Some 125 advice please...

[Dazza Dawg]

Hi guys...
Returning to biking after 20 odd yrs (42 now) and looking for advice on a suitable 125 to get back in the game...had an mtx125 when I was 17/18 and whilst it was not exactly quick it was good fun...I'll be doing another cbt shortly and whilst I am intending to get my full license in the future it won't be anytime soon...as such I'm looking for advice on a suitable 125 to use for nipping into town now and again but mainly for getting out and about at weekends for a few hours...I'd like something with a decent bit of poke but that is also big enough for me to ride comfortably (I'm a big unit - 6ft and 19st)...
I like the styling of the rs125/ybr f125 type sports bikes, the dt125 type dirt bikes and the vt125 shadow type cruiser bikes...
I do not like the styling of the cg125/gn125 type bikes....
So to recap I'm looking for a 125 that's big, quick, reliable and stylish...don't want much do I?!! 😂
Please don't waste time telling me the usual (to do my full test because a 125 isn't a real bike etc...) because a cbt is as far as it'll go for a while...
Any advice would be gratefully received...cheers 👍

[TbirdX]

I'm 50, rode MX years back but never had a road bike and got my first road bike last year.

For me, it had to be a 2 banger and off road style so a DT it was.

You can jack them up or down to suit your height and are usually relatively easy to work on.

Can't go too far wrong with a decent DT, if you can find one that hasn't been ragged an inch past it's life by a spotty teenager.

You'll even sell it for decent money if you do decide to go the full licence route in a year or two.
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VFR800X - TTR250

[Dazza Dawg]

Cheers TbirdX 👍

I'm definitely edging towards a DT, not easy to find a good one though...do you know anything about the WR125X?

[kgm]

At your height and weight a varadero is probably the best option. There isn't really much between most of the 125s in terms of performance, the power limit is ~15bhp on a CBT. Whilst a two stroke like the DT125 can be tuned to produce about 30hp it's illegal to ride that with just a CBT unless it's only producing the stock 15bhp. You may prefer a two stroke though so worth considering if you can find a good standard model. Thieves love them however.

The bikes right on the limit are the YZF-R125 (it might look like a sportsbike but its still a 125 with the performance of such), the WR125R/X or the varadero. The latter two are also quite tall. Both of the Yamahas are a quite pricey too, more than I'd pay for a 125. There are plenty of other options but they have a slightly lower power output and are physically smaller so might not suit you. Having said that the real world performance difference is marginal.

I wouldn't bother with cruiser type 125s as they are heavy for the power they produce and they don't handle all that well generally. They're also pretty low for someone of your height. I'd be looking at the varadero and the WR125X as a long term 125 personally.

That said, and I know you said you didn't want this, I don't see the point in limiting yourself to a 125, unless for financial reasons. I say that as someone who rides a 125 daily (short commute) and who also has larger bikes. You are a big lad for such a small bike and the benefit of the training you receive when going for a full license is well worth it IMO. I find the 125 lacking performance occasionally and I'm only 10.5 stone. Bigger bikes (within reason) are generally safer for many reasons and in any case having a full license doesn't mean you need to run out and buy a litre bike. I'll probably replace my 125 with a 250-300 when it finally dies.

[Dazza Dawg]

Cheers meggark 👍

Thanks for the insight and advice...will definitely get full license over the next 6-12 maths...

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[Teflon-Mike]

So, you didn't do it twenty odd years back, when you could have got a full Ride what you like licence, for wobbling round the block on your MTX...

Twenty years on... you are in a rush, and facing the myriad red tape plan to do DAS, and get it in a oner.... for a price.... but not in any hurry!!!!

Sorry, its an oh-so old story.

Now, as then the LPlate IS NOT an excuse to pretend to be a learner and dodge doing tests! It's a privilidge of legacy to let REAL learner's 'practice' for tests.. everyone else has to actually pass tests before they are allowed out on the roads, on thier own without supervision.... ironically on what is the most likely form of vehicle they will crash!

Hmmmm... You know, bikes haven't got any safer in the last twenty years. Nor has traffic got any lighter... nor softer..... and pissing about on L-Plates, has NEVER been a great idea... only excuse we had twenty or more years ago being we had little choice but to learn by the school of hard knocks...... which.. doesn't teach you what to do, just punishes you when you cock it up.... on WHICH topic I shall mention... quietly.. I'm 46... them 'Hard Knocks' tend to come rather harder to old bones, compared to teenage ones!

SERIOUSELY rethink your plan from scratch... you say you have to do 'another' CBT? why? since when?

AND if you can afford to do CBT and buy a 125.. then you can afford a DAS course and a big-bike....

FOR Which you will get that training, and the tests you have dodged for twenty years. And HOPEFULLY avoid them mid-life hard-knock 'mornings' after. They are rather like hang-overs... seriousely I never remember having any when I was younger!

I am renowned for oft saying time on a tiddler is rarely wasted... BUT you have had it... abused it... lived to regret it... Will you really get anything from more of it? Or will you just carry on abusing the L-Plate to carry on dodging tests, putting off and never getting round to?

I still ride tiddler's for fun... they can be a lot, and I will say that 90mpg is a bit of a hoot after a decade or more driving family moto's I've rarely seen better than 30 from... BUT gawd do old bones remind me the cost of that fun the day after!

Tiddler market, is little better now than it has ever been; there's little out there deservant of an MOT for under £1000, and most of what is out there has suffered terribly in the hands of know little learners, thrashing them, trashing them and crashing them, with maintenance levels ranging from "What's that then?" to ""Nah! Bit of gaffer tape and a cable tie, Be FINE!" with an awful lot of "Hmm.. how tight? Better do this up a bit... ooops!"

Tax is cheap, and service spares can be easier on the wallet; but, you pay a premium for dodging the tests with one, in the buy price; and on the insurance. My 750 is actually £20 or so a year cheaper to insure than the tiddler.... which on a £100 policy is a pretty significant percentage.

Tiddlers greatest asset is 'cheaps', but only if you run them for enough miles for that better mph and lower service spares maintenance to earn a return. Buying an 'expensive' fasion victim tiddler, like a DT or YZF, is rather denting that potential for 'cheaps', then running one only for occasional miles, wasting it completely.

In all seriousness; bag up the costs; stump up for the DAS course, instead of just a CBT... get the licence in your pocket, A-N-D after that, you'll have the pick of more for your money 'big-bikes', and being a bit sensible, could probably pick up something like an XR650 in better nick, for less money than a DT125.. crickey! Probably better nick and less money than an XR125! AND find it's cheaper to insure; for small miles, maintenance costs hardly depressing, and even fuel costs, over 50mpg hardly wallet denting! BUT biggest savings will be the ones you dont see, from crashes you don't have, having had the training... where bend bars and dented tanks, quickly make mockery of the cost predictions... as well as the aches, pains and bruises!

In the list of priorities, a bike is the last thing on the list you really need... Go get a licence... you can still have a tiddler on a full licence, you know.... worry about what bike, when you have the licence to ride it.

Your closer to fifty than fifteen... and bikes have no reverse gear, don't go backwards, go forwards, and get done what you didn't! don't go back over old ground!
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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?'

[Rogerborg]

[techsnap]

With those requirements, and at your size and weight (much the same as me) gotta wholeheartedly recommend a Varadero.

I had one for a year, great fit height-wise and even being a little bit heavier than you, I could get an indicated 70 out of it without too much trouble.

Only thing I felt could have been improved was the seat comfort. After a time a bit of numb bum set in, but I'm sure this was weight related.

[kgm]

As you said you do plan to do your test in the next year then I'd say keep it cheap for the tiddler if you do decide to go that route. As such the varadero I mentioned earlier would be perfect. Can be had in decent condition for about £1500. No point going for the expensive yammy to sell it within a year imo unless you find a real bargain. The vara was always a little more premium in the 125 market anyway, just a shame they stopped making it.

[Alpineandy]

The only genuine advice I could give you is the one you don't want to hear. Which is do your DAS and ride any bike you want, rather than messing around trying to find a 125 that fits.
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Bozzy]

What's stopping you doing a DAS course now?
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2004 SV650S >>> 2009 Street Triple R

[Teflon-Mike]

125 Veradaro was dropped from the brochure in 2009. Youngest of them out there are now pushing 7 years old, with their service life fringing on the scrap heap.

They were briefly, the most expensive 125 on the UK Market, when Honda dropped the 125 shaddow the Vera borrowed its engine from; about £4.5K, which is still as expensive as the most expensive new 125's currently on offer.

When new, it sold well to more mature newbies, who did want a 'big bike' on L-Plates, and selling for twice as much as the last of the CG's and first of the CBF's, that premium build quality and 'bulk' as well as usually more mature owners looking after them a 'bit' better than typical, generally kept 2nd hand prices high. may have delivered on some of its promises offering low running costs and high user 'value' for it all.

Now? with the overly complicated twin cylinder engine, 'out of sight out of mind' hidden behind acres of bodywork, with a rather convoluted rot prone exhaust, and prices that have started to fall into 2nd hand commuter territory, where owners are far less likely to have been so mature, restrained or diligent about maintenance... and DIY optimists have been tackling these 'little jobs'...

For all they might have been a reasonably useful 'not a big bike' ten years ago, NOW, finding a decent one would be more challenging, and the likelihood that one wasn't a money pit in waiting, with a gummed up exhaust waiting to be replaced, or a dozen other impromptu repairs to be undone and sorted properly... as well as all the other general maintenance over draft waiting to bite you in the bum, negligible.

It is a bike I find hard to recommend to anyone, for anything really. It's had its day, and it's been trading on its reputation, far beyond that reputation's merit; YET folk still keep suggesting that an at least seven year old 125, and likely on its last legs, worse due or over due more expensive repairs, is worth as much as a first MOT Fresh YBR or a brand new Lexmoto!?!

JUST because it feels a bit bigger twixt the thighs and the looks imply it's not a Learner Legal until the big red 'L' advertising the fact is spotted!!

The ONLY 125s I can hand on heart recomend these days are the CBF and the YBR 'commuters'... They at least have the potential to fullfil the 'cheaps' 125's might offer, and the back up and support along the way to make them easy and hassle free to live with.

If you want cheaps; that's what you should get.

IF you want 'looks'? well, you have to be under 19 years old, or you could have the performance to match or MUCH* better, the looks for the money, by getting a licence!

AND {to get that} the training likely to aid your chances to retain them looks... as well as your own!

* Heck, even the fastest of the fast, illegal on L's 125 two strokes are only about as quick as a thirty odd year old Honda or Suzuki four stroke 250 'commuter' generally regarded as boring and slow and dull as ditch water! they used to let teenagers loose on on L's! But at least 'cheap' for the lack of 'pretense' they are anything other! While you can pick up as much performance as any-one can really handle for the price of a new Lexmoto, if you really want it... AND, and old ZZR11 or Blackbird garanteed to deliver it likely far less wanting of spanners to keep it! In the middle, for 2nd hand Vera money, there's a plathora of 'bike bikes' from commuter twins to hyperbikes, of varying ages, all likely to have far more useful life as well as enormousely more useful performance out there, that offer any blend of cheaps, looks and go you want really. "The Licence" is your passport to anything and everything you want. NO compromises, NO asking for a quart in a pint pot.

And ALL you have to do is a a 15 minute computer game, another 15 minutes round the cones on a playground just like you did on CBT, and then ride, accross town for twenty minutes with a chap with a clipboard for a personality trundling behind, and neither break any laws nor cause any hazard whilst you are about it! Its not like they ask you to recite the GP Champions across all classes for the last twenty years by rote, and provide the balanced equation for combustion, and calculate the corrosion rate of unpainted steel in a North Sea climate!!!

You DON'T even 'have' to do an 'expensive' training course... though that does rather make taking the tests easier... actual test fees are about the price of a single CBT course to 'pretend' to be a learner, dodging tests!!!
____________________
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?'

[ThatDippyTwat]

[grr666]

[Alpineandy]

[Dazza Dawg]

You've made an awful lot of assumptions here sunshine and your attitude is positively shite...
You know that bloke...you know, the one that everyone groans when he enters the pub? Well I'm pretty fucking certain that you're that guy....
Btw I know how to spell privilege and I also know the difference between your and you're....
See, I can be a sanctimonious twat too....

[Dazza Dawg]

[Dazza Dawg]

[ThatDippyTwat]

[kgm]

[Rogerborg]

Might want to elide the ellipses though.
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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

[Dazza Dawg]

[Edinho]

45 just started out got a cbf125 to crash while I wait for my full tests.

But im a 5ft9 10 stone whimp.

[grr666]

ER6f.
Low, lightweight and manageable with more than adequate power and great MPG. If you can keep it decent then
resale isn't bad either.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.