Motorcycle Forums

Agree but...

You probably need model names:
Basic but functional like the Honda CG125 (only available second hand) Honda CBF125 or Yamaha XBR125. Any of these are very good and will be within 5mph of the top speed of any other 125. If you have the money for a new or good second hand CBF125 or YBR125 you should get a good little bike that will faithfully run for ever and be cheap to run...
You tend to pay premium (in purchase price and insurance) for flashier bikes like the Honda CBR125 (sports style), Suzuki 125 Marauder (custom style). The flashiest 125 at the moment is the Yamaha YZF-R125 (Sports) although the Honda XL125 Varadero (Adventure) would give it a good run for its money. The bikes labelled sports are slightly faster than the rest but are much more uncomfortable around town. The Varadero is a pretty expensive beast as it is a V twin and pretty big. Its also more powerful than most (yes the law allows a bit of wiggle room) so its probably not too slow either... A lovely bike but if you intend to pass your test and buy another bike a bit over the top...
If you are young get some insurance quotes for these before deciding. The insurance can be quite different...

Affordable 125's

I run a Motorcycle business, we get a lot of requests for 125's from new riders and commuters. We don't sell new bikes yet, I'm looking to in the future as the supply of used bikes is somewhat sporadic.

CBF125

In my opinion the CBR and R125 look a bit silly......too skinny to be a real sports bike but both try hard.

I've got a CBF125 (59 plate). It has averaged 130mpg over 1800 miles and those miles have only cost my £80 in fuel. 1 year road tax bought at end of september.......£16.
Best mpg was 142mpg.....worst was 118mpg.

Quality wise I've nothing to compare against but have to say the bike so far has been fine and not been anything other than reliable.

When buying a 125 I think a lot of them will have been dropped because they're generally owned by new/inexperienced riders. I don't imagine that's a real problem as long as you know about it when you're buying

Trackdays

You can take your 125 on track. it will teach you just how well your bike can go, stop and corner. And the limit of your abilities.

If you take a scooter on track the marshall will ask is that a paddock vehicle, or are you actually going to ride that?

Your welcome.

I know, I was going through all this a few years back, and some of it is from experience, some from what me dad told me (Ex riding instructor) rest is from talking and learning from people who are better than me. I don't know anybody else who watches motoGP for hints and tips on riding quick, rather than as a racing series for entertainment and spending huge amounts of money.

Let us know what your choice is.

There is bound to be someone else who owns one.

The best piece of advice we can give is to get something you won't mind dropping, as everybody drops their first bike.

A sensible all things considered picking will lead to a CG125/YBR125. We'll all tell you that in advance, whoever you ask.

At the end of the day, what you've got is two bags. one is called experience, the other is called luck.

one is full, (hopefully) and the other is empty, or nearly empty right now.

The plan is you fill one before the other runs out.

A good idea is to ask people what mistakes they made when they first started out, and that will give you things that you don't want to do.

Some examples:

1.     Don't try and put the thing in neutral by hand, with the sidestand up. (Stupid learner mistake. Ran out of petrol and forgot to put sidestand down, on first day of riding my rebuilt Honda CBR 125R. And I spent the whole summer cleaning it!)

2.     Make sure your tyre pressures are okay before riding. (Sounds obvious, is the cause of nearly all accidents which involve unroadworthyness.)

3.     Carry some money on the bike so that if you run out of fuel, there is always enough money to buy some - petrol stations aren't keen on letting you ride to the bank to with draw some money when you forget to get some before filling. (Yes that one was a personal mistake. I was heading to the bank, and thought I already had some money out for some reason.)

4.    Find out a bike's history before buying. (I knew the aprilia had problems with the gearbox, but not that its engine had been sized, and fixed dodgily.)

5.    While looking at someone elses bike before pulling away, remember to hold the clutch in. Stalling is not fun.

There are probably more. Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

A whole list of things not to do can be found here:

http://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=167