[jcwhite]

I’ve been pondering a similar thing as I daydream about upgrading. Granted that for those of you in florida the warm-up time is a non-issue, how about for those elsewhere? The weather here is 0-10 C most days (32-50 in old-fashioned temp), and I really like not having to warm up my CBR125. Anyone have a guess at how long someone’s carb-ed bike would want to warm up before a ride in those temps?

[jcwhite]

Fair enough, I guess I should have remembered that. Not sure if it would have been enough (Elwood is entirely right about my speed), but it would have helped. Mostly at the time I was bloody confused, because I knew that I wasn’t on gravel/sand/oil/rain/paint or anything else that would have made me lose traction (granting that I was mistaken, as it turned out). I didn’t clue in until afterwards, when I saw the rock.

Didn’t even land on my face, although I’m wearing full gear. Once it because apparent the bike was going down I was jumping clear – I think I touched the ground with one hand.

We live and we learn.

[jcwhite]

Hmm, thanks for the heads up. If they’re hard to fix then it’s probably not what I need. I’m not looking for a weekend toy to tinker with, rather this is a commuter vehicle that I’d rather not have sidelined while I wait for parts to come in.

[jcwhite]

I’m from Nelson, in the kootenays. I’m loving the bike, but you do have to be aware that it won’t do some of the things a ninja will. I got it because it was the best and most reliable bike for my money at the time (I got an 07 with 975km for $2750. I live in a small town though, so selection was limited). If all you’re doing is highway riding on evenings and weekends, then the CBR will probably be too small for you – it’s fine in most places, but passing is slow, and you won’t be passing anyone in a 100km zone. It does have a top speed (I’ve tagged 120kmh, which is a downhill straight in a tuck).

All that being said, that’s really the only complaint I could level. The bike rides very smoothly (will sometimes slip into neutral between 4th and 5th, but it’s not a big deal), has plenty of get-up-and-go for cruising around, and is incredibly light (I’ve been known adjust my parking job by picking up the back end and moving it two feet). The gas mileage is ludicrous (I actually got 128.6mpg on one fill – I was just riding the highway to work every day, so the bike was cruising at about 4.5k rpm the whole time. I checked my math several times because I didn’t believe my result). I also think the CBR looks pretty good, but that’s just opinion. Yes, next to a bigger bike (even the new ninja 250) it looks a bit shrimpy, but it’s the only bike in my driveway and on it’s own it looks like a pretty good bike. The one complaint I’ve head against the ninja is that the riding posture is a bit too aggressive – on mine you can sit up if you want to, which is very nice for slow city traffic or parking lots.

Hope it helps – the other thing I discovered (which I really would rather have not found out) is that if you drop a CBR at very slow speeds, none of the fairings touch down. It strikes me that that’s a good quality for a beginner bike.

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