Getting Category A 24+

[siedlikmaster]

Hello,

I have done CBT month ago and I have been riding 125cc almost every day now. Getting to work its a bit of pain as going up hill at 40mph and slowing down the traffic its a bit shit. Also forget about steady +50mph

So Im thinking about doing Category A motorcycle (24 or over).
From the gov.uk I have found out that if im over 24 and I did CBT, I only have to do Theory Test and then part 2 practical test on a motorcycle at least 595cc.

In my area I have found Direct Access (500cc) with motorcycle hire for a day for a £220, as that all I will need ?
https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/capture_893.jpg

[Pete.]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Teflon-Mike]

Ad on edd; just checked profile, and you admit to a KSR GRS125. It looks a lot like a Generic Chinky bike.. whether its slos as chuck remains an open question.
Importer specs suggest it's got a 10bhp air-cooled 4-stroke engine.... probably a Suzuki GS clone, but I cant tell without loking up spares emporiums to see if they list an oil filter... the Suzuki GS and clones are about the only 125's that use them. B-U-T same importer also claims it's Euro-4 emmissions complient... this offers conundrum, as to meet Euro-4, most manufacturers have either de-tuned the heck out of things so they are barely moped powerful... OR they have gone water-cooled and 4 valve, and 'expensive'.. so I take the importer claims with a healthy dose of salt.....
Either way, it 'shouldn't' be so slow as chuck... whih begs two/three likelyhoods.
a) its so new it's not properly run in yet.... you dont say how new it is, but if factory fresh barely a week ago, I dount your daily commute would get it to the first service.
b) It's Kerfiucklered. Not new Previouse owners have thrashed and trashed the thing, probably never had it properly serviced, and its not making the power it should. Normally fairly easily remidies, even on an older thrasher with some remedial service work; like checking valve clerances and the chain tension.
c) it's not stilll tight, or kerfuckerred by PO's, its JUST that you is learner, and dont know how to really ride the thing!
Which option would YOU put any money on?

Common newbie errors are reluctance to rev the things cos they sound so tortured. Not aided by a lack of anything offering sound deadening around the engine, like a water-jacket, but also 'cos motorbikes, especially small cc ones NEED to rev to make the little power they might. Importer specs claim peak power to be at aprox 9ooo rpm, which is about twice the revs that a car engine, especially a deseadil, sat in a sound proofed box well away from the driver, sat in another..

but learners also tend to over shift, and particularly short-shift in to too tall a gear far too soon. Especially newbies that have car licences or had car lessons where that is taught as 'good practice'... which it probably isn't even in a car, but certainly not on a bike, where you NEED to use the full rev range and the lower gears to get at the full rev range, to a) get at the little power a little bike may make, and b) keep the thing 'responsive' to the throttle, cos it dont have ooodles of cc's to make 'torque' for you, it has revs and it has gears, so that you can rev the pants off the thing and get the responsiveness that way.

Which is another contributory newbie tendancy; learn bikes, bikes have gears and compunction to feel like you are doing 'something' more the sort of thing you were taught on CBT, leads many to over shift and change gear.. a lot! Usually 'up', when they don't need to, cos the engine don't sound so strained, and the bike probably 'feels' happier in a taller cog whilst it seems counter intuative to use lower gears to go faster...

Thing IS, that little air-cooled one pot 125, might make 10bhp at 9K rpm, BUT, the power delivery is pretty proportional, so call it 10bhp at 10K rpm, thats 1bhp per 1ooo revs, you will get 1bhp at tick-over, 2bhp at fast idle, 3bhp at 3ooo rmp, etc.

In first gear it will probably be geares to go no more than maybe 15mph at the red-line, because it has top be low enough to get 140Kg of bike, plus perhaps a 90Kg rider, plus another 90Kg of passenger, plus maybe 40Kg more of luggage, moving on a hill-start.

Second gear wont be much taller; it might top out at the red-line at something as low as perhaps 25mph....

I KNOW that MY 125 will do a genuine 32mph in 2nd gear..... but it'll probably chuck a tappet if you try... cos that is exactly what our Snowie did on her Mod 1 test through the radar trap.. but that's another story!

This makes Third Gear, on most 5-speed 125's 'The mother of all work' and they will generally run to around 50mph, perhaps a bit less, in that before hitting the red line on the rev-counter. Sounds horrible, but, believe me that's what they are designed to do, they don't make so much power they can do themselves 'much' harm reving them out... You. on the other hand, CAN, by bashing down the box and making the back wheel drive the engine to rpms it was never conceived to stand, b-u--t that's yet another story again.

FORTH gear then... traditionally was and usually still IS the effective TOP gear of most motorcycles, or for that matter cars.

Peak power at 9ooo rpm, will probably coincide with a road sped of 'about' 60mph... in 4th.

Cog up to 5th, and that is effectively an 'overdrive' ratio. It will drop the revs back for more relaxed cruising.. but at those lower RPMs the engine wont be able to make the 'peak' power it might at peak power rpm... might let you 'hold' a 55-60-mph road speed but acceleration il be nill. So IF you have got into 5th before you have topped out the road speed, 5th CAN actually stop the bike going as fast as it might. and its a little 125cc air cooled two valve one luinger, it DONT have excess to make up for ANY newbie numptiness, like this.

A bigger cc bike might.... B-U-T whilst it may offer some compensation to let you get away with being a bit more of as numpty, its a placebo, its YOU not the bike, that's in error, and getting a bigger bike that's more tolerant of numptiness and taking training and tests to let you get such bigger bike.. you'd still be a bit of s numpty on it and NOT get all it could offer either....

Training may help some numptimess, B-U-T likely wot erradicte it, which is why littke bikes make great trainjing tools,. and why they are given to folk on L-Plates... they either learn to riode well and get the best from the bike, gence any bike... or they give up and just get a bigger bike that gives them the more they crave without having to learn to work or it.... your call, which you want to do..... but almost certain that your bike ha more to give than you get from it, (possibly not a LOT, but a bit!) IF you knew how to ride it to get it....
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
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?'

[Evil Hans]

[Riejufixing]

[stevo as b4]

That doesn't sound like a very interesting or exciting kind of power delivery to me though.

[Easy-X]

The limit for A1 (i.e. learner 125s) is, obviously, <125cc and 11kW (~15bhp.)

Most of the Chinesium-built bikes are 9kW but I was quite surprised that a lot of the bigger manufacturers are the same (or even less!) Only seems the Ninja gives the full whack until you get into the more exotic range.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Teflon-Mike]

[ThatDippyTwat]

[Easy-X]

[Teflon-Mike]

[stevo as b4]

Don't forget that it's also about aerodynamics as to how fast a given 125cc bike or any bike can travel. Let's stick to 125's just for ease of comparison though.

If you look back at some of the bikes from the 12bhp days, you had some pretty narrow frontal areas on tucked in race replicas, and some barn door Dakar or custom style bikes. Big differences in mph for the same power.

Not only that, it's about power delivery and power spread, and more specifically about what happens after peak power rpm has been exceeded. Obviously gearing ties in with this too.

But at the risk of pleasing Tef, some of the popular four stroke 12bhp bikes were a couple of mph or so faster than some of the restricted two strokes, even when some were more slippery faired bikes.

What is happening there is that the linear four stroke engine is rolling over the peak of the power curve and slowly dropping off in power as the rpm increased. Many of the two stroke engines were very crudely restricted to 12bhp for the UK market, and as such when they reached peak power rpm, the load would drop off very quickly after peaking, so with less effective over rev, the bike would not under favourable conditions go any quicker, due to the bhp falling away suddenly.

The kawasaki AR125 was one of the best restricted two strokes for a long power spread and long rev range even in 12bhp form. The NS125 for example was not and had nothing to give after 7000rpm. That's another reason why some less aerodynamic bikes could go faster than more aerodynamic machines, that had a less usable rev range.

[Ste]