Just bought a Yamaha YBR125

[oisky]

I'm kinda new to biking. I have been riding a scooter for 1.5 years and now want to take my test before the end of the year so I bought a YBR125 to practice on. I've never owned (or ridden) a geared bike before, so could anyone here give me some advice so that I can learn the easy way rather than the hard way!!
Anything from technical advice to riding advice is welcome.
Cheers

[Stiffler]

Hi, Hope you enjoy your bike.

I've started on a YBR from scratch and it's been very forgiving and a fair bit of fun along the way. You've got a slight advantage in that you should have some good road sense and idea of how to handle yourself on the road.

I'd say start with the basics of practicing and getting a hang of clutch control and gear changes on a quiet backstreet. Then, when you feel more confident, pick good weather day and sod off on a long ride! You'll get the hang of it really quickly.

Have you got someone who can show you how the gears work and give you some pointers? One of the things that I struggled with when I first started was getting the bike back into Neutral. All you need to do is very gently kick the gear lever half as much up as you usually would from first (or down from 2nd). If you have other gear related problems remember not to keep pressure applied to the gear pedal and allow it to return to it's normal position between shifts. Also you should fully release the clutch lever between changes as sometimes it will allow you to change the gear again.
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Current Bikes - Kawasaki ZX-6R (636) | BMW G650GS

[Matt06]

Congratulations on the YBR. I am riding one at the moment and its an ace bike for a 125.

Try and get hold of 1st gear and pulling off with smooth clutch control in an empty area. Also, try doing some figure of eights etc. like you did in CBT to get an idea of how the bike handles.

Once you have mastered 1st gear with the clutch and moving off you should be set.

Enjoy your bike mate.
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Current: MT-10, Bandit, Grom, GPZ500
Previous: YBR125, GSXR400, ZXR400, MT-03, NTV650, R6, z750, ZX6R, MT-09

[Dalemac]

like stiff am starting from scratch on a ybr125

my tips are:

be aware that the bike has a high centre of gravity, so its quite easy to topple if you go into corners too fast and then dive into a lean

Practice manouvers regularly in quiet streets or even better an industrail estate when its quiet, you want to be practicing emergency stops and u-turns in preparation for your test (if you intend on doing it)

remeber your lifesavers. its pretty self explanatory.

im in the process of saving for a new set of tyres, ones for more grip while riding in the wet, will buy either some pirelli city demon's or some michelin pilot's (some going on ebay right now) id sugget you do the same, i dont find the stock tyres very....erm....good.


dont want to scare you at all, just warning you as its a big leap from mopeds to geared, but im sure you will master it in a few days.


Safe riding,

Dale
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YBR125 -> GPZ500S -> SL1000

[Matt06]

Yeah, I would get new tires for a YBR. The stock ones are so shit. A bit of lean and it floats around everywhere.
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Current: MT-10, Bandit, Grom, GPZ500
Previous: YBR125, GSXR400, ZXR400, MT-03, NTV650, R6, z750, ZX6R, MT-09

[Dalemac]

[Matt06]

Cool. Cant wait to hear how the tires go. Might get me some then .
____________________
Current: MT-10, Bandit, Grom, GPZ500
Previous: YBR125, GSXR400, ZXR400, MT-03, NTV650, R6, z750, ZX6R, MT-09

[Dalemac]

If your interested: (cheapest ive found them)

Front:
https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-75P18-Michelin-Pilot-Sporty-Motorcycle-Tyre-YBR125_W0QQitemZ300079389604QQihZ020QQcategoryZ21669QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Rear:
https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/90-90P18-Michelin-Pilot-Sporty-Motorcycle-Tyre-YBR125_W0QQitemZ300079389612QQihZ020QQcategoryZ21669QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
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YBR125 -> GPZ500S -> SL1000

[oisky]

Thanks for all the comments. I'm part-exchanging my scooter on the Friday and then riding my new bike into work (centre of London) on the Monday!!! Guess i'd better get some practice in on the Saturday/Sunday LOL!! Must admit to being a little nervous! Anyway - can any of you suggest a good top box for the bike (Do any fit?) as i've just realised that I will lose all the under seat space that I have on my scooter!
I also like the idea of new tyres but really don't feel comfortable changing them myself. Is it easy or quite difficult? and the link that Dale put to new tyres on this strand - do they definately fit the YBR125?

Cheers

[Matt06]

[oisky]

Just bought them. Getting them delivered tomorrow (Mind you - I don't get the bike for another 2 weeks yet!) Then I'll decide whether or not I'm going to fit them or take them to a workshop to get it done? I'll then post some pictures for you to see.

Cheers

[Matt06]

Awesome, The stock YBR tires arent bad but you wont regret buying those new ones.
____________________
Current: MT-10, Bandit, Grom, GPZ500
Previous: YBR125, GSXR400, ZXR400, MT-03, NTV650, R6, z750, ZX6R, MT-09

[matthab]

The ybr is a cracking bike to learn on but the tire problem is scary. Only today in malvern i felt my bike feel very skiddy. Might go into my local yamaha dealer and find out what they can do for me.
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2005 - 2006:Peugeot jet force 50 TDSI (sold)
2006 - Present: Yamaha YBR125 06 (extras:pilot sporty tyres and screen)

[Dalemac]

[Dalemac]

hey everyone im contemplating whether to send a letter of complaint of to yamaha about the tyres, do you think its worth of it or not? they may do something about it, but who knows....

I think we should send them a nice package of letters of our thoughts and let them know the problem, because they are probably obliviuos to it.

i will get the go-ahead from an admin, then we can all write our individual letters, then you could send them to me and then i would send them to the yam office, reason being if they have a pack of letters more than individual letters they will probably notice it more.

just a thought peeps, and it would be worth it even if future models had poper tyres, atleast there wouldnt be so many like us.


If i get the go-ahead and a number of people are willing to voice their views i will draft out a letter format that everyone could follow.



I believe yam need to know about it, its potentially a huge risk.
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YBR125 -> GPZ500S -> SL1000

[Stiffler]

I'd be interested in getting involved. The tyres have always seemed pretty pants to me. It's clearly a money saving situation and I wonder how much the tyres cost and how much it would cost them to improve them...

The only other reason I can think that they may be such a solid compound is to stop them from wearing out? Although, having said that, the YBR doesn't really produce enough power to eat tyres...
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Current Bikes - Kawasaki ZX-6R (636) | BMW G650GS

[Matt06]

Although I agree the tires are shite I dont think they are enough so to warrent a complaint. They are pretty average for 125ish bikes. They could just be a lot better .
____________________
Current: MT-10, Bandit, Grom, GPZ500
Previous: YBR125, GSXR400, ZXR400, MT-03, NTV650, R6, z750, ZX6R, MT-09

[Dalemac]

well ive mates with cg's and they all seem to be quite praising of their stock tyres.....

will see what happens eh. i might write a letter anyway, just to see what happens.

Dale
____________________
YBR125 -> GPZ500S -> SL1000

[oisky]

Sound like a complete noob now, but that's ok, cos I am!! But does the YBR have inner tubes or not?

[Louise]

I had around 4 months road experiance. Brought a 125 geared bike - Never riden a geard one in my life - Bike was 40 miles away.
Went and picked it up, I learnt the basic gear change in 10 mins.
Its very easy

[matthab]

I think we should write a letter or petition as ive had a few scary moments. I just feel the bike can go faster round bends but i havnt got the nerve to do it as im afraid it will low slide or something!
____________________
2005 - 2006:Peugeot jet force 50 TDSI (sold)
2006 - Present: Yamaha YBR125 06 (extras:pilot sporty tyres and screen)

[sandino]

In my opinion, the YBR has some big faults, mostly in the design and perhaps a little the construction (which is in China...).

The big problem is the battery. Ignore the electric start as anything but a second resort, use the kick start so it wont drain the battery. You might need to open the throttle just a little bit as you kick, but it usually starts first time for me (this Japanese flash is actually pretty informative - https://www.yamaha-motor.jp/mc/lineup/sportsbike/sr400/cafe/kick/index.html) If you do find yourself stalled with no battery you have to bump or push start, just put it in second, hold the clutch in and push yourself along with your feet (or down a hill), when you get some speed up (not that much) let the clutch out and rev up whilst pulling the clutch in again. Ive had my friends do this twice and i had to do it once.

The other problem is the choke, big difference between hot and cold performance. It might help to raise the idling speed like i did, but this can make it a bit crazy when the choke is on and the engine is getting warmed up. Look in the owners manual for how to raise the idling speed, actually my diagram didnt match the carb but it is pretty intuitive.

As for performance its not the fastest 125 out there by any means, but ive seen my friend (rides a CBR600, used to be a courier) thrashing it round the block, getting lots of lean out of it. Once the tyres are worn in a bit it should lean quite far. Its all about confidence.

[Stiffler]

Hmmm I wouldn't consider the faults big at all. My YBR is 16 months old and only got 3800 miles on it, but the battery has been problem free and the bike starts first time every time with the starter motor. It has never needed a charge and always has juice.

The choke is also perfectly functional. If you just let the bike warm up for 2-3 mins before you set off you can shut the choke off straight away and forget about it. The bike has never cut out on me from being too cold when doing this. And thats included riding on those very cold days (-4) we had a couple of weeks ago.

If you want to set off straight away with the choke on you can use good clutch control to allow you to ride around slowly. I don't see why you should play with the idle speed. It should be set at approx 1500 rev's ideally and mine is perfectly fine like this.

And the bike being slow isn't a fault... it's how it's designed! And I've had loads of lean out of mine and almost unintentionally got my knee down one time. The bike is very good on dry days but fairly suspect in wet and greasy conditions.

Tim
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Current Bikes - Kawasaki ZX-6R (636) | BMW G650GS

[sandino]

I think it is possible mine is just a bad one in some respects, the idling speed was probably changed down when they did the checks in shop before it was delivered (it was far too low, about 800 RPM without choke), and they did change the battery at the 600 mile service. Ive had reports of some YBRs being totally problem free and others with the problems i have had, it seems to be pot luck.

[BikerBill]

I moved from a moped to a geared 125 on Sunday and I was bricking it, but it's really easy just let the clutch out slowly and your all good.

Should have a good awareness of the road from your scooter as well.

Good luck