Motorbike Advice for a Complete Amatuer

[Shug]

It's all been said above. Go do the CBT, if you don't love it from that, it's less likely you will as you progress - it's a great tester. Nervous is fine, but if you're not getting a kick at that stage, it'll be hard to spark on later on.

Entry level kit is fine, but don't skip stuff. It'll be the day you say "f*ck it, I'm only going to the shop" in your jeans that you get twatted off and take your thigh down to the bone. There's good casual stuff (as Donkey alluded to) that has abrasion resistance but doesn't look full gimp. I'll regularly go out in a Dainese race jacket, but with armoured jeans on.

Again - I'd repeat the advice about too little power being just as bad as too much. Lots of really friendly 500-800cc twins & stuff around that will do everything in the real world and far more stable for someone new to it. Test rides can be a bit tough on anything gucci when you're new to riding, but there's lots of promotions about to get new guys into biking, so a lot of the more logical "new bike" stuff should be accessible. Ride everything you can.

If you love it, you'll really love it. I'm the prime example of the bloke who used to be hardcore car, but I find it tough actually getting excited about cars these days. If you're a bit meh about it, don't push it - you tried, didn't work, move on. Too risky a pastime to follow unless you're really into it, IMO.

[Shug]

On a side note, and completely irrelevant here, a colleague was at a course in Aberdeen recently and had his BMW S1000RR (I think that's right), in a titanium colour and it was stunning...

Think that's what Shug had before his current steed.

I would echo what other posts have said about protective gear - get the best you can and make sure it fits right to provide best protection.
There is little to touch the experience of riding a bike and if you take to it (not everyone does) , you will be hooked.

Yep, twas. To echo a bit what D said as well - too much bike for the road. Took me a good few months to feel I was riding it, not the other way round. Enjoyed it on track, it didn't intimidate after that initial familiarisation curve (when you got used to just how much was in reserve everywhere, at all times) but riding it on the road was an exercise in total frustration or guaranteed jail time. Couple that with reliability glitches that made my Elise look reliable as a <insert bank-vault-reliable motor here> and I got rid in the second year of ownership.

Took a step sideways in cost, but down in power, to something exotic and Italian (the BM always felt a little serious) and loving biking more than ever, even though I can't get out as much as I'd like.

[rossybee]

Aforementioned colleague is ages with me (wrong side of forty) and is very experienced on two wheels, even has a fancy track bike and a transit to haul it around in

[Shug]

Aforementioned colleague is ages with me (wrong side of forty) and is very experienced on two wheels, even has a fancy track bike and a transit to haul it around in

They are stunning machines - perhaps the most impressive thing is that a near-on 200bhp superbike is as easy to ride as a 600. Genuinely no vices. For me, it was the constant frustration - we are talking a bike that will do the ton in first gear. That if you pin the throttle for only a few seconds, it's monstrously easy to be north of 140tuts in third/ going for fourth before you realise what you're actually doing and that you'd be a headline in the local rag if plod was hiding in that bush...

I prefer, now, to have something that you can whack up through the gears and lean on a bit without spending your life the wrong side of 120tuts - which is where you have to be if you are pushing on with the S1K. That said, not everyone cares about feeling like they are pushing on a bit and it'll slog along in top at motorway speeds without a glitch or hiccup. Just feels nuts to me to have all that performance in reserve without a place to use it (if you're not tracking it, and I didn't get on track enough with it)

Stunning achievement by BM though (if you get one that doesn't disintegrate).

[graeme]

I had a go on kind, generous, trusting Mr Shug's S1000RR on the road, and

It was dead easy to ride. A total pussycat. I was more scared before I got on it than when I got off. But, HOW F**KING FAST??? First time ever on a somebody else's pride and joy, in "safe mode" throttle map, a quick squirt on the straights in 3rd saw numbers my 100hp bike can't even do flat out! It's sooooo easy.

I reckon the reliability issues are built in at the factory to keep the death toll down.

[douglasgdmw]

Agree with Shug in that some of the speed these bikes can do is pretty terrifying and really doesn't become enjoyable anymore. Its nice to know that you are putting in a little bit of effort for your achievements and probably why my most enjoyable rides have been on lesser machines trying to keep up with much faster bikes.

Often thought about a new Ducati but for the outlay I would be getting a bike which was probably a lot easier to ride but would not have the raw factor that I am quite like (and moan about ). Sounding very old and ancient but the new bikes in my eyes don't have the beauty of my Ducati 748.

For me, if I was to get another bike I would find it difficult to look past this:


If I was after a brand new bike then probably I would end up going for the Ducati Scrambler and having a bit of fun at a lot much lower speeds.


George

[Ferg]

I had an CBR600RR which to be honest I was a little big for. Took weeks of mechanical sympathy deprogramming to take it past 7k rpm. The red line was at 16k. Bikes are in a different class.