Advice for young starter

Hi, i'm new to the group, but I need some advice on choice of bike. I'm 18
and i've driven bikes all my life ever since i got a yamaha 50cc when i was
6! wether its pedaling or driving them I love the speed can freedom they
represent, I passed my driving test for a car when I was 17 but it just
doesnt feel right... So i've been thinking about passing my 125cc test
during the summer holidays ready for uni but I havnt ever had a real
interest in road bikes, just motorcross so I don't know where to start. I'm
going into town on monday to buy a bunch of bike mags but I thought i would
post here as well since they will no doubt be focusing on the type of bikes
I won't be able to ride for a while due to the engine size. But I don't
really want anything more powerful than a 125cc atm, somthing that can
comfortably carry two people (me and my gf), i'm 6ft 2" so it has to be a
relatively large bike. I have a particular preferance for Yamaha since every
bike I have owned from a 50cc up to a 250cc have all been Yamaha.

If anyone can help me out with any suggestions, help or general info such as
insurance prices and if its cost effective to run a bike in day to day use
rather than sunday driving and track days in comparison to a car.

I've got a full time job during the holidays as a labourer for a contractor
and I should be able to save around £1000 maybe a little more if I work 6
days a week, so if you can suggest any 125cc's in that ball park it would be
great!

Cheers!

 

Aaaahhhhhh.... it does the ol' heart good to be abe to chant the sacred
mantra.

You want a nice little CG125, you do.

<Makes Sign Of Holy Pushrods>

 

6ft2 on a CG125?
That could look a little odd.

The OP seems to be more in the market for a DT125 although I don't know what
his chances are of finding a semi-decent one are.
If the 1k budget has to provide some insurance as well then he would
struggle to get any bike on the road I'd have thought.

--
Alex

YZF 600

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

www.upce.org.uk
www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

I've got a full time job during the holidays as a labourer for a
contractor

Hmm... they aren't exactly the most attractive bikes in the world are they
and they are a bit on the low part of my price range
http://search.ebay.co.uk/CG125_W0QQ...dsperpageZ50QQsosortorderZ2QQsosortpropertyZ3
As you can see the highest priced CG125 is £350, I admit I'm a vain bastard
and I want the bike to look a bit more modern than that, I rang up my
employer and he told me how much I would earn per week and it comes to £1600
if I don't get ill or what ever so I will probably have around £1200 left
over if I'm lucky from expenses getting to and from work, forsaking the jack
daniels and larger (for the most part hehe).

Is it worth me going for a 250cc? Or is it not worth it in terms of costs,
becuase I could go for my 500cc straight after (hopefully) passing 125cc
couldnt I?

These are more of the sort of shapes I like:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=424&item=2481984151&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=424&item=2482082676&rd=1

Can you suggest anything further? I could sell my YZF 250 but I dont really
want to sell it or put it on the road (if i can) becuase it means spannering
all the nuts when I have to change the sprockets for road or offroad use.

so anymore advice will rule!

Cheers

 

I've got a full time job during the holidays as a labourer for a

Much nicer!!! I have around £1200 to spend and my parents said they would
cover tax and insurance since I'm going to uni even though they threw a
total fit at me when I said I was thinking about getting a motor bike but
they conceded that a 125cc is probably the cheapest way to get around and I
was old enough to make my own decisions, thank god!

Any more general info I should consider or other bike suggestions would be
ace!

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=424&item=248198
4151&rd=1

That looks quite nice for a 125. Don't know anything about the
manufacturer, though.... and they look a bit tall for my wife, or I'd
think very hard about buying one at that price.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=424&item=248208
2676&rd=1

You definitely don't want one of those if you're trying to do this on a
budget - they need expensive 2-stroke oil and the frequent engine
rebuilds won't be cheap.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=9917&item=2481606387&rd=1

Brilliant little bike, I had one to learn on.

 

Handy to have parents like that.
Anyway , for 1200 quid you should be able to find a decent enough condition
bike to last you a couple of years. Just remember to buy some big locks for
it.
I'd look at biketrader to get an idea of prices , and if you can find a
friend who knows a bit about bikes then a second opinion is always handy.

Yep , people in this newsgroup get really annoyed if you don't snip the sigs
of people you are replying to.
Thats everything below the two --.
--
Alex

YZF 600

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

www.upce.org.uk
www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

They used to be and some still are the workhorse for rider training
schools.

They may not be the prettiest bike around but if you are after a cheap
and easy to maintain reliable machine then this is the type of machine
you need.

My wife used to use one and I don't just mean for pottering around, it
was used under all weather conditions inc light snow, about 8 - 9,000
miles a year without any problems.

For maintainance all you will need is a handful of spanners and a
manual, no need for trips to the local dealers like the plastic
fantastic's.

One other thing that will be well worth getting no matter what bike
you get is a good chain and lock then use them. Small bikes have a
tendency to grow legs if not chained down in a lot of area's.


--

Kevin - Basildon
XV535
GPZ305 (her's)
BOTAFOT#67 BOTAFOF#23
OSOS#29

 

You're 18 and starting work on 83k PA and you're worried about spending a
grand on a bike or only having 62k a year disposable income?

You should be buying a Ducatti, a country mansion, eating caviar and paying
your own insurance and road tax.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, COSOC#9, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

As you can see the highest priced CG125 is £350, I admit I'm a vain

blehhh? 83K???? where the hell did you get that figure from? I'm getting
£1600 for 6 weeks work, 6 days a week 9 hours a day, about £5.10 an hour....

 

well most 125cc's are generally cheap to run arn't they (speaking from no
experiance just what i've heard)

I'm going to be doing around 5000 miles a year i think, and I want to be on
a comfotable bike for my size, i'm 13 stone 6ft 2" like i said before.

That would be a plus becuase I like to work on my bikes, but call me a ****,
but I wanna look good too!

Hehe point taken! But if you could give me some other general suggestions on
bike choice i would be even more grateful for the sound advice you and the
other peeps have given me, becuase I want a healthy list of bikes to
research so I have an informed opinion when I make my final choice.

Cheers

 

"I rang up my employer and he told me how much I would earn per week
and it comes to £1600." looks like the giveaway line, to me.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..66073../..15556.../..3157./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17
'^' RBR-Visited:35 Pts: 705 Miles:2429

 

Well my parents have already put my bro through uni and they know how the
bills rack up becuase he was a lazy tart and never worked. I can't go by
price at the moment because I dont know how much random bikes bikes listed
in bike trader are *actually* worth either in relation to their original rrp
or how mechanically sound they are. But I am going to get it on monday, are
there any other decent mags I should definately get.

rightio!

 

Whoops i can see what you mean, but when i said "it comes to" i ment per
week coming to a total of x in 6 weeks.

Sorry for the missunderstanding m8.

 

You can do searches online at www.biketrader.co.uk
If its a good few hundred quid cheaper than the others then there will be a
reason. If its similarly overpriced then its someone chancing their luck.
If you work on probably 10% less than asking price that'll give you an idea
of what people are actually selling.
Also have a browse through the bikes for sale on ebay.

Looking on BT I've seen a couple of 2 or 3 year old DT-Rs that would be
close to your budget.
There is a 2001 model for £1450 so you might get that for £1300 if you waved
cash at the seller.

A 1999 or 2000 model should be a couple of hundred quid less , but the other
3 japanese manufacturers all make similar bikes.
You could also consider a far eastern copy and probably get a 12 month old
one for your budget.

A used bike guide would be worth a look to identify the sort of models that
you might like.

--
Alex

YZF 600

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

www.upce.org.uk
www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

I have not looked to see what bikes most schools are now using, but it
might be worth while finding out, their criteria would be the same or
similar to yours.

That depends on what you include in the running costs, not all are
easily user maintained, not all have readily available spares if
needed, not all can be fixed with a hammer after being thrown down the
road

Like any bike, its a case of try one even if its just to sit on it, I
am only 5' 8" and am used to heavier bikes (cruisers) but did not find
the CG physically small when I had to use one for a month or so last
year, found it good fun when thowing it around in heavy traffic.

Pretty plastics can be very expensive if thown down the road, I doubt
if there is much of a performance difference between most 125's, but a
bike thats open and easy to work on with basic tools I should think
would be a great advantage when working on a budget.

If you really want to pose then you could look at some of the cruiser
125's, I personally would not recomend them because most of them are
way too heavy for their engine size and not all are that easy to
maintain.

Look long and hard before you make any decision, and don't be
frightened to ask annoying questions like availability of spares and
ease of user servicing, specialised tools needed and type and cost of
engine oil used etc.

Other small bikes I cannot comment on, I just followed the same advise
from this group several years ago for my wife's bike.


--

Kevin - Basildon
XV535
GPZ305 (her's)
BOTAFOT#67 BOTAFOF#23
OSOS#29

 

REMUS wrote

Cheap in terms of fuel and oil and tyres and stuff because they use so
little but when it comes to spares it has been declared that
motorcyclists can be ripped off as much as the retailers like and they
do.

Remember, in comparison to cages, bikes are inherently a much lower
volume production run and the more esoteric designs are made in even
lower numbers hence the cost. And then there is the enormous profit
margins enjoyed by the main dealer type retailers, don't forget that.

 

Thing is I won't be able to save next year since i'll be in uni and I dont
want to spend anymore than I have too during that peroid, if I buy this year
I will have my car and my bike (although obviously not running them both at
the same time), use the car in the winter and the bike in the spring summer
and autum or somthing, since i dont fancy an old granny slideing into me on
icy roads! + I really hate selling things, I buy them to keep them, I would
like to look back and have a collection like I do with my motorcross bikes,
my younger cousins ride everything from my 50cc all the way up to my old ass
125cc but I dont like them using my 250cc becuase its pretty expensive and I
have put alot of effort into maintainance, tuneing and upgrades.

So although the bikes you have reccomended are nice, there have been other
models that people have suggested that I find more attractive, thanks for
the input tho m8.

 

well most 125cc's are generally cheap to run arn't they (speaking from no

hmm point taken, I hadnt thought about it like that but I can see how those
greedy bastards would rationalise it.

Cheers