First motor bike dilema

Soldato
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22 Oct 2004
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Basically got my CBT next week ive decided when i pass that im gonna get my bike. The thing is im planning on doing my direct access after i pass my CBT so that entitles me to a big bike as soon as i pass that.
Thing is ive been really recommended by 4 out of 5 bike trainers to go get a 125cc bike first and get some road experience.
Im more than happy to do as im in no rush but theres a honda hornet taunting me:p anyway the 125cc bike ive chosen is a Honda 125cc XR.

So anyway this will be my first bike which one should i pick:
Honda 125cc XR
Honda 600cc Hornet

Im leaning towards getting the 125cc and in a couple years at most ill get my dream bike the Hornet.
 
Soldato
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Depends, can you trust your right hand? And can you afford the insurance? (I guess your quite young?). If you can just get a real bike, you'll save money in the long run and it'll be a more enjoyable experience.

I knew I could be sensible and not go mad from the getgo so I did my CBT and direct access in 3 days and jumped straight on a vfr800 and was absolutely fine, the bike lasted me far longer than a 125 or even a 600 would have.

EDIT: if your going to pootle round on a 125 for 2 years whats the point doing the DAS?
 
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Man of Honour
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go with your heart, if you sit on a 125 for 2 years you'll just get annoyed

hornet all the way :), don't worry about it being too fast... it's as fast as you want it to be. show abit of throttle control and it's no more dangerous as the 125
 

Bat

Bat

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go with your heart, if you sit on a 125 for 2 years you'll just get annoyed

hornet all the way :), don't worry about it being too fast... it's as fast as you want it to be. show abit of throttle control and it's no more dangerous as the 125

Agreed. IMO the hornet will be safer. Decent amount of rubber on the road, enough power to overtake safely and more road presence.

125s have their place and I'd say that's with very young riders and old men who once has a C50 and thought it was "pokey" :)
 
Soldato
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Im 24 today :D

I could get the hornet but i wont be able to get after my cbt as i wont be able to use it until ive done my direct access. Could i get it restricted or is there no point?
 

Bat

Bat

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Im 24 today :D

I could get the hornet but i wont be able to get after my cbt as i wont be able to use it until ive done my direct access. Could i get it restricted or is there no point?

You'd have to do full test regardless. Could do on a 125 an restrict Hornet to 33BHP, but ideally just do DAS and have it as Honda intended.
 
Associate
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When I passed the DAS I bought a Hornet 600 as my first bike. During the initial stages of getting used to riding on the roads, the power of the bike actually helped in certain tricky situations, as well as being a lot of fun :D

In my opinion you should focus on getting the DAS out of the way. If you are already considering larger capacity bikes then I've a feeling that if you get anything smaller you will get bored of it very quickly.
 
Soldato
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Right time of year to be buying a bike, wrong time of year to be riding one.
Its getting cold out there.
If you are doing your direct access, then dont bother with the budget middleweights, they are dull as ditch water, I bought one a couple of months ago to hack to work on, they are too boring even for that, I've booted mine and bought a cheap car instead, at least i'll be dry.
 
Associate
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I ride a 250cc XR off road, and while it's great fun in the dirt I imagine it would soon lose it's appeal on road. I imagine the Hornet is a much better road bike.
 
Soldato
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No longer riding an Italian
To be perfectly honest with you, if you can afford the training, and then the costs to buy, insure and run it, I say go for the big bike.

I had zero riding experience before taking DAS back in 2007, but even I found that, by comparison to a ‘big bike’, the 125s were horrible to ride. It could just be down to the ones my trainer had, but every single thing on the bigger bikes worked so much better and made riding so much more enjoyable and easy.

I went straight from nothing to a Kawasaki Ninja 636 when I passed, and although I heard lots of advice about ‘progressing’ up to such a bike, I was so glad I bought my dream bike when I did.

At the end of the day, pick what you feel is right for you. You can get the same experience on the Hornet as you would on the XR, only you already have your dream bike and don’t have to worry about selling it at a later date.

Scort.
 
Soldato
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This is such a hard decision for me, whenever i tell people that im thinking of going with 125cc to begin with instead of a big bike they say thats a smart move. Its only one trainer and you lot from the internet thats telling me to get a hornet.
At the moment i got just over £3000 so im not even sure i could even afford a descent hornet, well infact what do you guys think of these:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/results/usedbikes/postcode/ta66dz/radius/30/make/honda/model/hornet/quicksearch/true?logcode=q
 
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