DaveG

They do look great fair play. Just over double what I’d expected to pay but they look like an investment. I think I may give those a try. Just need to figure what size I am now!

I’m looking for what I believe are called “all season” gloves. I won’t be riding in anything below about 7c but for those dry autumn/spring days that are a bit chilly I don’t think my summer gloves (which are borrowed anyway) will cut it. I’m very safety oriented so I want gauntlets with the hard wrist and knuckle armour. I don’t want heavily insulated gloves due to wanting good flexibility and feeling in my fingers and I want a reasonable amount of waterproofing. I generally won’t venture out in rain but sometimes the unexpected happens and I’d like my hands to remain warm and dry for at least half hour in a downpour. One other thing. RST don’t seem to fit me well (too long in the fingers). The only other brand I’ve tried and seem to fit me better are Furygan. I like the look of the Furygan Must gloves but the reviews seem to suggest the waterproofing is questionable. I also can’t tell how well armoured they are. I’ve also noticed liner gloves. Could these be an option with a more ventilated/summer glove like the AFS19? Any recommendations? Thanks!

I’ve not done more than a CBT yet however I’ve had similar feelings having felt hard done by after being failed on my 2nd car driving test years ago. I’ll spare the details here as I posted something similar recently in another thread but I just wanted to say to you not to get down hearted about it. Use it to fuel your determination next time around. The more you fail, the better you’ll become. Failure can make you over analyse, be overly critical and hard on yourself but generally the outcome is you’ll bounce back and be even better than you are now. E.g, hyper aware of every roadsign that will give you an indication of correct speed. It’s massively annoying when it’s more money, time and hassle going through it yet again but I’m confident in years to come you’ll look on this failure as having a positive outcome. A tough, harsh even unfair examiner will result in more effort on your part to totally nail your riding and that can only ever be a good thing for you and others. Now get yourself booked in for another test and smash it!!

Small update for the benefit of anyone in a similar position or just generally interested. The confidence is building slowly but surely. I’m probably not out as regular as most. Typically just once per week at the moment but I have a lot of commitments to juggle. That said I managed a 60ish mile round trip on some B-roads without issue at the weekend. The running in process is a massive bind on a 125 considering there is little power in the first place. That is proving a challenge! Anyway, Never one to be satisfied I inquired about some extra tuition and for £60 I get 2 hours. What should prove useful is those sessions are designed to bring you on for the test. They’ll take me out on the test centres 650’s which will be awesome but I have to pass my theory first so have booked that in today for 9th October. Whilst there is perhaps an arguement that some things will be easier on the 650 i think it’s all great exposure. New bike, bigger bike, different bike and it’s all stuff I can take away and apply to my 125 riding. If I can afford it I’m going to try and do 2 hours most months between now and April and I’m hoping that will give me great confidence and experience to go ahead with taking the direct access course. Will keep you posted

I believe so yes. I actually went in to the dealership adamant I wanted the Suzuki gsx s125 having done some research. I thought all Honda 125s were like the CBF. A bit slight looking. It was only whilst they were running the finance figures on the Suzuki and I nipped to the loo that I saw one of these. I thought it was a 500 and then when I saw it was a 125 I went back and said “I want that one!!”

Sorry about the L-Plates. Picture of my first little ride out on my very first bike a couple days after my CBT. One of the best looking 125’s around in my opinion (minus the L-plates obviously) Very happy with it

Progress made. I actually built up enough confidence to get out on the local roads today. Only about a 2 mile round-trip to a nice big car park at a local secondary school to get some more practice runs in on clutch and throttle control. Still 2 miles or so on the open roads is gradually developing a willingness to be out more which wasn’t there at all the first time I took out the new bike! Cheeky picture of todays little outing attached

Congrats Sharon. Do you have a bike shortlist yet?

While I passed my CBT first time I personally think that those of you who don’t complete the first time will come away a more confident rider the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time. Whatever it takes! Not completing means more tuition, more experience, more supervision during your earliest riding and much more of a determination to be awesome! I will relate this to my car test which I had to take 3 times. I did 5 days intensive training and then a test. I was still nervous as hell and I look back on that failure as being a real plus for me. Even though I was gutted at the time I was never ready. I then got bought a cheap car by my grandad and every day my dad would sit with me while I drove back and forth work in rush hour. I was so nervous at work about having to drive home surrounded by angry impatient people, my stomach would literally churn. But as the days passed it became easy and I built great confidence. 2nd test I drove absolutely perfectly and failed. Reason given was the examiner saw no demonstration of my observation. I was literally checking mirrors every 5 or 6 seconds but my eye movements didn’t get picked up so then I had to become a flaming actor! I was so mad that the 3rd time around I actually drove slightly worse (touched over 30mph a couple times and picked up a couple minors) but I was literally craning my neck everywhere like a mad man. I passed. The point I’m getting at is although the feeling of failure can make you feel quite negative and even not good enough at times, use it in a positive way. Go back and be awesome like you know you can be, however many times it takes. Determination is everything and early on at least you’ll be the better rider for it. I on the other hand passed my CBT first time and am walking away feeling nervous as hell that I’m now on my own! Building my own confidence has to happen alone

Thanks guys. Glad it’s nothing too abnormal what I’m going through. I suppose this brand new CB125R deserves to be ridden at some point. I’ll do as you say Tango and make it an early one. Sundays are usually great for that, obviously looking out for anyone still high on last nights fizzy apple juice. As for DAS I definitely want to do it, just so I can do advanced stuff and do a BMW off-road experience day! I’m hoping sometime around April time but I guess a lot depends on the winter we have. I’m sure I can have a few hours under my belt by then.

Hi guys, The exciting news for me is I passed my CBT yesterday! I was a complete noob never having had any experience on a motorcycle so to get it all nailed in a day felt great. How many of you rushed home to finally jump on their bike and take it for a spin straight after their CBT?! NOT ME! For one I found the day exhausting, both mentally and physically. The physical part I’m sure is down to bad form on my part as I do tend to get very tense when the nerves set in and this translated to fatigued forearms, back and legs by the end of the day. But apart from all that, I felt a bit scared if I’m honest. A bit kind of overwhelmed like I’ve maybe underestimated the risks involved in riding? Now bare in mind I struggled to hit 30mph so I was hardly flying but every side junction my eyes were on stalks and if a car appeared, a little poo came out I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist about things and my clutch control leaves a lot to be desired. This I know is a bit of an insecurity at the moment but I’m desperately wanting to become a good rider. A safe rider not a fast one. Kinda like the police (although I know they can ride fast too). For me it’s about having that sense of pride in my riding and although I’m doing a lot of theory like reading through the roadcraft book and watching lots of YouTube vids, the application only comes with lots of physical practice. Having babbled, the long and short of it is what more is there to do besides going out and making mistakes on the road? You learn very quickly by bad mistakes but sometimes they are a little too costly out on the public roads. I asked the guys at the CBT centre if there was anything else I could do as part of structured physical training and all they tell you is to get out there. Does it not seem crazy to anyone else that the group of riders who need the tuition the most can’t do anything the fully licenced riders have access to? Do I seriously have to get on a 650 at the test centre and say I’m wanting to do the DAS before I get any more structured learning? If I got on a 650 right now with my clutch and throttle control, bad things would happen! I’ll be doing a lot of riding around quiet car parks and mastering this skill but I still wish there was more out there on offer for us new riders! It’s a really daunting time for me now. There’s nobody watching my back from now on!

Hi all, apologies if this has been asked before but I couldn’t get a google search to pull up anything. I need to put 600 miles on my new bike over the next 5 weeks and wondered how I should look to do it. I was thinking a few 50 - 100 mile weekend trips out on some quiet b-roads but I’m concerned about the lack of revs i’ll be able to use. I’m imagining changes under 6k revs will be slow process so should I look to try and do mostly 30mph roads do you think? Some of the b-roads I had in mind might be 60mph in places. Thanks