125cc commuter bike?
Discussion
Hi All, I'm going to take my CBT and get a 125 for going to work and back. I only live 9 miles from work and I am going to split my commutes between the car, push bike, and initially a 125cc bike.
My thoughts are do the CBT and see how I get on with using the bike before I commit to doing a full test and maybe getting something bigger. I must admit I don't particularly like riding my push bike on the road so I'm keen to see how I get on first.
Any suggestions on bikes? Makes, models etc. Budget is about £1k and I'm quite happy with a spanner in my hand. Would consider a project to do up before using it. I'm 6' 4" and about 6' of that is in my legs! So that will probably have a bearing on what to look at.
My thoughts are do the CBT and see how I get on with using the bike before I commit to doing a full test and maybe getting something bigger. I must admit I don't particularly like riding my push bike on the road so I'm keen to see how I get on first.
Any suggestions on bikes? Makes, models etc. Budget is about £1k and I'm quite happy with a spanner in my hand. Would consider a project to do up before using it. I'm 6' 4" and about 6' of that is in my legs! So that will probably have a bearing on what to look at.
I have just put my dads Honda CG125 on eBay 
He bought it as a project at the beginning of the year and has just been playing about with it really to keep himself busy. I am taking it for MOT this week.
General consensus for 125's is still to just buy Japanese as:
1. They will be more reliable
2. Parts are easy to find
3. They will hold their value
He bought it as a project at the beginning of the year and has just been playing about with it really to keep himself busy. I am taking it for MOT this week.
General consensus for 125's is still to just buy Japanese as:
1. They will be more reliable
2. Parts are easy to find
3. They will hold their value
To be honest, given your frame I suspect it would be better to do your full licence and then get a bigger bike.
I went from having never been on a bike to a full licence in 6 days. I debated doing a CBT and riding a 125 for a while but all of the experienced guys who I spoke to put me off it. On my day of CBT on fast roads I got hounded by cars and felt quite vulnerable albeit the bike was a cheap Chinese 125 bike that had taken a lot of abuse and I’m also a 16 stone dude. I personally felt far safer on a bike with more power, better brakes and a lot more grip.
Also you can often get a lot more for your money with bigger bikes particularly if you don’t mind a bit of spannering yourself.
I went from having never been on a bike to a full licence in 6 days. I debated doing a CBT and riding a 125 for a while but all of the experienced guys who I spoke to put me off it. On my day of CBT on fast roads I got hounded by cars and felt quite vulnerable albeit the bike was a cheap Chinese 125 bike that had taken a lot of abuse and I’m also a 16 stone dude. I personally felt far safer on a bike with more power, better brakes and a lot more grip.
Also you can often get a lot more for your money with bigger bikes particularly if you don’t mind a bit of spannering yourself.
My advice would be do the full test but i do understand the worry it might not be for you, although riding a 125 will only give you a bad example of riding.
As for your question, anything jap will do, you really shouldn't lose any money over a year and 125cc bikes sell very quickly and easily.
As for your question, anything jap will do, you really shouldn't lose any money over a year and 125cc bikes sell very quickly and easily.
Yamaha or Honda is the safe option, however I'd echo the previous commments - I thought I'd be fine on a 125 until I tried a bigger bike. I spent seven months commuting 15 miles each way on a YBR before doing my full licence (on an MT-07). On the drive home from my Mod 2 I stopped at my local Triumph dealer and bought a Tiger 800 - it's a world of difference. After you've completed your CBT and before you buy a 125, see if your chosen riding school will give you a quick taster on a 650cc+ bike.
A bigger bike is so much easier to ride than a 125 - on the latter I couldn't take the quickest route to work as it entailed 10 miles of busy dual carriageway. The 125 was only just able to keep up with the flow of traffic, and I'd liken it to the feeling of being on a push bike on a busy 30mph route - I felt vulnerable, so stayed clear.
A bigger bike is so much easier to ride than a 125 - on the latter I couldn't take the quickest route to work as it entailed 10 miles of busy dual carriageway. The 125 was only just able to keep up with the flow of traffic, and I'd liken it to the feeling of being on a push bike on a busy 30mph route - I felt vulnerable, so stayed clear.
Edited by JulianHJ on Sunday 16th June 19:45
MrGman said:
My advice would be do the full test but i do understand the worry it might not be for you, although riding a 125 will only give you a bad example of riding.
As for your question, anything jap will do, you really shouldn't lose any money over a year and 125cc bikes sell very quickly and easily.
I disagree that a 125cc gives a 'bad example of riding', I'd never ridden anything before, so personally had a lot of fun riding a ybr on my CBT and then commuting on a 125.As for your question, anything jap will do, you really shouldn't lose any money over a year and 125cc bikes sell very quickly and easily.
But saying that, when I jumped on a 500 for the first time to practice for my full test with my instructor, it was like night and day.
There seems to be two camps when it comes to learner bikes. Those that like them and those who hate 'em.
I have a YBR125 and it is a brilliant bike (for what it is), any other Japanese bike should be fine as long as it isn't rough.
Embrace the slowness and carry speed through the corners . . . . .
I have a YBR125 and it is a brilliant bike (for what it is), any other Japanese bike should be fine as long as it isn't rough.
Embrace the slowness and carry speed through the corners . . . . .
Excellent feedback, thanks guys and girls. Plenty to think about, good shout on trying a bigger bike first.
I derive a certain perverse pleasure from carrying speed in a slow car so maybe it would be the same on a smaller bike? The commute is 90% small NSL lanes so I haven't got to worry about dodging HGV's on a dual carriageway.
I derive a certain perverse pleasure from carrying speed in a slow car so maybe it would be the same on a smaller bike? The commute is 90% small NSL lanes so I haven't got to worry about dodging HGV's on a dual carriageway.
Best thing I ever did... I bought a 125cc and rode it for 3 months before doing my full licence a few weeks ago.
The 125 teaches you so much from handling, cornering and the very basics to motorbikes. I was so confident when going for my test. Passing my Mod 1 with no minors, and sailing through my mod 2. 3 months before I had never even been on a motorbike!
Plus they are GREAT fun, being so lightweight you can rag the hell out of them round town and country roads. The only crap thing is they struggle on national speed limits.
I would massively recommend doing the 125cc route. Check out the Honda CB125R, my friend had that, I rode the Aprilia Tuono 125cc this was actually quite nice. Very easy to ride.
The 125 teaches you so much from handling, cornering and the very basics to motorbikes. I was so confident when going for my test. Passing my Mod 1 with no minors, and sailing through my mod 2. 3 months before I had never even been on a motorbike!
Plus they are GREAT fun, being so lightweight you can rag the hell out of them round town and country roads. The only crap thing is they struggle on national speed limits.
I would massively recommend doing the 125cc route. Check out the Honda CB125R, my friend had that, I rode the Aprilia Tuono 125cc this was actually quite nice. Very easy to ride.
sparkyb999 said:
Check out the Honda CB125R, my friend had that, I rode the Aprilia Tuono 125cc this was actually quite nice. Very easy to ride.
Mini-hijack as these are outside of OP's budget - which of these two was better? Did you try both and/or check if the Honda power deficit made any difference?sparkyb999 said:
Best thing I ever did... I bought a 125cc and rode it for 3 months before doing my full licence a few weeks ago.
The 125 teaches you so much from handling, cornering and the very basics to motorbikes. I was so confident when going for my test. Passing my Mod 1 with no minors, and sailing through my mod 2. 3 months before I had never even been on a motorbike!
Plus they are GREAT fun, being so lightweight you can rag the hell out of them round town and country roads. The only crap thing is they struggle on national speed limits.
I would massively recommend doing the 125cc route. Check out the Honda CB125R, my friend had that, I rode the Aprilia Tuono 125cc this was actually quite nice. Very easy to ride.
I did the opposite - did a CBT and a couple of hour's practice on a 125, then did the DAS on a Z650. No minors on Mod1, passed Mod2 with one advisory for being a bit slow.The 125 teaches you so much from handling, cornering and the very basics to motorbikes. I was so confident when going for my test. Passing my Mod 1 with no minors, and sailing through my mod 2. 3 months before I had never even been on a motorbike!
Plus they are GREAT fun, being so lightweight you can rag the hell out of them round town and country roads. The only crap thing is they struggle on national speed limits.
I would massively recommend doing the 125cc route. Check out the Honda CB125R, my friend had that, I rode the Aprilia Tuono 125cc this was actually quite nice. Very easy to ride.
Even a couple of hours on a 125 and I knew I'd hate to own one as my only bike. I would consider buying a Grom for laughs though.
JulianHJ said:
Krikkit said:
I would consider buying a Grom for laughs though.
The only 125 I'd entertain now - they look awesome.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&...
Edited by LuS1fer on Monday 17th June 20:22
Seem to be some strong views on this, but I liked the 125cc route. Felt like I did my "apprenticeship" and made a couple of newbie mistakes that I'm glad I did on a 125 and not something bigger. I got a Duke 125 and really liked it - it's actually a decent size bike and didn't feel much smaller than the bikes I did my DAS on. This version isn't in budget but some of the olders ones are close
Been upgraded now the test has been passed however!
Been upgraded now the test has been passed however!
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff