Good first learner legal bike for taller rider?

Sandycheeks · 16 Jul 2014 at 11:05

wazza300 said:
upto you,i have no qualms with carbs

fuel injected are fine aslong as they don't go wrong,

Carbs are great as long as you clean them periodically...make it part of the winter maintenance schedule.
In my experience the only things that go wrong is crud in the pilot jet and blocked or broken seal/seat on the fuel intake valve.
There's tons of info on the web.

Setting up from scratch is a whole other story.

wazza300 · 16 Jul 2014 at 11:07

that's usually if the fuel filter fails,or if you let the tank completely run dry,idk but ive never had carb trouble

never had to clean them either,and ive owned one bike since 98

Sandycheeks · 16 Jul 2014 at 13:54

Yeah, I ride a trials bike in all weather / conditions - a lot of folks claim to clean theirs every week.
Luckily the Versys has FI.

wazza300 · 16 Jul 2014 at 16:27

probably true if you trail ride with all that mud n water ect

MowyTone · 17 Jul 2014 at 07:18

Anyone know if the assesment sessions put you on a bigger bike? I'll report back this afternoon. I'm in Southampton and looking at DAS at the moment. I spent about 5 years on a 125 but tbh if I had the choice I would have got the licence then got a 250 -500. 125's are great for what they are but you soon find yourself wanting a bit more power to help with over takes etc - which is common riding in the forest

edit: Assessments at ART (Southampton, ocean village) put you on a ER6-n for about 20-30 mins to see how you do. Its free and its great if you've never riden anything of that size before

Monkey Puzzle · 19 Jul 2014 at 19:02

Thanks for your input guys.

MowyTone said:
Anyone know if the assesment sessions put you on a bigger bike? I'll report back this afternoon. I'm in Southampton and looking at DAS at the moment. I spent about 5 years on a 125 but tbh if I had the choice I would have got the licence then got a 250 -500. 125's are great for what they are but you soon find yourself wanting a bit more power to help with over takes etc - which is common riding in the forest

edit: Assessments at ART (Southampton, ocean village) put you on a ER6-n for about 20-30 mins to see how you do. Its free and its great if you've never riden anything of that size before

Thanks for the info- I suspect that the 125's lack of power around New Forest A-road traffic speed in order to overtake might get a bit annoying. Will have to see if I take to biking I guess.

In other exciting news; I got a bargaintastic commuting-convenient 2 year-old aerostich roadcrafter suit for £230 (including import tax from US ebay), some cheap usable leather and textile gloves, and I think I've decided on getting a shoei xr1100 helmet (seemed to be a perfect fit in the shop and seems to get good reviews).

. Just need to decide what to do footwear-wise - not sure on how many pieces of the suit, helmet, gloves and boots I can put in a topbox when commuting, so not sure whether I should be looking at something like this (possible sweaty awfulness if wearing all day?) or something like the sidi streetburner short boot and change into smart shoes at work (need shoes that would look smart with suit trousers and shirt)...