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Cannybearsed
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Joined: 13 Aug 2018
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PostPosted: 13:14 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Needing some Advice Reply with quote

Alright, I’m a first time rider, just passed my CBT and I’ve originaly been planning on going for my full license (I’m 26 so would go for direct access) however I’m recently considering driving about on a 125 for a while before getting my full license, I’m worried about picking up bad habits but.

Is it better to go straight of the bat to your test after cbt and some lessons or would you recommend driving about in a 125cc for some confidence?

Thanks in advance
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rpsmith79
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PostPosted: 13:28 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Horses for courses

Some will say no, you don't want/need to be ridding around on a 125cc, others will tell you it can be a useful learning tool........... everyone is different

I went down the 125 route for 6 months after passing my CBT last year at the age of 38, 6 months later I was bored of it and decided to do my DAS, but i certainly wasn't confident enough having done my CBT to go straight onto DAS, luckily i picked up a cheap CG125 that i sold 6 months later for pretty much what i paid (and spent fixing it) for it
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 14:02 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Time on a tiddler is rarely wasted; they are wonderful training tools; lacking weight, lacking power, they tend not to be very flexible and you 'have' to acquire the discipline and finesse in your riding, early on, because the bike wont help you or flatter you.

BUT... you don't get confidence from falling off...... you get bruised, bashed and bills.

Going it alone, on CBT an L's is the sckool of hard knocks. It doesn't teach you how to ride... it punishes you for getting it wrong.... up to you to work out, whilst the bruises fade what that might have been, more, work out what to do different next time.

Teacher's teach...... and lessons is for life, not just licences.

If you are going to go dooo-d-a-s anyway... may as well go do it at the beginning, get the licence, THAT is what will give a jump start to your confidence, and should get you learning stuff without so many bruises.

After that... time on a tiddler STILL isn't wasted.. no-one takes the licence off you if you don't go get an XYZ Super-Ninja-Bird within 3-months.....

And a 125 can usually do the best part of the UK maximum 70mph, and break a heck of a lot of speed limits below that; Myopic SMIDSY drivers cars are still as hard and heavy, kerb-stones just as hard; 125's are not 'toys' and theres noting intrinsic about them that makes them any 'safer' than a bigger bike...... you just have to try harder.....

So go get lessons; go get a licence; then worry about the bike.... qhich could still be a 125 if that suits; and as fast as anything else legally allowed to go, as much danger as any-one else faces, and usually atractive running costs, they can be very very useful.... even on a full licence.

You'll do most of your learning in the 3-years after getting a licence anyway...... so doing it on a 125 and getting the discipline and finesse with it can be rather useful... but that your call.

Remember lessons for life not licences... go get the licence.
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 15:37 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Time on a tiddler is totally wasted Razz

Underpowered, unstable bla bla..........

Direct access, throw your leg over a big beauty and never look back.
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bacon
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PostPosted: 17:51 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally I didn't waste my time, I went straight to my DAS.

Full licence is the goal so why drag it out. You can always buy a 125 if you wish afterwards, but I'd bet money on you saying "fuck that" once you have trained on something bigger Thumbs Up
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c_dug
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PostPosted: 18:17 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm quite glad I worked up through the sizes, but I did so with a full licence as soon as I turned 17.

I went 50cc, 250 2 stroke, 500 parallel twin, 600 v twin, 600 il4, 600 il4, 800 v4, 600 il4. Also a small spattering of 650 v twin and 125 2 stroke sprinkled amongst them.

Nothing to stop you passing and then spending some time on a 250 or something.
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Analogkid
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PostPosted: 22:38 - 13 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do the DAS, itself is enough lessons to get you safe, the 5day das course has about 10x the road time as you have had on your CBT, and the 1st day is usually on the 125 to get your confidence up, the 600cc you train on will blow your mind after the 125, and you'll find it easier to ride, who knows you may jump straight from that to a litre bike, but my guess is you will buy something around the same power as your DAS bike, but buy an older one, practice on that, then when you feel ready for something else within 6 months you can sell it at little loss.
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Johanna
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PostPosted: 11:53 - 14 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

How do you feel riding the 125?

Some people say go straight for DAS. Some say ride the 125 for a year or so.

If you feel confident both on the road and doing the slow manoeuvres you did during CBT then you might as well go for the full licence. I felt I was about 60% there after my CBT. I'm glad I rode a 125 for 6 months. It taught me a lot. Yeah, it's unstable and underpowered but that taught me a lot and I'm not ashamed to admit it was really fun trying to eke every ounce of power out of the little bike. I wasn't as afraid to drop it either, being light and cheap(er).

I would also ask where you intend to ride? Do you have motorway or fast dual carriageway with hills? A 125 will not do 70 uphill.
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 12:31 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Johanna wrote:
How do you feel riding the 125?

Some people say go straight for DAS. Some say ride the 125 for a year or so.

If you feel confident both on the road and doing the slow manoeuvres you did during CBT then you might as well go for the full licence. I felt I was about 60% there after my CBT. I'm glad I rode a 125 for 6 months. It taught me a lot. Yeah, it's unstable and underpowered but that taught me a lot and I'm not ashamed to admit it was really fun trying to eke every ounce of power out of the little bike. I wasn't as afraid to drop it either, being light and cheap(er).

I would also ask where you intend to ride? Do you have motorway or fast dual carriageway with hills? A 125 will not do 70 uphill.


Good point. Hauling a big bike through London traffic would be one hell of a (possibly painful) learning curve. Riding a 125 on the motorway regularly would be soul destroying.
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doggone
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PostPosted: 12:36 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Around town a smaller bike isn't much of a disadvantage in fact can be better.
Here you mostly have to ride at least ten miles over windswept moors, and more weight and power aids survival.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 14:02 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Polarbear wrote:
Riding a 125 on the motorway regularly would be soul destroying.


Motorways are soul-destroying..... Safe.... mile after mile or one-way traffic (until you hit the cones!), no junctions, round-abouts, traffic lights or pop-up pedestrians... even at double limit velocities everything seems to happen in slo-mo.... and so little to see along the way.

They ARE safe though; and 70 is the limit, NOT the target, and 125's aren't any slower than other traffic. Maybe slower than an audi-coch convinced they have to do 99mph on them, but most traffic on motorways is HGV's and UK towing limit and Euro regs limit them to 55-60mph even if speed-governors dont.

If you can hack the boring; then sitting it out in the truck-stack at the double-nickle, is a great way to NOT engage with and get frustrated by the Autobahn Blitzers trying to give you an Audi-Enema for not breaking the speed limit; maximizing your 'safe'... with a little bit of savvy to watch for 'on-ramps' and idiots looking for gaps between the trucks, and not motorbikes in them.... saving fuel, and covering big miles at a usually much higher average speed, than if you tried to go cross-country.

Rather ironic then that you need a full licence to take a bike on them....

But if you have one? Motorways are just as do-able on a 125 as anything else, really.

Polarbear wrote:
Hauling a big bike through London traffic would be one hell of a (possibly painful) learning curve.


I'm sanguine on that notion. Well.. no... ANY bike in city traffic can be something of a pain after a while; extra weight of the big-bike, I presumed was more of a burden to hold up at every traffic light and round-about and manage in slow speed stop-start or filtering. A-N-D I never really gave it much thought until I started running 125 and 750 side-by-side, using the 750 for longer runs, 125 for shorter and usually town and city trips..

Didn't really come to think about it so much, until Snowie got me to do some longer runs on the 125 whilst she was on L-'s, THEN daughter had me breaking habbits, running round the midlands looking for a Prom Dress with her!

I really don't think that there's all that much in it. City riding is hard work, end of. Advantages of a lighter bike being more maneuverable and less to manage in the stop-start snarl, are some-what tempered by the fact you tend not to be in that environment so long, and on a bigger bike, the extra mass gives you some 'trickle-ability'.. keep it moving, it keeps itself up, its not necessarily 'so' much extra work, and having the extra beef, you can be less inclined to be so reactive and determined to make progress trickling or filtering, when you can make up as much road room on one quick squirt of the lights, or one single deturmined over-take where its safer to do so.

Its all swings-and-round-abouts really
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Wonko The Sane
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PostPosted: 15:17 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

what is it you want to ride?

I did CBT and then a few months of 125 riding due to circumstance, no funds or time to do my tests

moved house, needed to use motorways, no job, wife working, got my tests done incase someone said "can you start on Monday?"

shortly after, got a big bike.

some people will do well staying on a 125cc for a while before doing tests, others will prefer to jump on and get it done in one go

speak to your instructor who put / puts you through your CBT what he thinks you'd do best doing...
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 15:47 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teflon-Mike wrote:
Polarbear wrote:
Riding a 125 on the motorway regularly would be soul destroying.


But if you have one? Motorways are just as do-able on a 125 as anything else, really.

No, they are not just as doable. You are doing it on a light underpowered machine that gets thrown around in the air wash of lorries and struggles to make 70mph on the flat.


Polarbear wrote:
Hauling a big bike through London traffic would be one hell of a (possibly painful) learning curve.


I'm sanguine on that notion. Well.. no... ANY bike in city traffic can be something of a pain.

We are talking specifically about your early informative riding and learning around London on a big bike is not going to be as easy as a light 125 (or even a twist and go)

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pepperami
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PostPosted: 18:10 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Re: Needing some Advice Reply with quote

Cannybearsed wrote:
I’m recently considering driving about on a 125 for a while before getting my full license.


Back in the day when I first passed my test, I chose to continue on my little Suzuki 125DR for nearly a year.
I’m glad I did, it worked for me and showed me you don’t need 10,000bhp to enjoy motorbikes.

But hey-ho each to their own.
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Last edited by pepperami on 11:48 - 20 Aug 2018; edited 1 time in total
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 20:23 - 16 Aug 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Polarbear wrote:
Riding a 125 on the motorway regularly would be soul destroying.
Teflon-Mike wrote:
But if you have one? Motorways are just as do-able on a 125 as anything else, really.
Polarbear wrote:
No, they are not just as doable. You are doing it on a light underpowered machine that gets thrown around in the air wash of lorries and struggles to make 70mph on the flat.


Hmmmm.... yeah, but... 55-60 is 55-60, doesn't take more than a tiddler to do that, even two up. Often catch the MODs swarming round here to do a soul-tour from the old Tic-Tok, along M69/M42 and all points Norf or Sarf on M6/M1.. they hack it..... even on things with the aerodynaics of a hair-dryer and the inherent stability of an alchoholic circus clown on a unicycle! BEFORE they rake the fork a couple of feet, tip the weight even further back and lift the CofG to something stupid!

Idea you 'have' to do 70 on the motorway, is the big mental leap I think; you dont. And crisp-packet in a tornado dancing? Get in the 'bubble' behind an artic, they can actually suck you along in thier draft, creating a pocket of still air that actually isolates you to a large degree from cross winds and buffet, as well as lets you roll of the throttle, enormousely to save fuel.... you DO have to be a bit 'close' and might stuggle to heed advise to keep the driver of HGV in sight in thier own rear-views... but still.

Used to be my habitual way to do long runs, like Manchester-Plymouth, just shy of 300miles when as impoverished student and I was on a promice! Two gallon fuel tank, and 66mpg 'book' average on an AR125, suggested I shouldn't even make it there on a tank-full, let alone there and almost half-way back!

Polarbear wrote:
Hauling a big bike through London traffic would be one hell of a (possibly painful) learning curve.
Teflon-Mike wrote:
I'm sanguine on that notion. Well.. no... ANY bike in city traffic can be something of a pain.
Polarbear wrote:
We are talking specifically about your early informative riding and learning around London on a big bike is not going to be as easy as a light 125 (or even a twist and go)


Hmmm, some more. I still think town riding is just painful. If you do it on a big-bike you will probably have had more training to have got the licence, a-n-d big-bikes tend to be flexible, on power and balence; it's still swings and round-abouts.

Popping to the shops, I tend to grab the 125, as much as anything because its easier to park and unpark... in my own drive! Let alone ASDA or council car-park with school-run mums telling little Johhnny to put the trolley back!
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Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'
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