Get into biking for £600?

[GeorgeB.]

Hi guys,

After watching me rock up to the house every day, my housemate has decided he wants a bike. However, he only has a budget of about £600 (I'd be willing to front him £200 if needed, so more like £800)

What are his options? He's 23, and has helmet/jacket/gloves and boots. My first thought was an old old CG, but no idea where to look.
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Current: '99 Fazer 600 | '99 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE
Previous: Keeway TX125 | CBF 125 | CB400SF Project Big One
CBT 04/12/12 | Theory 03/12/13 | MOD 1 06/01/14 | MOD 2 13/01/14

[Doovy]

CG / CB / YBR / SR / GN

Biketrader, Gumtree, Ebay.
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[MC]

CG's the safe bet, might be a bit of a stretch to get a ybr for that money. Personally I wouldn't go for an SR unless it was really really cheap, they're slow (even by 125 standards) & boring. It depends what kind of style he likes. You might be able to get something better if you get lucky , but it's the wrong time of year for picking up bargains really.
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[yaigi]

Well take £100 off for the CBT straight away...
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What would you do in life, if you knew you could not fail?
Currently own - Fazer 600, 2000, Red. (But no riding as baby on board atm)

[c_dug]

Plus around £2-300 for insurance which only leaves say £200 worst case scenario for a bike. There are bargains to be had and £200 isn't beyond the realms of possibility but the extra £200 from you would definitely help his cause if you're happy to go down that route. In exchange you get a biking buddy, seems fair to me!
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Enaver]

Ive just passed my test so I will be selling my YBR 125 2007 for around that price.

Live in Surrey though, not sure how near that is to where you are.
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Honda CBR 500R Black
Yamaha YBR 125 Blue

[thepuma]

So far then...

CBT.................... £100
INSURANCE........ £200
GEAR (and cheap) £100
TAX....................... £20
BASIC SERVICE(poss MOT)..... £100

So thats £80 for a bike...or £280 if he scrounges off you.

Dont think its going to happen.

Tell him to save up a bit....if he gets a grand he could 'probably' do it...but £600 for everything is just proving to me that he cant afford biking.
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[c_dug]

[Teflon-Mike]

£120 - CBT
£30 for cheap helmet
£20 for cheap gloves
£20 for water-proofs - improvise rest of kit from wardrobe
£250 for insurance
£20 for Chain & Padlock

How much? £600? Leaves... err.... 'about' £150 or so to get a bike with......

You front him another £200? £350? still not likely to get much of a bike..... put the insurance on tic? £80 down and £30 a month or something? Might free up another £100 or so... that gets your mate close to £500, which is the sort of money that almost anything with L-Plates and a valid tax disc is likely to command, on a hobson's choice basis.....

If you do some seriouse peny shaving; find a CBT course he can do on own bike, & you pillion him to it; might save £30 - £50.

£30 for a cheap hat... you wont be able to shave that one much, short of letting him wear a hand-me-down..... Legal... and might do as a get-him-by.... but not really idea.

£20 for gloves? You might be able to do something there; again hand me downs, but not a lot

£20, likewise water-proofs... might be able to get by with some old fishing gear or something.... but improvising kit beneath, its a cover-all sins convenience.

Bottom line is that almost anything with a valid MOT & Tax disc can command £500 entry money and sell pretty quick.

To get anything half decent on that bargain basement basement budget; you have to be clued up on obscure chinky brands; clued up on common faults and know what to snap up and what to walk away from; you have to be prepared to take something less than pristine and pretty uninspiring; and to put in some leg work to hunt them down, and snap one up when you find one with better potential.

It's do-able.... but it's not going to be easy, and big risks that what you could end up with may be a shitheap.

Best of luck with it... but I would strongly urge caution against fronting him a couple of hundred quid of my money to help him do it, and risk not seeing that money again, along with the angst and gripes if it, as like, goes titzup, that YOU helped him waste all this money buying him a shitter, ergo its all your fault, and you are left with a knackered bike, blamed for buying it for him, blamed for wasting his money on it and charged with fixing it for him, and blamed for it not getting fixed, and end up forking out of your own pocket to buy him new chain or piston rings or whatever to molify him, throwing ever more good money after bad, to molify him and save the guilt trip you end up on..... MIGHT not go that way. but having 'helped' a couple of mates with bikes or classic cars like that in the past... no... wouldn't go there again..

Advice; assist; enable; but THEIR ambition, if they have the enthusiasm to do it; let them get on with it; dont set yourself up to be a crutch from the start.
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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?'

[c_dug]

Jeeze, for somebody who writes so much you don't read very well do you tef!?

As above:

[thepuma]

[N cee thirty]

should do it easy, just keep an eye out for bargains.
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[mic]

rather than mess about and do all that, just do DAS course (should be under £600) then borrow £500 for a cheapy big bike. rather buy a £500 big bike than a £500 125.

even if it means saving a few months after the DAS, itll be worth it
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zzr600

[N cee thirty]

[temeluchus]

[FretGrinder]

[thepuma]

[c_dug]

My first TS50 cost £250, my TDR250 cost £300, my GPZ500 cost £300 and my NTV600 cost £300. Four bikes, four bargains, none of them gave me any issues that I didn't cause.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[N cee thirty]

[CG Sam]

[thepuma]

[Nemo]

Bought my first bike for £100, lasted a fair while.

Bought my second bike for £120, lasted even longer.
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Previously owned: Kawasaki KH125, Suzuki GP125, Suzuki GX 125, Honda CB125 TDC '83, Honda ntv 600, Kawasaki ER5, Kawasaki ZZR600, Aprilia RSV 1000 Mille
Now own: Ducati 848 evo

[P.addy]

[arry]

[P.addy]

Most of my 125s are <£700 Bought an 06 CBR125 in 2008 for £330