recomend a small bike?

hello,

my brother is intrested in starting biking, ideally he needs a small, easy bike to ride, maybe just a 125cc, im not really aware of whats out there, and whats any good, but it needs to be reliable, and cheap.

has anyone had any good experiences with any small bikes? i would appriciate hearing your experiences and recomendations.

cheers

depends what he's gonna use it for.

A lot of people on here have had CG125s, but I started out on a Yamaha Trailway 125. I have no idea on performace etc, but mine was utterly reliable, rocked in town, and was easy to get used to and handle. It was also incredibly confidence-building and may in fact be responsible for nurturing my urban-guerilla tendencies.....

I'm sure there's plenty of other threads on here about starting out and/or 125s

well hes definatly not interested in high performance, if he could get away with it, he would fit stabilisers!! lol

he needs something that will start first time and everytime, light weight, and simple to ride, a rev and go bike would be perfect, but i dont think he would like the idea of a moped.

i started straight on the sv650, so im not much help to him, i will look into the cg125, thinking about it, i think thats what i done my test on, and also that yamaha.

thanks for your thoughts

[squirrel_hunter]

When I started on a 125 it was a TZR; cracking little bike that taught me alot, including how to use a socket set so you'll probably want to rule that one out.

Personally a CG looks crap. Would recommend something else (anything). If hes not into the performance side then I would look at a Honda VT125 Shadow. Its not a bad bike if you like the custom style, and is a good one to start on. My dad has had one for a few years and its really low maintenance, the only down side is the finish is starting to show its age now but that can be fixed with a combination of Autosol and Hamerite.

the CG125 does look crap but its a great first bike! you can drop it and cause next to no damage, it costs nothing to run, nothing to insure and the tax is nearly free the big plus with the cg is if you can find a good one you can learn on it and sell it for the same price you got it for.

If hes learning to eventually move on to a bigger bike I would defintely not recommend a rev and go. You want something with gears so that after his CBT and while he is learning his rode craft the gear changes and breaking with them will become second nature at the same time.

I personally spent 6 months learning road craft on a Aprillia RS125. they are supposedly not very reliable but they are if you look after them. I would also look out for the yammie YBR125 (I think thats right) these are very nice and you should be able to pass it on for the same price you bought it for.

The other nice thing about the RS is that you can derestrict once you have passed. You dont get anywhere the power of a big bike but they handle like on rails and will get you to an indicated 90mph (private road) in no time at all.

I started on a Honda City Fly 125, it had more acceptable looks that the CG and was very slightly faster!!

My brother coughed up for a CBR125, never tried it but it looked the business.

Sold both bikes a year after they were bought for more than we paid. Took a bit of fettling though.

My other half (and my brothers other half) have just bought new Yamaha YBR125's and I have to say that I wasn't looking forward to picking them up having been sat on the SV for a while. However - they are fantastic machines for learning on and getting around town on. I much prefer them to the CG, having ridden both. They go, they stop (in a 125 way) and they have a great upright riding position. They weight nothing so its easy to save them if you have a low speed moment or an unexpected stall. Turning circle is tiny.

The only downside with the YBR is the fact that they take an age to warm up due to how lean they run them.

Honda XR125L....had mine 2 years and never once let me down.....very easy to ride and much more of the fun factor than a CG....looks a lot better too
Pic of the one i had

[Viney]

Puch Maxi