Your bikes from beginner level on

[Milesprower]

just wondering how everyone progressed bike wise from beginner rider status? Assuming you were old enough, did you stay on a 125 for a while or move on to full licence and get a bigger bike asap, and is there value in riding a smaller engined machine for a while, or doesn't it matter?
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milesprower

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

18 months or more on 4t 125s, and probably around 10k miles all told

next, a couple of cb500s - for 2 or 3 years and about 50k miles

other bikes in between and after but that's the basics of it

125s are shit - but they're shit for a reason, and although that reason is itself shit, it did work for me, i think

i felt like it was necessary to take steps - i'm not really about plunging headlong into stuff, or at least not when life and limb are at stake

125s often seem like gutless pieces of crap that aren't capable of making sufficient progress to avoid slowing the general rate of traffic flow down - and I definitely remember vehicles trailing behind me in those first few weeks, and probably months tbh

so I restricted myself to country lanes, mostly single track - where I didn't feel pressured to go at a speed that wasn't wholly mine, and as i got more confident, i went on gradually busier roads. i never avoided towns though, and always made a habit of riding in urban shit on every bike i've owned - small and big. ditto back lanes. both contexts help keep you sharp, in different ways, and make you a better rider on other roads, imo

to start with get out early when the roads are quieter
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[kgm]

I started off in 2014 with a shitty ex learner CG125 that I bought off the training school for £400. Tatty but mechanically (mostly) solid. I bought that because my wife had just graduated from uni and found her first graduate job which was a fair commute away that wasn't accessible by public transport. I gave her my car to use and and needed commuter transport sharpish so I had that bike within a week of doing my CBT.

I used that as my main transport for 4-5 months until I passed my test and then bought an ER6 which became my main transport. Started doing longer multi day trips with that.

A few years ago I rescued my Granddad's old 1980 CX500 from the garage where it had been sitting untouched for 26 years. I spent two years in and off doing a restoration and still have that for the occasional ride. The plastics and tank are away for a professional spray job at the moment, they were in decent nick so I didn't get them done at the time of the rebuild, only recently decided to refresh them.

I kept the CG and did a full rebuild and still rode it regularly until I sold it to a neighbour last year. I enjoyed the 125 for the different experience it offered and the extra challenge on longer trips, I took it all over Scotland, up to Applecross, etc.

After 3 years or so I sold the ER6 in favour of a VFR800X Crossrunner which is now my main steed. A much better and vastly underrated bike
IMO, which suits the varied riding that I do really well and has great build quality.

Last year I sold the CG and picked up a new CRF250L which I use for commuting, a bit of off roading and longer camping trips. I bought it to build into a lightweight adventure bike for a TET ride I'd like to do someday.

Not sure where to go next. I'd like to move on from the Crossrunner next year but I'm not sure what to get. Tempted by the bigger adv bikes but I think I'd miss the handling of the crossrunner and the sportier ones are either too fragile (multistrada, parts issues) or the pillion perch isn't great. Maybe a Tracer with upgraded suspension. I really don't know.

[Polarbear]

I was riding well before the 125 laws came in.

My first bike was a Yamaha YDS7 and then an RD250 about a year later. There was no reason to pass your test if you were happy on a 250 and there were some cracking ones around then in 1974 when I started riding.

I passed my test in 76 and bought a Suzuki GT500 in 77. I hated it. The RD250 was a much better bike and I should have got the RD400 but being a foolish youngster I thought more CC was more powah!

I still feel sorry for you lot with the 125/12hp rules.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[dynax]

I started on a UM 125 and still ride then i bought a CG 125 and still ride, and now i have just bought a Rizzato 50cc pedal and pop with a huge 1.5 HP which i am just getting ready to put back on the road just for shits and giggles

https://adventurebikerider.com/forum/download/file.php?id=98400
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Mike.
Bikes: Xena, Bridget,Florence
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmihUc0xXxYbR4_0l-F1FzA/videos?view_as=subscriber

[weasley]

Did CBT on the riding school’s SR125. Then DAS on a BMW F650ST.

First bike was a Yamaha XJ600. Then a YZF600R Thundercat. Now the KTM. No 125 for me.
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Yamaha XJ600 | Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat | KTM 990 SMT | BMW F900XR TE

[Peanut_Butter]

I didn't have a 125 in between.
Passed my DAS on a Er6, they progressed me in the lessons from some other bikes but o can't remember what.

Bought a Street triple as my first bike.

[spottedtango]

Started on a Yam SR125 for a year.

If I'm honest it taught me the basics like not falling off and getting used to riding on the road.

But I think after a while I hit a plateau because of the bikes limitations. It wasn't teaching me much about cornering lines,overtaking, throttle control or putting power down.

Once I passed my test I went through quite a few bikes. During this time this is when I learned properly to ride.

I learned to follow "the line" through corners and getting used to having the power to stand the bike back up again on the way back out. Better brakes/handling meant I could brake later and trail the brakes on into the corner to get my speed under control.

To cut along story short, 125s are useful but don't stay there if you're serious about riding and want to learn more. You need the feeling of being on a big bike then you can decide what you like.

[wr6133]

I think there is value in having a lower powered bike alongside the fast stuff. My lowest powered bike forces me to get lines right to maintain speed, I've noticed this then translates to being quite a bit faster round corners on my fast bike.

I don't however think (though I used too), that there is much value in wobbling about on a 125 for any longer than learning basic machine control (so the CBT). They are just a little bit too gutless, that or the average car is now much more powerful than way back when they mandated 125cc's and the power limits, meaning the tiddlers now (imo) are not very confidence inspiring for someone new on the road.

[yen_powell]

I started with a CZ250 twin. It was all I could afford as I was too young to get HP and had no savings. The state of it horrified my parents so much they co-signed for HP and I got a year old Honda CG125. The 125 law came in whilst I was learner, I did the old part one, part two test, only just in time as in those days a provisional only lasted 2 years, after that you were banned from riding for a year. People have forgotten that bit of draconian lawmaking nowadays.

After passing my test I bought a Yamaha XS250 brand new. Shit heap of a bike that did not like starting on cold mornings, the kickstart came in handy to back up the electric start.

I part exed that very quickly and bought a second hand CX500. It felt huge and powerful and I put a touring fairing on it and some Krauser panniers. I got a comfier seat and this was the bike I felt confident enough on to explore the country over the next few years. I still feel a great amount of affection for that bike.

When I got made redundant from my first job I used my redundancy money to ride about for a few months, camping in various places, just exploring. When the money ran out I did a bit of courier work on it. I was very bad at it, but it was tax free, well I never paid any, so it kept me solvent for a while.

I then got a new job and used the CX at work as transport and at that year's Earls Court bike show I saw a red GPz750A3, the air cooled unitrack model with a full fairing. In a Wayne's World guitar shop type moment I swore, 'one day you shall be mine, oh yes!'.

I got a second hand GPz and ran that for a few years, had my first ever bike accidents on it, both at low speeds, one, running into the back of a mate's car and once sliding off half way round a roundabout, still not sure what caused that one. I got it fixed and still loved it so much I bought a brand new one, same colour, most people didn't even notice it was a different bike.

After running the 2nd GPz for a few years I started travelling to Plymouth after work every weekend, this was before speed cameras and I managed to leave work in east London at 4pm on Friday evening and be sitting in a front room drinking tea in Plymouth at 8pm the only motorway I used was a bit of the M3.

I was starting to go a funny shape with the long journeys and the clip on bars so part exed for a second hand FJ1200, which seemed like an armchair in comparison. If I sit one now it feels like a full on race bike!

I'll finish this later, many more bikes to go.
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Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[arry]

Odd journey for me. I had little scramblers as a kid when we used to live close enough for fields you could use them in (illegally but you know, it was the 80's) but I had very little interest in bikes growing up except when I was maybe ~13 and the urban tiger Fireblade came out - I vaguely recall having a picture of one on my wall at some point but I can't think why.

I did nothing with bikes until I was ~25 and it was only through a job choice that I became involved. Was offered a job the other side of Dartford Crossing and couldn't face the commute in a car. Mate of mine who had an NC30 at the time was corralling me into getting a bike.
Decided to do bike test just so that I had it and then make my mind up afterwards. As it turned out I passed the bike test and then didn't take the job anyway. Then after ~5 months or so of my mate badgering me to get a bike, he GAVE me (yes really) this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50077816148_499de7ecfe_c.jpg

It was really nice of him and that got me started. I paid him back for his kindness eventually; when the missus' eyes weren't on me.

About a year on I decided I wanted something better so I bought this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50077818993_cbcdb99ddd_c.jpg

Which was a fabulous bike. I honestly don't know why I felt the need to change - I think it was just inexperience and wanting to try new things again. I gave, yes GAVE, that bike to a mate of mine to set him off on his biking journey. I'd been gifted my start in the biking world; and so I gifted someone else the same. Alas it didn't end well, on a trip to Wales he was trying too hard to keep up with experienced riders in front and - yup you guessed it - had a big off. Lucky, very lucky to walk away. The bike was totalled and was left about 3 feet shorter than it was, upside down in a ditch on the roadside.

After the CBR I bought this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50078393941_b2eff827c1_c.jpg

Kept it nearly 5 years I think. No idea why, didn't like it that much. Great engine, but the rest of the bike was bang average at best. Others hold them in high regard but I don't.

So I traded that in and got absolutely mugged off on the trade in value (I'll never do that again - just sell private) and bought this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49917189531_ff1ddcf323_c.jpg

Absolute loon of a thing and I'm gutted to have just had to sell it because it doesn't work for me personally any more (injuries). When I bought it, my wife decided she hated it and refused to come out on the back, so I went off and bought a second bike to go alongside it, so I bought this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49917184516_28864a87ce_c.jpg

It's the best worst bike in the world. It's so crap, but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to love it. Have really enjoyed owning it and I don't think I'll ever sell it.

In between all this my wife was getting more and more into coming out on the back and eventually decided to do her CBT which she got through, so I bought her this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50077822303_da7bd9302a_c.jpg

It didn't work out for her in the end. She decided it wasn't for her. Fair enough. She still comes out on the back but didn't see herself going any further on her own. I used the bike to commute backwards and forwards to a job I had in Romford which was bloody good fun actually, so I'm glad I got my 125 experience even if it was late in the day.

About to go replace my KTM with something ridiculous but haven't quite decided what yet. Probably an R Nine T.

[Milesprower]

Some great stories there, so it seems it's pretty subjective about 'progression' on size of bike... i notice nobody just went in on a 1000cc 😀
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milesprower

[arry]

[martin734]

My first bike was a Honda H100. I then "upgraded" to a Yamaha XS250 after I passed my test. The Yam was not much faster than my H100, broke down more often than a Big Brother contestant and handled like the frame was made out of plastic. I then had a Honda CB500 which was totally reliable, easy to ride and fun for a couple of years until it got a bit boring. My next bike was a Honda DT125 that I owned while living in Israel and which I have many fond memories of days spent riding through the Negev desert. When I returned to the UK I bought a Honda VFR750 which I loved and on which I almost died when some myopic cretin in a people carrier knocked me off on the M1 and I ended up going over the central barrier into the opposite carriage way resulting in a fractured skull, 3 fractured vertebrae, a smashed left hip, fractured pelvis, broken left shoulder and a shattered left wrist. After almost 2 years of recovery I bought a Honda VFR800 that unfortunately I had to sell as the injuries from my accident made it too uncomfortable to ride for more than 30 minutes at a time. In order to keep riding I bought a Suzuki VZ800 Marauder which I didn't really like. Nothing particularly wrong with the bike, it's just that is a cruiser so it handled like a pig and I looked like a member of the Village People when I rode it. Not being into tassels and arseless chaps, I got rid of it when my hip, wrist and shoulder started to become less painful and bought my current bike, my Honda ST1100 which I love and feels very much like a bigger, heavier and comfier VFR800.
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Current bike: ST1100 "Big Red"

[myvision]

Loads of field bikes as a kid then in 1993 a DT50 on the road and onto an NSR125 at 17.
Then a gap of 23 years I did the CBT got a PCX to learn to filter in London did DAS and onto a Hornet 600 then it went as follows.
Burgman 400 for the commute (gone)
ZZR1200 (gone)
THUNDERCAT (gone)
FZS 1000 (still got)
Another THUNDERCAT (still got)
VFR 800 pre vtec (still got)

Looking to sell the Fazer and get a VFR1200 soon.
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VFR800FI, YZF600R Thundercat and FZS 1000

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[chickenstrip]

[chickenstrip]

[yen_powell]

[chickenstrip]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[arry]

[yen_powell]

[chickenstrip]

I know it was Hyside's in late '91/early '92, because they had the wreck of my FZR and I went to see it there when I was up and about again.
Never met Mr. Dunn or knew of him.
Tbh, I didn't know any of them beyond popping in now and again. They got a bit of a reputation as Street Machine, gossip went around.
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[yen_powell]