Tips for buying a Honda CT110 "postie bike" please

My wife wants me to buy her a CT110 for her to learn on and take her
license test (NSW). We would probably want to keep it after that to use
a local run-about.

1. Are there any particular things to look for on CT110s at auctions to
spot the good/bad ones ?

2. I notice that many CT110s are sold at auctions with no registration.
What is involved in registering one. Is it just a blue slip + green
slip, followed by a visit to the RTA ?

Thanks folks
David

 

CT90! Just ask Johnnie5. ;-)


BTH

 

OK, David, a few questions...does your wife want you to buy it for her
_now_?

Do you know much about motorcycles? Have you been to auctions in the past?

Assume, for the moment, answers are: yes, very little, no,
I'd suggest you take her to look at a Sachs Madass 125.

Auctions can be funny. I went to a few with Cath W. and it's a game you
need to know how to play.

Dunno how much you can tell about the condition of one, out of a row of
ex-Posties, with a quick look over. <shrug>

Again, assuming that you _want_ her to successfully learn to ride, it
makes it easier if she has the confidence of a new(ish) and hopefully
reliable machine.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Close
Yes, she wants it ASAP
A fair bit. I've been riding for 20 years, had approx 10 bikes.
No, I've never been to an auction.

Yeh, I know.

Good point, although we only plan to keep it for a few months at most,
just long enough for her to get her license, then sell the bike. So
reliability is not a major problem, but depreciation on a new machine is
a consideration.

I bought her a 2 year old GS500 in January, because I thought it made a
good first bike (hello Betty!) and she has been learning with it,
on-and-off for just over 6 months. The big problem is that she just
doesn't get enough practice time (work, kids etc), limited to a few
hours every 2 or 3 weeks.

She is mainly having difficulty with the u-turns on the GS500, and
recently when she re-did her pre learners course, to renew her Ls, had a
brief ride on a postie bike and found it a lot easier for the low speed
stuff.
I have told her that it would be best to keep learning in the GS500, and
perfect her low speed riding, but she is impatient.
She just wants me to buy a postie which she can use to get her license,
and then sell the postie bike, and keep riding the GS500.

 

David wrote:

Well, you originally said:"We would probably want to keep it after that
to use a local run-about."

What may seem to you, with 20 years experience, a good learner bike,
might not actually work for a real learner.

At a few hours every 2 or 3 weeks, she's gonna be shoving shit up hill
with the proverbial pointy stick.

I have a wife like that too. Are they _all_ like that?

That's kinda the end of the discussion then. <shrug>

regards,
CrazyCam

 

I have told her that it would be best to keep learning in the GS500, and

SO she struggles with the GS now, but all will be magically wonderful
and forgotten if she gets her license on a steppy? Am I missing
something here?

 

You sure are. But I'm missing it too, and so is David.

Theo

 

No, I don't think so.
In real life she is very unlikely to ever have to do a u-turn within a 6
-odd metre boundary as is required for the test. She would choose to
ride round the block rather than do the u-turn.

She will mostly be doing day-rides with the local Ulysses branch.

David

 

I don't know what I'm missing

 

True.
I probably should have said that SHE wants to use it to get her license
and then sell it, while I would like to keep it as a run about. I'm used
to saying "we" when it mean "my wife".

I agree, but that is the hardest thing to fix.

Grrrr, probably

Not really.
The original discussion was about tips on buying a CT110 at auction, and
about the process of then registering it.

 

I have over 30,000kms on my GS500 and I still get a bit nervous at the
thought of u-turns. The MOST test has had far-reaching, deep-seated
emotional consequences <grin> for this rider...

I can do u-turns that aren't 'official' u-turns - getting out of parking
spots etc - but give me a u-turn to do on the road, and my palms sweat, my
heart races, and it's "right back to the MOST test" for me.....

So --- I think I understand what you mean, David...

Oh - as an aside - I don't think I would've liked the GS500 as a learner
bike, because of my size and its size relative to me. The GPX was at the
outer limits of my comfort zone as a learner. I would probably have been
better off with something really nimble and confidence-inspiring, like a
Yamaha Zeal, where I could flat-foot it...

betty

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:00:02 GMT

You'd be surprised.

Slow speed manouvering happens more often than you might think, you
probably do it without noticing.

If she's not got the ability now, and won't practice enough, then she
won't have it when she needs it and she will.

Zebee

 

Ever ridden the Galston Gorge Road?

How about leaving Wiesmans Ferry heading for Sydney, up the hill the
first slow left hander?

Whether you, or she, like it or not, it is part of the MOST and it tests
an ability to control a motorcycle which _is_ kinda useful for folk
riding them.

But she can only manage a few hours every three or four weeks to practice...

Do these occasional bursts of riding ever happen on weekdays, and any
place within cooee of Beecroft?

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Well, if you _have_ to go to the first available auction, and _have_ to
come back with a postie bike, then the only sensible tip is "don't".

Registering it is fairly easy so long as everything on the bike works
correctly, you just get a blue slip. The green slip is a bit of stuffing
around, but no major drama. (You haven't got a rego number at this stage!)

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Me too

I understand what you mean about comfort zone.
I felt, and still do, that the GS500 is a good learner bike for her, as
at 5"11 ish she is able to get both feet flat, and it weighs only a
little more than the 250s, while being easier to ride, because you don't
have to rev it as much to get it going.

 

Zebee,

She wants to get her license and ride.
I have told her that it would be best to keep learning until she is able
to comfortably past the test, even if that means taking years, and
having to re-do the pre-learners course multiple times.
But, she doesn't want to take that long, and as an adult, gets to make
those decisions for herself.
The best I can do is to advise and help.

David

 

David you're absolutely right, if the only riding skill in her armoury
that she's lacking is feetup U turns then quite frankly who cares.
There's a dozen ways to avoid them (putting your feet down and
paddling around being the obvious, but you could also get off and
wheel it around, or go around the block etc).

Totally aside from the fact you'd obviously be wasting your time
trying to change her mind I don't actually see a problem with the
tactic. The vast majority of new learners have traditionally been
young men - the course is oriented towards ensuring they have a high
enough skill set before being let loose to probably survive the first
year. In my experience very few women take the "I'm 10 foot tall and
bullet proof" attitude, and are far more likely to stick within their
capability. The hard part can be to get them to expand their skills.

JL
(BTW Zebee, fwiw I can't even remember the last time I HAD to do a
feet up U turn in a LAMs sized area, and I'd remember because I still
hate doing the buggers)

 

I must admit I rarely have the need to do figure eights in real life.

Theo

 

I think that goes for most of us. Keeps us happy.

Theo
Feeling mellow today.

 

I know the feeling.

Theo
Married 43 years yesterday.