Motorbiking question for experienced biker.?
Thanks.
Answers:
I know exactly what you're talking about, i did my cbt on a old Honda cb125 and to be honest, if i hadn't already rode a friends Honda cbr600 i would never had rode again, it was that bad to ride, but try a bigger bike or see if you can test ride a Honda nsr125 or similar and the difference is amazing, i now ride a Honda cbr600 and find it a lot better to ride and control than the smaller engine bikes, biking is fun when you can enjoy it, though not everyone enjoys it, try a bigger bike for best results, your riding instructor will have Honda cb500s or Kawasaki ER5s see if they will give you a days training, you'll probably have to pay for it, but it'll give you an idea if it's for you or not, happy biking
little bikes are harder to handle than bigger bikes because you can use the power to pull you out of situations, also if it was a loan bike it has probably seen better days. try borrowing a mates bike to try it out(make sure your legal on it though). it sound like it was either a yamaha dt (a little trail style bike) or a yamaha fs1e and they've both been upgraded to better styles.
Any bike should be more stable at speed. The only time I've had stability problems with a light motorcycle , the fork seals were shot and the fluid had leaked .
From your description it sounds like it was a windy day. That or as said above there was a technical problem with the bike.
I've been riding for 20 years or so now and only had the problem once where the wind was so bad I thought it would blow me accross several lanes of the M11. So no its not a general problem of bikes.
The 125 Yam will also be pretty under powered which won't help in such a situation. You should be OK normally - I've ridden to lots of places on a 50cc and 125 machine. Loved every minute!
Bikes are great fun - don't be putt off!
(ps. well done for doing the CBT)
It is the Bike, these little Chinese and Japanese lightweights are optimised for nipping round town so have too steep a fork angle and too short a wheelbase for stability.
The sort of ride with one hand stability is really a thing of the past as racing bikes are built to be unstable at speed to help them flick through chicanes. Get to ride an Enfield, made in india as a benchmark, sort of a recently made classic bike, but otherwise
stability in the 60 mph range goes with ponderous overweight "Tourers" which dont jump about but neither do they
turn easily when you want. If you could get to ride a 1980s Ducati 900 Hailwood replica, like I rode briefly, you would realise that stability is a compromise, cos they are wonderfuly stable but absolute pigs to ride around town. I scared myself trying a bend flat out on a CB125 single at 60, a Suzuki AP 50 at 50 and a Honda CB125 Twin at 80 yet took it at 80 every day on an Arilel Arrow and blew a BSA C25 engine up there at about 90, yes it was at the bottom of a 1 in 6 hill, yet 60 was enough on my 250 and 380 Suzukis. The Old british bikes, Bonnies, A65s even Tiger Cubs and C15s (Not Commandos and Tridents though) were so well sorted you just never thought about stability unless you left a wheel spindle loose. Try a Classic.
This is called getting tanked slaped, this is a general thing with all motorcycles. Basically the heavier the motor bike the better.
Sounds like you definitely got a pile of crap to ride on! A motorcycle in good condition, even a "standard" like you rode, should not be unstable at highway speeds. In fact, the opposite should be true due to the increased rotational inertia of the wheels at higher speeds. Basically, you have two gyroscopes underneath you that keep the bike stable.
Motorcycles are actually quite smooth at speed, so fear not.
dint worry they can be a bit twitchy, but prob not right Tyre pressure ,wind suspension not set for you,
when you get your own you will be more comfortable once you get yous ed to its foible's
hi i passed my cbt last year on similar type of bike it was probably wine or blue in colour and had horrible chrome bits on it also tyres not to dissimilar in size than that of a push bike this is mainly why stability is the way it is on this model .
a yamaha virago is the bike and they are ok for commuting round towns but not ideal for constant long distance heavy handedness on the mph side.
please dont let this experience put you off biking i passed my das course last year on the bigger 500c bikes suzuki gs500 and kawasaki er500 and the very minute you ride these for the first time all the lumps and bumps seem to dissapear but you still feel them but ride is so much different i went from kawasaki gpz500 inline 2 cylinder to a zx6r four cylinder full faired race bike and i love every time i ride.
from the minute the engine is on till the minute i turn it off smile smile smile i hope this answers your question and you progress as i did and enjoy riding as much as i do .
ride safe .
well having ridin since 11 or 12 on one type or the other,from minis to old 50 pans there is a problem with the bike.
bad bearings,tires,wheels especially a bent rim will lay you over uncontrolably, tight wheel on one side,missing alignment screw on the rear wheel also will do it and make you pull badly to the shorter side also, there are many reasons for it to act this way.
even a shaft drive bike can do this. i can ride for miles with my hands in my pockets on my harley,went down a local beach road
with my hands in my pocket and controlled it simply by leaning a littel one way or the other.
so it will all depend on how well maintained the bike is,and alignment of the most directly driven parts or critical parts.
even an old 350 honda should be stable at 60 miles an hour on an interstate, i have riden 350 dirt racers on interstate highways with the large knobby dirt track tires,it bumped but it didnt throw the whole bike to the side,only when overdrving the ability of the bike and tired to absorb the bump from the tires did it get unstable,
so again there are many reasons for it.
You could have a unbalanced wheel,or bent rim,bent axle.
There's a good chance if it was the riding schools bike it probably wasn't as straight as it could be. That's not to say it was unsafe, just it will have been subject to many, many falls as people learnt on it. If you rode a pristine example of one you would feel the difference. Nearly every bike handles differently. so get a test ride of various styles to see what suits you.
stick to cars brother, your giving us a bad name
Try a Honda. The centre of gravity is low, and it's far more manageable.
I used to own a Yamaha SR125. A Honda or Suzuki is easier to handle, even if you get a bigger machine.
Having said that, I used to love my bike, Lily. Until someone hit me. I used to be able to do 80mph down a hill, but 55mph against the wind. Love it.
part 1 or 2?
You dont mention CC.
If its a small 125 your right.
Get your bike and you learn it character.How to alter its set up is all about biking. The more you tweak it the more confident you become
the more experience you gain.Some good some bad.
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