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Booked in for my CBT on the 3rd of November. Now all I've got to do is buy a bike...
A guy I used to work with is a real bike nut, and has offered to come with me and take a look. I want something preferably with a sporty look to it, although the performance on a 125 won't be particularly impressive.
Bike will mainly be used for commuting to and from the station, but I also want to have some pleasure trips out at the weekends. I've been looking at various options - I want something reliable and cheap, above all else - oh, and I don't want a scooter/moped
A lot of bikes I've found online have been Chinese copies - any thoughts on these? - I've heard mixed reviews, although the styling of the Kaisar XT125/Skyjet is really nice, IMHO (although not in Kawasaki ripoff green ).
Depends what you want out of the bike really mate.
I bought my first bike before I had passed my test. Still got it. A lot of my mates were/are bike mad too, so had lots of conflicing opinions about what to get.
I knew that I wanted a sports bike, and was set on getting a 400, but all of them are imports, and parts etc are hard to come by.
Decided to go for a 600 in the end, and it came down to a CBR-600 or ZX-6R. Had a look at a few of them, and spoke to loads of friends and mechanics/shops about reliability, servicing etc. From what I was told at the time, and what I know now, 5 years of riding, the Honda is a far more reliable, safe machine. The Kawaka on the oher hand is a riders bike.
Like I said all depends on what you want the bike to do. Insurance, even on a 600 I didn't find too bad. Think I was paying about £500 tpf&t my first year. I am now paying about £120 for insurance, and I think it was £45 for a year tax.
The servicing I do all myself, about 3 times a year. Costs about £300 ish. Valve clearances every other year about £250. They do need to be done on any bike really.
Originally posted by davehanson:
Depends what you want out of the bike really mate.
I bought my first bike before I had passed my test. Still got it. A lot of my mates were/are bike mad too, so had lots of conflicing opinions about what to get.
I knew that I wanted a sports bike, and was set on getting a 400, but all of them are imports, and parts etc are hard to come by.
Decided to go for a 600 in the end, and it came down to a CBR-600 or ZX-6R. Had a look at a few of them, and spoke to loads of friends and mechanics/shops about reliability, servicing etc. From what I was told at the time, and what I know now, 5 years of riding, the Honda is a far more reliable, safe machine. The Kawaka on the oher hand is a riders bike.
Like I said all depends on what you want the bike to do. Insurance, even on a 600 I didn't find too bad. Think I was paying about £500 tpf&t my first year. I am now paying about £120 for insurance, and I think it was £45 for a year tax.
The servicing I do all myself, about 3 times a year. Costs about £300 ish. Valve clearances every other year about £250. They do need to be done on any bike really.
The economics of it attract me quite a bit - Fuel for the best part of a fortnight would be about 15 quid IIRC. As I said, it will mostly be used for the daily commute, but I want to have some fun at the weekends.
Get a bicycle instead. Great economics and the pounds will start dropping off. If that's not enough to make you happy the excercise will trigger the release of happy hormone serotonin.
yeah, my first bike was also an NSR - fantastic little hairdryer....although, not long after I passed my test they changed the law, in that if you took your test on a 125 you had to ride 125s for 2 years before upgrading - but if you took it on a bigger bike, you could jump straight on them. If that is still the case (been 7 years since I left England, so things may have changed), I would definately say do you test on a big machine.
I have a Speed Triple now - and that is just 100% pure fun.
Have we got any bikers? 
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