Hiring a 125cc motorbike

[Mojooo]

I am looking to do my CBT soon

I want to hire a 125cc motorbike for a few weeks just to see if I like it before doing the DAS (I have a habit for spending money on stuff and losing interest soon after). I live near the New Forest so I figure taking it down there for some leisure riding will soon tell me if I like it or not.

I have a bike in mind for after I get my DAS, so I don't want to buy a 125cc for the interim period if I can avoid it.

There do not seem to be many option around to hire.

Anyone know of any retailers in the south of England?

Other option is to buy and sell back to a dealer which I have seen one dealer offering.

[TurboHatchback]

Demand for used geared 125cc bikes is apparently strong, I would buy one and trade it back in when you're done. I am in fact, my 125cc is scheduled to go back from whence it came on Saturday to be replaced with new Suzuki.

I'd be surprised if you find any rental options for what you want, I wouldn't have thought that would be a viable business proposition.

[66mpg]

Roadtrip.uk in Woking hire Yamaha 125 for £105/day.

[trickywoo]

66mpg said:

Roadtrip.uk in Woking hire Yamaha 125 for £105/day.

Wow that’s expensive.

Albeit a while ago I hired one from the same place I did my cbt.

I would say don’t expect to be blown away by the two wheel experience on a rented 125. I hated being on one not least because the L plate makes you a target.

[66mpg]

In 2021 my instructor was renting me one if his 125s to practice by myself for £40/day. Roadtrip wasn’t much more expensive so prices have definitely gone up sharply in the last three years.

[DirtyHarley]

For a few weeks you can probably buy a munter of a chinese 125cc second hand and insure it for peanuts too. A quick look on the faceache market place suggests an abundance of them sub £300 in various conditions. Sure, they are built to be disposable objects with cheap chrome and crappy furnishings but they aren't the horror storey death traps of old. I've bought quite a few cheap as 'fixer upper' projects over the years including for my missues little sister; I wouldn't let her go out on it if I wasn't happy to ride it myself.

[OverSteery]

Mojooo said:

I am looking to do my CBT soon

I want to hire a 125cc motorbike for a few weeks just to see if I like it before doing the DAS (I have a habit for spending money on stuff and losing interest soon after). I live near the New Forest so I figure taking it down there for some leisure riding will soon tell me if I like it or not.

I have a bike in mind for after I get my DAS, so I don't want to buy a 125cc for the interim period if I can avoid it.

There do not seem to be many option around to hire.

Anyone know of any retailers in the south of England?

Other option is to buy and sell back to a dealer which I have seen one dealer offering.

The 125 experience is significantly different and inferior to a big bike. I wouldn't continue to ride if limited to a 125.

If you have done your CBT, most schools will do a taster / introduction to big bikes for a couple of hours. If they don't advertise it, ask. It's an easy thing to slot into a schedule for a few extra quid. I would say with that and CBT, you should know if you are hooked. Most people are blown away by the power and feel of a 650.

If you determined to have a 125 for a few weeks, I would buy a second hand Honda cb 125 (or other quality brand) from a dealer. Don't drop it and clean up it afterwards and it will loose virtually no value. When you come to sell it, all you a loosing is the dealers cut. As mentioned, the market for 125s is busy and they are reliable with little to go wrong, so the dealer margin isn't vast. My local dealer makes an almost comically small amount on a new 125, but it's a gate way drug sale!

It you can face it and buy/sell private, it might resell for the same price as bought (albeit with additional hassle).

A "munter of a chinese 125cc" will indeed be cheap, but will probably make you decide never to ride a bike again - it's a nasty experience in most ways.

Edited by OverSteery on Wednesday 10th April 07:30

[stu67]

OverSteery said:

Mojooo said:

I am looking to do my CBT soon

I want to hire a 125cc motorbike for a few weeks just to see if I like it before doing the DAS (I have a habit for spending money on stuff and losing interest soon after). I live near the New Forest so I figure taking it down there for some leisure riding will soon tell me if I like it or not.

I have a bike in mind for after I get my DAS, so I don't want to buy a 125cc for the interim period if I can avoid it.

There do not seem to be many option around to hire.

Anyone know of any retailers in the south of England?

Other option is to buy and sell back to a dealer which I have seen one dealer offering.

The 125 experience is significantly different and inferior to a big bike. I wouldn't continue to ride if limited to a 125.

If you have done your CBT, most schools will do a taster / introduction to big bikes for a couple of hours. If they don't advertise it, ask. It's an easy thing to slot into a schedule for a few extra quid. I would say with that and CBT, you should know if you are hooked. Most people are blown away by the power and feel of a 650.

If you determined to have a 125 for a few weeks, I would buy a second hand Honda cb 125 (or other quality brand) from a dealer. Don't drop it and clean up it afterwards and it will loose virtually no value. When you come to sell it, all you a loosing is the dealers cut. As mentioned, the market for 125s is busy and they are reliable with little to go wrong, so the dealer margin isn't vast. My local dealer makes an almost comically small amount on a new 125, but it's a gate way drug sale!

It you can face it and buy/sell private, it might resell for the same price as bought (albeit with additional hassle).

A "munter of a chinese 125cc" will indeed be cheap, but will probably make you decide never to ride a bike again - it's a nasty experience in most ways.

Indeed similar when my younger brother did his bike test front end of Covid. He purchased a 2 year old Honda CBF 125 to get some experience and sold it on after and lost no money. In fact because the market was all a bit weird then, I actually think he made a couple of hundred against his bigger bike. The 125's are always in demand at least in the London area.

Edited by OverSteery on Wednesday 10th April 07:30

[Donbot]

Buy a used cbf / ybr for £1500.

You could probably sell it for roughly the same price you bought it for.

For a quick sale at £1200 ish people will be snapping your hands off for it.

There isn't a cheap way to rent motorbikes sadly.

Or as above - sort something out with a dealer.

[Mojooo]

Thanks

I think my longer term aim would be to get a cruiser - something like a Honda Rebel 500 - something that can do motorways if needed (albeit there seems to be difference of opinion on whether it should go on motorways...but for me it would be the odd commute). Its a shame I can't ride oen of these for a few days before deciding whether to go for a full licence.

I'll look into taster sessions with a school.

(Its very unlikely I will want a really powerful sports bike)

[Krikkit]

I'd skip the 125 stage and just start learning on a big bike - by the time you've done a few lessons you'll know if you enjoy it enough to commit, and once you have a licence it's not costing you anything if you lose interest

[Donbot]

Yeah. Unless you actually want a 125 by the time you have gone through the cost and hassle you might as well have just done the das and buy what you want if still interested.

Edit - A Rebel 500 would be fine on the motorway. Might be a bit vibey though.

Edited by Donbot on Wednesday 10th April 12:42

[TurboHatchback]

I don't agree with several of the comments here, having spent the last few months riding around on a CB125R and having just passed my big bike tests. I think a 6 day course going from zero to big bike hero would have been very challenging and, even if I had passed, would have been much riskier than spending a couple of thousand miles on a little bike first. I've also very much enjoyed the 125 riding, though I did get about the nicest 125cc road bike that money can buy (and I'm glad I did).

As a car driver, I had no muscle memory of bike controls, no finesse on the throttle, that stuff takes a bit of time to develop. The sensation of speed also takes some getting used to, it makes anything you've done in a car feel frankly boring. On a 125 you can be fairly ham-fisted and live to see another day, I think I would have been a liability on a big bike at that early stage but now I can confidently jump on a 1000cc bike and it's no big deal.

[P675]

In my opinion 125s are rubbish and you'd better spend your time having a lesson on a larger bike after your CBT.

[Caddyshack]

P675 said:

In my opinion 125s are rubbish and you'd better spend your time having a lesson on a larger bike after your CBT.

I agree.

I rode 125’s for a fair while but they were de-restricted 2 strokes which can produce 30hp, the new 11hp bikes are slow and rubbish.

[CoreyDog]

When I was going for DAS I bought a Varadero 125 for £1300, rode it for about 1000 miles for practise, passed, gave it a good clean, replaced some stickers and sold it within 24hrs for £1800 and had a queue of people waiting to come and collect it. Only had it a few months.

Really regret selling it, for a 125 was a great bike and wish I had kept it, put some dirt tyres on it and kept it for green lanes.

If you buy a Japanese 125, you can expect to get back what you paid at an absolute minimum.

[Donbot]

TurboHatchback said:

I don't agree with several of the comments here, having spent the last few months riding around on a CB125R and having just passed my big bike tests. I think a 6 day course going from zero to big bike hero would have been very challenging and, even if I had passed, would have been much riskier than spending a couple of thousand miles on a little bike first. I've also very much enjoyed the 125 riding, though I did get about the nicest 125cc road bike that money can buy (and I'm glad I did).

As a car driver, I had no muscle memory of bike controls, no finesse on the throttle, that stuff takes a bit of time to develop. The sensation of speed also takes some getting used to, it makes anything you've done in a car feel frankly boring. On a 125 you can be fairly ham-fisted and live to see another day, I think I would have been a liability on a big bike at that early stage but now I can confidently jump on a 1000cc bike and it's no big deal.

Throttle control is easy to learn. I'm not convinced riding a 125 would help at all with that. If anything riding with a school and sorting it out at an early stage would be the best way to go.

Plus he's looking to get a Rebel 500. You could probably spanner the throttle on that as much as a 125.

I put as many miles on my 125 as I do my big bikes, and I think it is great. I'm the last person that would say small bikes are st, but you are best off getting something you want.

[Krikkit]

TurboHatchback said:

I don't agree with several of the comments here, having spent the last few months riding around on a CB125R and having just passed my big bike tests. I think a 6 day course going from zero to big bike hero would have been very challenging and, even if I had passed, would have been much riskier than spending a couple of thousand miles on a little bike first. I've also very much enjoyed the 125 riding, though I did get about the nicest 125cc road bike that money can buy (and I'm glad I did).

As a car driver, I had no muscle memory of bike controls, no finesse on the throttle, that stuff takes a bit of time to develop. The sensation of speed also takes some getting used to, it makes anything you've done in a car feel frankly boring. On a 125 you can be fairly ham-fisted and live to see another day, I think I would have been a liability on a big bike at that early stage but now I can confidently jump on a 1000cc bike and it's no big deal.

I don't agree at all, but I did it the opposite way and you can only learn once!

In my opinion the CBT teaches you just enough to get into trouble and bad habits (no counter steering, no fine control, no looking through corners etc) that are the first steps of the DAS required for Mod1.

The higher quality of big bikes vs most 125s means it's easier to learn finesse on something well made, and frankly it isn't hard imho. I think if you were an impetuous teenager then something less potent is a good idea, but as an adult with sense you're better off with a more capable machine which is miles away from its maximum performance.

[Caddyshack]

Krikkit said:

I don't agree at all, but I did it the opposite way and you can only learn once!

In my opinion the CBT teaches you just enough to get into trouble and bad habits (no counter steering, no fine control, no looking through corners etc) that are the first steps of the DAS required for Mod1.

The higher quality of big bikes vs most 125s means it's easier to learn finesse on something well made, and frankly it isn't hard imho. I think if you were an impetuous teenager then something less potent is a good idea, but as an adult with sense you're better off with a more capable machine which is miles away from its maximum performance.

When did you last do a CBT?, the one I did in 2023 taught pretty much all of mod 1, it was 9 hrs with a 2 hr road ride and it was very much a condensed mod 1 and mod2 training day.

[Krikkit]

Caddyshack said:

When did you last do a CBT?, the one I did in 2023 taught pretty much all of mod 1, it was 9 hrs with a 2 hr road ride and it was very much a condensed mod 1 and mod2 training day.

2017 then 2019