Advice needed - 125cc bikes

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Fizzy Fish

And def go for a cheap 125 with no fairing as you'll probably drop it at least once at slow speed!

Genuinely surprised, do people drop 125's thought they were light enough to save from dropping?

I went for a Varadero 125 which is just a beautiful bike, cant recommend it enough! Sets you up for the bigger bikes too as its bigger than the 500's you'll do your DAS on so you get used to the bulk.

Great ride and will hold its value as well so i ended up running it round for a few months between CBT and DAS and then traded it in for near enough what i originally paid for it.

I did the cbt, and it took me four attempts to do it. I highly recommend seeing if you are a quick learner or not - also, after a four hour lesson, I felt too tired to concentrate properly. I'm a slow learner with stuff like this, but am glad I bought a cheap 125 for six months before doing the test, no way would I have taken enough in on an intensive course.

After my cbt disaster I passed first ttime on the test though.

Originally Posted by edmurrgr

also remember the test is only going to get harder, so why not get it done asap?

This is a very good point. If you're considering learning, why make it a harder, longer and more expensive experience. See here for useful info.

[mister c]

CG125 Honda, Best 125 EVER built in my eyes.
I totally abuse the one at our training school & have done for the last 7 years, plus students dont really care about our bikes, so more abuse there. It runs as smooth as silk & it is still running the original clutch.
The SR125s we have are forever going wrong.

Originally Posted by Durbs

I went for a Varadero 125 which is just a beautiful bike, cant recommend it enough! Sets you up for the bigger bikes too as its bigger than the 500's you'll do your DAS on so you get used to the bulk.

Great ride and will hold its value as well so i ended up running it round for a few months between CBT and DAS and then traded it in for near enough what i originally paid for it.

K's got one of them. They do hold value, you are right. Nice bikes.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

+ 1

Get it all done and then your sorted license wise, If you want a 125 then you can ride one till you feel up to moving to a bigger bike. If you grow in confidence quickly no need to do another test.

+1

Fizz has a really good point here - just because you do the DAS and pass the cat A test, doesn't mean you have to go out and ride a 500cc+ bike! It does however give you the option to, when you feel comfortable enough.

Get the licence out of the way - it really isn't that bad at all and then you never have to think about it again!

id recommend getting something you can sell, i bought a Yamaha DT125r for ?2700 traded it 6 months later for ?2500 i certainly got ?200 quid out of it lol, but it then went towards the SV, had i got something cheap and nasty... well they are much harder to shift in the end

Thanks for the advice guys, it's much appreciated

[mister c]

Best bet is wait & see how you fair on your CBT. If you feel confident, then go for DAS, if not, then take another route.
Once you have done the CBT ask the Instructor what he thinks. The number of people that think they haven't got what it takes is amazing. Your instructor, if he/she has any nouse about them will be perfectly honest and say whether or not to go for your test.