About to buy YAMAHA YBR (advice sought)

[Harlin67]

Hello BCF, nice to meet you.

It will be no surprise, but I'm after some advice.

I've seen a 2009 YBR, 21000 miles for around £1,200.

Without asking how long is a piece of string, does that sound like a fair price for that millage?, its been serviced in March this year, has Full Service History, and MOT until march 2016.

Does this sound like a fair price?

Many thanks

[grr666]

About right if it's clean and well looked after but dat mileage
They hold their price well but I'd still start by offering a grand for cash.
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[Rogerborg]

You should be able to get newer or lower mileage for that price, but you can only buy bikes that are actually up for sale. Given that it's OMFG MUST BUY BIKE NAOW season, you'll have to be both patient and swift, like the striking serpent. The striking serpent with fangs full of cash.

tl;dr version - I'd only have that bike if I really needed one right now.
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Teflon-Mike]

Price is about right. But...

Condition

CONDITION

CONDITION

Whether it's worth it is all down to what state it is in, in the metal.

Check tyres. Check brakes; Check suspension. Check Chain. Check oil. Check the lights; Check the handlebars; Check the controls... and THEN see if it starts.

DO NOT, start the engine before you start looking at everything else. Practical reason.. engine makes stuff hot! Psycological reason, soon as the engine is started we tend to start loosing some of our wits.. which is never good when you are holding a large wad of cash!
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Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[someguy]

For what it's worth, I paid £1,650 for a 63 plate YBR125 with 8,500 miles on it a month or two ago, from my local Yammy dealer.

So that one seems expensive to me!

But, I've already booked my MOD1, and will be buying something bigger once I have a year of no-claims. It's a nightmare on NSL roads.

You'll want to chop it in soon, so I'd just buy it something as cheaply as possible to do your early miles on.

[Teflon-Mike]

[Harlin67]

Its not a 'must have now' scenario, I'm doing my CBT on Friday, and my direct access next month, so just needed a 125 without wobbly wheels for a 30 mile daily commute (round trip)

The plan is to sell it within the month for a 600cc once I've passed, so I'm just looking for something that will hold its value, but I'm onboard with condition checks etc, something I'll do when I pay the shop a visit

[Stobo91]

I paid £800 for a 2010 one with 9k on it last year!

Was a bit of an impulse buy as it just popped up on a facebook for sale page so i had it home within an hour of it being posted as it was exactly what i was looking for.

Got a scuff on the exhaust shield and the clocks have black tape on it as it was dropped but i wasn't complaining.

Unless its virtually brand spanking new i would look for a cheaper one.

[Dcwhite1984]

Guy at work managed to pick one up for £650 2 years old, been sat for 6 months, few minor cosmetic stuff to sort like a scratch here and there, 10k on the clocks.

Had a mechanic check it out and its all mechanically sound. Jobs a good un
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The trick to life is to not get too attached to it.........

[ma_r]

This is my first post - Hi all!

I bought a YBR125 brand new in 2009 for £2,000, sold it two years later with about 6k on the clock for £1,200; I'd say your offer was a bit much considering the price of the bike new

[Val]

[Pigeon]

The seller possibly wants £1,000, which is why it's at £1,200.

You go in with a first offer of £900. Then begins the merry dance, as long as you go up slowly to £950 and maybe £975. He's not far off his £1,000 and you've beaten him down from the £1,200.

Everyone wins.......assuming the bike is straight!

Get HPI check done, for the sake of £6 or whatever, find out if its finance clear, nicked or Cat blah writeoff.

21k miles for a 125 is high, but only because they spend 90% of their life @10k rpm As long as it's had regular oil changes, should be ok.
Oil is scheduled every 3,700 miles, but ideally less than that on this higher mileage.

Valve clearances are supposed to be checked every 3,700 miles. The valve inspection caps are soft aluminium, check for scratches around the valve inspection caps as there will be signs that a spanner has been on there.

How easy is it to start from cold, and then again from hot. Listen for knocks / rattles and check for smoke out the exhaust (both blue burning and unburnt black (assuming oil is black), obviously be careful of doing this when engine is hot, use white cloth etc)).

Check condition of chain (wear markers), brake pads (wear markers), tyres (same). Pump the forks, are the smooth, do they weep oil.
Is their any notchyness turning bars left to right (head bearings), any wobble on the wheels (wheel bearings). Lift the front tyre up, does it move backwards/forwards at all (head bearings).

On the centre stand, rotate the rear wheel forwards + backwards, do you see a lot of slack before the chain actually moves (knackered cush rubbers).

Look for drop marks on bar ends, footpegs.

Get down on the ground, can you roughly see that the wheels are in a line.

Double check frame number + engine number back to the V5, as well as the address of the registered keeper.

Is the MOT cert up to date, were there any advisories.

Lastly, go with your instinct, if anything about the seller is telling you to walk, then walk. There will be another bike tomorrow.

Shit, sorry, got carried away.

Good luck!


EDIT:
I've just seen this:

[Harlin67]

Thanks for the responses, very good food for thought, much appreciated.

I live in Epsom, does anyone have any good dealer experience within the Surrey/Epsom location?

Thanks

[grr666]

[Teflon-Mike]

[bamt]

[stevo as b4]

I wonder if all 125's are a bit shit, or that is the popular opinion of many that have read the don't waste time on a tiddler endless stories.

Or indeed the all 125's are a bit shit is maybe from those that never had one and came into bikes another route.

Just supposing if Mr grr666 could for a sensible amount of cash get his Mr's a brand new Cagiva Supercity 125 or similar for say a very fair price of £2000, would they after riding it around still feel it's very much a shit bike?

My current 125 is not a sensible model nor does it do much over 40mpg which might be laughable for most of todays would be 125cc owners/ money saving commuters, But it's a laugh your bollocks off load of fun to ride nearly all the time! Sure a 200cc engine in it would be better still, but I've not yet ever thought 'oh this is a bit shit isn't it' Oh yeah the reason is because it says 124cc on the engine/frame/logbook.

Again I'm out of touch with new riders and bikes, but I've just spent £430 on a new shock for my bit shit 125, and I don't think I'll regret it for a second either!

[Rogerborg]

[grr666]

Nah I had a 125, 25 years ago. A CM125 (although a bit closer to its proper era) actually which unsurprisingly was a bit shit.
I paid £400 for that in 1989. Back then I couldn't afford to do bike and car tests so I had to make a choice
so I opted for a car licence because that was more important from an employment perspective
and was the start of a long period driving for a living. By 1993 I was driving a double decker bus in Central London.

I rode a 2009 GN 125 a few months ago - It was a bit shit, noisy, vibey (and thats from someone
with an ER6) and woefully slow.
I rode a YBR for the first 10 minutes of my CBT until my instructor put me on something (his words) ' less shit'.
Mr grr666 can afford to buy his Mrs whatever bike takes her fancy, but she prefers custom style bikes for
some reason so a tall commuter with stickers, oops, I mean 125 supermoto jobbie is an unlikely choice.
Not least because she is a she. But not a 7ft amazon. And is uninterested in doing wheelies.
She also recognises that it's only temporary until she can get her licence and a more open road appropriate machine
so a 125 is no more than a stepping stone to a more complete machine.
I'd have a 2 stroke one for sodding about over the field, maybe some kind of old MTX or DT style bike maybe.
But I believe that generally learner legal 125s are underpowered for some UK roads. We have
plenty of 60 and 70 roads that aren't motorways. It's here 125s and smaller have a huge disadvantage
over more or less all other traffic. Jesus, even a twin deck bus could do 50 something mph back in
my days driving them.

My own bike is also only a commuter in a pretty frock but at least it has sufficient power and
on road prescence to not be cut up left right and centre on any road where you can go (slightly) faster than 50mph.
Even my wifes 1.2 city car will do 100mph which outperforms all 125s within learner legal power output guidelines.
UK market 125's are principally a watered down 'proper' motorcycle for people to learn, practice and possibly
pass their test on. For someone who has a full licence they perhaps represent cheap transport and a
better suited bike for city riding.

Sorry for all the edits but I left my reading glasses at work.
I literally can't see unless I squint and don't know enough about computers to make the text bigger. (Wife usually deals with my laptop luddite queries and she's at work).
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[Harlin67]

CBT on Friday, so if all goes well, I'll be buying on the weekend. Gear arrived today as well, its like Christmas

If anyone does know a trustworthy dealer in the surrey area they have used or currently use, please let me know

[grr666]

The very best of luck to you. Just listen carefully and you'll be fine I'm sure.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Harlin67]

[Pigeon]

[Harlin67]

Thanks for that. I had looked at that dealer which isn't a million miles away, so I'll give them a call and see what they have

[Ayrton]

My brother had a YBR for a few years and it was a great bike. Some may call it boring, but with renthal bars and a screen it starts looking pretty good.

Also you get people telling you about how chinese bikes are good and some of them are now, but i would stay clear anyway. They loose half their value overnight and are incredibly slow Look at the Lexmoto Arrow for example; it's top speed is 53 mph A ybr will do around 65-70 i think. I would take a second hand ybr that you can sell 2 years late for he same price over a chinese bike any day.