-
I have been forcing myself to go out in the damp on the GN125.
My experience since November:
Better/new tyres help confidence (psychologically more than physically I guess).
Diesel is everywhere.
Even big bikes take road naps sometimes.
Get consistent braking distance down to centimetres in the dry, and accept it is miles long in the wet.
Keeping loose is key.
Keeping loose is especially important when the rear decides to fishtail. Mostly learned this forgetting that my stopping distance needed to be miles not centimetres/diesel patches, and applying a tiny bit more rear brake than I wanted, since I wasn’t slowing down enough in the distance I had.
Still no offs so far and still enough wet days to come.
Saw a guy with his big bike on the side of the road in wet weather, having come off (not sure if crashed, crashed into, diesel etc). It still happens to the big bikes.
I actually quite liked riding with the roads totally flooded with water. Preferred it to that awkward rainy slippy thin layer.
-
It's understandable and probably rightly so. Reduced grip affects you in every direction. You won't get the kind of confidence from skinny 125 tyres in the wet that you get from hot sticky fat big bike tyres in the summer.
On the other hand you need to spend a bit of time experimenting with the grip especially in the wet because your tyres can get very slippery on the sidewalls if you're not leaning it that far.
-
By the way, no matter how many times people poopoo it or sigh because it’s cheese, have you watched A Twist Of The Wrist? Rewatch it.
Even with the little bike I watched it three or four times and found it helped keep fresh about survival reactions and stuff. Might watch it again before long.
Also worth sleeping with the books near the bed, Twist 1 & 2 and the Motorcycle Roadcraft: Police Rider’s Handbook.
-
Check your rear swing arm bearings. Any play in these (they are basic on a ybr) and the back end will not play ball with you. Esp in wet and on rougher surfaces the back will flip flop around.
They are very cheap for new ones and not a hard job so long as the swing arm bolt isn't frozen. As others have said, little bikes tyres don't get as warm as heavier bikes so you don't get the same type of grip
You are reading a single comment by @Yukirin and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
pdlouche
Airhead
BrickMan
@Yukirin
A year has flown by and the little YBR 125cc plods on and on. 21k miles I've done now, bringing its total to 53k. Its been pretty good, just needing regular oil changes, 2 bulbs, air filter, new rear tyre, two chain and sprocket sets, clutch cable and a bit of soldering where the plug between the magneto and reg/rec melted... I kind of feel like I should be doing more to maintain it but it just keeps going and engine wise it feels/sounds fine.
What's eating me is my complete lack of confidence in the damp still and wether the caution is justified. I just can't relax which is counter intuitive, I know.
So it's time to start looking into this full licence malarkey, I wasn't intending to do the cbt again so need to crack on!