New Japanese fwy capable vs. used Taiwanese fwy comfortable

[dkazzed]

The Grom is nice too, great for the city with good low end torque but not enough HP for the freeway. If I didn't need to go on the freeway, I would've considered the Grom.

My two favourite bikes during the riding lessons were the smaller older generation CBR 125R as well as the Yamaha XT225 dual sport:





I liked the dual sports at first and that's what I did my skills test on, but the sport bikes which I was not too fond of at first quickly grew on me. Not so much for the riding position but rather how easy the throttle and clutch was to operate. If I can raise the bars 3 or 4 inches or put custom bars on, it will be the perfect bike for me.

[tbln930]

Yea Grom is a play bike. I had two Yamaha 250 combos no longer made and a TW200 as well. I keep thinking I may need a TW200 again as a play bike with some off road that gets mixed in.

[dkazzed]

The TW200s are nice, I also looked at the Suzuki DR200s. Must be some nice unpaved or beaten paths around your area for you to explore!

Now it just occurred to me, what am I going to do about the winter? lol. Do I ride the CBR 125R year round? Likely yes unless there's miserable rain. I am keeping my BWS for sure for a little while longer as I can't ride anything more than 49cc between sunset and sunrise until I pass my road test, but maybe I should keep it for sport bike unfriendly weather, my gout attacks, and in town errands. Or sell it now as we do have a minivan and a car anyway, or possibly this fall/winter shop around for a cheap 125cc+ scooter. When I get my gout attacks, doing anything requiring foot controls is a challenge or sometimes even impossible.

I can tell you that this crazy Canadian rides his CBR 125R year round. I think with knobby offroad tires with studs installed. Seems too hardcore for me though. Luckily we don't get much snow lol. I'll definitely find four or more wheel alternatives if the roads aren't clear of snow.

[tbln930]

That's pretty wild.

[dkazzed]

I couldn't do it. Maybe on a real dual sport that I don't mind dropping.

So I took my CBR 125R home last night and rode in this morning. Cruising in the HOV lane on the freeway, I was going the flow of traffic for all but a 2km stretch of road, when I was already going 15km/h over the limit and didn't really feel like going faster although I could've popped it down a gear to go. I did catch up with them when traffic slowed down again. My commute each way was 45 minuets, down from 75 to 105 minutes on my 49cc. Huge difference. More time to get some extra work done and more time for family.

I wish I tried out a PCX 150 on the freeway to compare. Riding the CBR 125R seems like it requires a heightened amount of alertness and seems less forgiving to user error like momentary distraction (checking my tach) while the PCX 150 may be easy to ride in a slightly more relaxed way. It might just be my inexperience with riding at high speeds, maybe someone can chime in. I still don't know if I made the right decision. But right now, I love my bike anyway.