What type of bike should I get as my first bike
Discussion
I have passed my DAS and I am now looking for my first bike. Should I spend as little as possible or should I aim for a say a £2000-£3000 and get a bike less than 5 years old with less than 20,000 miles?
My original plans were to look for a really cheep 600 bandit style bike circa £1,000-£1,200. Ride it for 6-12 months and P/X for a better or newer/more exspencive bike in the summer when I had got some more exsperience. SO that if I did drop it off it's stand or throw it down the road it wouldn't hurt my pocket too much.
But I am having dificulty finding anything under £1,500 and when I do then need work (obviously pushing the price up) so I may as well go for the newer machine with less miles.
What type of bike did you start with... is there any merit in going for a really cheap bike to start?
Get friendly with your local main dealership, establish a relationship with their salesmen (but don't piss them off by testing every bike in the shop!).
Once you are on friendly terms ask if they have anything coming in as a trade-in they want "underwritten."
Very often flash dealers don't want older or scruffier bikes as they don't want to spend money tidying them for the showroom or they might be older or higher mileage than they normally sell.
The problem for them is that many punters come in and just want rid of the old bike as part of the deal so they don't have to faf about trying to sell it themselves. Often the deal depends on the old bike being taken as part-ex, leading the dealer to buy a bike they don't really want.
Most dealers will then have someone else in the trade (a smaller bike shop or an independant trader) who will take these bikes on for whatever the agreed trade-in price was.
By offering to underwrite the sale, you are effectively buying the bike off it's previous owner and not the dealer so they have no liability (although they will sometimes add a hundred so they make something on the "arrangement"
.
I have bought my last four bikes like this and been very happy (how about a "W" reg Blackbird for £2000!), though I am always very careful checking them over.
Once you are on friendly terms ask if they have anything coming in as a trade-in they want "underwritten."
Very often flash dealers don't want older or scruffier bikes as they don't want to spend money tidying them for the showroom or they might be older or higher mileage than they normally sell.
The problem for them is that many punters come in and just want rid of the old bike as part of the deal so they don't have to faf about trying to sell it themselves. Often the deal depends on the old bike being taken as part-ex, leading the dealer to buy a bike they don't really want.
Most dealers will then have someone else in the trade (a smaller bike shop or an independant trader) who will take these bikes on for whatever the agreed trade-in price was.
By offering to underwrite the sale, you are effectively buying the bike off it's previous owner and not the dealer so they have no liability (although they will sometimes add a hundred so they make something on the "arrangement"
.I have bought my last four bikes like this and been very happy (how about a "W" reg Blackbird for £2000!), though I am always very careful checking them over.
Can be had for around £1,000 upwards. Look on Fleabay.At under 5 years old the bikes you are loking at are going to have a reasonable value (for good quality bikes), lots will be low mileage examples that have only seen the road a handful of times a year. pick a budget for your first bike that you are comfortable with spending.
You should really consider bikes over 5 years if you want to look at the cheaper end of the market, personally I'd look to get a bike that I intended to keep for a while, but that if it did end up damaged it wouldn't be the end of the world, buying now is a good time (though px-ing in a few months may loose you a fortune), dealers are clearing stock ready for the new reg plate/trade-ins and the weathers cold so sales of all bikes including private and dealers won't be as good as the summer
"SO that if I did drop it off it's stand or throw it down the road it wouldn't hurt my pocket too much."
if it's got crash bungs on hopefully it'll be somewhat protected from being dropped, footpegs, brake levers etc will be comparable on most bikes to replace, cosmetic damage will de value any bike, a cheaper one slightly less so, but for the right price someone will have it when you've finished with it, you'll view a total loss as expensive regardless of the bike you buy if you bin it, consider fully comp insurance if you're really bothered about throwing it down the road, that is if it's not too much money extra to insure
"I am having dificulty finding anything under £1,500 and when I do then need work (obviously pushing the price up) so I may as well go for the newer machine with less miles."
If you've got this as a weekend toy I wouldn't comprimise for the bike you want for the sake of a few quid because there will always be the nagging feeling you bought the wrong bike, if a bike needs work allow for it in your offer when trying to buy a bike privately, if it's a dealer they should fix all of the faults on it and negotiate anything extra that you want doing as part of the purchase price (dealer should also negotiate on clothing helmet etc at discounted rate, so may help you get a better deal)
"What type of bike did you start with..."
honda rvf 400, expensive for their age but well worth it for the machine, got a little used to the power after two years but the cornering ability more than made up for that
You should really consider bikes over 5 years if you want to look at the cheaper end of the market, personally I'd look to get a bike that I intended to keep for a while, but that if it did end up damaged it wouldn't be the end of the world, buying now is a good time (though px-ing in a few months may loose you a fortune), dealers are clearing stock ready for the new reg plate/trade-ins and the weathers cold so sales of all bikes including private and dealers won't be as good as the summer
"SO that if I did drop it off it's stand or throw it down the road it wouldn't hurt my pocket too much."
if it's got crash bungs on hopefully it'll be somewhat protected from being dropped, footpegs, brake levers etc will be comparable on most bikes to replace, cosmetic damage will de value any bike, a cheaper one slightly less so, but for the right price someone will have it when you've finished with it, you'll view a total loss as expensive regardless of the bike you buy if you bin it, consider fully comp insurance if you're really bothered about throwing it down the road, that is if it's not too much money extra to insure
"I am having dificulty finding anything under £1,500 and when I do then need work (obviously pushing the price up) so I may as well go for the newer machine with less miles."
If you've got this as a weekend toy I wouldn't comprimise for the bike you want for the sake of a few quid because there will always be the nagging feeling you bought the wrong bike, if a bike needs work allow for it in your offer when trying to buy a bike privately, if it's a dealer they should fix all of the faults on it and negotiate anything extra that you want doing as part of the purchase price (dealer should also negotiate on clothing helmet etc at discounted rate, so may help you get a better deal)
"What type of bike did you start with..."
honda rvf 400, expensive for their age but well worth it for the machine, got a little used to the power after two years but the cornering ability more than made up for that
i started off on a 1994 RF600 that cost £500. it did 20k in 9months with no really major problems & went for £400 PX when i got the new toy.
if your happy with spanners i'd be tempted by an old dog effectivley, you learn bike maintainace & dont have any worries about it getting nicked.
if your happy with spanners i'd be tempted by an old dog effectivley, you learn bike maintainace & dont have any worries about it getting nicked.
Sorry to hijack but I'm currently looking at costs for a first bike.
Now, I reckon all in all I'd have maybe £2k to spend, which I'd put on a 0% credit card and pay off during the course of a year (should be comfortable enough). However, it occurs to me that I have 0 NCB so my insurance premium will be a bit high - at least at first. So should I instead go for a finance deal? Let me explain:
I currently have about half of a 0% loan outstanding that I'm paying off every month for laser eye surgery. It costs me £75 p/m. Theoretically I could pay off my loan (no charge) and kind of 'replace' that with some sort of finance deal for a new bike? Thinking being that if I catch the right dealer I could get a year's free insurance thrown in (I know BMW do this, don't they?)? This is obviously antoher big financial incentive.
I want a bike rather than a car because I want something I actually love anyway, so although I have no plans on getting an R1 (!) in the near future I would quite like something I'd want to keep for 3 years - hence the finance thoughts...
Any advice gratefully appreciated!
Now, I reckon all in all I'd have maybe £2k to spend, which I'd put on a 0% credit card and pay off during the course of a year (should be comfortable enough). However, it occurs to me that I have 0 NCB so my insurance premium will be a bit high - at least at first. So should I instead go for a finance deal? Let me explain:
I currently have about half of a 0% loan outstanding that I'm paying off every month for laser eye surgery. It costs me £75 p/m. Theoretically I could pay off my loan (no charge) and kind of 'replace' that with some sort of finance deal for a new bike? Thinking being that if I catch the right dealer I could get a year's free insurance thrown in (I know BMW do this, don't they?)? This is obviously antoher big financial incentive.
I want a bike rather than a car because I want something I actually love anyway, so although I have no plans on getting an R1 (!) in the near future I would quite like something I'd want to keep for 3 years - hence the finance thoughts...
Any advice gratefully appreciated!
Edited by LongLiveTazio on Saturday 12th January 13:08
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff