K - Keep To The Centre Of Your Lane Sir!

Greetings all - hope we are all doing good and are all excited about the end of the week?  No doubt we are all aware people are already in Paradise?!  No its not fair but what are you gonna do? lol

Right well this is a quick one for a buddy who asked me a couple of questions last night about bikes.  Asked me to send some pics and whatnot so i'll do this instead and point him in this direction and he'll probably be non the wiser haha I think the predominant question (we were racin and sorry but i kinda concentrate sometimes) was which bikes are cool for starting out with and what am i riding right now.  This is it: a christmas present for an exex girlfriend who put 178 miles on it in three year and didn't want it when we amicably split up. A wicked winter hack for me now (no hidden motives when i bought it... promise)

Its a Honda XR125L4. New £2,300 - used £1'500 average - ebay £1,000 - crash damaged repairables £500 to £800 average.  Perfect for starting out with - perfect all rounder, nice nobbles on the tyres for extra grip, nice riding position and reliable as hell and that is the most important thing to me.... some people prefer the unknown excitement of oooooo maybe i'll breakdown today half way through my 200 mile journey south but i don't!   Someone of 5ft 5" can just about touch the floor on both sides with their feet - if you are taller, say 6ft onwards you'll be better off with one of these - a Honda Varadero XL125:

If you're a big lad (or girl) then this will suit you a hell of a lot more, unfortunately they are expensive £3,000 new i reckon but spend some time looking around and you'll find plenty used and again perfect reliabilty and build so no worries buying a used one.

They are two of my most advised starter bikes - don't touch Aprilia's for gods sake - No Peugeot's or Cagiva's - get a Japanese one.  Seriously - i aint kidding. There are loads of older and cheaper machines still rocking about and if my buddy gets serious about this then just ask me about any bikes you may have seen up for sale and i'll tell you all i can about them - i'll go so far as to say that if you don't know any one clued up mechanically enough to physically look at them for you then give me a shout and i'll do it for you.

I'll just give you some quick info on the tests you gotta take whilst i'm here too. 

These days they wont let you ride without a CBT (Compulsary Basic Training).  Used to be that a car licence holder could ride up to a 125cc i think on that licence - not anymore - CBT's go for £80-£125 depending on where in the country you are. And you have to take your theory test - when i did the bike theory it also counted as a car theory test which is strange as it does not count the other way round? Weird.  A CBT lasts for 2 years (used to be 1).

Don't know if you know but you can take this CBT on an automatic scooter and still go out and ride a manual gear motorcycle - not sure its a good thing but the old ways are sometimes the best:  buy a piece of crap bike and take it on the hills and teach yourself to ride - the CBT instructor still told you where your blind spots are, how to emergency break, all the controls are the same there's just a bit more work to do with your feet.

You will have to take your main test in that 2 years period or they take it from you and you gotta CBT again - why not invest that £100 in to your full test instead of messin about?  Cars they say average 10-15 lessons before you're ready to test - bikes,  i guess your confidence makes a difference but go for the same or more? I had 1 lesson and failed my test 3 times (bad habits are hard to quash) "Erm Lee pick your feet up we are NOT drag racin" "You dont get points for skimming park cars" ETC

So you can take as many lessons as you want until you or your instructor feels you are ready - obviously.  OR you go Direct Access which can cost between £300 to £500 again depending where you go or are situated.  This is usually an intensive 3 - 5 days course of riding and theories, shitty machined coffee from the test centre, greasy burgers from roadside cafe's and many an aching butt cheek but at the end you are practically guarenteed a pass.  Some test centres offer a free re-test if you fail too.

So thats it really - You can even do the main test on a 125cc and they restrict you to 33bhp (Brake Horse Power - sorry just in case someone does'nt know BHP) for a 2 year period.  Two years pass and buy yourself anything you want to.  In that 2 years you can even "restrict" bigger bikes like a Honda CBR600 restriction kit is £150 for the earlier carb models and all a kit like this does is cap your top speed.  Its a bit stupid really - they cap you at like 70mph but you still have full power getting there, not really restricting if you ask me but there you go.  Also there are other bikes out there that fall into the 33bhp in there standard form:  Yamah XT350: Honda CB250 and others very similar. 

I've always said this about riding bikes - move up slow - don't buy a Suzuki SV650 and restrict it on your 2 year CBT "probation" period, you strangle the bloody motor for one thing.  Get used to the lower end of the scale first and move along nicely, what's the rush?  You wanna prove to your mates you can ride big bikes? Anybody with two hands, two legs and a head can ride a big bike. 

I hope there was a little bit of useful stuff for you their buddy - and to anyone else who's thought about it, i'll help any one out that i can but only in the safest way i can - you wanna be the next Barry Sheen then thats cool but keep it on the track.... not on the streets