My mates wife just passed CBT and he reckons on getting her a 125 to come on a Scotland tour with us on 1000 / 650 cc bikes. I'm pretty sure it won't work and will be very frustrating ? Anyone done it?

It's called sex discrimination and it's against the law!

Potentially brilliant, potentially disastrous, depending on how you play it.

Whatever you do, don't try to travel all together. The fast guys will just be frustrated, and relationships will suffer badly. She will feel pressured to ride faster than she is happy with, and that's an accident waiting to happen. Bad news either way.

Either use a drop-off system (the fast guys will spend a lot of time waiting at junctions, but can ride how they please otherwise), or make sure everyone has a map, decide on a rendezvous point/s and meet up at various points during the day. Faster riders/better bikes could take the long way there. Perhaps the guys could even take it in turn to ride with her - without making her feel she's a liability, of course. If you have to travel in convoy for any distance, make sure she is in front - remember the last guy always has to ride the fastest

A lot will depend on the relationships between the riders. If she is cute and a charmer, the other guys probably won't mind riding at her pace and being protective. If she's the kind that spoils the party when the lads get together, the thing won't last 50 miles.

I'm not hopeful, but if you are all good mates and are doing it for the journey rather than the chance for some hard riding, it could work. I'd be more worried about her feeling out of her depth than the other guys getting frustrated, to be honest.

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BDZ,

Thanks for your thoughts, I agree 100% with your comments. I think it is a big ask for her to come on a trip like this, we go in about 4 weeks and she has no bike yet It would be a brilliant start for her if we all had 125cc ish bikes, sadly on this occasion I don't see it happening.

My Wife rode her 125 just after passing her cbt to the dragon rally (North Wales) from Southampton with others on 650-1000cc bikes and loved the ride up and the rally.On the way back it rained for the hole 7 hours of the trip so she never rode a bike again ,it was just to much.how about just riding on the back or renting a small bike in Scotland.

That is a good point Steve T, it could put her off for good!

She normally goes pillion on his bike but he is keen to get her to go on her own bike. His main argument being " we can take more stuff " ( first bike trip )

My wife will be on the back with me,( with not much stuff) I personally think it would be best if his wife goes on the back too. Scotland has been known to have the odd day.

The idea of a hire bike is not a bad one though I may try and drop that one in his hat. Even if just the odd day over the course of the week.

I think this is the best approach. Mixing bikes which vary in displacement by a factor of ten is difficult under the best of circumstances; throw in a new rider, potential bad weather, unfamiliar roads....

IMHO, a new rider should not be left alone riding unless she is ferociously self-reliant by temperament. Even then, you're asking for trouble. Equally, a new rider should not be pushed beyond her comfort zone by faster, more experienced riders. Whether or not they intend to do this, the mere fact that the rest of you are having to wait for her at every intersection is going to push her to ride faster than she's really ready for. That's not good.

A couple of days of good weather on a small, rented bike is totally achievable, and ought to give her just about the right taste for riding. If your friend wants to give her a good experience, he'll sacrifice his own pleasure for those few days and ride along with her while the rest of you frolic. Ideally, they'd both rent identical little bikes and go for a gentle tour together. If he's not committed enough to do this, bringing her along is going to backfire on him...and probably on the rest of you.

He's got to make some decisions about where his priorities lie. It's not really fair to foist this off on the rest of the group.

All IMHO, of course.

Mark

I used to ride my 350 enfield (probably a similar performance to a modern 125) with my mates who, at the time, rode a BMW 650 Funduro and a 650 Dakar.

Quite frankly it was a pain in the arse for all of us. We're too good mates for it to affect our friendship, but I could tell they were champing at the bit to get going and were frustrated by having to wait ages for me to catch up.

On my side, I found the constant stress of trying to keep up a pain and my breaks were consequently shorter than theirs, so it was tiring too.

Not only is a bigger bike physically faster, you ride it differently (IMHO). You open it up - give some throttle and blast along enjoying the speed. A slow bike you don't bother - you cruise along enjoying the view - or at least you do when you know your mates aren't tapping their feet and looking at their watches at the next pit-stop.

The idea of taking someone on a longish tour who has just passed their test and who will (unless it is very carefully managed) be pushing hard to keep up is, IMHO, a recipe for disaster. It's exactly what a learner rider doesn't need and quite likely to end in an accident.

I could be wrong of course, and you could all have a whale of a time!

Matt

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*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

We met a Swiss couple in Zimbabwe. He was Swiss 4 stroke MotoX champion at the time and she'd passed he bike test 3 days before setting off for Africa. She road a Aprillia 125 trail bike, he was on his competition bike with lights strapped on and we were on our R100GS. She seemed quite happy to travel at 60 to 70mph so on African roads (mostly gravel when we travelled together in Botswana and Namibia) no problem keeping up.

I reckon it would get annoying really quickly.

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This worried me. I hope it's a typo or less serious than I read it.

Women are by and large less adventurous than the blokes, it's millions of years worth of culture pressing down. If this poor woman has been dragged through her test, dumped on some 125 and is now expected to traipse through Scotland in the wet with a bunch of blokes on bigger faster bikes I'd expect fireworks at some point.

I'm afraid these things need planning. Pillion this year, then work up to a matching pair of bikes IMHO.

Andy

As a 125 rider myself I reckon it's very little to do with cubic capacity and far more to do with riding style and temperament. It's already been said that a 125 tends to encourage a slightly more bimbling approach, pottering along, enjoying the views, taking in the air, the smells, the mouthfuls of midges (although tell that to a 16 year old on a 125 race rep). So if that is your style of riding, truly your style even on a big bike, and 50mph is your normal touring speed then there's no reason why it won't work.

But if either of you two on the big bikes likes to open the throttle and blat through the twisties then either the big bike riders will feel frustrated or the little bike rider will feel pressured, which will lead to tensions in the camp, and potential accidents on the road.

One small perk though, there's three bikes. If you could guarantee that if someone wanted a burst of speed the other big bike would bimble you could be ok. The risk comes when both big bikes blat off into the distance leaving the poor 125 behind.

Final thought, if you were both two up would you be using motorways at all, to get to Scotland maybe? Because don't forget you'll have to factor in the extra time, frustration, and, if it's a hot day (haha), sweat of having to ride through every town, ring-road and traffic jam there is.

Overall only the four of you, I'm including your wife on pillion, can decide. Sit down, work out what you all really want, and be honest in choosing the best firm of transport so that you all get to enjoy it.

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Phew........... my prayers have been answered ! It has been decided that she won't be coming on a 125! Saved what might have been an awkward moment when I would suggest it's not the best idea. She has decided she's not confident enough yet and won't get much chance to get any before the trip. Good call I reckon!

It will still be wet though, probably ......................most likely .........................almost certainly.............but it might not

Sounds like the best solution for everyone. Start planning for the next one now! When she has more confidence and (perhaps) a bike more suited to the trip, you will have a great time.

Sounds like you haven't fallen out over it either, which is a bonus.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

Hi,

When crossing southamerica with my 125ccm Honda i joined with someone riding a KLR 650 to enter Venezuela. While he was boured allways waiting for me i was riding full blast all the time and we both did not have fun so we split again...

Rather take here as a Sozia on the 1000 ccm bike

Travel save, Tobi