What first bike?

[masterofinsanity]

nsr125 mate!

[Gemini]

what i may suggest is she does her cbt

put her thru DAS,

then ask baz if she can borrow his 400 for a day!

[Xphyral]

i think you should get her a test ride on a zxr an rvf and a few 125's then let her decide. i'm pretty sure most people would opt for a 125 for a little while after they test ride the zxr, it's not a nice first bike really. it's snatchy, revvy and rolls onto it's tyre edges like an over friendly dog. Wonderful sportsbike if you can already ride a sportsbike, no good for beginners really.

And just think for a moment before you go down the stroker route that it's stroker + novice and again strokers arn't generally the most complimentary bike to pair a beginner with, not to mention having to gift her with an AA card along with it.

[masterofinsanity]

what i may suggest is she does her cbt

put her thru DAS,

then ask baz if she can borrow his 400 for a day!

carry on mate do it. but if she won't give it back you have to buy it

[parby81]

will she be riding it to work and commuting in rush hour traffic?

I only ask as many 125's don't have the poke to get away from the lights quick enough. Now i know i live near London and all the commuters up town tend to taka dislike to bikes, hence the need for something to actually get away once you've filtered to the front.

If not a 400 (peaky sports bike), how bout one of the traditional commuters, like a gpz500s or the newer cbf500. There are so many options out there that to restrict her to a piddly 125 seems a bit harsh and could be dangerous.

Not wanting to go off the subject too much, but take young male drivers for instance (not meaning to offend anyone). They are mainly going to try and drive fast and learn there limits. This involves overtaking!! So is it safer to make them drive little 1.1l cars that will take forever to overtake, or (and lets not be silly) allow them a 1.4 or 1.6 something or other so that they can get themselves out of the danger.

I do agree that on todays roads drivers/riders are given the freedom to far too powerful motors too soon, but the biking world has at least some restriction as opposed to jonny rich boy who at 17 can still buy and drive (though the insurance would be astronomical) a porsche or ferrari.

At the end of the day Gem, its not really up to you. She will get bored on a 125, she will probably get bored on a 400. There is always a faster and better bike and by human nature we want it. its not until you've got it you realise that yes, there is already something better and faster and quite possibly safer.

Best thing to do as already mentioned is test rides. Any bike is possible though if not doing DAS, she'll just need it restricting.

[carsounds_dan]

you could always get her something like a sv650 and restrict it to 33bhp using the kits that are available.. she gets to learn her bike whilst not being able to kill herself instantly. then when she's ready she can simply remove the restriction. i'd personally recomend the sv after owning a zxr as a first bike myself.. it was just too hardcore to learn the road on, the sv suits me much much better and i must admit i love it its much better for getting to grips with the rest of the road users and is much more forgiving than the zxr.
i think getting her on a 125 is a bit of a silly idea although i can completely understand your feelings about it. when she does her CBT talk to the instructors and see what they say about her riding style, theyll be able to tell if shes a bit to throttle happy etc. but a restricted bike may be the best way forward, she can then have the bike of her dreams without you worrying about her killing herself and just spend time riding with her every now and then but don't get too close, she'll get comfortable and distracted which ALWAYS means you make mistakes.
cheers
dan