Help needed on choosing a new bike.

[yimmin]

I've recently sold my car and am planning to get a little 125 to get me to and from work.
I've given myself a budget of £100 p/m to buy and run a bike. This was based on the fact that I was paying that on the HPI for my car so I'd like to keep it around that over 2 years so nothing really changes financially.

Having been to a few dealers and looked around I'm ddefinatelyafter a bike instead of a scooter and like the look of the Lexmoto XTR, Lexmoto Street & the Sym XS125-K.

The XTR for me is the look that I'm after but the XS seems to have the better reliability along with the 2 year warranty.

Can anyone offer me any advice please?
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Ben

[N cee thirty]

well for a start don't get a lexmoto,chinese so will fall to bits.

the sym,a mate has one and seems to be pretty ok,fairly the same as a yamaha ybr and has some interchangable parts.

you could pick up a honda cg post 2000 for about £500 and be getting returns of 100mpg
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[pinkyfloyd]

I'd be inclined to agree with Rob.

With 125cc there is no point buying new. The market is constantly flooded with people buying 125cc bikes, doing their test and upgrading.

If you are planning on keeping a 125 for a couple of years then go for something from the established big 3. Honda, Yami or Kwak. They will last and the new parts are so easy to get a hold of cheap.

Forget getting one on HP. Save for a few months and buy yourself one outright. You'll find that if you look after it, keep the services on schedule you'll be able to sell it for pretty much what you paid for it. End result is a free bike for a couple of years.

I bought a brand new Lifan 125 and spent £1500 for HP over 3 years at an extortionate rate. As a result I am still paying for a bike thats now in such bad condition that I couldnt sell it. I gave it to a friend for his wife to learn on. The thing just rusted to buggery.

If I could do it again I would have bought myself a CG125.
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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.

[dextersaurus]

CG125.

That is all.

I bought both of mine for £400 each. ran them on £15/wk, and that was all. Seriously cheap, compared to my £45 a week on the GPZ.

Don't buy chinese, enough horror stories on here to make you wonder how they even make it to the dealers.

Dunc

[pinkyfloyd]

[Rogerborg]

Agree with the above. If you're asking the question "Should I get a Chinese branded bike?" then the answer is usually no. And I'm saying that as the very happy owner of 2 such bikes - I'd rather that you were a happy owner of a Japanese branded bike than an unhappy Chinese-brand owner.

Yes, Chinese-branded cost a lot less than a new Japanese-branded equivalent, but you'll get pumped on the resale. Paying the same money for a used Japanese-branded bike almost always makes more sense, as resale losses will be minimal, and insurance is easier to find and usually cheaper.

If you're determined to buy new from Lexmoto, then I'd recommend the Vixen or Arrow. They're Dihao bikes (one of the better Chinese brands), with the same relatively reliable 157FMI engine and decent cycle parts - the fact that they're Lexmoto's cheapest bikes is a happy co-incidence. They appear to be marking up their other bikes based on their tartier appearance rather than on any track record of quality.

The other option is to buy a Huoniao HN125-8 (exact same bike as the Lexmoto Vixen) from LearnerLegal, save a few hundred £££ and have the bike delivered to your door. You won't have a local dealer to back you up, but then again dealer warranties on Chinese-branded 125s seem to be of the 'if we feel like it' variety. LearnerLegal are pretty good about warranty parts replacements. Note that the Houniao HN125-8 is actually the most expensive cruiser/commuter from LearnerLegal - this reflects its popularity among its owners.

If you do buy new and Chinese-branded you will need to ignore any joke PDI reports, go in with the spring washers and Loctite to sort any vaguely-torqued fastenings, keep on top of the maintenance and cleaning, and deal with a few well known but easily remedied issues like dodgy side-stand switches.

So, crib notes: go for a used CG125 or YRB125, unless you know what you're doing. If you are determined to try and save money by buying Chinese-branded, ignore appearance, certainly ignore anything the dealer tells you about them, and only buy a bike with good owner reviews (check reviewcentre.com).

[yimmin]

What are people opinions on SYM bikes then, the views on the Lexmoto so far have pretty much cleared that up for me.
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Ben

[N cee thirty]

meh there ok

my mates exhaust fell to bits and was like £200 for a replacement for some reason,but its survived him thrashing him
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Teflon-Mike]

Your saying £100 pm to buy AND run a 125.... thats a bit tight.
Your also talking about finance, and £75pcm gets you around £1,500 worth of credit over 2 years. That doesn't leave you a lot for insurance or petrol.
Commuter 125's will manage around 100mpg, so you might manage a weekly commute on under a tenners worth of fuel, but it'll be the insurance that is likely to tip the balence.
Either way, £1500 is a funny bit of the market.
Brand new, you have choice of pretty much all of the best avoided chinese bikes, and possibly enough to get a more reputable or korean one, but not enough to get a brand new jap.
It would get you a lot of fairly new, 2nd hand japs from a dealer, though.
That would probably be my reccomendation, and a one or two year old YBR or CBF125 would probably be your best bet.
BUT the main thng here is the finances, so start by researching your likely insurance premiums, then possible finance packages.
Dealers often get a kick-back on finance sold wit a bike, so actually buying from a dealer on thier finance, CAN if you have done your home-work, give you more leverage on a good-price than waving cash around got on a bank-loan.
But converting from a car, you'll also have to factor in your Compulsary basic training; around £80 or so. Probably worth using your first months HP installment to get that done o a school bike, rather than getting a bike straight off and leaving yourself short, and having a bike you cant ride.
You'll also need to busdget for crash-hat, water-proofs, protective riding gear, etc. That can set you back a good £2-£300 or more for a basic beginner outfit.
again, if buying on credit, delaers CAN be helpful here, and can work all your kit into the finance and as the finance bvalue goes up, so ther kick-back gets bigger, so they can be more flexible on price.
BUT, loading it up like that, you are going to be threatening your £100pm 'all in' budget, or squeezing the price of bike you can buy.
The dealers WONT have room on a £1500 2nd hand bike, even with finance kick-back to chuck in £250 worth of riding gear, and £80 CBT course, all and keep you inside your £75pcm HP installment... and at some point you'll start pondering IF you are going to have to spend THAT much, whether to go for a brand-new bike.... becouse dealers will have a bit more flexibility on that than a cheaper 2nd hand bike.....
Its a tough call, and theres an awful lot to try and balence in priority list.
As people have said, buying an older 2nd hand bike for a few hundred quid, can make it a lot more manageable.
But, old learner-legals get thrashed, abused and neglected by numpty learner owners, and going that route brings a whole new set of variables into the equation.
But, the point is, we CANT reccomend you a bike... thats only a very small part of the over-all package you are looking for, and it it'll depend on what dealers have in their show-room, and what they want to shift, what thier credit packages are like, and how much you can squeeze into one for your money, as much as anything.
But, I'd be steering you towards a fairly new second hand CBF or YBR125, as the 'safe' bet. even a couple of years old, they should be more durable and reliable, and certainly hold a lot more residual value than a Chinese or Korenan bike.
I mean, end of teh day, your £1500 bike will have cost you £2.5K on finance for two years, be a bit of a bummer to get to the end of it and find you cant flog it on for more than two or three hundred quid, where a Jap, costing £1500 2nd hand, two years down the line you are likely to be able to shift on for perhaps a grand or so, provided you haven't stacked it into a wall or something!
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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?'

[yimmin]

Thanks for that Mike, some useful info there.

I've still got my lid, jacket and pants from when I had a scooter a few years back so that's gonna cut a few quid off the starting price but I agree that it's going to be a bit tight working a bike, CBT and Insurance into a ton so I may have to consider a little increase.
I'd not thought about getting a used bike on finance as I'd been looking at 0% so far on new ones but it's worth bearing in mind.

Can anyone recommend a good used dealer in the Liverpool area?
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Ben

[Astridax]

+1 on second hand. I am/have going/been lucky in the respect that I saw a bike on a classified ads. Search classified ads in google, saw an RXS 100. Called the seller and asked if he would allow me to pay for it in instalments. I explained I was a student and he understood. He wasn't riding the bike himself, so it didn't hurt him to wait for the repayments. So if you see a bike you like £300-£400-£500, do call the seller and ask very politely if he will let you do that.

Also, I'm going motorcycle live on the last day. Hopefully there you will get good gear for cheap. Try to go, you'll also be able to have a free ride with Get On.

By the way insurance tpft was quoted at £300+ on a cg125, and yet £150 on an RXS 100. I think the fact that they are rarer and a 100cc rather than a 125 brought the price down and being a 100cc 2 stroke, they are apparently more nippy than a 125 4 stroke. I will tell you when I have paid it off .

[dextersaurus]

Get yourself on ebay/gumtree. There's always decent deals on there...
Got my CG and GPZ off those sites.

For my CG125, i was paying £150 TPFT.

Dunc

[photoscubaman]

I owned 2 chinesse bikes out in egypt and even the egyptians warn you not buy as they fall to bits.

but £500 buys you a brand new 125 there!

they rattle and fall tobits, you have to stop to collect the bits as they fall off.

i used loctite on all the nutts and repalced some with nylocks and this seemed to work.

but English climate, id stay safe get a honda, kwasaki or something.

[Astridax]

Ha! Where about in Egypt?

[photoscubaman]

I Lived in Sharm el Sheikh for 5 years,

I know the importer in Cairo that brings the bikes into Egypt, £500-£600 buys you a big bike.

125cc but the size of much bigger bike.

they do fall tobits though.

was so happy when i bought my Kawasaki KLR600 out there, the difference in quality and performance was amazing!

what a country to run a KLR600

[angilamarkscl...]

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