Totally new rider!3

[HarryMaskell]

Basically I have had a growing interest in motorbikes for some time now and after securing a nice paying job for my age I have decided to go ahead and buy a bike. I am only 18 years old, this bike will be used for traveling to and from work mainly. I don't want anything too powerful (I can only ride a limit of 125cc due to my age anyway) because it will be my first bike.

The reason why I'm telling you guys this is just to see if any of you can offer me some help on what bike would be best suited to me, I want a 50cc+ so when I get a full licence I can go on the motorway.

Can't be that expensive, the max I can/will spend is £1.500. Would be nice if it could go quite far on one tank of fuel, needs to be easy(ish) to handle.


So, what bike do you think would be best for a total beginner?

[SandTiger]

Hey Harry. Welcome to the forum.

You can't go wrong with a good ol' Yamaha YBR125. I picked my 2011 up for 1,400. They should still be around that price. Really good on fuel, around £10 will fill the tank, and that'll last me my 5 days commute, and then piss about on the weekend (maybe with a little topping up but...).

Also, I really don't think I'd feel comfortable taking a 50cc on a motorway. Though I did really enjoy it on the YBR.
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2015 Kawasaki Z800e "Zee"
2006 Yamaha MT-03 "Mary Jane"
2011 Yamaha YBR125 "Ally"

[GeordieMick]

Hi Harry and welcome to BCF

Personaly I would go the Japanese 2nd hand 125 route, either the YBR, CBF, or if you want the more sportier look CBR or YZF. You should be well able to pick up a decent 2nd hand of any of these for your 1500.

Also try and find a better route to work n back than motorways, 125cc bikes are no fun at all on a motorway, a longer B road route will be much more enjoyable n fun
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Current bike - Hornet 08
Mod 2 Passed - 30/07/14

[HarryMaskell]

[HarryMaskell]

[Rogerborg]

Hi Harry.

Yup, the YBR125 is a decent choice. Not the most exciting looking bike, not the quickest, but decent quality and value.

The other popular option at that price range is the Honda CBF125. A bit more modern looking and there are plenty of good ones around, but also a few shocking lemons, so approach with more caution.

If you fancy something sportier looking, then I'd suggest the Honda CBR125, unless you're a big lad.

If you are over 6' or so then the bike we tend to lean towards is the Honda Varadero 125. Or the "Verydearo", for reasons that will become apparent when you see how much they go for. They do hold their value very well though.

Cheap off-brand bikes (Lexmoto, AJS, Sinnis, and many many more) look like good value as new purchases, but you will lose a lot in depreciation as soon as you turn the key.

Given that you can do your A2 tests at 19 I would concentrate on minimising what you spend this year.

tl;dr version - YBR.
____________________
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

[Tamsin]

You cant take a 50 on the motorway anyway. Might as well get straight onto a 125.

Depends on budget but it's hard to go too wrong with a secondhand Japanese bike

[HarryMaskell]

[SandTiger]

[Andy_Pagin]

Is £1,500 your budget for buying the bike, or the whole exercise? You'll need to do the CBT course, tax and insure the bike, insurance can be a bit of a shocker at your age, so best look into that before anything else. Then there's the gear, absolute minimum of a helmet and gloves, though a bikers jacket and over-trousers are highly recommended along with proper boots. Over winter you'll really suffer without the proper gear. All of this costs of course.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[HarryMaskell]

[Andy_Pagin]

Then YBR125, you'll get something decent for that price, I'd avoid anything more sporty as it's likely been thrashed and badly maintained.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Sinnis have just started putting the YBR engine (a distinct improvement on the old Suzuki GN derived lump formerly favoured by Sinnis) in their frames, and you would have a bit of change from 1.5k if you bought new.

However, if you're committed to the idea of commuting (especially if this includes winter and in all weathers) on it you would have to be quite damn scrupulous with respect to all aspects of maintenance - particularly the "cosmetic" side of things. You would need to virtually towel it off after wet rides and reapply some form of preserver (although many here argue that ACF50 does not require repeated and regular reapplication). Shockers and header bolts are - even on japanese bikes - very vulnerable to corrosion. And the fragile finish on frame and forks etc. will not withstand much in the way of neglect, and is best regarded as 'adequate', if that.

So - there is the Sinnis option. Or, as stated above, there's the second hand japanese bike options. To repeat others, your budget should mean you can afford something very decent. But do try to view the bike, and don't settle for anything with even the faintest signs of corrosion anywhere on the bike for 1500 quid. At that price point you should be able to find a very clean bike indeed. £1600 bought me mint vanvan with 96 miles on the clock. Which tbh was a bit on the dear side. But to me it felt, looked and rode like a brand new machine - and to all intents and purposes, actually was. Which meant I could get some degree of consolation from the fact that at £3.2k for a new one, I'd shelled out an acceptable sum. Doubtless many would still baulk at my outlay - however it wasn't my intention to treat it as a stepping stone to bigger bikes. And instead, I planned to keep it and ride it after getting a full license.

I will however also just quickly point out that, if you bide you time, and look in different places, you can get a perfectly adequate 125 (japanese at that) for a fair chunk under 1500 quid. I bought an old cb125tde off bcf's teflon mike for £700 - in a very tidy state of repair with 14k on the clocks. Yes it's on an '87 plate, and can be a little bit of a fuss pot - but you learn very quickly what kind of treatment an older bike will put up with, and providing you meet those needs, they'll pretty much run forever. Oil changes at a thou, keep them going at a fair bit under 10k rpm, garage 'em if you can, titivate whenever possible, and they're good as gold.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Crazy-Duck]

Just a note, you cant ride on 'L' plates on a motorway.
____________________
Passed Mod 2 19th June 2014. First 'Big Bike' Ducati Monster 600

[Rogerborg]

Guy. Guys. He knows.

[Teflon-Mike]

The YBR125 is the benchmark learner-commuter and represents a pretty good all-round package that is hard to beat if you can afford a better one, and urge for more style.

As has been said; factor in the cost of your provisional licence, Compulsary Basic Training course to validate entitlement for 2 years, then Insurance, which can often be the next biggest expense for a younger rider.

THEN before getting too exited and running off to buy hat and gloves and coat to go ride... spend a bit of time thinking about how to stop low-life doing just that with your new bike before you do!

Little bikes is easy to nick.

Will it be kept in a garage? On the drive? On the street? What will you do with your crash hat when you are out and about?

Plan on buying a good chain to lock the bike up with. And when out ad about and especially if you park up at the same place every day, think abouy carrying chain wth you so the bike can be tied down to something immoveable so they cant wheel it away. Disc locks are only 'so' useful, and no-one really pays much attention to alarms. So good lock and chain.

For every day commuter, a rack and top boc, you can put a chain & lock and any small luggage in when you are riding is useful, and a convenient place to lock away your hat so you dont have to lug it around when you take lock and luggage out the box when you park.

A new accessory rack and top bx is likely to cost around £100 or so, a good lock and chain, maybe £30 or so; weight those costs up when you look at bikes, if they come in the deal or not.

Helmet & riding gear? Don't buy a 2nd hand hat. You know not if its been crashed in, or other wise buggered. But new, and from a shop where you can try it on, not off the net. Fit is all. While cheap starts at £30 up to whatever you want to pay, but as all approved to reasonable standard, dont worry too much f you cant afford a 'better' one straight off. Chances are first hat will get battered and a £30 hat is a lot easier to chuck away than a £300 one.

Most other ridig gear can be 'imprvised' you dont HAVE to have all new, 'dedicated' motorcycle gear. Good boots and good gloves, though are useful, BUT No1 bit f riding gear for the UK is WATERPROOFS... I find I get rained on, more often than I fall off... dress to RIDE not to crash!

And last thought; you may not be old enough to do an A2 licence course yet, but, work towards your licence.

Earlier you get training in your riding careerer, sooner it can do you good. BEST crash protection you can buy is the know-how to save you crashing in the first place!

And with near a year to look forwards to on a 125, thats plenty of time when you are at most risk of falling off that training is likely to pay for itself. If it helps you pass tests thats bonus.

On which topic; with a 125, a bit of training, a little experience, you can self book A1 tests for 125 only licence for just £15 for Mod 1, and £75 for Mod 2. £90 which is usually cheaper than a repeat CBT and can be treated as a perpetual CBT cert.

Superficially pointless, it does have many merits though. First it gets rid of the Damn L-Plates, and is something of an achievement to boost confidence. Also starts the clock on 2 year New Driver Act licence probation. Its 'cheap' dry run for testing over of bigger bikes, so you know the ropes and aught have confidence of being able to do A2 or full A with least training / cost later, and can be a bit of a head-start not working to deadlines of certs expiring. Ability to carry a pillion and use motorways is bonus you may not use, but nice to know you can.

On topic of M-Ways.... frequently suggested to avoid them on a lightweight... BUT it is perfectly legal, for a full licence holder to take a 'motorcycle' of just 51cc on one, and not ALL traffic is 80mph+ Blitzen-Bimmers battling it out in the outside lane. Personally I'm not fond of the roads, but they are not THAT bad, and you get the same on any 'faster' A-Road or duel-carriageway (Which is all a Motorway is, with special regulations and no round-abouts to worry about!) Trick is simply to ride within the capabilities of your vehicle, which means not tryng to get tangled up with the Blitzen-Bimmers doing battle in the outer lanes at 80! trying to eek out every last once of speed from a machine that can only barely do 70 in favourable conditions.... stick to the double-nickle, 55mph in the left hand 'driving lane' with the lorries, which also struggle to do more than 60, and you can 'cruise' quite comfortably, if you want to. Boring as feck... but eats miles 'easy'. I still ride tiddlers and do take the up major duelies and M-ways when I have to. Can be daunting having so much 'space' around you, exaggerating how exposed and vulnerable you are, but actually, statistically safer than riding down tree lined country roads, which itself is statistically safer than riding across town... which as new rider you are most likely to spend most time in, ironically more 'comfortable' and feeling 'safer'.

Last thunk on actual bikes for you? Keep that open mind. YBR125 is the bench-mark, BUT, less than 1% of road transport is bikes, and Learner-Legals are a seller's market; there ent that many about, and more folk that want them than there are 'good' bikes to satisfy them. An awful lot are also NOT 'good' bikes. Small bikes are built down to a price, cos people expect to pay less for something smaller, even though costs almost as much to make one, cos there's just as many nuts and bolts and stuff that need screwing together to make one. Then they get baught by 'Learners' who often are not the most experienced or conscientious of owners, with the best know-how to either ride them or look after them. They get crashed, they dont get maintained very well, and often get ridden into a pretty dire state quite quickly.

When buyng 2nd hand bike CONDITION IS ALL

Don't get too hung up on specific makes and models; keep your options open there aren't enough bikes out there for you to bee SO choosy. Search high and low, not just at the listing sin auto-Trader and e-bay. Get off the net; look in the local paper, news-agent windows etc, actual real shops and even stuff parked in the street with 'for sale' signs on it!

The when you go to view; DO NOT get blinded by shiney paint and a recent number-plate. Easy to polish up a shit-box. Pay attension to the stuff that matters. And before I 'go' I like to know I can stop! So tyres; brakes, steering, suspension, straight wheels. Chain & Sprockets; control cables; look for stuff thats bent or broke or bodged, behind the 'shiney'. Try and take some-one who knows this sort of stuff to view the bike if you can.

Be prepared to pay the asking price for a good bike... haggle by all means, but there are enough nieve optimists with money burning a hole in their pocket that will jump in and beat you to to the till just at the sound of the engine running.

And hold back some cash over what you are prepared to pay for a bike, for 'de-niggling'. Its VERY rare you will buy a bike that is faultless, especially in the Learner-Legal market. Sellers forget or often aren't even aware of them.

Plan on doing a FULL SERVICE at the very least soon as you get the bike home. Does't matter what the seller tells you. DIY be SURE the thing has new oil and spark-plug, clean air-filter and a tensioned chain; make sure t has new brake fluid and good brake pads, the tyres enough air in them... and be prepared as you go through that first service, to find things that need attention; might not be major or urgent, but note them and sort them; whether its a wire that's been twisted together where a connector has been broken, or screws chewed up on the front brake master cylinder... good performance and good reliability BOTH come from the same thing good 'maintenance' so start well, base line the maintenance, make the bike as good as you can right at the start, and you stand best chance you'll keep ahead of it, and machine will offer good reliable, enjoyable service as long as you have it, AND be worth something still when you come to flog it on. So budget for that right at the start, AND as you go on... think, every time you put petrol in the tank, fuel you have just bought is only replacig fuel yu have used, its not replacing the wear and tear on the bike burning that tankful caused... so for every £10 you spend on petrol, stick £2 or so aside (if only your head) to replace service spares as they come due.

Other wise, you sound like you have some fairly sensible notions to get you going; thinking with your head not your heart, which is good starting point. Keep it up. Keep your wits and common sense about you, weigh advice offered with open mind, and all should be good.

And ACTUAL make and model of bike? Doesn't matter THAT much, so worry about actual bikes, not theoretical ones. Go enjoy your bike-hunting.
____________________
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?'

[Rogerborg]

By the time he's done reading that, he'll be old enough to not waste time on a tiddler.
____________________
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

[SandTiger]

[Rogerborg]

[SandTiger]

You hold him down, I'll smack him with a rock.
____________________
2015 Kawasaki Z800e "Zee"
2006 Yamaha MT-03 "Mary Jane"
2011 Yamaha YBR125 "Ally"

[Quornholio]

[MC]

Now now, he's been good lately. Let's just put that down to a minor relapse...
____________________
Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[gbrand42]

Wow that was a whopper Tef
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Yamaha RD50M, Honda C90, Yamaha RS100, Yamaha RD125LC, Honda XL125 V9 Varadero, Honda NT700VA, Honda VFR800X, Honda CRF1000L, Honda ST1300 Pan European

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[pinkyfloyd]

Best advice, and I mean best advice, I can offer is do your CBT first before you buy a bike. Biking is not for everyone. Today we had to send a guy away after a second day on CBT because we could not do anything more for him after 2 days training. He is a persistent bugger and willing to pay for more lessons and redo his CBT with us but we do not think biking is for him.

Get that out of the way and if you do get the biking bug then go out and buy a bike. I'd stick to the jap models as Roger said. They hold their value pretty well and you can pick up an old model in great condition, ride it for a year and sell it for pretty much the same money, sometimes even more. This will help fund DAS on an A2 restricted licence.

Good luck.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.