Newbie Biker - Few Question

[McfcChris94]

Hey all,

Im 17, will be doing my CBT in march and then looking for a 125cc bike to be my first....

a few things to note,

i am most likely going to increase to a bigger bike after completing my full test.
I have never rode a motorbike before so have no experience (yet)

My Questions are:

- Would you recommend a specific style of bike as a starter, or does it not really matter? EG a roadster or a really sporty looking bike like a CBR? considering iv had no experience i persume you need to lean more on a sporty bike, so would you say leave that 'til later or just go straight into it....

- Can you recommend some decent brands, il have about £1k budget to spend specifically on the bike, and i have started looking and the only brand new ones are Lexmoto really, and they have bad press....

- are second hand bikes really that bad? i can pick up (hopefully) some decent bikes for under £800 that will last my full 2 years on CBT

- Can you even suggest me any bikes to begin to take into consideration?


TL;DR --- Looking for a bike to begin with as a complete starter, Do all bikes have to lean or just sporty ones, is it best to learn on a sporty or is it my choice, can you suggest any bikes to begin looking at



Thankyou!!

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would say to avoid the real race reps as a novice, but I wouldn't really regard the 125 sport bikes as real race reps (just vaguely styled like one). So largely go for what you can afford and you like the looks of.

But stick to reasonable makes. Avoid no names Chinese bikes.

With 2nd hand bikes, comes down to how well that bike has been treated. Take your care when buying one and it should be fine.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[McfcChris94]

could you give me a list of bikes i should try to find then? i have these in mind....



Mito
Aprilia
Honda
Kawasaki
Suzuki
Yamaha


that about it?

[sidewinder]

As above.and for your budget can't go wrong with a yamaha ybr

[McfcChris94]

[Glenben92]

I'd recommend avoiding full on cruiser style things as they're god awful to learn on and you're probably just wasting money on something CBRish. The usual choices of Honda CG, Yamaha YBR etc. tend to be good choices. I'd avoid the CBF's though as I've heard nowt but bother about them. Some chinese bikes are decent with the right attention, but I definitely wouldn't recommend one for a first bike as an inexperienced and (sorry for the assumption, correct me if i'm wrong) not mechanically experienced / mechanically competent user. You're gonna want something that you can just ride and ride and ride then sell, the chinese bikes need more care than they get 90% of the time so it would be safer to steer clear.

Definitely buy 2nd hand, you're pissing money down the shitter buying a new 125. Be patient about buying one, wait for a good example to come along, try to aim for an older owner as it'll be less likely to have been ragged and more care will have probably been taken (stereotypical, i know, but stereotypes come around for a reason).
I'd strongly suggest enlisting the help of someone you know who can give advice as far as condition etc. goes, someone who can come with you to look at potential bikes. Ebay is your friend and you should easily be able to get something with enough money left to service it... SERVICE IT. Prevent faults, don't fix them.

Do some insurance quotes on any given model before buying one, as you'd be surprised at the difference between very similar bikes.
____________________
57 Huoniao HN125-8 - , 97 Kawasaki GPZ500S -
99 Yamaha FZS 600 -
Mod 2 Passed - 01/10/2010

[McfcChris94]

[Teflon-Mike]

Read around this board on the forum.
You dont have to be on CBT for two years. ALL CBT is is a cert that says you have done your first lesson, to validate the provisional entitlement, to enable you to ride, unsupervised, on a restricted performance bike in order to practice for tests. It is NOT a 'qualification'.

Bike for the job you want is a regulation 'Learner-Commuter' style bike, like a Yamaha YBR125, or Honda CG125.

Nothing fancy, but they are cheap to insure and run, and easy to ride.

Not meant to be exiting.... you can have as much exitement as you can afford/handle once you have your licence on whatever style of bike you choose.

And here and now; it's the LICENCE you ought to be worrying about.

In 367 days time, new licence laws come into effect.

These laws say that at 17 you will ONLY be able to ride a 125, and you will only be able to take a test for an A1 group licence that will let you ride a 125... just without L-Plates.

You will have to be 19 before you can ride anything bigger; and they are still deliberating exactly what the system will be to let you progress to a bigger bike, but suggestion is, you will have to do the tests for A1 on a 125, and wait two years and repeat them DAS style on a 400, to gain the A2 that will let you ride a 500 with 45bhp, and you will have to wait two years before taking tests AGAIN on a 600 to get an unrestricted licence..... OR you will have to wait until you are 24 and do DAS.

So, dont hang around; sort a bike, and dont worry too much about whether you like the style or reputatiuon of the thing.... if you have any sense you wont have it very long!

Bit of application, and some common sense; three months, and you can get your CBT, your Theory Hazard (£31); Mod 1 off road practical (£15.50) and maybe a lesson or tow for Mod 2 (£75), you can have the 'Full' A group licence to ride any bike, all be it with a two year 33bhp 'probation' on it, but if you get it, before the laws change, you wont have to do any more tests unless you loose your licence for being daft!

£121.50 for the tests over CBT.... and a little application, THAT is all it takes. And you ought to be able to do it in 3-6 months comfortably...

For that short time frame; almost ANY 125 you can take tests on, and afford ought to do.... and as every-one has same idea, provided you dont stack it, sooner you get the tests sorted, sooner you can flog it on to next desperate 'Newbie' in the queue, and take your time, choosing something that better suits your style or wallet.

Right now... even a Cheap and nasty Chinky bike, IF it gets you your tests, could be worth it..... May cost you a lot in depreciation, but save you a lot in 'hassle' and post 3rd Directive test and training costs!
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
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?'

[Glenben92]

Mike's right, test seems to be almost a now or never endeavor at the moment!

By service I mean change the oil for some fresh, at least semi-synthetic bike oil, change filters (air and oil, some bikes just use an oil strainer, that would need to be cleaned out), check and replace brake pads if necessary, give the bike the absolute cleaning of it's life time and make sure everything is tightened up nicely. Lube and adjust the chain correctly (replace if necessary as this makes a noticeable difference to the smoothness and feel of the bike under acceleration / deceleration. but it'll probably not be needed) and lube up any cables / controls that should be lubed.
Servicing is probably THE most important thing you will ever do to any bike you'll ever own.

There's one thing I respect more than someone who knows what they're talking about, and that's someone who admits when they don't.

You should find all of the support you'll ever need on this here forum, welcome and enjoy.

Back to the test thing... Very much aim to have your test done before winter kicks in. Once you've done an A2 test (pre-2013 changes) you're set. Despite the rule changes, they can't take away what you've already earned. So you'll have your full license at 19 if you get the A2 done this year, don't hold back. Also, try to bare in mind when buying the 125 that it's merely a test passing tool, save your real efforts and money for post-test when the world is your lobster, so-to-speak.

EDIT: it might even be worth looking into doing the test through a school and bypassing buying and insuring your own 125 altogether. That way your first insurance premium will be taken with a full license rather than CBT, and that makes literally hundreds of pounds difference. Switching insurance from 125 upwards after passing your test can be a right bastard and sometimes you CANT do it without losing your NCB, which is also a VERY bad idea at your age.

Anecdote time!!!

I'm 19 now and I did my test when I was 17 (although I've had a cbt since i was 16). I passed my test 1/10/2010 and stuck with the 125 while looking for another bike. I got a GPZ in the november and did it up beautifully over the winter. May 2011 sorta time comes around and it's ready to rock, I want it, I want it NOW (few rides round the estate being astonished at the power didn't help the impatience). After ringing my insurance (which was set to end in june) I found that they wouldn't insure me on anything above a 125 without taking out a new policy and losing 10 months worth of NCB. I looked at all options open to me and nothing at all was really feasible. I considered taking out a monthly policy with zero NCB until my 125 policy finished, I considered just scrapping the 10 months and insuring the GPZ on a fresh policy so that I could have it immediately. I'm very fucking glad I didn't do that, I ended up just having to wait the 2 months but now because I'm starting to rack up the NCB and the experience years, insurance for bikes is becoming pretty insignificant. I have 2 years NCB (3 in June) and 2 full years experience (3 in april) and I can right now insure such bikes as YZF1000R, YZF600R, TL1000R, ZZR600, Bandit 1200, ST1100, each for under or around 400 quid TPFT (360 for the YZF thou and TLR).

The point I'm trying to make is that spending money NOW could actually save you a lot of money, waiting, hassle and grief in the near future. Take as much as you can into consideration.
(the GPZ cost me 277 to insure when I came to do it)
____________________
57 Huoniao HN125-8 - , 97 Kawasaki GPZ500S -
99 Yamaha FZS 600 -
Mod 2 Passed - 01/10/2010

[sidewinder]

[Glenben92]

[quote="sidewinder"]

[McfcChris94]

is this a decent bike


https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201202441106361/sort/priceasc/usedbikes/price-to/1000/seller-type/private_adverts/cc-to/125cc/cc-from/125cc/postcode/wa50gf/radius/1500/page/2?logcode=p

[McfcChris94]

and this one too



https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201201440337890/sort/priceasc/usedbikes/price-to/1000/seller-type/private_adverts/cc-to/125cc/cc-from/125cc/postcode/wa50gf/radius/1500/page/2?logcode=p