What 125cc bike to get

[rahlo12]

Hi,

I recently turned 17 last December, and am now looking at getting my first 125cc bike. I'm about to do my CBT in the next few days, and after that I'll need to start to look for a bike. Ideally I'm looking for something in and around £2000, not too flashy with a solid reliability. I've done some looking, and I've ruled out the cheap china bikes for around £1000 as I'm assuming their reliability is somewhat poor.

I've looked at Honda and Yamaha and seen the CBR and YBR respectively. Which one is the best out of the two (in terms of speed, reliability and storage) and are there any other candidates I should be looking at.

Also, in terms of speed, most 125cc bikes are advertised at around 65-70 mph, is that generally truthful or do they not perform to those standards.

thanks,

[gbrand42]

For £2k I am always going to recommend a Varadero, as would many more on this forum. I'm sure a search would give you plenty of info on these.
____________________
Yamaha RD50M, Honda C90, Yamaha RS100, Yamaha RD125LC, Honda XL125 V9 Varadero, Honda NT700VA, Honda VFR800X, Honda CRF1000L, Honda ST1300 Pan European

[lukamon]

or you could buy my 2012 cbf for £1600 and save yourself some dollah
____________________
killa wrote: Im an ass man myself

[RhynoCZ]

Or a CG for like 500 pounds and keep the rest for the time when you're gonna be able to ride something faster.
____________________
'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[Az]

[Rogerborg]

[rahlo12]

I think 'storage' was a big typo. In terms of bike, I can't see myself progressing to something more powerful when I'm older. I need something for urban commuting... 65 mph is plenty enough. This bike will be used for quite some time.

Ahhh I think by storage I meant fuel efficiency, I noticed nearly all vendors don't mention the bikes mpg, I'm assuming that newer models have a better mph than older bikes.

Lukamon I'll consider your offer

Thanks all

[BG5067]

[BG5067]

figures say it all


https://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/honda/cbf125
____________________
Current. Kawasaki ZX9R.

Theory passed 17/01/2014. Mod 1 Passed 03/02/2014 (0 faults) Mod 2 10/02/2014 Passed (0 faults)

[Dischord]

EXC 125 all the way, fuck da po po!!!
____________________
2012 KTM EXC 250

Check out my vids - https://www.youtube.com/user/KTMSparky/videos

[Pigeon]

[NooBish-AbbZ]

cant speak for any other type but i bought my CBR back in July and has been entirely perfect for me. Easy to maintain, smooth to ride etc. etc. Rarely reaches 70, (needs a tailwind or hill) although even with my girlfriend on the back the other day it reached 65 without too much hassle.

Depending on where you're located, mines for sale :p although I have heard good things about the Varadero, have only seen one with my own eyes once and it did look nice
____________________
SV650S - Feb '14-March '19
XJ6N- Apr '19 -Present

[MC]

[Ste]

4 stroke 125's are slow, really really slow.

If you don't want to die of boredom then you should get a 2 stroke. An NSR125 is good for 90mph if you let the restrictors fall out which is a common occurrence.

"The bike will be used for some time" Loads of people say exactly the same thing but for most people, keeping the same bike for ages doesn't happen.

[sabian92]

Avoid CBR/CBF for 2 reasons - one, the build quality is shonky as feck (ask djrikki on here) and the CBR is a tiny bike and unless you're about 4ft 9 you'll look huge

YBR is a good choice - well built, cheap to maintain and good on fuel. If you want a "big" 125 then a Vara is the way to go but they're all 2nd hand these days.

[djrikki]

New cbf125s are shite.

That is all.

[Rogerborg]

Some of them are. Some of them seem to be OK. It's much the same story with Chinese branded bikes, but they cost half the price.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
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

[Baffler186]

[thewhyoffry]

+1 for the Vara. Brother owned one for about a year and never had any problems at all with her. Reliable, nippy and a pretty big bike for a 125.

[jeddy11]

If you go for a varadero no one will know its a 125 !! The amount of times i was asked what size engine it was ...
____________________
Fuelly My Z1000SX
cbt 06/08/11 mod1 (second go) 01/08/12 mod2 21/09/12
Varadero Viking YBR125>Varadero125>ER6F>Z1000SX !!!

[RhynoCZ]

[jeddy11]

Mostly non bikers !! but some bikers too. Its the v twin i suppose which makes i look bigger.

[thewhyoffry]

[passifid]

if you wanna spend that much money there are few bikes to get(4t)

1.) vadero, king of the 125s, the fastest and also biggest dual sport 125(and biggest 125 in general i know of)

2.)yzf/wr125(same bike different frock), similar in performance to vadero but a single(a tad slower top end) but also large i have yzf for about 1 year 2 months now, its yet to let me down, does a real 70(lots will lie and say they get 82 in standard kit but on the pirelli app i've only got 74 on the flat which was 78 indicated). pretty much a lovely handling lovely braking bike, but watch out the tyres somtimes need help to bind to front wheel(take it to a garage)

3.) cbr125, similar to the yzf, a tad slower i belive but not much and cheaper.

personally if money wasn't an object i'd have got the wr125 because i like how upright bikes handle and supermoto looks, i could have waited and got a vadero but i don't regret doing this because i'm 19 and i like how it looks and i don't mind the fact a vadero is more comfy for long trips and slightly faster up a hill.

tl:DR
get a vadero if you want the best perforing full sized 125 which is comfy over distance

get a yzf if you're young and want a sports styled 125 which is reliable and pretty much all you need bar comfort over long distance(its a big bike not cramped, i'm 6' 1" and i think its the same hiehgt as the xt660 but the forwards position is noticably less comfy then my old xt125x)

get a wr if for same as above but you like supermotos

get a cbf/ybr if you need cheap insurance and the bike will be cheap so more gear money
____________________
CBT: 10/2011 | Theory:6/2012 | MOD1: 8/2012

[Teflon-Mike]

£2K, ruling out Chinkys; you aren't looking at brand new. 17 years old; no CBT cert as yet; you are currently riding Shanks' Pony.

This means... you cant just phone a dealer; and have bike delivered to your door a week later, with fresh tax disc and the celophans still on the newly made number-plate. Means you are looking second hand... and THAT means your choice is limited from what is listed in the used buyers guides, but by what people ACTUALLY have to sell in the small adds. THEN by Shanks Pony to get to see them, and do a deal before any-one else.

125 Learner-Legals is a seller's market. Theres more folk that want them, than there are bikes for them to buy; those buyers also tend to be over eager, under-cautiouse, and pretty clueless as to what they ought to be looking for... so they eagerly buy crap bikes for over inflated prices. You have been warned.

Veradaro. I shall offer opinion on this bike, first. One of the most expensive 125's new, for many years; physically large, it didn't look like 'only' a 125. Made it popular with the older learner, if not the wiser. They held thier value incredibly well, comparitively, and performance, for a 125 was 'respectable'. Honda build Quality on them, as a 'prestige' 125 was pretty good, and so far, they have proved reasonably reliable, and often a more useful choice for many learners.

HOWEVER... they are now getting long in the tooth. The oldest out there are getting to the end of thier 'anticipated' service life, and many are white goods in waiting. More complicated twin cylinder engine; with even more convoluted 'V' configuration, does not make them a mechanics favourite pass-time. Exhausts are prone to rot on all bike; but on these, its a convoluted bit of pipe-work, to wrap around that displaced cylinder arrangement; which means replacements are expensive; and bludy awkward to fit; meaning more expense still. Rotted exhausts, lead to engine running problems, and that leads to know nothing tinkerers effing about with stuff they shouldn't eff about with, and dont need to eff about with, but DO, hoping to find some problem they can fix more easily than the exhaust... which, they botch with gum-gum bandage from halfords... that might last long enough for them to flog it to next know-nothing newb in the queu, over eager to hand over big money for a little bike, and more still, because EVERY-ONE tells them to get a Veradaro.

Good bikes... BUT, in my opinion, a lot of money-pits in waiting looming in the wings, which can be very hard to spot, thanks to nice, easily polished to shinyness enveloping body-work.

To avoid that bottom end money-pit, personally, I would say you have to up your budget into the realms of a Brand New YBR, around two and a half K... and while a YBR or CBF may not be such an inspiring machine... and yup, brand new comes with hefty hit of out the show-room second hand depreciation... BUT... that's price of peace of mind; its a bike no know-nothing newb has had chance to eff about with in any way; comes with good warranty, supported by well established network of dealers; and chances are, when you buy instead of a set of keys and a new owners slip... you get a whole package, including a hat, gloves, and whatever else the dealer will chuck in to make your eyes light up.

THAT is my opinion on the Veradaro. Nice bikes... but be warned; they are over rated, they are over priced, and I personally believe that thier reputation for 'reliability' is likely to start turning sour as the pool of bikes gets older and more worn out, and thier over sophisticated design, sees them hard and expensive for budget bodgers to keep in service.

CBR... there has been two or three revisions of these. Early, small-frame & carb, early Small frame Fuel injected, and the latest one.

Curiously; the small frame, is curious. It looks 'diddy' and cramped for any-one larger than a skinny Oriental teenager. But the erganomics are deceptive. Six-Footers have found them to fit well, whilst little lilliputian ladies have found them to be rather awkward.

Its a bike you have to try for fit, and that means actually riding, or at least getting some-one to hold it up for you while you sit it, feet on the pegs, to see if the seat is comfy enough for you, whatever your build.

That test past; it's the Honda Learner-Flag-Ship; so build quality has tended to be OK to Good. Its a single cylinder engine, which means its less complicated than the Veradaro's, though it is water cooled, that knocks some edge off that. However; has proved pretty reliable. It's not the most powerful 125 out there; the early, small-frame machines were too light to meet A1/Learner legal power to weight limits, with max permisseable 14.2bhp, so they were tuned to just over 13bhp I think, to be inside power to weight; meaning that the motor is slightly less 'stressed' than others. Again, fully enclosed plastic body-work means its easy to polish a turd and offer it as a pristine example; and the styling is a bit questionable; they are a 'bit' toys are us, "When I grow Up I want to be a Sports-Bike" dressed up commuter; though no where near as pretentiouse as latest CBR or Yam YZF-R125 fasion accessories.

They can offer a bit more than a CBF or YBR, but not much. The differences between ANY A1/Learner-Legal 125 is tiny, and that is miniscule in the realms of the entire biking world, where even the fastest 125's are far from fast bikes.

Eg: ecconomy. We re talking bikes with book MPG figures in region of what? 90mpg +/- 20? Those numbers come from standardised tests, and are achieved by riders paid to get the most flattering figures. In the real world? The conditions wont be as favourable as under standardised, idealised tests, and you will be lucky to get anything close to them; BUT, even if you do... as a numpty newby rider, starting out, you will start out getting great mpg, as you treat the bike gingerly, then as confidence grows, it will drop, as you start thrashing it, and as you thrash it, you will probably become more agressive in your riding, using more sudden acceleration and more sudden braking, all poor for mpg, until you learn to be smooth, and you get a bit of mpg back.

And your riding style... can effect mpg by probably +/- 30-40mpg over book; ie far more than the difference between any of the 125's out there get 'quoted' under test.

Eg: my VF1000, book says should do 30mpg (its not an ecconomical motorcycle).. real world? I have doubled that and seen 60mpg+ pootling about, not using the performance, keeping speeds steady all day long, 'touring' keeping off the brakes. However, more often I have seen the mpg down in the teens... bashing by-passes, accelerating hard between round-abouts and traffic lights, and braking hard before them! Really taken to town, I once saw it dip into single digits! Shit! I have a 4.0l V8 Range-Rover that betters that! But you get the idea. Book numbers mean shit. In use, what you get will depend on SO much else, and differences between different 125's are so miniscule, as it is not REALLY that worth worrying about.

Speed? Speed limit in this country is 70mph. Most 125's and certainly the Jap ones you are considereing are close enough to capable of that. How fast do you want to be able to loose a licence you don't yet have? 125's are not 'toys', they are still propper motorcycles, and for the most part as quick as anything else is legally allowed to go. Most speed cameras BTW are on 30 mph roads... 125's can do double that, SO, as said, just as want to loose you the licence you dont yet have as a 1250cc machine, IF you are an arse on it.

What they dont have, is the reserve of top end power to sustain 60+mph speeds on major roads, and do it into head winds, up steeper hills. They also dont have the weight to be as stable in such situations either; hence for most 125's are not best suited to faster A-Roads and duel carriageways. Certainly not for sustained, mile after mile riding.

However; they are still not the slowest vehicles on the roads; and HGV's are governed to 55mph. Good speed to go on a 125. Most will sustain that speed, AND they will have some reserve for getting up hills or battling head-winds. While on faster roads... holding that speed, you will be in the wake of them HGV's and as long as you aren't tempted to try and use your reserve to try over-taking them, and doing battle with the blitzen-bimmers piloted by myopic schitzoid reptiles with a sales quota to meet... you can go very many miles, swiftly, safely, comfortably and ecconomically on a 125.

55 - THAT is your 'top speed'... and most 125's will do that, and do it pretty comfortably. Enter that number in your head; apreciate it; work with it; and apreciate your 125 for what it IS, swift ecconomical transport, rather than bemoaning what its not... a super-bike.... and you'll have a blast on a tiddler.

Which brings us back to the beginning.... that they are little bikes with little differences.... AND not buying new... your choices are likely to be as much made by what you can actually get your hands on, as much as what you would REALLY want to have... based on buyers guide reviews; numbers in the specs, or reputation & comment offered on here.

BASE LINE - is the Yamaha YBR125. 3-4 years old, fresh MOT cert with the keepers slip; ought to be new enough to be useful and reliable, while old enough to not suffer significant depreciation. That bike ought to cost some-where in the region of £1400-£1600 depending on condition and whether bought private or from a dealer. Has no magic numbers, little wow factor; but it does the job, more or less, within miniscule limits, as well as anything else; and does it with least risk, and least cost. CBF is a little more hit and miss; batch quality control seems patchy, but three-four year old bike OUGHT to weed out the duffers; or at least make them bludy obviouse to the naked eye! CBR mentioned. YZF-R125 mentioned.

You then have, looking Japanese... though like the YBR is made in China, the CBF in India, I have an inkling that Suzuki's GN125, which is NOT listed as official UK Suzuki model, BTW, they are parallel imported by non franchise dealers, for the most part, is made in Portugal, I think. And agian; much of a muchness, with slightly lower quality control than the Yamaha.

GZ Marauder? Cruiserified GN Compromised for looks, but still much of a muchness.

And into the dirt bikes... and the Euro-offerings... and its STILL all much of a muchness...

And can be deliberated all year long.... and is all accademic and probably futile and irrelevent unless any of these bikes in question are actually available for sale; and near enough to you to get to them and buy one, before some one else.

Go look at what is ACTUALLY on the market, you can touch IN THE METAL, and shortlist from what bikes you can physically get hands on which may be 'best'... but remember, they is little bikes, with little differences, and provided your expectations aren't ridiculously high, they ALL ought do the job, and do it capably.
____________________
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?'