Life's little lessons...

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#41 Unread post by **cb360** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 10:54 am

kabob983 wrote:I suppose alot of it is situational, but I still believe that buying a race replica bike as a first bike is more of an ego thing than a "necessity" thing, unless of course you ride the autobahn to work every day...

There are times when having more power is nice, or even necessary, but that's more power than you "require" for a busy highway, long transit, etc.

OK - I was trying to be diplomatic above and give credence to opinions that don't echo my own. And I think I did so. I sure as hell don't know everything. HOWEVER... I think a noob buying a race bike for a first bike is just stupid. I know, I know, it's been done before. Don't care, I still think it's stupid.

#42 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 12:28 pm

Agreed. Buying anything with an "RR" on the side to learn on is grossly ignorant. Not impossible, but not the way to go.

#43 Unread post by **Sev** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 12:39 pm

I've got a video on my computer where a couple of MotoGOP racers were giving an interview and they flat out said they would never buy a Race Replica bike for regular use.

That for me is more then enough reason to not even sell them.... but the almighty dollar will rule.

#44 Unread post by **cb360** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:56 pm

Sevulturus wrote:I've got a video on my computer where a couple of MotoGOP racers were giving an interview and they flat out said they would never buy a Race Replica bike for regular use.

That for me is more then enough reason to not even sell them.... but the almighty dollar will rule.

Yep, you can't forget that there's lots of folks who have wallets that are way bigger than their brains.

#45 Unread post by **Sev** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 2:08 pm

That rattling you hear when they walk isn't change in their pockets it's change stored in their skulls...

jmillheiser · Mon Oct 31, 2005 2:29 pm

The whole idea is to get the bike that suits your riding style and to a lesser extent where you live. A huge cruiser would not be fun to try to manuver in a place like NYC, and a 250 standard would probably be a chore to ride on the super slab.

#47 Unread post by **Kal** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 2:52 am

Actually I kind of agree with Zootech in general terms most of the time, its when we get into specifics and the matter of scale where the disagreement normally starts.

We have 50cc bikes over here, I'd not recommend them to anyone - friends rode them and they werent bad little bikes but they can only manage urban speedlimits and dont have a tremendous amount of 'go' in them.

Motorbikes are inherinently risky in the same way that potholing, cliff climbing and any number of other 'recreational sports' are. The responcible thing is to acknowledge the risks and limit them. Some people ride without helmet and leathers, fair enough - some folks get off on climbing without ropes. If the worst happens both will have to take their lumps.

I suggest that the risks inherient in learning on a 50bhp* bike are lower than a 100+bhp bike. Once you can ride that to its limits then I suggest you will be able to ride pretty much anything else.

There are three reasons I try to convince new people to tke a safety firt, last and lwys approach. I hate to see people get hurt though ignorance**, accidents put up everyones insurance premiums - the more serious the accident the more the premiums go up and finally the more vicious accidents there are the more the anti-motorcycling lobby*** can shout that motorcycles are dangerous and should be banned.

* In the Uk I'd recommend 10-50bhp
** Ignorance in its truest meaning not in the degroitry sense of the word
*** Ths includes my parents

sapaul · #48 Unread post by **sapaul** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:27 am

There are times when it works the other way too. My daughter, all 5'3" can handle a BMW 650 GS with ease, yet is restricted to a 125 until she is 18. She has a part time job, goes to college next year and I would love for her to be on a 500 or 650 purely because the likelyhood of her being pushed around by cagers would be so much less. Cagers think that scooters and skinny 125's like the CBR and LS are fair game on the roads and should just be pushed over to ride in the yellow lane. I am looking at the Hyosung Comet 125 because it has some bulk and can hit the 120 highway limit we have here. She constantly moans about cagers who toot horns and try to get her to move over even if she is above the limit. When I ride the limit (60kph in the suburbs) on my big bike nobody even dares look at me funny but the same people feel they have right of way over a schoolkid on a scooter.

#49 Unread post by **sv-wolf** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 5:54 am

sapaul wrote:There are times when it works the other way too. My daughter, all 5'3" can handle a BMW 650 GS with ease, yet is restricted to a 125 until she is 18. She has a part time job, goes to college next year and I would love for her to be on a 500 or 650 purely because the likelyhood of her being pushed around by cagers would be so much less. Cagers think that scooters and skinny 125's like the CBR and LS are fair game on the roads and should just be pushed over to ride in the yellow lane. I am looking at the Hyosung Comet 125 because it has some bulk and can hit the 120 highway limit we have here. She constantly moans about cagers who toot horns and try to get her to move over even if she is above the limit. When I ride the limit (60kph in the suburbs) on my big bike nobody even dares look at me funny but the same people feel they have right of way over a schoolkid on a scooter.

I think there is a lot to be said for that point of view. I've seen learners on low bhp bikes regularly cut up and treated impatiently by cars on unrestricrted UK (70mph/115mph) roads, expecially during the work rush hours. With poor acceleration and often poor brakes, that's not a happy experience.

As far as the Hyosung Comet 125 is concerned, be aware that the claimed 70mph max is true - if you have a following wind, are not riding uphill, and give the bike time to get there. Sixty mph is more realistic under average conditions. I have one of these lovely little beasts, and have a lot of fun trying to get the best out of it. It has quite sharp handling, so it's good in town and on the back roads. On the other hand, you are absolutely right about the size. People invariably ask me what it is and guess that it is carrying 650ccs. The question is, would cages notice that in a bad tempered fug on their way to work? And would it make a difference to their attitude? I don't know.

P.S. The Comet also dislikes cold weather - but then, you should have no problems there, I guess.

#50 Unread post by **Kal** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 6:33 am

Yamaha did a 125 Dragstar that looked pretty meaty, at least until it parked next to its bigger brothers.

Not sure about the top end though. I've got a friend who is convinced after a few phone calls to Yamaha that his '600' import is the 125 and he can get 65 or so two up.

Will ask for more details if you are interested.