A Poll-Which 125 would you buy?

[Papa Lazarou]

Sorry, I may be silly-stupid but I can't find a poll option on this site.

1: I'd buy any Chinese 125.They are great value and some old gits don't believe this.
2: I'd only buy some Chinese brands (please list and explain)
3: Chinese bikes may be cheap but they are unreliable and sometimes death traps
4: I'd always buy a Japanese bike, new or secondhand.
5: I'd buy an Italian scooter (please explain)
6: I'd buy an Italian 125.
7: I'd buy a BSA Bantam and grow a beard.
8: I'd buy a Chinese bike made under Japanese supervision
9: other, please explain.

Vote as many times as you want. For as many categories as you want.

[Rogerborg]

Sure, in a second.

But first, I'd like to learn a bit more about this issue.

Can you expound on your statement that the Japanese Yamaha YBR125 is "fine", but the Chinese made AJS Eco 2 and the Jianshe JS125-6 have "a life expectancy of six weeks", and when it comes to Chinese made bikes, it "doesn't depend on the make or model"?

I expect the answer will be rather illuminating.
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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

[Rogerborg]

Hah, InB4 the edit.

[someotherguy]

Caught in the act

I deleted it in order to add context and repost it without the "edited 1 time by someone" message.

I'd personally only buy big-four Jap because it means a better dealer network and far less depreciation. I don't particularly care where it's made, but I know people do - and that matters when you come to sell the thing. I fully expect to sell my YBR125 for at least what I paid for it.

I've read horrific stories about Chinese bikes made by relatively unknown manufacturers, as I'm sure we all have - so, purely from a resale point-of-view, I wouldn't want to touch one with a bargepole.

So yeah, 4 and 3

[someotherguy]

And a post-Google 8

[NJD]

[dydey90]

The advice on this forum will always be dependant on age:
<19: buy second hand Japanese bike, because reliability and depreciation
>19: buy nothing. Spend money on DAS.
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This post is probably not serious and shouldn't be taken literally.
Past: CBR125,ER6f NINJA 650, ZZR600 Current: VFR750

[Shoeb]

[Rogerborg]

[someotherguy]

I'm not sure which side you're arguing for

[Rogerborg]

[someotherguy]

Yay for me.

[Papa Lazarou]

[Papa Lazarou]

[Rogerborg]

I apologise to those who've seen this many times before, but it does keep getting raised.

[Papa Lazarou]

I bow to your superior knowledge but I still can't recommend them. There are other 125s out there.

[wots]

One of those Japanese QUALITY bikes that Mr Borg linked to was mine. A Honda CBF125, so impressed was I with the look and the Honda dealership and the price/0%. I bought one brand new. 9 months later it looked far worse than some of the AJS/Sinnis bikes my local garage (whom I trust) sell. At 9 months, several hundred pounds in warranty work was done, lots replaced!

In fact Pigeon had a Jianshe 125 abcdef (or whatever the model was), he went everywhere on that over a few years and many miles. His bike at a year or so old, looked better than my CBF125 a few months old.

My top tips

1) Never buy a new 125 (Resisted putting bike, as even I would consider the SV650 deal a steal). Chinese/Japanese or otherwise.
2) If you are handy with tools, a cheap chinese takeaway is just that
3) If you aren't and want to learn as you go along, get a secondhand jap bike. Perhaps one of the older bikes which ARE made in Japan.
4) The YBR125 seems to be the best hybrid, currently, of all of the Asian bikes. IMO or if 2. AJS/Jianshe equivalent.

EDIT: This was my <sarcasm>beloved</sarcasm> CBF125 https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=3691966#3691966
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Currently: Yamaha DT 125 LC2,Repsol Fireblade, and Bumblebee MSX 125

[Pigeon]

[Val]

Ok you got me realy confused now:

1. You are asking us which 125 bike we would buy but have not listed in your options a single bike model?
2. The thread title say a poll and there is no poll?

[stevo as b4]

For me it would need to be something Japanese, and from the 80's-2000. Id be budgeting to put it though a full re-build to cure the 20odd years of teen bodges, and then id enjoy a depreciation proof fun bike.

Something Italian from the same era would be a nice weekend bike, but the worry for me is finding spares quickly when you need them if the bike is to be kept on the road as a daily driver.

OP where are you from BTW?

[gonzo1]

I own a ybr for my daily commute to work.This bike is left out in the elements all the time,is used in all sorts of weather and is'nt really looked after as much as it deserves.It has now done 14500 miles and in all those miles it has not let me down once.
It gets an occasional good washdown and is treated to a covering of sas spray,when it is treated to a good clean it still looks pretty new.
I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever to make about the bike,it's brilliant and if I ever get another 125 it will be another ybr.

[Teflon-Mike]

125's are Learner or Commuter bikes; they tend to suffer badly, in the hands of either kind of owner, regardless of where they were originally bolted together..... But the question is SO circumstance dependent:-
No.1: How Much Money Do you Have to Spend?
No.2: What is actually 'for sale', within the budget you got, that you can actually get to, to do a deal on?
No.3: When you have hard cash in your pocket; AND a bike, that's for sale, in-front of you... CONDITION is ALL!

Scraping the bottom of the barrel, if I was in need of 'cheap' get to work wheels, AND I could only scrape together a couple of hundred quid, AND All that was for sale that week was re-branded Chinese? Beggars can't be Choosers! Wouldn't be my first choice, but if it didn't need too much 'fixing' before Monday morning and it got me to work, does the job.

Other end of the spectrum; £10K sat in the bank doing nothing.. or the credit-companies got £10K of gov't bail-out burning a hole they are desperate for me to borrow, to improve their zombie-Debt ratio..... AND I only want the thing for week-end 'fun'.. well, I wouldn't be looking for a 125.... I could buy a big-bike for that sort of money.... only reason to consider 125's would be that I was too young, or too dumm to be able to get a licence; if too young? Well, grow-up! It'll happen anyway, and if too young to have more than 125, unlikely you'd be in that financial situation anyway! And even if you were; much better ways to 'invest' that kind of cash for the future, or have other 'fun' than pigging about on bikes! If too dumm to get a licence? Well, a fool and their money are soon parted, and Darwinism will take its course!!

In the middle is the mine-field!

Given a bit more choice that scraping the bottom of the barrel; still on a restrictive (750'ish) budget; and with a few bikes for sale to choose from; Condition would be EVERYTHING, and my 'ideal' get-to-work-for-cheaps, would be a £500 CG125 or SR125, or KH100.. old, and old enough that it's got past it's first life, and had some-one 'restore' it, hopefully with a little care and attention, and it'ts not a complete wreck... but, I would be avoiding newer 'end of 1st-life' bikes like 8 year old YBR's, or 11yr old Veradaro's, that in budget, are unlikely to prove a bargain, ridden into the ground and about to become money-pits, in need of a restoration. In a similar vein, I'd not even look at anything Italian in that budget, nor more 'sporty'. A £500 Aprillia RS125 would not even make it onto the look-at list! Not if I wanted a 'rider' rather than a 'project'! Similarly, old NS125's, or KMX125's and the like would be best avoided.

Older CG's, SR's, GS's, KH's & the like, in the under £500 price range, would be my bet, and I would take one of them over a used Chink in the same price bracket any day of the week. 'Risks' that they may be any more reliable, useful, or 'nice' to ride are probably not much different, BUT If I have to live with a bike likely to suffer sub-standard performance and reliability and a higher level of 'user-maintenance', and spend time and money with spanners on the thing... well? Rather work on the old Jap, that is likely to be a bit easier to work on, with spares available by make model and year, and a Haynes manual to tell me where to fit them, rather than "No Idea mate, not in the lists, how many wires it got?" THAT having had spanners waved at it, is likely to offer a bit more 'oomph' for the effort, AND, retain more of the value I put into it by way of time and money, should I come to sell on at some point.

Moving up the budget, scaring the £1000 mark? Ought to be more 'for sale' to choose from, which probably makes the job harder; but sticking with the principles; I'd still go for an older Jap over a newer Chink... but, with the cheaper chink's 'new' prices starting in that territory, starts making a tough call.... £1300 for a 2nd hand 5 year old YBR or a brand new Lexmoto? Back to the circumstances; and small differences in circumstance tipping the balance a lot more... like whether the Lexmoto came on a finance package, that was better than my credit-card %, and better to use that than stretch the house-keeping scraping cash together for 2nd hand YBR, and having the months groceries and fuel on the Visa card! IF it was a 'utility' vehicle, to get me to and from work, and so earn its living, AND I could make it work for me, rather than against; expecting to make the thing last more than a year or two, and ride the value out of it? The Lexmoto and even though I absolutely abhor 'credit'; Chink + finance + brand-new, the full trinity of economic 'no-no's would NOT entirely be out of the question... would take a LOT of 'circumstance' to nudge it into favor... and 5 year old YBR would still be preferred option, until the numbers stacked up quite overwhelmingly for it.

Above that? Well, £1500 and up, you are looking at better or more stylish chinks, vs newer 2nd hand Japs; and while you might get a 'bit' better bike from a Chink, the 'premium' paid for one wouldn't be reflected in 2nd hand value, so its slipping out of the sweet-spot on the ecconomics.. and above £2000, well, you are looking at almost new 'utility' Japs vs more expensive 'blinged up' Chinks... where the ecconomics of the Chinks are falling off a cliff!

Over £2500.. you have a brand-new YBR or CBF in the bag; and are comparing that to THE very most blinged up, depreciation prone Chinks, OR second hand Blinged up Japs, like R125's or CBR's... and you ent getting functional, practical 'value' for your money from any of them, just superficial 'style', but to all extents and purposes, the chinks are out the race, still.

IF that answers your confuddled question... bottom line is IT ALL DEPENDS!... and mostly on how much money you have!
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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?'

[talkToTheHat]

I think my first GZ was japanese made. 10bhp an 10 year old, but well made and no issues with routine maintenance. My second one was spanish a spanish made 2006 model, shorter 4th and 5th gears, 11.9bhp. Every time I tried to undo anything a bolt would snap or a thread would strip. Powder coat on frame would fall off if you touched it and I suspect the whole thing was held together with hammerite. Did me for nearly a year with only fettling, bolt extraction, thread repair, oil changes, brakes rebuild on both ends, new pads and shoes, two cush rubbers, chain and sprocket. So nothing out of routine for an unloved and abused 125 apart from perhaps the cush rubbers where the first one was I think a very cheap pattern one or a 2d hand one, either way it was never right and got proper shit within 6 months. Oh and the electrics. Redid loads of the wiring loom.

That GZ taught me loads of skills for owning a properly old bike, that requires a chink more fettling, but occaisonaly ate an expensive part.

I'm not sure chinese bikes are much worse. They probably lose half their value when you turn the key though. Only one I've really worked on was a lexmoto valencia owned by a muppet. Went into storage at a year old becasue he bought a knackered rover 25, which eventually died an expensive death. It never saw any maintenence, but I got it back into service when the rover died, needed an outstanding repair that was piss cheap, the vacuum operated fuel pump was a bitch to prime, it had a spot of rust and needed some oil. I fed it the contents of of the 250ml bottle from my 125 spares and said "Get it insured, taxed and MOT'd, and I will check it over on the roads and change that oil out. It's filthy, but I don't have any more on me today and it's not worth buying until it passes the MOT, pay attention to the oil level, it's used a bit " Heard nothing beyond facebook status that it was taxed, insured and MOT'd then a few months and a few thousand miles later the engine siezes. Much protest of "it had an MOT a few months go" I asked whether he'd changed the oil or even checked it since I had last seen it. Reply was "but it were running fine, I didn't wanna waste your time" Scooter owner has since blown up two more cars and used the "but it had an MOT {some time} ago" protest.

My point? Cheap bikes are cheap, and more likely to be owned by idiots who will spend neither time nor money on them. Plenty of big brand 125s that turn to rust or are horrendously neglected.

Insurance is a significant thing though, if I'd have had a lexmoto vixen new at the ripe old age of 27, I'd have been paying £600 for insurance, whether third party or fully comp. £200 on a tidy but old second hand GZ fully comp, and excess of I think £250 and excess protection. Nearly doubled after I had a no-fault write off though.

I'm now 31 and just paid about £150 for a new policy on the XV535, and I'm in a shite postcode becasue there's a gang war raging in the local council estate and I can't find a job description that is not stupidly high risk.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[someotherguy]

[talkToTheHat]

Been there, my point is I have no garage, live in shitsville and do dangerous stuff, and my insurance is piss cheap on an old middleweight and on japanese 125s. Some vague fake detail prodding of go-compare suggests I might save a few quid by not being a lunatic. Similar fake detail prodding suggests they would rather i had an R1 than a lexmoto 125. (VFR or Fazer likely more use though.)
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Bandit. does. everything.