Which bike for touring? YBR or VanVan?

[Bozoid82]

Hi guys,

I am just in the process of booking my CBT.

The plan is ultimately to do a European tour on a 125. I'm not really interested in anything bigger at this stage. I like the idea of a long trip on a small bike as per blogs I've seen etc.

The two bikes I have been looking at are the YBR125 custom and the Suzuki VanVan.

The main thing for me is reliability - I know nothing about engines. I figured the VanVan would be suitable for more difficult terrain, but YBR's can be had quite a bit cheaper.

Would anyone care to venture an opinion?

Thanks for any input - totally clueless here!

[Evil Hans]

Crikey. "Neither" is the first answer to spring to mind. But if you're sure ...

The VanVan will be slower (it's all relative) and have slightly worse (but still good) fuel economy. It'll probably be more comfy though. And, as you say, a bit better on shitty roads.

Toss a coin. Or see which one has the best luggage options. Or pass a test and get a bigger bike - I'm not sure, and it depends where you're going, but you might find the insurance situation problematic on a learner plate.
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050. And it's Red.

[Rogerborg]

[Bozoid82]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yup, I will have to do the full license in any case.

The main objective is low running costs and something that's unlikely to break down! I'm not bothered about performance from an enjoyment point of view, just practicalities.

Due to my job and being a student, I am on a fairly strict calendar - I have my Jan loan payment to get the bike and get on the road. A couple of months of practice then come April I will do the full license.

In reality, I will probably sell the bike at the end of the summer and not get another for a while.

Also totally clueless about mileage - is it safe to buy a 125 that has over 10k on the clock?

[Doovy]

[Tierbirdy]

I looked into this a while ago before passing my test. From what I could find, you cant ride a 125 on L plates/CBT provisional bike entitlement abroad.

If you decide to risk it anyway and take your L plates off on the ferry, chances are you'll find you've got a very long walk home when the foreign popo take your bike off you! The fines for doing so are huge, and unlike over here - when police on the continent catch Johnny Foreigner (i.e. you in this case!) doing naughty road things, they're very keen on frog marching you to the nearest ATM and taking your ticket in cash there and then. (apparently, not experienced it myself but plenty of people on t'internets saying so - especially in France)

Ive done long trips in the UK on my YBR (non "custom" though as I think the YBR Custom looks horrible! but each to their own) and it was tolerable enough. Not comfortable, but tolerable. Longest trip was from Snowdonia to London via the outside coast of Wales, took about 14 hours in total (including getting lost, stopping for breaks and petrol, getting lost again, satnav battery charger dying due to monsoon grade rain and trying to frantically find a 24hr Tesco to buy one of those battery charger packs etc! )

It was not enjoyable, struggling to get above 50mph, having to take horrible shitty B roads in the middle of nowhere at night with the world's poxiest headlights, in the rain, visor fogging up because its so wet even the pinlock has given up, all because you cant use the motorway.

If you cant or dont want to get a big bike and full licence for whatever reason, you could at least consider the restricted licence and get a 250 or 400cc bike, still small, good fuel economy, but youll be able to go abroad and use our motorways to get there.

[Rogerborg]

OK, fair enough. On the bikes, YBR all the way because of the much larger tank range and the marginally higher top speed.
____________________
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

[Bozoid82]

Thanks for all the replies. All good info!

One of the reasons for doing it on a 125 is just my schedule. I'm assuming I need to practice on a smaller bike, as I have zero experience.

I won't be able to afford to do the full test until April, so my concern is I won't have time to get used to a new, bigger bike as I plan to make the trip in May/June. At least this way I will find out about any problems with enough time to look around for something else...

Also, I guess it's relevant that I will have quite a lot of time to do the trip, so I won't need to cover huge mileage day by day.

I'd be open to any other suggestions? I just thought those two bikes looked cool.

[Doovy]

Varadero 125.
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[Evil Hans]

[el_oso]

doing a euro trip on a 125 still wouldn't be a great idea.

I used to fairly regularly do London to Loughbrough, which using non motorways was ~150miles. I did this journey on my Honda XR125L that cost me £900. Used to cost me £11 to fill up and got about 70-80mpg irc. I used to get a bit better milage through town as I was not full throttle everywhere. The journey took me around about 4.5hours and was not a pleaant journey as I was being batered about alot by the strong winds, suspension wasn't very good and was vibration-y.

6 months later I passed my test and got a 1996 divvy 600 for £650. The journey was shoretened to 120miles and took under 2hours. Cost was just under £10 and got mid to high 60mpgs. Was much more comfortable and actaully cost less.

I had these two bikes for roughly the same period of time and spent nothing on them except the regular service stuff i.e. oil and oil filters.
I did these things myself and was a poor student at the time. They cost virtually nothing to run and never had any probems with them. The oil on the XR125 was changed a lot more regularly than the divvy. The divvy cost a little bit more to run in terms of petrol and tax, but spares were generally a tiny bit cheaper and the insurancce was quite a lot cheaper.

There is more to think about in terms of cost that simply MPG. The other thing to think about is what person owned the bike before you. The vast majority of 125's that I see daily are ridden by relatively young people that ride the bike at fully throttle everywhere with the only thing they ever do on it being topping up the petrol having never serviced it or taken it to a dealer to be serviced. A much higher percentage of people that own bigger bikes are not ridden at throttle wide open, bouncing off the rev limiter everywhere and are serviced once per year. While there is nothing wrong with full throttle everywhere being looked after makes a huge difference.

I currently have 2 small capacity bikes. Both are used for a daily commute through London where they shine, being small and nimble, light and cheap. I however would not use them to ride to the BCF BBQ. The gixxer thou was much better. Still got over 60mpg on that riding along the motorway on the way home. Shows that even big bikes can be frugle on the petrol.

/end tef style post.
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[Rogerborg]

Very good point about a larger bike likely to have been looked after.

All that said, doing an unhurried tour on a 125 can be more of an involving experience than on a bigger bike. I had a blast doing the Scootch coast on my badly-tuned Chinese fake-away with a mis-connected CDI.

Isn't that the point?
____________________
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

[Bozoid82]

[Spamalittle]

Would have to agree with Rogerborg.

I did a coastal tour of Scotland on my VanVan a couple of years back. The route covered just over 1000 miles in four days and was great fun.

The VanVan handled the distance no problem and as we stayed off motorways/dual carriageways we had no real problems with speed (or lack thereof) or getting in the way of other folks on the road. Mind you, this was in a group of six or seven other VV riders so we had greater road presence. I suspect there would have been a lot more harassment/tailgating/fagwittery if it were just me and me luggage bimbling along, ogling the scenery

Would absolutely do that again (if I still had a VanVan )

https://i.imgur.com/VxM7G8Ol.jpg
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Story so far: RV125 VanVan > SV650 > Indian Scout > Triumph Thruxton, SV650 (again) & CG125

[Northern Monkey]

Bikes don't come much smaller then the max and I've taken that to apple cross, Inverness and round the lakes.

Motorways are shit though
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Fisty: after polishing the tank with the glistenng beads of sweat from my full hot scrotum, I filled the headrace bearings with 10cc of my manmilk

[RhynoCZ]

[davebike]

Either will do ! I been to the Scottish borders from South London a a C90 no worries Oh with camping kit

Look at Edd Marsh if you don't think small bikes to touring I think he is currently in USA

Back in the 1980's I had a customer do a European tour on a C50L 3000 miles 2and a bit weeks
____________________
Dave
NC750Xdct + others at work !
davebike1@gmail.com

[Oldie]

I've had 3 Van Van's in the past and like them a lot. Properly maintained engines should be good for 35k miles minimum. They can be expensive to buy but easy to sell. If I were buying again I'd look for a nearly new one with under 4k miles priced around the £2k mark. Alternatively, I'd go for an old bike with circa 15k miles for around £800.

Don't buy without seeing the bike as it's important to check the condition of the rear shock lower mount - unprotected, it can rust and die and are difficult to replace cheaply. Also inspect the forks closely and reject anything pitted. Finally, don't buy one which needs new tyres.

Touring on A roads is fine as the bike will sit at 60/65 all day although a front sprocket change helps as this makes for a useable 6th gear. Add top box and soft bags and away!

The new Van Van 200 might tempt existing owners to trade up thereby releasing more bikes, and lower prices, onto the market. It's not much of an upgrade so time will tell.

Still one of my favourite bikes.

[arry]

How much are new tyres then?

[Northern Monkey]

[thx1138]

vanvan

better on cruddy roads, as just a smidge of off road capability , and with fatter tyres and lower centre of gravity better if you get caught in wet and windy weather

mrs.thx toured Scotland on hers, and rode it in one trip from Galloway to Bedford.

[arry]

[Alpineandy]

[Bozoid82]

Thanks all for the responses - very helpful so far.

[Jmoan]

The YBR felt more of a large bicycle while the Vanvan was more like a motorbike with a comfier seat.
However Vanvans like to rust and have curious design choices regarding mudguards plus they use tubes and tyres compared to tubeless on the YBR.

I came across this project a Vanvan owner had to put panniers on it half way down the thread which might interest some of you.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=22595728