwin will claim the some of people who go out and buy an R1 at 17 as their first bike, and the govt. don't like that.

An engine casing is generally cheaper than a whole right side of a fairing, including the lights unit. But yes, like I said, if you want to get a naked SV650, that's a great idea, much better than jumping on an R6 from a moped which was my point.

I've never paid for further learning as such, rather tried to learn from experience (it does also help that my Dad and Grandad are ex bike instructors), but just assumed people generally do like to ride well. Those who don't, probably took no notice of this thread. I would like to do a decent course one day though, and I really need to buy a Twist of the Wrist, just for thought food and a little extra tekkers knowledge.
____________________
Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[Carl_steveo]

Awesome write up mate you even got a thumbs up from covdude. I'm a bit jealous tbh your bike progression is pretty cool.
____________________
Current: Honda Nsr 125
Live: Sunderland
Luke "cant be arsed to read your post, but suck my balls anyway."

[G]

[L-Jam]

Cheers Carl, I just always wanted a bigger, cooler, faster, better bike quickly so worked on it, now I don't have to because I've got one

Just like anything really, if you want it enough, you can get it. It wasn't that difficult, worked about 16 hours a week during college so took home about 300 a month, 100 towards a new bike, 200 to piss up the wall. Simple as that really.

You know you've wrote something interesting if Covdude gives you a thumbs up

G, I've never owned any Alpinestars leathers, can't afford them Really happy with my RST stuff too, would wholeheartedly recommend the brand to anyone. And low speed crashes, never had one (touch wood) apart from on the ped, it's the high speed ones I worry about

Isn't the motorcycle road craft handbook a bit "preachy" though? I swear I read something similar before, and although filled with good advice I remember lines like "Don't break the speed limit, because if you do you will see blues and twos in your mirror and you will loose licenzzzz". May have been a different book though.
____________________
Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[barrkel]

The Roadcraft book is more about positioning, gear and speed choices, forward observation, the physics of acceleration, deceleration and cornering. A lot on planning your moves. There's also chapters on overtaking and motorway riding.

If you're familiar with advanced riding techniques (particularly positioning for a view), most of it is long lists of "common sense" things that are obvious when you think about it, but you may not have thought of all of them.

It also advocates a particular style of riding which may or may not be wholly to your taste. Most days I ride my scooter (about 10k/year), which with fairly immediate power (at urban speeds) and excellent brakes, promotes a kind of hectic darty riding style that's a lot of fun in the city, but it's not smooth riding focused on good safe progress. On the other hand, I put about 2x as many miles on my ER6f (mostly touring and weekends - over 20k last year), and on it I'm a lot more smooth - but mostly because I'm out in the countryside stringing bends together where I can. Roadcraft is stronger on the latter. Someone following it in London would be left in the dust, IMO - though I do use the positioning techniques a lot for more aggressive overtaking / filtering, e.g. around corners.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[Kawksam]

£600 for test I bloody hope not got mine mostly done for £280, MOD2 Monday and good bye L plates

[Rncv]

I went from a 125 to a fzr 6, was good fun shame it was restricted

But when i took the restricted out to sell it i had to have a go and i can say it felt the same under 7k then above that it pulled along nicely.

just don't be a t-wat and just on first time and think your Mr Rossi.
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Current: 01' Bandit 600, 92' Goose 350
Previous: Lots!

[Matt-]

Great Advice !

I'm getting a 125, then when i join the British army, the army pay's for my all my major test's like car,bike,lorry, etc...

Lovely Gixxer by the way !
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RIP jack (wheelie king), you will never be forgotten.
Current Bike's - Road Legal TZR 125 Pitbike, Aprilia SR50R 2010