YZF-R125 or Scooter?

[Pebblesss]

Hi,

I crashed my car, a Seat Ibiza FRn 2 years ago.

Now I xant to buy a 125cc.

I first tought about buying a scooter.

First of all I never owned a motorcycle, only 50cc scooters.

and a scooter looks safer to me, especially the Yamaha tricity and especially to pass through traffic jam?

But one thing is that the Yamaha YZF-R125 is so good looking while a scooter is not really beautiful.

What would be your advice fellows?

[Pebblesss]

Also what scares me a bit is that a sportive motorcycle doesn't turn as well as a scooter, might be annoying in traffic.

[pinkyfloyd]

From an instructors point of view, what is your end game?

1. Do you want a bike until you get a car back on the road?
2.Do you want to gain your full motorcycle licence in the near future and perhaps then onto a bigger bike?
3. Do you intend to keep said 125 or scooter for a few years for commuting?

If you answer "yes" to 1 and 2 then the bike is a means to an end so I would suggest a cheap and cheerful bike you can sell easy enough later on and be back on the car or onto a bigger bike.

If its 3 then by all means get what you like. You'll be keeping it for a while so may as well. I Would go for a 125 over a scooter every day of the week as they have that little but more road presence, They can do the speeds required, Or if you want the ease of no gears, a 125cc scooter will also be a practical choice.

If you have never ridden before you are more likely to drop a bike, Motorcycle plastic fairings are the most expensive plastic you are ever likely to pay for and a YZF125, while it is a pretty bike, it is nothing more than a YBR 125 in a skirt. You do not get better performance, You do get a crouched up riding position, a wide turning circle and an expensive to drop fast depreciating bike.

If you have never ridden before I would suggest doing a CBT before you even bought a bike.
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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.

[Rogerborg]

Tritey thread until proven otherwise.
____________________
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

[Pebblesss]

[Pebblesss]

[Tracer1234]

Do your CBT on a 125 bike, and then decide. You will have a better idea of how you get on with it then!
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Riding: Yamaha MT-09 Tracer Occasionally Riding: 08 Suzuki SV650, Potato: 2011 Yamaha YBR Custom.
Used to ride: 2015 Yamaha MT-09 Tracer (smidsy) 09 Triumph Street Triple (P/X'd) 08 Yamaha YBR (Sold)
CBT 04/14. A: Mod 1 & 2 13/04/15

[Evil Hans]

[Diskotekno]

[Alpineandy]

[Scythe]

Yamaha YBR125

Doesn't try to be something its not, simple to fix and a hoot to ride for a first bike. I had a right blast on mine, even when I did slide off it once nothing was damaged on it except a small tear to the rubber foot rest, which I didn't even replace.

If I had to have a 125 for inner-city commuting, or just a short commute, I'd have a YBR again (OR something like a Honda CG125 which is similar).

The YBR had a great turning circle and was easy to move about, the YZF-R125 has a sportsbike's turning circle (AKA utter shite) and just won't be practical or comfortable. The YZF-R125 is the chavved up Corsa with a huge exhaust of the motorcycle world. As someone else has said, you won't look 'cool' to anyone who knows a slight thing about motorbikes, the wafer thin tyre and single front brake are a huge give away for a start. You are not riding an R1/R6.
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2009 Yamaha YBR125 -> 2000 SV650S -> 2005 Kawasaki ZX6R 636

[Rogerborg]

https://i.imgur.com/hhbT9zf.png
____________________
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

[Pebblesss]

[Alpineandy]

[Pebblesss]

[Scythe]

[Evil Hans]

[SuperMike]

For me in your situation it would be the scooter. If you just want something to do the commute on you can't beat it. No gears, easy to manoeuvre, designed basically for one thing - the commute. A decent 125 will hit 65 - 70mph. I had a Honda PCX, but it'll come down to taste etc.

I don't think it particularly matters about getting a geared 125 if you are thinking of getting into biking proper at some point. I rode around for 2.5 years on a scooter and then did my full license in 4 days having never used a geared bike before. Ok, maybe if you take a while to learn things it might be worth getting a geared 125, but clutch control really isn't that hard - well it wasn't in my case anyway.

As for the sports 125 range. No issue with them as bikes - they seem reliable, will get you about etc etc. The big issues are threefold:

1) They are flipping expensive for what you get.
2) Cagers won't care for your sports bike and everyone else on a big bike will be secretly laughing at you with your moto gp inspired colour scheme. Bonus points if you put an Akrapovic exhaust and new air filter on it to really accentuate the angry lawnmower sound.
3) Pikey magnet - it'll get stolen within days, maybe weeks if you are lucky, though that depends on your area I guess.

[onlyJaz]

Yamaha YBR 125!
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Yamaha YBR 125

[notabikeranym...]

The R125 is a mega fun first bike. I'd only really recommend it if you want to progress onto sports bikes later down the line. It's actually more of an aggressive seating position than people give it credit for, and that's coming from a guy who rides an R6 now.

It looks sick to people who don't know a thing about motorcycles (which is a lot of people, actually) - but you'll always accidentally look hilarious to everyone any time you're riding it because of a combination of how it looks and the sound it makes in comparison to how not fast it goes.

You'll also get cars wanting to take the piss because "look at this idiot, he thinks his bike is fast, I'll show him in my vauxhall corsa!", but this might've only been because I live in London.

From the perspective of people who have owned anything over 125cc or just someone who pays attention to bigger bikes/the biking scene in general, you'll be poked fun of, especially if you have an aftermarket can and full leathers like I did.

I used to think I was the shit when I had the R125 not gonna lie, even though I knew everyone thought I was a twat. No fucks given.

But yeah if you aren't really going to keep it or progress onto a sportsbike, and it's a go-between for the car, then get a scooter.

Also the R125 is fine for commuting. Unless you are in a mega rush there's no difference between an R125 and a scooter in heavy traffic as they're both thin enough to fit through most gaps. The only difference is turning circle, where a scooter will beat the R125 but again, you're saving a few seconds at best, maybe one red light? I used to deliver pizzas on scooters, and commute to uni by R125, both were the same shit, scooter was more boring and didn't have gears and looked crappy and was generally sleepworthy except being able to scrape off the footpegs on roundabouts because of the terrible ground clearance, that was the only difference.

[ADSrox0r]

A which 125 thread? Standard BCF operating procedure dictates a good Teffing in 3...2....1..
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[Pebblesss]

[Pebblesss]

[Rogerborg]

I'd suggest that you look into licensing.

[Pebblesss]