Brand new newcomer

[Riejufixing]

[wr6133]

Check it's cold. If it's warm it can hide all sorts of unpleasant noises or cold starting issues.

Walk round it, first time quickly just eyeball the cosmetics or anything obviously broken. Do a 2nd lap a bit slower and look more detail, on a bike like that I'd be looking for bubbling under paint on the frame, swingarm and shocks. Spot how far the chain adjusters are adjusted.... an indication of how long till you buy a new chain, also eyeball the visible teeth on rear sprocket and the depth of tyre tread.

If it has a centre stand spin the rear wheel, you'll hear knocks if the chain is riddled with tight spots.

Look straight down the bike from either end, you'll spot if it's bent. While at either end look at the state of the calipers and disks. Try to eyeball pad thickness too.

Start the bike, listen for sounds an engine shouldnt make. Before it all gets super hot hold your hand near where the downpipe joins the engine, the collector box and the can, you'll feel any leaks. Press horn, flick lights and indicators on/off, etc.

Ask the bloke about service history, if you believe him or not is down to you.

If you test ride it, give it beans on each gear. If it jumps out of a gear walk away.

Figure out what (if anything) you want to pay. Knock a bit off that figure and hold the cash under his nose. I've found most people greed kicks in hard when you wave a stack of cash around.

Mostly remember, you do NOT have to buy it. There will be plenty of other bikes.

Do you have a link to an advert?

[Easy-X]

If possible find a friend who knows *anything* about bikes to come with you. And I wouldn't literally wave any cash about without some backup
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Teflon-Mike]

125's live hard lives. They are routinely thrashed/trashed/and crashed into oblivion by a succession of no-nuffink 'learners'.

Heed last post.. U-B-one ov-em.... & wot bike here and now is but little odds in greater scheme,

Next up; you can only buy a bike that is actually for sale; 1/2 bikes registered in the UKL that might be for sale are too big to be Learner-Legal and ridden on CBT by a 'learner.... 4/5 of the Learner-Legal motorbikes you may ride on a CBT are twist and go scooters, then take out perhaps another 1/4 of them which are 50cc mopeds or sub 120 cc you cant pass an A1 test pn, and all in 'What Bike' is pretty much hobsons... and beggers cant be choosers...

You really don't have much practical choice, certainly as far as make/model go....

So.. CONDITION IS ALL.. and wot to look for?

EVERY-DAMN-THING!!!!!!

Almost guaranteed anything with a tax disk, will have been crashed at some point;but is it even the sellers to sell you?

Vet the Vendor as close as the bike, both may be bent.... after that caveot-emptor- buyer-beware, use your eyes and your common sense, its REALLY up to you.. there's no prescription panacea here...anywhere, buying or learning.. like the crash hat, safety is what you put in your head, not what you put your head in...

Back to top.... what is the objective here? Learning to ride a motorbike or saving pennies on the way to work? Pay your money and talke your chances, but either way, start at the top, and be clear what you hope tp achieve.. if you want to save penies ponder that walk/cycle/bus...if you want the 'fun' of rising a bike? ~Well how much over is that worth in cold hard currenvy.. and along he way. how m,any £ is good know-hoe worth, and what's the best way to get any of that?

End of day, its your call... dont ask, or blame us for YOU choices...they are YOURS and yours alone.
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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?'

[wr6133]

[Easy-X]

[Ipn]

A lot of those things apply to cars as well, and tbf on my current car I got quite an outrageous deal when I got it(pretty much got it half price for what it was worth).
I was looking more of an answer of what wr6133 gave me,even though some of his suggestions seem just common sense a lot of them did not even think about.
I have indeed a friend who is into bikes,but he literally left today on a 3 month holiday(he likes his holidays),so I'm gonna have to do it myself.
I have been also told to test on a cold engine and to bring a multimeter just to test the battery to see if the cats in good shape.
Here is the add
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/980006002443429/

Here is just me going on a bit of a rant after 6 beers and 4 cocktails.
As for the blaming you guys for my choice,I know better than to do that....I listen to your input and then I do a bit more research to find out what are you people talking about so I am able to do a more informed decision.It's basically the Dunning Kruegger effect I try to avoid,which basically reffers to people with limited knowledge that believe they are the best because they think that limited knowledge is all that there it is to it,so with the help you guys are providing me you are telling me things I didn't know even existed so I can do further research on it.
Like to give you an example,someone mentioned about helmets the more expensive ones gives you a better chance of surviving a crash so literally went and looked up online wasting just like 2 hours to find out what I want from a helmet,and found out thermoplastics bad, polycarbonate ok,fiber glass pretty good,carbon fiber/aramid/kevlar best,then you want at least eps with dual density(more density layers the better,I believe the lightest full face helmet has like 5 layers),then I learned about the removal padding and even better removal sponges,also about the Ece,dot, Snell and FIA so I went out and looked out for a helmet that had all those to some degree at least within my budget and I actually managed to get quite.I've even learned some of the CE codes to learn what they stand for.
Same goes for the boots,initially I wanted to buy some form of motorcycle sneakers for style but I realised I'd rather increase my confort while riding and raise my chances of surviving a crash than look good in a pair of sneakers thus going for the gore tex txc(which I know they're not the best,but they're the best I could find within my budget).
@Teflon-Mike I know you mean well buddy but you really have to dial it down a little,if I wasn't worried of any of these things I wouldn't even be here in the first place I'd just wing it.As for what my ambitions are on 2 wheels well to be honest I'm not sure,I'm somewhat fascinated about dirt bikes and I'm thinking maybe I could pick it up as a hobby later on but at the moment I kinda wanna see how I am on 2 wheels on the open road,I cannot say I experienced that enough at my CBT,and about the taking back a notch I'd literally be standing still (I am quite a slow motorbike rider just because of how scared I am of how much more dangerous the road becomes on 2 wheels),even though even my CBT instructor told me before the practical that he was a bit worried about me(I was the worst in yard training), but after the practical saying that I was the best out of the 4 in the open road(that might come from doing nearly 50 000 miles in a year on the car,and guessI adapted to learn to read the traffic - and god damn if the drivers on the M25 are not the worst in the country,each time I go there I have to like avoid 2 near misses because there's a guy just swerving into my lane no signal no nothing,or there's a guy walking in tje middle of 2 lanes).

P.S.Thanks everyone especially to wr6133 and Easy-X

[Easy-X]

That Zontes Panther thingy looks like a typical piece of Chinese crap... but it's cheap! No guilt if you don't like biking (highly unlikely) and no guilt if you trash it and get something nicer. As long as it holds together for a few hundred miles you'll be fine

Thanks for the rant, have this:

Regarding "careful drivers" on the M25... well, I got on the slip road for the M3 for my ride down to Cornwall and first thing: car ahead in middle lane doing what? 50mph? Fecking middle lane hogger, oh dear. So I'm probably doing a reasonable >55mph as I get off the slip and fuck me the fucker starts drifting into my lane! No indicators of course. At this point you could argue that you shouldn't undertake but with the cars behind on both the slip and the left lane...

Anyhoo, the Rebel does have a lot more poke than one might expect so I deployed the "safety throttle" and sped ahead of the muppet. And with that he finally indicates, switches to the middle lane and speeds off at 80 to 90mph. What the fuck was that all about? Fuck knows what would have happened if I'd been in my wonky old Skoda

I can't make my mind up if I feel safer on a bike 'cos getting out of such situations is easier or whether I end up in such situations just because I'm on a bike
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[wr6133]

The pictures arent the best but that looks like a decent start. I'd want to pay less but the owner seems to have kept it clean and not bolted on loads of cheap eBay tat which bodes well.

I wouldn't bother with the multimeter, to get at the battery you are going to be at a minimum removing the seat, if not panels as well. Sellers don't like that. You'll know when you start it if the battery is flakey, to be sure turn it off and re-start it a couple of times. New battery would be around £25.

[Ipn]

Went and checked it out,had a few scruffs here and there.It was dropped a few times but it seemed to be working fine.Anyway, even tough the kid who owned it seemed allright his dad kept being a helicopter dad on everything like he was trying to hide something so I wasn't realy feeling it,thus I made them an offer I knew they would refuse and went on my way.
Maybe next time,time to go searching again

[Teflon-Mike]

[Ipn]

So I pretty much found a bike finally.Going tomorrow to pick it up,it's a yamaha ybr125.
Now my question would be,I am a bit petrified of just going in the open road with it,so I was thinking of just going in an empty parking lot and practice with it untill I tame it(if you know what I mean).Are there any other places that would be more suitable where I could go and practice by myself ?
P.S.I'm not really scared of the open road and the traffic itself,I'm more scared about me and my bike handling capabilities in the open road.

[Bhud]

[Riejufixing]

[Easy-X]

Gosh darn it! Another one's got in Who forgot to lock the gate?
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Riejufixing]

[wr6133]

[Ipn]

So I've taken my bike out a few times,even took it for a 70 mile trip today.Street wise I think a car might be more exciting for me,but I will still use the motorbike when I need to go to central London(and probably short trips around the house just for the practice).
On the other hand I could see the appeal while driving a motor bike in other environments might be more enticing for myself from some particular maneuvers.So I think I will actually go for a dirt bike and give that a shot(I don't think going on racing tracks would do anything for me).

[Riejufixing]