Motors Looking for a bike

Im gonna be 17 soon and getting a bike but i want to try to get a sports bike (if i can convince my parents to do so). The problem is i believe you're limited to 125cc engines 'til you have 2 years experience or something like that.

Im defining sports bike as anything that looks something like a motoGP bike (the type kids tend to drool over) and really dont care about performance because at the end of the day any bikes gonna get me from A to B so, basically, i just want a good looking sports bike.

So does anyone know of anything which i would be interested in and would be legal for me to drive?

 

Since you're going to be 17 you can skip the 50cc pieces of crap, so...

Honda CBR 125
Yamaha YZF-R125 (new for '08)
Aprilia RS125
Honda NSR125
Cagiva Mito 125
There are also a bunch of cheap chinese brands doing 125s but they're essentially the same as the above - 125s in either 2 or 4 stroke.

Basically you can ride any of those on a CBT (valid for 2 years) providing you are 17 - or anything that has a maximum of 125cc displacement and has less than 15bhp ish (there is an official figure). Oh, and you'll have to display L plates.

You can (after doing your CBT) do your restricted test and ride anything as long as it is under 33bhp or restricted to 33bhp (so yes you could ride an R1 if you restricted it ). After two years that limit is lifted and you can ride anything of any size and power as long as you can insure it.

My advice would be do your CBT, buy one of those 125s, do your full test then de-restrict it as far as it'll go (the Aprilia is good for 30HP derestricted = quite quick), and wait the two years out. There after you will have 2 years riding experience under your belt and will be ready for a 400-500-600cc bike

 

How about a Honda Varadero;


It's more of a tourer than a sporty model, but a brilliant first-time bike. Very comfy ride due to the massive seat, and they look much bigger than they are (engine wise). However, they are expensive for a 125cc but at the day it's a Honda, so you know you'll get minimal problems.

Reviews & more info here

& I've got one for sale...nudge nudge

 

A 125 v twin!? Insane. The pistons must be as big as thimbles

 

RTT's advice is sound...

The RS125 tends to be the most popular 125 out there. And as a result there are a lot of parts and spares available for it.
The contest for the quickest 125 tends to go between the Mito and the RS...
However, the mito in general seems to have more problems related expecially to electrics.
I personally went for a Gilera Crono 125. Was nice and cheap. Only problem is now any spares cost and arm and a leg, and reliablity is somewhat lacking.

Yatesy

 

Get any of Honda's 4 stroke 125cc derived bikes for CBT and first 2yrs riding... soon as you're confident, sell on and move up. Maintenance costs are SO much lower on the 4Ts than the 2Ts - have been thru NS125, NSR125, Mito125, RS125 briefly but went back to the Mito... all for road use. We use a CBR125 engine on the track, and haven't had to do any maintenance to it in 2 years more or less - long term, running that one CBR125 engine for 2 years of racing cost less than keeping any of the older 2T-125's on the road for a year - in my experience, Mito has electrical issues, all resolved by rewiring the loom yourself and soldering/heatshrinking everything, whereas the Aprilia has mechanical issues that involve more outlay to repair. Both bikes match each other when it comes to top speed and acceleration really... Aprilia has become the chav sportsbike of choice - generally new out of the showroom on credit, to be thrown down the road 2 days later. The Varadero posted above - yep, they're huge. The Varadero 125 is bigger than my CB500... I've often considered getting one and slinging the CB500's engine into the Vara125's frame...

Don't get me wrong, personally, I love 2 strokes and will always take one over a 4 if offered - they're fun... but from a money standpoint, the 4 strokes are just a much sounder investment and hold their value more - especially the CBR seeing as it has all the boyracer bits available for it now, meaning you can get rid of it much easier when it comes time to move up to bigger n' better things.

Best looking is by far the early Mito MkII with twin round headlights... but it's a preference thing. Hate the RS's looks. Mito Evo is OK, but just looks like it's wanting to be a Ducati too much - when you see one you think "gr8" but when one heads past you sounding like a 2stroke the fantasy soon changes. CBR125 looks sporty on it's own, but park it up near a Mito or Aprilia and it looks teeny tiny toy town. NS is too old and should be ignored. NSR - meh... middle ground between the CBR and the Mito / Aprilia, I never got me hands on a good example of one to have anything much to say about `em, other than there's a wealth of info on tuning them out there.

CBR125


Mito Evo


Mito MkII (s'a photo of my old one)


Aprilia's bug-eyed thundercat adorned RS125 *bleh*


Sachs XTC125 (not really a contender - unreliable in many ways, not least, the frame)

 

I dunno, I hate the bug-eye RS125's but have you seen the 06-07's?



On that note, the Yammy R125:



Very nice for what it is, not far off looking like a real bike tbh.

 

Oh aye - I'd forgot about the new Yammy!! Yep, definitely the best looker of the lot, ltd to 12.6bhp for the UK market iirc, but expect imports to be available with higher (potentially 18bhp I think - was drunk when I was conversing over it with the rest of the guys)... that's also a 4 stroke. Been looking into that to replace the CBR125 engine for next season, but the CRF150R 4 stroke supermoto engine keeps kicking me up the ass reminding me that it's a 26bhp stock engine that'll hit 85 happily, with OODLES of torque to get it there - low on top speed but HUGE acceleration curve. Can just picture the sidecar leaving the line on it's back wheel... (altho it does that already with the CBR125 engine in - bored up to 136cc with hicompression piston and race cam, but only keeps it up for 2 feet before all 3 wheels are planted again)

I'll rephrase my Aprilia comments - I just hate Aprilias the arse on the new one just looks wrong - needs a flat pillion seat like the Yam's.

TBH, I'm enjoying this dawning of 4T sporty 125's... it means fairly soon there'll be a mainstream race series overseas for them (there already is for the CBR, but they use the Thailand variant - CBR150 4valve - same bottom end as CBR125RR 2 valve, diff cylinder, head and camshaft) that is open to ALL 4T 125's rather than limited to a single model/manufacturer production series, which means more off-the-shelf tuning bits for `em rather than sitting there for hours with a dremel

I think personally I'm just more attracted to late 80's styled sports bikes as it's the era I grew up in, and that's what they looked like on TV at the time... needs to have curves n' wide shoulders to get me interested...

EDIT: Forgot to add - re: the Chinese bikes mentioned in first post. CHECK SPECS CAREFULLY BEFORE BUYING. Most are listed as 70KPH top speed... 45mph. Very few spare parts available for them, and the frames tend to be made of Cheese, altho Hyosung were showing some LOVELY ones off at the bikeshow earlier this year that might change all that in the years to come.

 

Other option is too get a 600cc and get it limited, it saves you having to get a bigger cap bike afterwards too.

As someone has said, the Varadero is lovely, that's the one I wanted when I was at college, and it is still the bike I'd chose to serve my two years out when I get my liscence.

HOWEVER, with all that being said, the new 125's are all 4T due to emission laws, and they all seem to look so much better than when I was looking (jesus that's 5 years ago now, man do I suddenly feel old! ).

The biggest problem with these 125cc supersports (looking at least) are that they have such skinny rubber on them, they just don't seem very stable to me.

 

Mito and RS both have more or less "proper" tyres... Aprilia has the biggest of `em all. CBR has the smallest and skinniest. Mito shares same size tyres as my CB500. Aprilia is next size up on the rear, but same on the front. The Yam will have big boots...

Ideally you want the smallest possible wheel necessary to get the power down, not the biggest - the tyre thing is just a biker's equivalent to e-penis length. Fat tyres look cool, but in reality mean little to how the bike will handle...

 

Not gonna just do DAS? That's my plan, I think.

 

Get on with it then - DAS is getting scrapped soon, then you HAVE to go thru a restriction process based on number of years you've held yer license for, and it's progressive... not just 2 yrs then anything you want. Its a yr restricted to blah bhp, then a yr restricted to blah and so on for about 6 years before you get near 100bhp iirc.

No-one's sure if or when it's coming into play, but most think it should be here by 2010 at the VERY latest... 28th September `08 is the time to have everything done by at the latest imo as that's when the CBT changes come into effect so they'll be looking at everything else coming up to that date. See bottom of page here for the new CBT test...

 

mito's are the best not that im biased. the electrics are shocking tho, so invest in a battery charger. other than that there amazing

 

Indeed I didn't bother this summer (lazy) and have only just turned 21 anyway; August 08 still gives me plenty of time.

 

im liking the bikes you're coming up with guys. Feel free to suggest more. Also, do you have an idea on the prices of the bikes?
Thanks

 

RS go for about £1500 for a 2 year old one, for sports bikes that's all I know but mainly go look on autotrader and you should be sorted for whatever you want.

 

Will do

 

[Made a double post by accident...Ooops]

Anyway, looking at the prices it seems like theres a good chance i'll be able to get my parents to pay for most of it

 

Lucky you, I was for paying for my own, insurance should be around £800 at the most for fully compt in your own name, had it priced for myself when I was looking at them, that was for an RS so i would assume the rest would be around that but if you went on your mum or dad's insurance it will be about £400 tops I would say.