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Buying first bike - advice needed

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WheelieKid
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Joined: 28 Nov 2019
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PostPosted: 23:13 - 23 Dec 2020    Post subject: Buying first bike - advice needed Reply with quote
Hi all, I am looking for a first bike (125cc as I am 17). I am a big fan of the cruiser or scrambler style.

Note - When I say first bike I mean first running bike - I currently have a non-running Aprilia MX. I have not ridden since I took my CBT.

Currently I was looking at a Suzuki GZ125 Marauder but if there is anything else worth considering please let me know.
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Easy-X
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PostPosted: 00:18 - 24 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
Depends on where you live but I'd hesitate to recommend any sort of scrambler, supermoto or other light bike: No.1 scrote magnet Sad

After that just get what your budget can allow but bear in mind you'll more than likely be itching to do your A2 @ 19 so you might only have it for 2 years.
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Weisse Schlange
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PostPosted: 01:38 - 25 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
Honestly mate, buy a boring but reliable 125

Honda CB or similar.
Avoid Chinese etc as they are not worth the hassle and avoid anything you think is cool cause it will get nicked.

Put up with it for a year then buy a decent 600 the a year later go mental and get an GSX 1400 lol


Good luck bro.
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recman
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PostPosted: 07:54 - 25 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'd have a jolly good bash at firing up the Aprilia first if you haven't already, obviously taking into account costs and difficulties.
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NJD
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PostPosted: 17:01 - 25 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
How fubar is the Aprilia that buying a second bike is the cheaper option?

Cruiser and scramblers / supermoto's couldn't be anymore on the opposite end of the spectrum if they tried. Do you actually know what you want or are you just putting out there the two types of bikes you like the look of?

You may find insurance quotes will dictate what you can reasonably afford to run for your fist few years.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 03:14 - 26 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
NJD wrote:
How fubar is the Aprilia that buying a second bike is the cheaper option?

Must be "beyond recognition". Confused
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WheelieKid
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PostPosted: 13:05 - 26 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
NJD wrote:
How fubar is the Aprilia that buying a second bike is the cheaper option?

Cruiser and scramblers / supermoto's couldn't be anymore on the opposite end of the spectrum if they tried. Do you actually know what you want or are you just putting out there the two types of bikes you like the look of?

You may find insurance quotes will dictate what you can reasonably afford to run for your fist few years.


Hi, currently I cannot gain access to the Aprilia and do not have much time to work on it. The things given me more trouble than its worth it seems. I bought it cheap as a project bike to do up (when I knew less about bikes and what I wanted) but haven't had the time.

So yes it would probably be cheaper to do up the Aprilia, however insurance on it is high.

When I say scrambler I actually mean something that looks like this:

https://www.wkbikes.com/125cc-motorbike-wk-scrambler-125.html
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oilyrag
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PostPosted: 16:14 - 26 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
The build quality of modern 125s has dropped imo. Even the Japanese 125s that used to be bullet proof now get weird problems. I think they're dropping the quality to produce cheaper bikes so that they are competitive on price with the junk.
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A100man
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PostPosted: 19:34 - 26 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
WheelieKid wrote:
[
When I say scrambler I actually mean something that looks like this:

https://www.wkbikes.com/125cc-motorbike-wk-scrambler-125.html


These look great but they are made from bean cans and coathanger wire. What's more they're not even close to a learner power limit... As much as a loathe the genre your Suzuki Marauder will be a better choice IMO.
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NJD
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PostPosted: 20:16 - 26 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
A100man wrote:
WheelieKid wrote:
[
When I say scrambler I actually mean something that looks like this:

https://www.wkbikes.com/125cc-motorbike-wk-scrambler-125.html


These look great but they are made from bean cans and coathanger wire. What's more they're not even close to a learner power limit... As much as a loathe the genre your Suzuki Marauder will be a better choice IMO.


May sound like modern day generic chinese bashing, but he's not wrong. They really are just mass imported chinese built bikes imported into the U.K, assembled in various back street garages and sold under varying names.

It wont be long after leaving the workshop before one will never look as shiny as that ever again, and the care that has to be taken to make sure they leave the workshop without a scratch is painfully unworthwhile.

On the plus side you can build one from a delivered crate to a rolling state with less than a full socket set.

How the people that sell them believe their own spouted bull**** about quality I'll never now.

Save your money and invest in something that's worth it, or get a second hand one as anyone worth their salt could work their way around one of these without having ever worked on it before with even a basic set of tools.
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ThatDippyTwat
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PostPosted: 10:37 - 27 Dec 2020    Post subject: Reply with quote
NJD wrote:
May sound like modern day generic chinese bashing, but he's not wrong. They really are just mass imported chinese built bikes imported into the U.K, assembled in various back street garages and sold under varying names.

While I'm not as averse to Chinese bikes as most here, I'd still take an older, more basic YBR/CG over the really cheap Keeway stuff, and I'm speaking as someone that currently owns a Keeway. Sinnis, Lexmoto etc are all rebranding the same designs and tarting up the graphics/plastics to suit them.

The middle ground is a Korean bike, Hyosung are decent enough while still not as expensive as Japanese bikes. If you're after a cruiser, look at an Aquila/GZ125, or older and needing more maintenence, Cruise 2 125. The latter is a decent 4v variant of the motor in the Maurarder, and is bang on the legal limit and was a respectable enough when properly ratted up. Check for rust under the seat and on the front engine mounts.
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oldmanrich
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PostPosted: 14:07 - 12 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
It does amuse me all the people on here who say to avoid Chinese. Please ignore these people. They are blokes in their 50s who have never even ridden one and just jumped on the badmouthing bandwagon.
I have owned a number of Chinese 125s and for the value and amount of time you'll own one until you do your A2 will be probably less than 2 years. In that time most, if not all cheap 125 bikes will have a warranty so if anything did go wrong you'd be covered.
I have had in the past Peugeot Speedfight / Jetforce,
Gilera runner,
Lexmoto Isca, Tempest and Diablo.

Ignore the brand snobs, go with what you is cheap and you will inevitably only keep for a year or so and then buy a big bike.
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Fat Angry Scotsman
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PostPosted: 14:26 - 12 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
I bought a Zontes ZT 125 U which is a Chinese bike and discuss it here:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=332010

I really like the bike and it feels solidly built. It has a problem with a sensor that is being fixed under warranty but my mate who bought a brand spanking new Honda CB650F in October 2020 also has some initial issues with his machine so all manufacturers need to fix issues on new bikes.
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P.
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PostPosted: 15:36 - 12 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
oldmanrich wrote:
It does amuse me all the people on here who say to avoid Chinese. Please ignore these people. They are blokes in their 50s who have never even ridden one and just jumped on the badmouthing bandwagon.


lol
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Ayrton
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PostPosted: 16:26 - 12 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
oldmanrich wrote:
It does amuse me all the people on here who say to avoid Chinese. Please ignore these people. They are blokes in their 50s who have never even ridden one and just jumped on the badmouthing bandwagon.
I have owned a number of Chinese 125s and for the value and amount of time you'll own one until you do your A2 will be probably less than 2 years. In that time most, if not all cheap 125 bikes will have a warranty so if anything did go wrong you'd be covered.
I have had in the past Peugeot Speedfight / Jetforce,
Gilera runner,
Lexmoto Isca, Tempest and Diablo.

Ignore the brand snobs, go with what you is cheap and you will inevitably only keep for a year or so and then buy a big bike.


Still dont see any good reason to buy a Chinese bike and watch it's value drop every day when you could buy 3 year old used Japanese bike and sell it for within a few hundred quid of whatever you paid.

If you must get a Chinese bike then pick a 2 year old one up after it's done most of the depreciation. Nobody seems to do that though because they don't trust the build quality.
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A100man
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PostPosted: 20:59 - 12 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
oldmanrich wrote:
It does amuse me all the people on here who say to avoid Chinese. Please ignore these people. They are blokes in their 50s who have never even ridden one and just jumped on the badmouthing bandwagon.
I have owned a number of Chinese 125s and for the value and amount of time you'll own one until you do your A2 will be probably less than 2 years. In that time most, if not all cheap 125 bikes will have a warranty so if anything did go wrong you'd be covered.
I have had in the past Peugeot Speedfight / Jetforce,
Gilera runner,
Lexmoto Isca, Tempest and Diablo.

Ignore the brand snobs, go with what you is cheap and you will inevitably only keep for a year or so and then buy a big bike.


My Jing Cheng Honda Dax copy (bought new in a crate) looked great but every part was made from inferior materials, brittle plastics, poor chrome, kickstart seal gave out after a few hundred miles etc.. That was a decade plus ago but have things really got
any better? I replaced it with a Suzuki A100 which was battered but oozed quality in comparison.
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NJD
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PostPosted: 21:58 - 12 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
A100man wrote:
My Jing Cheng Honda Dax copy (bought new in a crate) looked great but every part was made from inferior materials, brittle plastics, poor chrome, kickstart seal gave out after a few hundred miles etc.. That was a decade plus ago but have things really got
any better? I replaced it with a Suzuki A100 which was battered but oozed quality in comparison.


In some cases, no, but I can't speak for every bike and every brand.

In my brief stint putting them together (I'll leave the brand out of it) out of a crate some would come with defects, but others were fine. The paintwork on almost all were very prone to micro scratches, and having been used to manhandling and jumping over jap bikes for a few years I never really got used to how you had to "dance around" them to ensure nothing got damaged (leaving the cheap foam covering on things like mud guards for as long as possible).

I only saw a few come in for a service, and never worked on those. Servicing was woeful, and as someone who enjoys working on bikes watching a bike sit on a bench having its oil changed for most of the day when it easy to spot that several other things could have been done to it as well (cleaned, lubed in places etc) killed me.

~

I also owned a Euro 3 Lexmoto Arrow quite a while ago now and had a never ending list of issues with it right up until the day I sold it despite pumping endless amounts of money into it through the dealer I got it from after the warrenty ran out, of which I used to no end.

For me YBR's have been around an age, and given how cheap parts are / how easy they are to work on I don't get why anyone would spend £1000 or more on a "new" chinese bike; but then again I'd always advocate buying a used jap 125 to anyone.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 16:17 - 14 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a 2015 YBR. Great bike and I love it. It is made by Chonqing-Jianshe in Chonqing, China. A lot of smaller displacement japanese bikes are made outside of Japan. Look at your VIN number on the motorcycle data plate (usually on, or near the steering head). If the VIN begins with the letter "L", the bike is made in China.
https://driving-tests.org/vin-decoder/

Most Chinese bikes, to my knowledge, are clones of Japanese engineering. I would be surprised to find a design flaw in one of these machines. They cut costs by using cheaper materials and relaxing manufacturing tolerances. Japanese companies demand higher standards of their Chinese suppliers. The reliability and durability of these bike have not suffered (as much).
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Last edited by jeffyjeff on 16:27 - 14 Jan 2021; edited 1 time in total
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arry
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PostPosted: 16:25 - 14 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
jeffyjeff wrote:
I have a 2015 YBR. Great bike and I love it. It is made by Chonqing-Jianshe in Chonqing, China. A lot of smaller displacement japanese bikes are made outside of Japan. Look at your VIN number on the motorcycle data plate (usually on, or near the steering head). If the VIN begins with the letter "L", the bike is made in China.
https://driving-tests.org/vin-decoder/


A bike made in China isn't really what's meant by a Chinese bike though, I guess. A Yamaha is subject to Yamaha quality control which you'd expect to be robust as they have brand reputation to protect, not Xongwuah ChowDong hit-n-miss measures where the UK Importer doesn't give two hoots and the Chinese firm just LOL at any warranty claims.

To call out the obvious, mind, I'd not expect say a BMW 310 to be of 'proper' BMW standard when it's built by TVS in India - but I do expect relative level of quality commensurate with its price tag.

Chinese bikes have no doubt gotten better over the last 5 years but that doesn't stop a newbie popping up on here a day or so ago having purchased a brand new Zontes that's throwing EML's already within 100 odd miles and the dealer's just like yeah whatever m8....
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 16:30 - 14 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
arry wrote:
...A Yamaha is subject to Yamaha quality control which you'd expect to be robust as they have brand reputation to protect, not Xongwuah ChowDong hit-n-miss measures where the UK Importer doesn't give two hoots and the Chinese firm just LOL at any warranty claims.

Sad, but true...
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Fat Angry Scotsman
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PostPosted: 13:01 - 15 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
arry wrote:
Chinese bikes have no doubt gotten better over the last 5 years but that doesn't stop a newbie popping up on here a day or so ago having purchased a brand new Zontes that's throwing EML's already within 100 odd miles and the dealer's just like yeah whatever m8....


Embarassed that's me! It's actually in the garage being repaired today, I've been told I can come pick it up this afternoon again.
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Riejufixing
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PostPosted: 14:16 - 15 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
WheelieKid wrote:
When I say scrambler I actually mean something that looks like this:

https://www.wkbikes.com/125cc-motorbike-wk-scrambler-125.html

That looks nice. It seems not to be the fastest, but you wouldn't expect that. Keep it clean and tidy, change the oil more often than the manual says, and it should be OK. A lot of the world runs on Taiwanese (which this is AFAIK), Chinese and Korean bikes like this. I'd ride it for a bit of fun and because of its looks. Not plasticky, looks simple, easy access to bits.

Not keen on cruiser style (sorry EZX/someone else!).

Last edited by Riejufixing on 14:33 - 15 Jan 2021; edited 1 time in total
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Riejufixing
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PostPosted: 14:17 - 15 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
The_Fat_Angry_Scotsman wrote:
arry wrote:
Chinese bikes have no doubt gotten better over the last 5 years but that doesn't stop a newbie popping up on here a day or so ago having purchased a brand new Zontes that's throwing EML's already within 100 odd miles and the dealer's just like yeah whatever m8....


Embarassed that's me! It's actually in the garage being repaired today, I've been told I can come pick it up this afternoon again.

Some sensor or other wasn't it, to b replaced under warranty?
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Fat Angry Scotsman
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PostPosted: 14:37 - 15 Jan 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote
Riejufixing wrote:
Some sensor or other wasn't it, to b replaced under warranty?


Yes, I believe it is the air intake temperature sensor. Once I collect it I'll put some miles on it tonight and report back findings.

While I was at the dealership the Sinnis Terrain 380 caught my eye Embarassed might be my back-up plan if I can't get the GS I want.
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Biker2021
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PostPosted: 11:28 - 18 Jan 2021    Post subject: The perfect City Bike Reply with quote
Hi Everybody,

I'm looking for a Citybike, that ist fast and easy to handle in the city. Do you have any reccomandations? Smile
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