24 replies to this topic

[KurtDeVos]

Its really a case of the riders skill level and money they can outlay, if he has the money for the DAS I would suggest he goes right for it because he will get a full unrestricted licence and then can pick up a 250cc bit more poke than a 125 but not going to set the world on fire. Get a cheap Honda CB or similar for a few months and move upto a 600cc for a year then do what you want. 

 

If he just wants a taste of biking and does not want to lay the money on the line before he is sure, you have to do the CBT anyway as part of a DAS, so he can always do the CBT and ride as a learner for a few months on a bigger 125 like the Varadero XL125 (Which are awesome bikes). Thing is different riders have different skills and habits, if you have been driving a car a long time you let bad habits get ingrained into you some of which don't translate to motorcycle riding. 

[fixitsan]

A guy at work has also mentioned a Varadero 125.....after his DAS he kept on with his for a year before moving on to Blandit...he said the Varadero was awesome too.

 

I was looking this morning at older Kwak 550's. I ran a KZ550ltd for 2 years everyday, and it had just enough poke to get through A-road traffic but never enough to give you too much confidence. but then these older bikes are slowly rising in value and it seems almost inevitable that it will be dropped at some point which would be a shame.......but then again we get bikes to ride them don't we

[Favs]

Rode my first bike off-road while still attending junior school & was immediately hooked. I continued to ride off-road until I was 17 when I bought my RD250B (didn't get a ped cos I wanted a proper bike  having ridden up to 650s off-road).

 

FWIW - get your mate to wear PPE & do lots of miles alone on quieter roads to get a bit of machine control. Get some training to supplement the pass your test type, in order to bring them date with up to today's traffic & road hazards, as well as obvious fundamentals like positioning. Encourage him to talk to folk about what he did/went wrong & to find out why.

[fixitsan]

 

FWIW - get your mate to wear PPE & do lots of miles alone

 

I've just messaged him with a synopsis of the comments here this morning. Basically that he should see how he feels after the CBT and DAS, take on board his instructor's comments and not worry about the type of bike because there's a bike for everybody...instead focus on getting the best gear (not wanting to say that having an off is inevitable at the start, but...the following vid, on test day, says it all)

 

Edited by fixitsan, 24 January 2016 - 12:09 pm.

[KurtDeVos]

A guy at work has also mentioned a Varadero 125.....after his DAS he kept on with his for a year before moving on to Blandit...he said the Varadero was awesome too.

 

 

The varadero is a great bike for someone who wants to have the big bike experience, its quite a large bike possibly the biggest frame wise in the 125 category and have enougth power and torque to be comfortable on all types of roads. The Honda 125 V-Twin engine is an excellent engine fore a 125 just not as efficient as the single cylinders but gets going!. The YBR and CBF 125s are good, reliable, efficient work horses. My Other half wants to get into bikes so I picked up a KSR Worx 125 which is basicly a Suzuki GN 125 with nice plastics only cost £600 with hardly any miles.

 

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The problem with the old 2 stroke 125s is they have normally been abused and need a rebuild, or have been de restricted so output too much power for a Learner no to mention the awful scream that is more the flavour of the Younger scooter crew.  

 

 

Edited by KurtDeVos, 24 January 2016 - 12:54 pm.