Great Introduction To Biking

So I have owned a CBR 125R from brand new, I purchased her back in April 2015 and owned her until I was wrote off in September 16.

I was originally looking for a scooter at my local Honda dealership, I had a piaggio that broke down on me and kept constantly dying so I felt this was time to move on, I had 2 friends at the time who owned the older and skinnier models who raved about how great these bikes were, so I took a chance on it and put the deposit down.

a week passed and I was etching to get on the cbr, The pre inspection was done and my other half's father picked it up and brought it home. Now I had never ridden gears and I was nervous when I actually saw the bike, so anyway I got my gear on and mounted her, the seat is comfortable and not too hard unlike the yzf which feels like your sitting on a plank. when you insert the key the dash comes to life, the rpm meter maxs out then returns which is the system calibrating itself which also gives young riders the false hope of hitting 199mph which is quite funny.

so after the light display is completed you are left with your digital dash and lit up rpm counter, the only analogue part of this bike is the rpm counter which unlike most other sports 125's is actually displayed by a physical clock. the small lcd underneath the clock shows:

The time
Fuel gauge
Coolant temperature
Speedometer
Mileage

Upon pressing the electric start you don't realise it is turned on, the engine is smooth and it is one of the quietest 125's I have heard, nothing intimidating or stupidly loud the neibourghs will complain.

Pulling away there is plenty of power in the bottom and mid ranges the bike will reach these indicated speeds:

1st Gear: 22mph
2nd Gear: 31mph
3rd Gear: 45mph
4th Gear: 55mph
5th Gear: 69mph
6th Gear: 75mph (85mph if you rag the bottom off it)

when riding the transmission is smooth there's no pull it just glides up the speedometer however I have noticed top end there is no aggression,no pull...no nothing. there is no indication speed is increasing you just glide up the speedo which will not be to everyones taste.

The design is inspired from Honda's VFR Sports Tourer it looks very different to the rest until you see a KTM RC125 now that's different. you aren't right over the tank its comftorble semi upright and unlike the other sports bikes the bars are ontop of the yolk not under. the color choice is very boring red,black,tricolor or repsol and as everyone knows, if your 17 you've picked repsol.

its comfortable to ride, I did 16787 miles in just over a year on mine, I went to

Brighton
Bristol
Birmingham
Bournemouth
London
Stoke On Trent

and at least 150 miles each weekend and an extra 170 purely to get to work everyday. the seat got uncomftorble after roughly 100 straight miles and you feel it when you get off, motorway speeds are sketchy, having being on a cbt I never took it on there but on the a roads I can tell although it would handle the motorways constant speed fine I wouldn't like to be on it with it.

the winter riding was fine and the engine never missed a beat and always started first time even at -5 with the coolant I had in it from purchase, it was a strong reliable bike that I think for the price you cannot go wrong.

I changed the tyres to Pirelli sport demon which I think is better than the irc bridgestone stock tyres, they get super sticky and stay super warm.

I went through

2 sets of brake pads
3 oil changes
3 pairs of tyres
1 Battery

this is a capable but sometimes expensive beast but out of 10? I would rate it at a very strong 9