First few weeks on my CBR125R

I've already posted about my first ever ride here. My second ride was a week after, during which time I was thinking about the sense of speed and freedom I felt going at a whopping 40km/h! Also though about some of the things I did wrong, and what I needed to practice more. On the list was u-turns, blinkers, smoother gear changes, higher speeds, hills, takeoffs...pretty much everything.

Second ride went fairly well. Felt a lot more confident taking it out and just driving around randomly. My gear changes became smoother (although still not great by a long shot), I stalled only two or three times, and I even managed to use the blinkers once (although forgot to turn them off for a while). Besides that I tried going faster and reached around 55km/h when I experienced a strange side-to-side wobble that felt a little scary. I gently slowed it down and stuck to under 50 for the rest of the day.

When it started getting dark I pulled in to a small car-park and started driving around in wide circles in second and first. Almost dropped it once or twice when going too slow and turning too sharp but managed to keep it up by sheer force (it's a pretty light bike). All in all second day went well, although the wobble was a little concerning.

Another week later, my third ride out proceeded as normal - took the bike out and drove around randomly for a while. I then started practicing some slow-speed riding for around twenty minutes or so. That is, just going as slowly as I could in first or second. Doing this I learned to combine the back break and throttle for stability control, and got better at finding and riding the friction point. Also took the bike out to the car-park close by and practiced some u-turns and figure-8s. Didn't almost-drop it this time, but leg was coming down a fair bit to keep it upright. Finished off the day by taking it out on a long straight and going 55-60km/h when again I felt the strange wobble.

I started getting worried about this and though there might be something wrong with the bike. Did a little bit of reading and found out a wobble can be induced by flat tires, worn tires, mechanical problems in the steering head, bumps in the road, matching the harmonic frequency of the bike, etc. Also watched some youtube videos of wobbles or tankslappers (because your knees/balls start slapping the tank when this happens). Mine wasn't really that bad though, but still alarming. I read that a steering damper can help eliminate these wobbles, but that it shouldn't really be used as it just covers up an underlying cause. After a bit more research and forum trolling, I was advised against a steering damper and told to check tires etc, but also to take note of my grip on the bars. That is, something as simple as a tight grip can be the cause of wobbles.

So the 4th Saturday out I get on the bike and take it to the straights. I make a mental note to myself to grip the bars as light as possible, and also to pull in the knees and hug the tank with my thighs firmly. Sure enough, doing this I was able to go 50/60/70 kmp/h without any wobble! The instructor in my pre-learner test kept telling me to relax and to hug the tank, and he was spot-on right. A tight grip is dangerous and can de-stabilize the bike and likewise if your knees are fluttering about.

I kept practicing for the rest of the day reminding myself as often as possible to keep a loose grip and keep knees in. By the end I felt a lot more comfortable riding and a lot more in control of the bike. I also found I could ride comfortably one-hand in a straight, but only with a loose grip. For the rest of the day I just practiced driving around 60 or so, and practiced some emergency breaks (I found my weight shifts forward a lot and my hands are applying a lot of pressure to the handlebars when I do this). Also practiced some more slow-speed maneuvers in the small car-park near by. Started getting much better at this but still need a lot more practice.

So far I've been out on 4 or 5 rides, totally about 6 or 7 hours and no drops yet (keeps fingers crossed). I still need a lot more practice, namely on more confident take-offs, take-offs and u-turns on inclines, and eventually on starting to enter traffic and dealing with lanes, lights and idiot drivers. All in good time though, I'm in no rush :-)