South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Glad to be here =)

And thanks to the organisers for making this space available.

Much appreciated.

A bit about me:

Failed my motorcycle test back in 1994 and couldn't afford to take it again, so left it.

Fast forward 27 years to August 2021 and I find myself trying again.

And this time I passed =)

I had a beautiful 2006 Yamaha YBR 125 - Loved this bike:



If anyone knows what this bike looks like with a 500cc engine and ABS, let me know cuz I love it!

After passing my test I rode to Speed on Marsh Barton and left with my 2008 Yamaha Fazer F6 S2:



I quickly realised on this bike I was constantly riding beyond my ability.

If I was behind a car, I wanted to be in front of it, if I was in front...

...I wanted to be going faster.

After another near miss on this machine, I understood I had no control over the accelerator and I was either gonna end up dead, badly injured or with no driving license.

So with a heavy heart, I went back to Speed and they let me trade in Candy (Cuz that was her name) for a 2017 KTM Duke 390:



This bike is much better for me.

I get the acceleration hit without the license losing high speeds.

And she's allowing me to develop my riding skills.

I'm looking forward to the weather behaving itself and tagging along for a group ride.

I love riding, but none of my friends or family ride, and it'll be nice to hang out with others who love riding too

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now

Marcus

Hi Marcus,
Welcome to swb, where are you based?

Well done on recognising ability over desire and opting to avoid Hospital food - always a good choice.

Dive on in to the forum and get posting. You'll see there are rides happening fairly often at the moment so get your name down and come play.

Hi Marcus and Welcome.

I have read similar in PB magazine, one guy sold a 1000 sports bike for a KTM RC390, and loved it.
As for me.. nah... I like having the power.. but kudos for making that choice.

Hi there and welcome along Marcus, nice little bike the 390 well done for recognising the Fazer was a bit much for now as Simon said you don't need hospital food hope to see you out and about soon

Welcome to the KTM family

Thanks for the welcome guys.

I'm based in Dawlish most of the time and (weather permitting) planning to go to the 10am Rideout on Thursday 24th **Fingers Crossed**

Welcome to SWB

Hello and welcome

For a 500 equivalent to the YBR I think you'd have to go back 30 or 40 years to the Yamaha SR500 Or Honda FT500 (we got a 500, not the 400 in the pic )

TLS-Moose: That Yamaha SR500 looks the mutts nutts...

...I love the look of so many of the 'older' bikes, shame they don't come with ABS though...

Don't need ABS.

Or traction control or anti wheelie or power modes.....

Indeed

But the TC is fun when it kicks in

Hi and welcome to the forum, nice to see the bike evolution already and the new KTM's are really great. I know you have recently passed the test but a fantastic day that's worth signing up to is the police bike safe days they teach you so much about keeping you safe on real world riding and also some hot tips on road positioning to help you with visibility for overtaking.

Hope this helps and great to have you with us. Hope to see you on a ride out some time soon

@menzies3032 - Thanks for the welcome and I've signed up on the waiting list for a 2022 Devon and Cornwall police bike safe day =)