So the last few months have been pretty tough on a personal level so I haven’t really had much time to lavish on playing with bikes, plus I broke the car so the R125 has been more about getting me from A to B in all weathers, which much to my delight it did really well.

The little bits of workshop time I’ve had have been mostly focussed on just keeping everything running as best as I can, again, which despite adversity, worked. I have however still been working on things and have a backlog of photos etc which will probably turn into a bunch of posts, of which this is the first.

After the car broke last october (which was supposed to be my winter vehicle) I decided not to sink any more money into it and double down on the 125 instead, however insane that sounded going into what was supposed to be a potentially serious winter. But hey whatever, YOLO

I bought a spare set of wheels and got them shod with Heidenau K66 winter tyres (see previous post) and have been riding around on them in literally all conditions. I have to say they’re bloody brilliant!

The handling is a bit different from the sport demons I have on my summer rims, but they’re soooo sticky. Even in the rain which used to be kinda terrifying on the demons, I was able to ride with a surprising amount of confidence. I don’t think I ever lost grip on them unintentionally, including in freezing rain at night etc. So good.

The handling is a weird one though – the main difference I noticed is that when leaning in to a turn, it feels more or less normal but then it hits a point where it just doesn’t want to lean anymore.

This seems to be mostly about the front tyre since I’ve tested with a different rear tyre and it’s still noticeable.

I suspect it’s to do with how soft the tyres are plus the slightly more treaded pattern, the different elasticity, how all the knobbles and road interact etc, but it’s still a bit weird till you get used to it.

You can push through that resistance and the tyres will let you and that seems to be fine (so far!) but it’s just something to get used to and you have to “feed it in” a bit differently.

I’ve not ridden anything with heavily treaded tyres on the road so that may be totally normal but whatever, let me know if so 🙂

My experience is limited but going from the sport demons which give you total confidence when throwing it round a gokart track in the dry but are sketchy af in the wet at night, these are quite different .

I actually went on a bit of an “exploration” mission recently to just see what kind of off-road terrain the tyres could handle, and they did ridiculously well. Green laning in deep mud in the rain is too far but everything up to that point it handled without the slightest issue.

The other notable mention for winter riding is the “Bob Heath Vee Wipe” thing. The main things which made riding in the wet terrible for me were not being able to see anything, and constantly worrying that the bike was going to slip out from under me if i have to brake suddenly or like, steer or whatever.

The vision thing I managed to fix with a pinlock visor to stop the inside steaming up, and the vee wipe took care of the outside.

You do feel a bit of a wally wiping your visor every few sec and it does sorta look like you’re waving someone across so you need to pick your moments, but being able to see is fabulous.,

This is where I got mine from – https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/27324

My winter gloves now have one permanently attached and I carry a spare in a size down for my summer gloves in case I get caught short, or I manage to lose my winter one.

The weird elastic band thing it comes with seems awkward but bear with it, it works and doesn’t seem to perish in persistent cold weather.

So as you can see, even just keeping mobile has brought it’s challenges, but so far this setup has handled everything that’s been thrown at it..and for that I’m very grateful 🙂

Next up – fitting handlebar risers and/or Motox bars. Which will totally be straightforward and go without any hitches whatsoever.