Opinion on owning multiple 125's?

[Ste]

[stevo as b4]

I'd like a few more 125's but only for nostalgia purposes. Basically I'd like resto modded examples of all the liquid cooled 80's-90's Japanese trailies. Most of them have the option of fitting a 200cc engine too. In fact I'd like a couple of air heads too, but they'd have to be four stroke ones like the XLR or DR etc.

If money and time were not a consideration then I'd expand the collection to include as many Italian trail bikes as possible too.

I see more fun and point in owning a diverse group of trying hard to be bigger bikes of 125cc than someone who wants to own a brace of 750cc SP/RR versions of popular sports bikes.

Would certainly rather have say 6 125's than one RC30 or OWO1 etc.

[kgm]

I can understand wanting a couple if you have a full license and a bigger bike as well, I ride my 125 as often as my bigger bikes and quite enjoy it, and I'll ride it anywhere the bigger bikes go. I can't see the reasoning for someone who only has a cbt though. The extra cashould would be better spent on a license IMO to give that option of bigger bikes. And i think thats the difference with Tef's viewpoint - he has both options.

As much as I like mine I wouldn't want a 125 as an only bike.

[adengtg]

[Rogerborg]

[Ste]

[adengtg]

[adengtg]

[stevo as b4]

An 80's UJM is a cool bike, but they are big heavy buses, that need modification to make them ride handle and brake acceptably if like me your big bike experience is mainly limited to bikes of the last 15-20years.

Sure I'd like a big old 900-1300cc UJM, but I think one would be plenty!

125's vary so much in the way they ride and look, so there's much more scope for multiple machine justification IMO!

[pepperami]

I can’t say to much about owning multiple bikes of the same engine size as I own four 250’s.
I like it , but it’s not the smartest idea I’ve ever had.

If you enjoy 125’s , bollox to what other people think, do it and have more than one 125.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Rogerborg]

Bear in mind that OP was bought his scootay, rekt it, and is, I'm fairly sure, currently renting his Lexmoto from a finance company, doubtless owing them more than it's worth.

Adding a 10+ year old Varadero to the stable is the profligate side of instant gratification. I know YOLO and all that, it's just that his track record at picking a steed isn't brilliant, and that money will go a lot further when he hits 19.
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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

[bikenut]

A black one from kent, wanna mtx125 ??
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nuts about bikes

[Ste]

You fucking piece of Adam Aarons.

[Teflon-Mike]

The 125 Very-Oh-Dearo is rapidly becoming a victim of it's own reputation, rather like the old CG, only the CG's mythical 'reliability' was at least compensated for in it's dotage by having been designed to be 'basic, and using a push-rod engine that was considered rather 'stone-age' when the thing was released in 1977! Then by the dearth of Chinky copy 'spares' on e-bay.

The rather poor reputation of Generic-Chink built 125's, is not undeserved, B-U-T... I would put more faith in one like a Lexmoto, less than three years old, not needing, or at least not demanding such 'expensive' repairs as a 125 Very-Oh-Dear-oh, now at least a decade old; probably half a decade or more past it's sell-by date, and if not already, about to become a 'money-pit' with repairs commensurate with the original list price when new, which was at one time THE most expensive 'new' 125 in the shops, and more expensive than a CB500 sat next to it ISTR!

If Not 'Bunny-Guarded' with such blatent botches as welded on sprockets, not just possible but highly likely on a bike of that age and expense, but an over-complicated twin-cylinder engine, hidden 'out of sight-out-of-mind' under acres of expensive body-work, and such little 'niggles' as likely rotted exhausts that are hard to untangle from the engine after getting at it, plus usual bug-bear of siezed and sheared exhaust studs, plus the hassle of finding and affording a replacement 'system', an 'old' 125 Veradaro is NOT a bike I would even dream of sticking on my wish-list!

Seriously, even with a long life-time of spannering this sort of stuff, the tools to do it, and the know-how, I would, if push-came-to-shove, rather put MY money on a Lexmoto... and I have had enough of them wheeled in my garden by owners expecting miricles on bikes that don't even need an MOT to be wary of even one of them!

CB125's? Err... yer's...... I have a 'little' bit of experience with them.... and yes, they can be pretty good bikes. They have the 'oomph' few modern 4-stroke 125's do, and they can even show a clean pair of heels to the best of them.... B-U-T... you are looking at having to spend the best part of a grand or more to buy or build one that is much more than a scrap-heap refugee looking for a short way back to it's rusty bed! (Or my back yard!!!) A-N-D you need more than a little spanner savvy. They are 'old' bikes.

But lets not be delusional here; defining feature of a UJM or 'Universal Japanese Motorcycle' was that it had an air-cooled, across the frame, 'four' cylinder engine...... this description does NOT fit any bike I can recall under 350cc.... by a long stretch!

Alternatively called 'Muscle-Bikes' in the 'Retro-Renaisance' of the 90's when folk got bored with ever bigger-better-faster-more techno-wonders coming out of Japan; like an American Muscle Car, they 'pretended' at big power, from a big, soft tuned engine, in an other wise pretty basic, and often evil handling chassis.

'Real' muscle-bikes from the 70's are also not all that common. The whole era of the presumed UJM lasted only from the launch of the Honda 750-Four in 1969, until 1983, when they launched the water-cooled VF750. And the UJM's were actually NOT all that universal!

Kawasaki shelved its 4-stroke 'four' project on release of the CB750, and went back to the drawing board for three years, until it launched the legendary Z1 in '73. Suzuki didn't get to the game until '77, with the GS1000, and Yamaha? Well, they built the XJ550 in '81, but it was almost all over by the time they offered the FJ1100 in '84!

These may have been the bikes on the covers of the magazines at the newsagents of the time; the bike outside was more likely a Honda CB250 twin, or a Yamaha DT125 two-stroke single!

In 1984, Honda 'rationalised' its UK brochure. It had listed MORE motorcycles under 125cc, than every other manufactures listed in total, put together! They sold more 250 Super-Dreams in the 3 years prior to the 125 Learner-Laws than almost any-one did ANY other motorcycle of any make or capacity!

Even in the UJM/Muscle bike's own 'Day', most bikes on the road, just weren't! I believe some-one once commented when millennium emission regs threatened to 'kill' air-cooled engine's, that the Japanese Big-4 had made and sold more Air-cooled four's, by way of 600 Diversions, and Kawasaki Zephyrs, than had ever been sold in the UJM/Muscle-Bike era of the 70's!!!! Mostly to Born-Again-Bikers, who had never actually owned one, merely aspired to the idea when they were current, and 'treated' themselves to a DAS course and 'Retro' in mid-life-crisis!

BUT! Back to the matter in hand.... whether to buy a 2nd 125....

One bike 'may' be a pain.. but two-bikes are guaranteed to be!

One bike, as regular and daily transport, focuses attention and is more likely to get the maintenance it needs/deserves. Idea of a 'back-up' bike, IME is something of an elephant in the attic to keep tiger's from the door. One bike tends to get neglected, on the basis you can always use 'spare'.. then one bike gets favored in use over the one that isn't, and eventually you end up with two broke bikes to deal with, when if you just had the one, you's likely keep on top of looking after it properly, and be more inclined to sort stuff that needed sorting in due course.

You need to have much more widely variant 'uses' for having more than one bike. In my case the 125's are mostly 'project' bikes being renovated rather than ridden; a pass time slightly more productive and enjoyable to my mind than reality TV or the soaps!

Keeping one around for giggles, or to pop-shops, would be 'fun', but Snowies serves that purpose well-enough. So the 'Seven-Fifty' serves generic duties. Meanwhile, the Montesa is a dedicated competition-trials bike. It does something very different that a road bike or even duel-purpose couldn't. Hence earns its keep.

Back to golf.... its your money, folk find many new and novel ways to wast it every year, how you choose to is your call.

Within the 125 arena I could probably justify owning at least three, maybe four, distinctly different offerings. Say a Yamaha TY125 for comp-trials, a Yamaha TZ125 for track-days or road-racing, maybe a CR125 for Moto-Cross, A-N-D something like a KH125 for popping-shops... and ALL would have 'something' that needed fixing, and I still could only ride one at a time!

But these old bones would't much like being scrunched up on a TZ125! My lanky frame was rather scrunched up on an MT125, thirty years ago! I doubt I could hack a lap, let alone a push-start! These days! TY125, was fantastic for trials hen I was 14, and all ACU regs would let me ride in 'school-boy'.. but... I bought a 250 as soon as I turned 15, as same regs allowed you to ride an 'adult' class bike in the 'season' you turned 16.... I didn't turn 16 until the very END of that season, but HEY, rulze is rulze! 125 Rock-Hoppa's do have the brilliant property of being very light, but hey, my ancient 250 is hardly porky tipping the scales at a barely 80Kg... and modern ali-framed 'big-bore' trials iron is even lighter! And since you don't need a road licence, why limit yourself? MX? Well, old bones, I think would mean I never wobbled further than the end of a (Smooth!) drive on that one.. which l;eaves the road bikes.....

And while something like a KH125 or even a 125 Super-Dream may be great for an occasional thrash in the country or popping-shops? Nah! Lets be serious here, If I am going to head off for a week-end... I'll take the Seven-Fifty!

A slightly larger frames and supposedly 'more comfy' 125 would NOT be a real candidate!

And it HAS been considered..... after chasing a mate on a 600 back from a meet a couple of years ago, and staying hard on his number-plate, due to a) damn GATSO cameras, b) Traffic and c) BENDS! I did seriously wonder what I was getting for the extra £60 a year road Fund Duty and fuel!..... Cheaper Insurance WAS actually a factor that tipped the scales... and I sort of kidded myself that even if it wasn't cheaper when I totaled in the price of tyres and stuff, it would still be worth it for the 'old-bones' factor'... a 25 mile one-way trip on the 125's had 'sort' or proved that that was my fatigue limit on one, even a more comfy one..... and the notion of taking one on a longer loaded trip was quickly discounted...... until I had to spend a day in city traffic running twixt frock-shops for the daughter.... and rapidly realized that it wasn't the bike that made the trip comfy or not, but the route! So I probably could live with 'just' the 125... but I don't have to! B-U-T.. a 2nd 125 for 'touring'?!?! Nah! That's just layering perversion on perversion.

ADVICE! Its your money. If you have it spare, lavish a little on the Lexmoto by way of a Super-Service, make it as good as it could be. Save anything else towards a DIFFERENT kind of masochism.....

IF you really want to have a second bike; well, duel-purpose bikes rarely are all that much. Don't make a camel of the compromise; keep-it-simple-silly.

You want to do-dirt? Trials IS still just about THE cheapest form of Motorsport to get into. ACU membership & Trials licence, costs a tenner! You don't need a medical or season long event insurance, its all included in the event-entries, which still tend to be only £10-£20 a pop! Add local club membership, and you could do an entire 12 event 'season' for as little as £250.. depending on how many brake-levers your brake! MX is rather more expensive, Enduro better value, giving you more saddle-hours for the money... if you can stand'em!

Road-Racing comes expensive.. end of! Though 'track-days' can work out some-what more sensible, and depending on what you have to pay, and how many you do, it's possible, NOT having to pay road insurance and limiting expense though limiting use to 'full-on' track hours, to get a lot of track-time for the cost of an occasional road-bike.

Either which way, its far more 'involved' and challenging, hence 'fun' than trying to get your kicks on the road, and its where points mean prizes not fines! And folk shout you 'on' rather than try shout you down!

Completely alternatively.. MASOCISM..... Sorry. MECHANICS IS FUN! Skinning knuckles, scratching heads, getting covered in oil, breaking 'cheap' sockets and shearing rusty studs, is a very satisfying wast of money, when you wheel out some old heap of scrap you have turned into a like-new motorcycle that's just won a Moment-Of-Truth....

I keep telling myself this...... I am NOT entirely sure I believe it.... the bank manager certainly doesn't... but still... I am SURE it IS!!!

Project-Bikes don't need tax or insurance, and if you don't have the cash or cant find that obscure obsolete wing-nut for the air-filter can... well, it shouldn't be going anywhere until you can find/afford one... paint a bracket instead!

A-N-D if you can make 'use' of your creation when done, to get some of the money you have probably sunk into it with little chance of getting back on re-sale, so much the better.... but again; given the time it takes to see a project through, WHY limit yourself to light-weights? By time its 'done' you could have a licence to ride almost anything you chose to skin knuckles with!

If you 'like' Classic UJM's.. what the heck! Pick a REAL one as a 'project'... you'll be fighting a $ war with the mid-life-crisis men as well as the Hipster Brat-Chop-Cafe clan to get something really worth 'doing', so my advice is $-Up to the bike you REALLY would like to ride when done.... don't short-change yourself at the outset. You are much more likely to keep the momentum going through the tough-times, and if YOU want to own/ride finished product, more likely some-one else will and you stand chance of getting more of however much you sunk in the thing 'back' if/when you sell.

There is absolutely NO reason to limit yourself to 125cc Learner Legals, whether you have a licence that may let you ride anything 'bigger' on the road, or not.... Just open your horizons.... and be a bit clear on what you hope to gain/achieve for it all.
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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?'

[P.]

Lol at Mike dissing the Varadero. Good try sir... but its 10 times the bike you'll ever own

[Ste]

2,124 words... I'm not reading that.

[Rogerborg]

I'm beginning to suspect that a 'Dero killed his father, long about 1867.
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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

[Commuter_Tim]

[MarJay]

Owning multiple 125's?

Well, modern 125's are rubbish. Four stroke 125cc is never going to set the world on fire. So it's akin to asking how many STD's do you want really.

Spend money on passing test, buy a big bike.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Ste]

Sometimes when CB125's are mentioned I lose interest.

[Jayy]

Have an RSV4 RF and TNT 125.

The TNT is great fun if there's a couple of you with them (like a grom) but on a warm summers day the RSV4 is winning every time.

[Wonko The Sane]

[stevo as b4]

I agree with Paddy.
There's nothing wrong with a Varadero other than it shares the name with a big cc outboard motor. Sure they are getting to the age where there's going to be tatty examples, but let's say we are buying one for a project or to mess with/repair/improve.

Then it's a good bike. Tef's 12month old Lexmoto suggestion, might well be a better option for a daily hack, but there's no Cred or Kudos to a Chinq bike and it's about as interesting to ride as a Hyundai i20 etc.

I see the Vara, as a more modern TDR125, and it's got the same big bike feel and look. A bit like the early 90's Aprilia Tuareg Rally 125. Another cool bike that looks like a big full specced Dakar racer, yet has a little Rotax inside.

Anyway Tef, who's to say the would be Varadero owner for a second 125, wants a daily hack anyway? It might be someone who wants to make a HRC/Repsol/Rothmans ultimate build for a show bike etc. I've spent nearly £500 on a shock for my KMX, the cost of bits isn't that important to me, it's more about making every part an upgrade over OEM and putting the best bits on I can find.

Until I'm into a KMX for over £6k I can't see a 125 out there that I'd want to just buy new and be done with. And even on a £6-7k 125, there's bits I'd want to change or put my own stamp on it.

[M.C]

[Polarbear]

I'd want an RD125.

The little twin with a purple and white paint job. It souns like it should be a girlies bike but it wasn't. Actually, I think that was a 200 but I don't care.

https://www.2040-motos.com/_content/cars/images/20/101420/004.jpg

This was the 125

https://cloudlakes.com/data_images/models/yamaha-rd-125/yamaha-rd-125-07.jpg
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition