Yamaha YZF R125
Well, it’s been about one month now that I’ve had my new motorbike (I know this, as the first service is after 6 weeks and it’s coming up very soon). I’m pleased to say there’s only been one drama which came from having to do an emergency stop. Beyond that, I’ve had a real blast wearing the engine in. This has meant sticking to quite a low rev range – ironically making sure that I’m not acting too much like a hooligan just yet!
I bought a Yamaha YZF-R125, which is pretty much the only 125 supersports on the market. It looks simply fantastic and is easily mistaken for a much larger bike. However, I’m not sure that I’d recommend it to a brand new rider, as I was at the time. The reason being, it’s not the most comfortable ride and is tricky to manoeuvre at low speed. If you’re less than 5’9” I wouldn’t bother either, as you’ll struggle to get your feet on the floor. An absolute nightmare when you’ve got to make a hill start!
Now that I’ve had a couple of lessons, I think what’s extremely important to take away is the amount of concentration that you need when on a bike. In a car, your mind might wander off a little bit at times; you might well go into ‘autopilot’ mode when you’re taking a longer journey. On a bike, you don’t have this luxury (you shouldn’t do it in a car either mind) as one mistake can leave you skidding across the road. Another thing to be aware of is the actions of other road users.
I’ve learned that you’ve got to give everyone a lot of room and a lot of respect – and hopefully they’ll do the same for you. Another learning this month is that bikes do everything so much faster than a car (except perhaps cornering), which means you can get away faster – but you can very quickly find that you’ve gained on traffic.
I’d certainly recommend a motorbike as an alternative to a ‘weekend’ sports car – it’ll be cheaper in the long run and you’ll find the sense of speed is better. If you’re interested in finding out more, there’s a new scheme called ‘Get On’, which should help you get a better understanding of some of the skills you’ll need and the types of bike available.
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