Bullit Spirit 125

[squidlips]

Hello,

First post here and pretty much as big of a newbie as it gets. I have my CBT in September. If all goes well I hope to have a full licence within 6-8 months.

I'm looking for a first bike and initially quite taken with the above. It seems a decent spec for the price.

Just wondering what peoples thoughts on the bike are:

https://bullitmotorcycles.com/en/model/83/Spirit-125

Probably plan to keep it for about 12 months.

Much appreciated.

Also apologies if this bike has come up on here before, I did a search and didn't get any hits.

[Rogerborg]

They're cheap underpowered Chinese bikes with some pretty aftermarket parts thrown on.

That's not to say that they're bad, just that they're cheap underpowered Chinese bikes with some pretty aftermarket parts thrown on.

Nothing looks good with L plates on, and you'll struggle to find any buyer when you realise what a mistake it was paying £2500 for a cheap underpowered Chinese bike with some pretty aftermarket parts thrown on.

Sorry that this isn't what you want to hear, but the answer is the same as it always is: buy a used Japanese branded bike like a YBR125, then get licensed up and get rid of it as soon as possible, for pretty much what you paid for it.
____________________
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

[squidlips]

so just to be clear... you're saying they're cheap underpowered Chinese bikes with some pretty aftermarket parts thrown on?

Thanks for the response, and yeah while I wanted to hear that they're a great buy I'd rather know the reality and not throw money away.

I'll cool it until i've done my CBT. My other thought was to complete my MOD1 shortly after the CBT then get a 250cc for 12 months until I complete my full license.

[Johnnythefox]

???? you cant legally ride a 250cc bike just by doing CBT and passing the mod 1 test.....

[Rogerborg]

[squidlips]

It appears I may have been mis informed!

Right, a 125cc it is then.

While we're here then... could I have your thoughts on Mutt motorcycles?

Looks like Chinese parts finished in the U.K.
I can see the base model retails for £2,500 and are being sold on/ listed a year later for £1,500 (which seems ok).

[rpsmith79]

[c_dug]

1) Check out all the 125cc bikes made by Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki, throw in the Italians if you're feeling a bit brave.

2) Choose the model(s) that make(s) your dingle tingle.

3) Find the best condition one you can afford, and buy it.



Some Chinese bikes seem ok, a colleague rides a Sinnis that seams to have held up well, but as a rule of thumb I'd avoid.
____________________
I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Teflon-Mike]

The 'bike' is the LAST thing on the list of stuff you need worry about to ride a bike on the road.

CBT... till then not a lot matters; its a long day, there's no grantee of completion in the day; check the deal on further training if required; check the recommends on what gear to buy before you turn up, vis helmet, gloves, 'approved' footwear, and since its another soppy wet August.... Water-Proofs.... a day in damp clothing does NOT help one learn.... BUT most important tip for CBT... check the catering.. its a long day.. being hungry is as bad as being cold! If needed sort a packed lunch with plenty of sweet-snacks for chat times to keep bloood sugars and learning concentration up.. and PLENTY to drink.

WHEN yuo have done CBT and got the DL196 in your pocket to validate your provisional licence.... you aught be a lot more clued up on whats what, and what you need.. and that the bike s STILL last thing on the list! But first is question whether you even still want one...

Oh-Kay.... so with the DL196 n your pocket... you can go.... shopping.... if you heeded advice to check with school what gear to get; you probaly have a hat and gloves and some water-proofs, and some notionally sensivle footwear... BUT you will have had the 'talk' on buying gear and with a few more ideas and clues and a tad of experience, you may want to go get something else, something better or something different; BUT, before you buy bike... buy bike LOCK, specially if you are looking at 125's that get nicked a lot....

Rather worrying you are looking at and asking questions about higher priced pimped up 'budget' chinky bikes, n the brand-new YBR price range; New-Bike hints Hire-Purchas.... and you are talking about keeping the bike just 12 months, when the 'deal' is likely for two or three years.....

First up... I'll say it again... 125's GET NICKED..... spending a large sum of some-one elses money for some-one else to come along and take t away, leaving you with the bill, is a bit of a ball-buster... so let me stresss this a little BUY SOME EFFING LOCKS!!!

NOW... lets talk about bikes.... and having metioned what was it? Oh yeah... they get Nicked.... NEXT thing that would be quite useful after LOCKS s INSURANCE.... Rather volatile topic; BUT, check the small print. And try telephoning real people rather than just relying on quote-comparison google-bots! But starting there, run some comparisons, AND look closely at the check boxes; you will find that there are a bunch of options for.. oh yeah! Different locks and other 'security'! Be warned; if you tick-it you better have it and us it! Or you are giving them great get-out if you actually need the insurance.. then may not seem like such a smart way to save money... when you are left with none! Also curiousely some accessory security actually adds to premium, there is no rhyme nor reason to it; and working the perms on the forms can drive you mad... hence use the phone talk to real people!

BUT... motorcycles, these days, are more often 'Leisure equipment'.. toys not transport. Quote for car insurance, and its assumes you will want Social-Domestic-Pleasure cover; and that you will commute in it, and that you will carry passengers; Bikes not so. On bike policies "+commuting' is often an 'opt-in' that adds to the premium; annual mileage allowances are usually a LOT more restrictive; average car in this country does around 12ooo miles a year, the average bike, now often less than 3ooo, and that is pushed up by those who do commute who will crank up probably half the miles a car driver would, just getting to and from work. carrying passengers is also often an 'opt-in'. Not really an issue on CBT as you cant carry them on L-Plates anyway; BUT, does beg some pertinent questions vis plans to get a full licence. Main one that if you change your bike, 'Admin' fees can be punitive; it would actually cost me more than my annual premium to change the bike on the policy or to 'cancel'! You have been warned! BUT worth checking a LOT of companies that offer 125 insurance do NOT offer policies on bigger bikes, IF you decided to step-up, could be a kicker that you have to cancel as you cant cover-swap to a bigger bike, which could mean paying big admin and not getting an NCB for it. So check the small print and terms carefully.

NOW... you might do some comparisons of different bikes; without a reg-o to enter into the giggle generator, though, trying to find some of these Chinky Bikes you have mentioned in the menu's could prove painful... like I said... try phoning folk!

HERE the afore mentioned regulation Learner-Commuter YBR125, which s ball-park the same price as the posier Chinkys you have mentioned; offers full quota of limited 'go' for the cash, starts to show its metal, in the every-day easy 'livability' of the thing, cos before we get to any questions about 'depreciation' or 'reliability' or stuff like that... you WILL find the darn thing in the quote-comparison drop down menus! Hints at the 'easy' these things offer....

But; do your comparisons; and you will, with the Chinks get some crazy quotes; mostly because no-one has ever heard of them; so insurers go either way, on principle that its not in thier stats, so cat be a high risk, or its not in thier stats so they should be scared. Here the Yamaha YBR is the known quantity.... and you will get a ore realistc policy from a lot more and more reputeable compaies... like I said 'easy' livablity.

Point on Hire-Purchase and Depreciation; Chinky Bikes are cheap to buy, but expensive to own. The YBR, IS actually built n China BTW, but benefits from Yamaha QC and support; most 'chnky' bikes are batch built to quite dire standards from generic components like engines and brakes, and confections are variable; two aparently identical machines in the show-room with the same importers name on the tank, can be completely different under the bodywork, where they have been built in different work-shops with different 'bits' on the shelves; rather ironic that the fist Emperor of China 'invented' 'standardisation' in making cross-bows to conquer the country... b-u-t ts something that they aren't so hot on any more! Maintaining and repairng these bikes can be more fought, when you cannot by 'bits' by make/model/year like you may for a Ford Fiesta! A lot of paid mechanics wont touch them for this reason, as sourcing stuff is time they cant be fixing things; DIY oft comes down to trialand error and taking a chance on something that ooks like it sort of matches from e-bay pics will... and buyng another if it dont! Did I mention YBR 'livability'? Yeah.. this is where it starts to bite!

However; due to livability the Chinks generally depreciate 'fast'. At 3 years old when 1st MOT is due, many are wort barely £500, so more 'fancy' and expensive you buy to start with, more you are going to loose, and in that; YBR starts to win big. At 3 years old your £2.5K in the show-room YBR will still usually be worth something in the region of £1700.. A-N-D in the time its lived, it will have offered full limited quota of oomph... the Chinks oft dont have, and we are talking the dfference of being able to hold road speed on a NSL road or hold up traffic.... its right on that border. So YBR gves that, and gves the easy livability when it comes to maintenance and repair, AND, big issue, shouldn't beg a lot of it. The Chinks generically are built primerily for the low wage developng markets where folk can accept the limited performabce as they dont have Audicochs trying to give them an enema every-where, and a full service by local tinker in the corogated metal shack costs less than a sandwhich lunch! Here in the UK, 1ooo mile sevice intervals, and £50p/h paid mechanic time, start to make the maintenance costs a little more gauling, IF a pad mechanic will even look at it due to the parts problems. And that is without them often begging a lot more 'running repairs' as YOU the owner, have to do the jobs of development and QC they didn't in the factory; which will mean paying a lot more diligence to maintenance and going round chcking its and bolts, making everything is tight, checking wheel play and bearings, and all that sort of stuff, over and above the occasional squi of oil at the drive chain and weekly tension.... Did menton the 'livability' of a YBR?

Yeah... this is where t starts to pall, and when you aren't actally 'saving' aything to buy a more pimped up chink thats the same price as a YBR, to not get the go, to have to do so much more work, A-N-D for it to be worth bog all for the effort i a years time? It really really is a major false ecconomy! But.. other than offer warning, that's up to you.

Back to this YBR 'livability' and insurance..... buy a YBR its in the lists; buy a brand new YBR, and the innsrance will be umperty more quids than a second hand one. There's a hint there....

Best all-round VFM Learner-Commuter is a three and a bit year old YBR... its just old enough to need an MOT, so no nasty surprised lurking when that comes round; it SHOULD have fared pretty well in those three or four years and still look pretty tidy and have a pretty respectable amount of life left it, and will hold its value.. while you dont have to be so paranod with the spanners, you do get the full quota of learner-legal lack of performance, and when things start to go awry... usually pretty straight forward to sort out.... and if you don't buy on credit you aren't paying 'interest' as fast as its loosing money, or nuts, bolts stickers, paint and collecting 'rust, whils you are chucking anything you probably haven't 'saved' on the buy price into trying to keep on top of that maintenance!

Have I sold you on a Yamaha YBR yet?

BUT!!!! STILL the last thing on the list you 'need'!!!!

-CBT
-Riding Wear
- LOCKS
- INSURANCE
- Common Sense & Sense of mortality
- MAYBE a motobike... probably a YBR... possibly a CBF.... but almost certainly NOT a chnky bke, and definitely not a piped p over priced one thats as expensive new as a YBR!!!!!

Hinted at a few things in the running costs and routne maintenance; this is ig kick n the goolies to many, when they discover that motorbikes, particularly little motorbkes beg a lot more looking after than a car, and they have to DIY most of t, little and often, rather than leave t to the dealer and grumble about the bill after; 1000mile service intervals, inbetweenie routine user-maintenance of chains tension, oiling, cable checking etc etc etc; all akes its toll, and the biggest killer of learner bikes IS learners not knowing hence ignoring this, and starting wity generic chinks yu are BUYING a lot more of it from the off....

Remember, nowt looks good with an L-Plate..... so sod the chrome of the geeknick style accessories; and remember, the SMIDSY "Sorry-Mate_I-Didn't-See-You'.. that is the mantra from every bugger that's knocked off an unsuspecting biker, and THEY are the ones that are supposed to 'look'... so how 'cool' do you think you 'look' to everyone else who probably pays even less notice?

Its a motorbike, not a cat-walk; and you are a learner-rider! Worry about the learning, side of stuff, make THAT as easy as you can, sod the sytle, we don't have none anyway, EVEN to thems that bother to look!

And if you want 'easy' DONT buy a pimped up Chinky fake-away, buy a YBR! WHEN you have ticked all the other bxes on the list of stuff you need before even that s a worry!

1/ CBT - Riding Wear, Lunch, further training fees
2/ More Ridng Wear
3/ Locks
4/ Insurance
5/ Common Sense
6/ Maybe look for a LEARNER bike to start 'learning'
____________________
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?'

[thx1138]

[thx1138]

I guess the CBT has changed since my day then?

I turned up, unable to ride, pushed bike round cones engine off, rode bike round cones in first gear, again changing gears, stopped at pretend junction. Rode down the road with instructor and other trainees.*

*whilst silently screaming aaaaaaaagh inside my head

4 hours, tops.

went home bought 2nd hand bike, rode it

[Rogerborg]

Oh, Tef.

The Bullit is quite likely better built than a Bullet. China > India, in general.

But a Mutt is the sort of bike that you get because you're sure that you know what you want, and that you won't regret it in 6 months or a year.

The only Mutt that I can see that's actually sold on eBay went for £1060 at a year and 720 miles old. I'd assume that's what it's worth the moment you turn the key.

Mutt do seem to replace the stock ditchfinder tyes and dick around with the lights and maybe the suspension, but at the end of the day it's got the same basic frame, electrics and Suzuki copy-engine as everything else.

Answer remains: skip the tiddler, or buy Japanese branded and used.
____________________
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