I'm thinking of getting another 125 - CBR125R - thoughts?

[Nandonian]

As above, I rode many 125s back when I was 17/18. I'm thinking of getting a new 4 stroke 125 just for commuting and also having my car on the side.

I've seen Honda are offering finance on the new CBR125R for £95 a month (for 37 months) on the 2017 model. Does anybody own or has ridden this bike? What're your thoughts?

Also, any idea where I'd get the best price insurance? I'm 21, have full UK car license with CBT and 6 points from 2014.

Thanks
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Suzuki Katana AY50; Peugeot Jetforce C-Tech 05+06; Honda CG125 ; Yamaha YBR125; Aprilia RS125 FP; Lexmoto XTRS 125; Aprilia RS125 Race Replica; Aprilia RS125 Extrema FP; Seat Ibiza FR 1.9 TDI

[decade]

I haven't ridden one myself (I had the cheapy commuter CB125F) but by all accounts they are decent, well put together bikes. They also look pretty good in the flesh - I see quite a few about & imo they look a lot better than the photos.
It's a bit weird & shite that it hasn't got ABS & doesn't quite reach the 15hp A1 limit but I guess the price reflects that.
For my money, the pick of the 125 bunch is the Yamaha MT-125 but the price is a bit
If your commute isn't too long & doesn't include too much heavy Dual Carriageway, I think it would work great.

[Omega]

Over 3.5k for a 125? No thanks.

[Teflon-Mike]

Thoughts... you probably wot like them, but here goes.....

Your 21, you have been eligible to have a motorcycle on the road for four years; if you had the enthusiasm ad motivation for the things, you could by now have done your two years on CBT, stepped up, done the A2, had that tw years and been eligible for Ride-What-You-Like, unrestricted 'A' licence via accelerated-access.. ad right here, right now, have over four years two-wheel experience uder your belt and be able to pck pretty much any bike you like of any capacity; and with the sort of budget you are suggesting to buy a dressed up, 125 commuter, make believe sports bike that wants to be a Fire-blade, have enormousness choice of pretty much anything, of any amount of performance up to a 200mph Hyabusa...

Fact you have lost interest once, and done car tests; got a car, and found the cash to fund the punitive young driver premiums on those, suggests your enthusiasm for bikes is a little fickle.. which i tern begs suggestion that chaining yurself to a three year finace deal on a brand new 125, is probably not an amazingly pudent idea.

That bike; what almost £4.5K in the show-room; moment you wheel it out onto the road, it will barely be worth £3K. for 18 months those £100 payements will be chasing the depreciation and interest, and you will always owe more than you own, EVEN if nothing untoward occurs to de-value the thing.. like it gets scratched, dropped, crashed or nicked... you wont actually start owning any of that bike until after half way through the finance period, and would actually have to find money to be able to sell it on.

Do you think that your part time interest the thing as a second vehicle, just for 'toy' value, is likely to actually last that long? AND be worth that much money?

That's a lot of nights out you could be having each week, for a toy that will likely only come out of the toy-box, on high-days ad holidays when the sun is shining; but will still be costing you when ts burred behind the lawn mower. For the next THREE YEARS!

Modern consumer-credit-culture, I am sorry, is an anathema to me; If you cant pay cash, you cant afford it; end of. But even ignoring that old fashioned advice; its a heck of a lot of money, to buy a 'toy'.. ANY toy, and lets face it, a CBR125, a Learner-Cmmuter in a make-believe dress-up outfit trying to look like a Fire-Blade, is even more of a 'toy' than most occasional use second vehicle bikes, serving 'toy' duty!

You are 21; you aren't limted to 125's by age, falling into the A1 only bracket; you cant get a RWYL 'A' licence via DAS until you are 24, thogh could go get an A2... but, then if you had more enthusiasm for bikes, and a bit more dedcation to follow things through, when you had a 125 before, you could have done A2 when you were 19, and now be doing RWYL 'A' under accelerated access, and be lookig, at that sort of oney, pretty much ANY bike you like; Crckey you can pick up a Busa or Blade for less than that 125 will cost you; you could not just have any bike you like but the licence to ride it by now.

So, on a long term finance plan, where you will owe more tha the bike is worth, likely for the ext two years; how sure are you it will maintan yur interest, this time? How sure are you that 'other things', wont get n the way, or seem more important, and you start resenting the bike, you possibly dont get much use out of as G/F's or parents start moanng, or you are having to tell mates, "Sorry no, I cant afford it" when they are booking party holidays on the costa-del-get-pissed, or G/F wants you to take her somewhere 'romantic' or or or, well, whatever?

End of the day, it's your money... BUT...

My advice, motorcycles have no reverse gear... plan you suggest s goig back and coverg old grond, like repeat CBT... so MY suggestion, IF you wat t take it, is GO FORWARDS.

Do what you didn't first time about, and put the horse before the cart and get a licence. A2 will cost you a few hundred quid; and open the door to whole load more motorcycles; of which the 'standard' s likely far better, all round, either for cost or for performance.

Plenty of bikes out there for under £2K you could by on a bank-load, so you could for the same monthy, have the licence AND a better bike for it; or you ca keep the monthly's down buying something a tad cheaper, that will still likely have a lot more 'toy' value, from usefulness or exitement; that over three years old, the depreciation paid y first owner, EVEN on credit, shouldn't having you constantly chasing the credt-gap, unable to shift on of buy ot of for so long, if circumstances or interests or aspirations 'change'

Though, personally, for mere entertainment value; I would probably be looking at dedicated off-road bikes, you don't need a licence for, don't need to pay road tax on or have third party insurance on...

I did trials; after the bike, it cost £5 an entry, and as much again in fuel to get there and burn on the event! It's about as cheap as motor-sport gets; And I could compete an entre 12 round 'season' for less than it cost to buy a new pair of tyres on even one of the littler road bikes! Let alone the ruddy, insurance!

But, depends where your interests lie; track-days, road-racing; eduro whatever, all possible; and you can do an awful lot of it for the sort of mothly you ar cosdering spedng on a 125 on finace, let alone the monthly for the insurance on top! A-N-D likely get MORE ruddy pure fun saddle hours fro it, wthout worrying about scamera boxes !!!

Makes a heck of a lot of sense to me....

A 125 in a sports-bra, pretending to be a fire-blade... just doesn't!

If you want 'cheap' cheels for the road, then a regulation 3-4 year old learner commuter to save on petrol, or maybe cover times when an old banger of a car is broke down, may have some merit and sense behind it.... CBR125 very very little.. sorry.

Why go back and fantasies about ridng a sports-bike or being a road-race hero? For where you are at; you could, for the sake of going and getting a popper licence, go get a genuinely 'sporty' bike, or actually go do real road-racing, rather than pretend!

But a three year credit deal, that for two years will see you owe more than you own; oh so likely to be nickd or crashed before you have pad for t; and leave you reading a book at home whilst mates are out having fun the sun, or girl-friends would like you to be wing and dining them?

Plan, as t stands, to me, sounds like a mill-stone... sorry.
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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?'

[Ste]

Doesn't sound like the greatest deal in the world; you pay £95 a month for 37 months, have to follow their boring rules and limitations about how many miles you can do and what you can or can't change on the bike, then once you've paid them £3,515 you give the bike back. You'll have to pay extra if you've gone over the mileage and if the bike isn't in 100% perfect condition.

If you don't want to return it after paying £3,515 then you can always buy it from them at the agreed minimum value which is "agreed" on (their computer tells them a number and you get to agree with it ). You will still have to pay extra for going over the mileage and if the bike isn't in 100% perfect condition.

The CBR125 is a relatively mundane learner commuter four stroke 125. You'd be paying a lot of money for not much bike and even after paying a lot of money, you don't even get to keep the thing.

Do not want.

[stevo as b4]

I wouldn't sign up to that deal or buy a brand new 125 in your position.

Getting a full licence is a great move, but I cannot believe that Teflon Mike wants you to follow the system at your age through all the hoop jumping and two licences and two tests in less than 3years. I detest this modern system so much and the shit compliant bikes its made half assed manufacturers churn out for over 10years.

I'd get a little cheap 125 for second vehicle duties and take an A1 test on it just to bin the L-plates, and then at 24 or over I'd buy a bike I really want not a stepping stone, and find a way to magic it to the test centre on the day, after of course a bit of *cough* private road riding on it and practicing all the test manoeuvres etc.

No reason why it would be any harder to pass a test on a BMW S1000RR than it would on a forced minimum 650 naked dull Street bike.

Im pissed at the thought that if my dream bike was under 650cc or whatever it is, that if have to use a bigger and maybe more boring all rounder to pass my test on if I had a nice ZXR400 or whatever at home. If it wasn't on my own bike I simply wouldn't bother today with this system that so many patiently keep trotting out saying this is the way to do it.

[fatjames]

Bike:
I had one while I was learning to peel off my L plates. Really enjoyed it and it seemed fast (until I got on a 600). Good on fuel / tax / etc. I'd imagine it would feel under-powered going back to a 125, but that's personal, I suppose.

Finance:
Different topic really, but not many on this forum will advise it's a good idea. You'd be much better off taking out a loan and buying one that's 1-3 years old. Let someone else pay for the depreciation / dealer services.

[kgm]

In your position I'd suggest going for the A2 license and getting something bigger. If you're looking for something fun then I'd go with something in the 500 class or a restricted 650. The 500s offer decent fuel economy. If economy is your driving motivation then look at a 250-300. They offer a real performance boost in comparison to a 125 without giving up much in economy and are all around more flexible. A full license also lets you use motorways on occasion if the need arises and a 250 will manage that much better than a 125.

I ride a 125 regularly for my commute and enjoy it but I find I can take advantage of it far better now than I could as a learner. If I'm tired, the weather is crap or I have a longer distance to go though I reach for the 650. It's just less effort. The 125 is a good little bike and it's really cheap but if I was to buy another little bike it would be 250+

[Rogerborg]

I wouldn't go back to a 13hp 125.

Stop being a fanny, get your A2 done, and ride something bigger. Even a 250 delivers a usable bit more poke.
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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

[bigdom86]

have a full licence but still ride my '15 cbr125 to work in central london.

not had any issues with it at all and I do zero maintenance not a bad bike, manages to lug my fat arse around. dont have much to compare to but have rode a cbf600, cbr600 r6 and gsxr600

[grr666]

I saw a lad on an MY17 MT 125 yesterday, it looked okay from a distance then he started it up. It sounded very
slightly noisier than our scooter but it did have the stock pipe on there.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[decade]

[Teflon-Mike]

[ADSrox0r]

Wouldn't have another 4 stroke 125 unless I was purely doing city riding, and even then a decent scoot would trump it. I do miss giggling like a tit getting over 100mpg though.

Nah, would have to be a 250-500 for tedious commute economy-mode.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[Alpineandy]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Alpineandy]

[grr666]

[Nandonian]

Thanks for the responses. I didn't realise I could do the A2!

I have the CBT booked for 1st July and am think of doing a few lessons before attempting the A2.

If all goes well then I'd love a CB600F Hornet - restricted of course.

Thanks again for all the responses!

EDIT: I've just checked insurance for a Hornet and it's more than half the price of insuring a 125
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Suzuki Katana AY50; Peugeot Jetforce C-Tech 05+06; Honda CG125 ; Yamaha YBR125; Aprilia RS125 FP; Lexmoto XTRS 125; Aprilia RS125 Race Replica; Aprilia RS125 Extrema FP; Seat Ibiza FR 1.9 TDI

[Kentol750]

Keep loving the hornet 600, you can't have one on an A2 licence.
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Some bikes.

[P.]

No hornet for you.

Plenty of A2 bikes about though.

[Nandonian]

Had another look, what about a 2013 Honda CBR500 2013?

Believe it's 47bhp which is A2 legal
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Suzuki Katana AY50; Peugeot Jetforce C-Tech 05+06; Honda CG125 ; Yamaha YBR125; Aprilia RS125 FP; Lexmoto XTRS 125; Aprilia RS125 Race Replica; Aprilia RS125 Extrema FP; Seat Ibiza FR 1.9 TDI

[P.]

Almost as gay as a 125.

Why not just spend a few pennies on a Bandit 600. Well within and plenty fun. Faster than a CB500homosex too.

[stevo as b4]

I'm a funny cunt I know and I'm also not 21/22 and would have to wait two years to do an A-licence so alot of what I think is utter balls for anyone who's living with the shit stepped system.

Think if I was in the A2 boat I'd want a natural 47bhp bike, as I'd hate a restricted anything, so it's brilliant news you can't have a Hornet it wouldn't be good enough for spitting on at 47bhp.

I'd be doing A1 and then tuning the shit out of my four stroke 125 for a few years until I found myself pushing my fireblade into the test centre for a big A2 fuck you I reckon!

[Teflon-Mike]

Beware; there aren't many 'naturally' A2 complaint bikes about, certainly over 500cc and none that I know of that have pointy fairings, two front brake discs or more than two cylinders... ie 'sports bikes'.

Almost anything, over 500cc will have to be 'restricted' to be made A2 complaint, and that 'restriction' is technically a declarable 'mod' t insurance co's and likely to put the premium up, especially if you are looking on comparison sites, which don't actually cross reference bikes to licence entitlement.

As has been mentioned, even the Hornet, which is not really a sports-bike, makes more power than may even be restricted to be made A2 complaint, as do, I believe all the later 600 Fazers; only the earlier air-cooled examples, like Bandits and XJ600's are actually 'restrictable'.

Suzuki GSXR is one that always causes controversy; factory declared specs, which law go by puts it over the max restrictable power for an A2 licence, despite many trying to black independent rear-wheel-horsepower numbers to 'imply' that it is....

There hasn't actually been ANY 600 class sports bike built that is naturally A2 complaint, since the class was created by the Kawasaki GPZ600R way back in 1984(?); That, possibly the very earliest jelly-mold CBR and the air-cooled FZ600, are probably about the nly oes that by dint of age eve stand a chance of being restrictable; and I'd have far more worry over the mechaics of such an old thrasher bike to put me off them, well before that became an 'issue'!

And insurers, as said, dot often duble check or check too closely whether you actally can make a bike you want insurance for A2 eligible... that is down to you, by law... if they give you a cert for a bike you dont have a licence for, and crash it, then the would be obliged to honour 3rd party cover, same they would if crashed by a twockker... but exactly like being crashed by a twockker, they could then persue YOU to make good any consequential losses for riding bike illegally.

Most 'sporty' A2 bike, you could find is likely the SV650, which in full power trim, makes a pretty healthy 75bhp, and IS restrictable to A2 limits; and fairly easily. Is critisised for being a bit bland, but, it aint THAT vanilla! 75hp is a pretty useful amout to have, in any bike, in it's full power mode, whilst restrcted to A2 licence 45bhp, nothing is going to have that am wrenching 'awesome'.. but even 45bhp is going to offer plenty of that compared to a 15bhp 125!

'Smart Money' for a A2 bike, I have to say, has to go on a Honda CB500, though. The older sit-up-and-beg commuter model... it AINT flashy by a very long stretch; but, daftly Honda had a 'one make' race series for them; and they proved remarkably spritely, with negligible mods from stock for the series, and many were later pressed into service i the 'mini-twins' series that followed, where up against the bigger, more powerful SV they still managed to equit themselves pretty well, and even still 'win' fro time to time!

Incredibly versatile and capable motorcycle; on the surface a rather uninspiring city commuter or despatch hack; yet the sort of all-round capability for that, and long haul touring, AND racing? Seen a couple stuck on knoblies as low rent adventure bikes, and one of them even went half way around the world for Help for Hero's, ISTR tackling the sort of terrain in Africa that had Ewan & Charlie floundering on thier Stock-Broker 'Action-Man' Bimmers!

And you ca pick up one of these things for as little as £500, ride away ready?!?!?!?

Sod the fiance deals or a bank-loan, for one of the newer models with Toys-R-Us frock on! You could have a bike with some genuine sporting pedigree, for less than the ruddy cash down deposit, IF you aren't so hung on on the looks...

Only possible niggle is the London congestion Zone regs, that ISTR are quirky; Do they actually ban older bikes yet, or is that still in the pipe-line? BUT, for leisure use, rather than commuting, who cares!

A grand would get you a good'n. Not 'looking' so sprty would actually be positive advantage; It wouldn't grab so much attention, you had to carry a restriction cert about with you to pacify suspicious plod so often; let alone fight your corner that it was restrtable, and restricted and in licence limits; has as much 'performance' as you can have on an A2, and all the capability to have a good thrash on it, but also, go intercontinental touring, and anythig else; its an uncompromised 'all-rounder' that woudl let you experience so much more of ALL bking, other than pretendig to tear around in circles with your arse i the air, waiting for a shafting!

Again, makes a LOT of sense to me; and an older bike, likely even cheaper insurance; THAT would be my bench-mark to judge the rest by. Under 600c I think it saves a tax category too....

End of the day, it's your call, but on A2, if ts got four cylinders, two front brake discs, or pointy sporty plastics, then good chance you cant have it on A2, if it has two out of three of them, you are n with a chance, if it has none of them, you are probably onto a winner, that will, on restriction limits, not lack much but looks and deliver as much, and possibly more, for a LOT less money.

I the big-Bike world, you REALLY don't need be so hung up on the age; as muttered, so many bikes are so more often pure leisure toys; They ted to be built to a higher grade of durability, and less degraded, even if they do cover the miles as smaller bikes, but they frequetly don't, and owned most often by more grow-up riders, with a licence to ride them, who aught know a bit more than learners, they tend to get a bit better looked after and not suffer quite the same excesses of butcher mechanics as 125's do; so you can get a better bike, in better nick for your money that often is cheaper to but AND to run! ALL for that licence in your pocket.

Now, stop fantasy shopping; put the time into dong Theory/Hazard practice! THAT's probably the most difficult bit of the job! Get that, do your A2 course.. everything else will start to fall into place in due diddly!

Have fun.
____________________
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?'