big bikes cost less to insure than 125?

[czakal]

Hello people,
I was checking out a few big bikes as my current YBR125 is showing some signs of being near end of useful life. I was a little surprised that the insurance quotes I got for a 600cc Hyosung GT650 started at under £120 TPO compared to about £150 for my current bike. Is it common for some big bikes to cost less than 125s to insure? Goes a bit against intuition (and if that's the case I'd certainly consider a big bike from now on)...

S

[ThatDippyTwat]

People with a full license, having been through several more tests and training to pass said tests, tend to stuff bikes into the scenery a lot less less than someone that's wobbled around cones and avoided crashing for a few hours. 125 riders simply crash more, hence the loading on premiums.

My 125 costs more to insure than my 750. However, it's a 4 mile run to work and the 125 does north of 100MPG, so it's a no-brainer to run a tiddler locally and keep the VFR for weekends and long runs.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[czakal]

Thought it would depend on the rider more than the machine but oh well

S

[Pjay]

[stinkwheel]

According to ROSPA, the number 1 cause of motorcycle crashes is rider inexperience.

125 riders tend, on the whole, to be less experienced and as such are higher risk.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

That is a weird statistic if correct. I say this because bikes above 125cc must outnumber 125s by about a hundred to one. Hmmm - that might be an overstatement. I suppose there are loads of scooters in big cities all around the country. Still, I'd shocked if bigger bikes don't outnumber them significantly. So next, you control for the disproportionality - and find that 125s have more accidents per hundred riders than the hundred riders of bigger capacity bikes.

Okay - seems reasonable. Not saying I believe it, but just that it could well be true. However, you then do a bit of qualitative research and quickly discover that although more people crash 125s because "inexperience". Thing is, these riders are in town, rarely doing more than 30mph - not doing a Connor Cummins into the scenery off Snake Pass or whatever. The scootercommuter gets a bruised cock and ballbag and we never hear from them again. But the big bikelist is totalled. Doesn't matter though because far less of them.

I dunno. I've no idea how dem rospa numbers crunch, but I can't help thinking "inexperience" isn't the best conclusion to draw.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Easy-X]

Red cars used to cost more to insure that any other colour...

...because red was one of the basic, no cost factory colours meaning there were lots of red cars. (IIRC black was the next most costly, then white.)
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[ThunderGuts]

Statistics do weird things with insurance, but given the number of L-plate 125s I see riding like tools around here it doesn't surprise me. Don't get me wrong, you see the odd tool on a big bike too but they seem to be the exception. Probably doesn't help that virtually all 125s are ridden on L-plates either, don't have ABS, are an easy steal as they're light and there's a big market for them etc.
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TG.

[stevo as b4]

Think again though, in that how many people are hacking around A-B on 125 cc bikes compared to 1000cc commuters?

It's also a conveniently popular engine size, as 125cc is able to realistically go outside of towns or city's unlike 50cc's
(and don't all you funny fuckers get on your high horse and say I ride my 50 cc in the country and down NSL A-roads everywhere just to be argumentative.)

It's also a natural convenient capacity because:

1, you don't need a full licence or one of the higher licences to ride one.

2, There's these days pretty much nothing offered in between 50 and 125cc, and not much just above it like 175's, 200, 250's etc. This is due in part to manufacturers deliberately aiming at A2 targeted power/capacities after 124cc.

I'd expect there's a relative tonne of 125's compared to bigger bike capacity segments like 600, 1000cc etc and all these and the in between capacity segments are all in decline as newbies get older and young people turn away from bikes.

[Ayrton]

[Ste]

Their big table of statistic tells them who cost them what. It's nothing more complicated than that.

If you're young and wobbling around on L plates then the stats aren't good because you're lumped in with all the L plate riders who crash their bikes as a hobby.

[Easy-X]

[Ste]

[Polarbear]

[SDFarsight]

[steve the grease]

All this risk is dealt with using things called 'actuarial tables' that is tables of statistics and data about different vehicles , occupations, postcodes and stuff like that to arrive at a final premium.

The 125 dearer than 750 is also borne out with cars . A young bloke in our village found it cheaper to insure a 2.5litre Merc estate than a 1.3 Corsa. Few young men crash big Mercs, it's a "Dad's" car. Lots of young men crash Corsa's , so I guess it makes sense.

[Monkeypony]