Help me pick a Bike

goodlad

Hey everyone,

I had previously post when i was thinking about getting my first bike.
Well i now have my learner permit and my money sorted so im ready top start bike shopping

My overall budget is 5k
I got insurance quotes on a bandit (restricted) for 950 euro.

So now i just need to find the bike i want.

Any help in the search would be awesome.

EDIT: I also need to buy gear out of that budget.

goodlad

Ok i get the point, haha!

Well i kinda have my heart set on a bandit, but since i know pretty much nothing of bikes its hard to choose one out of the many on sale that i see.

Im just hoping some people here that know a lot about bikes could spare a few minutes and recommend me some good deals out there.

Cuddlesworth

goodlad wrote: »

Hey everyone,

I had previously post when i was thinking about getting my first bike.
Well i now have my learner permit and my money sorted so im ready top start bike shopping

My overall budget is 5k
I got insurance quotes on a bandit (restricted) for 950 euro.

So now i just need to find the bike i want.

Any help in the search would be awesome.

EDIT: I also need to buy gear out of that budget.

600 Euros, basic lessons and Aon/quinn assessment. This will pay itself off in two years.

600+ Euros, gear. Gloves, leggings, helmet, jacket, boots and misc.

300 euros, BFC. Big Fcking chain. Almax are recommended highly.

1k Insurance.

That leaves around 2.5k for the bike.

I would personally go for something like a v-strom. Factory restricted and a Aon assessment Grade 2 could get your insurance down to 400-500 with Aon. Try get him to 3k if the insurance works out cheaper.

goodlad

Thanks for the advice on the budget breakdown.
Tis appreciated

I took a look over done deal and biker.ie for the last few hours.

These bikes seems nice

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/973094

I prefer this model of the bandit but the guy seems a bit hopefull with that asking price. What do you think?

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/1012366
This is nice, seems a good deal?

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/958734
This is also nice but i think i heard that garage has a bad rep?

KamiKazi

goodlad wrote: »

Thanks for the advice on the budget breakdown.
Tis appreciated

I took a look over done deal and biker.ie for the last few hours.

These bikes seems nice

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/973094

I prefer this model of the bandit but the guy seems a bit hopefull with that asking price. What do you think?

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/1012366
This is nice, seems a good deal?

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/958734
This is also nice but i think i heard that garage has a bad rep?

The one in the middle would be my choice, you'd probably get it for 2,500 cash. Plus those engine crash bars are very handy if you do end up dropping it

goodlad

I had found that one on biker.ie for 2500, i had post asking to go see the bike.
Will have to wait for a reply.

It does seem like good value.

n.catenthusiast

best of luck with it.

Would you consider looking a dealer 2nd hand bikes?

If yr new to biking it can be prudent to but from somewhere that'll give you a 3/6 months parts warrenty. means if your sold a lemon you have some reprise.

Obviously bike'll be a bit more expensive but you have peace of mind that bike is in reasonable condition and has been serviced recently

USER X

Bandits a great bike, I bought a naked 2008 650 in January of this year after passing my test last year. I dont think its a good idea to just jump on a bike without getting lessons first. Sure you can drive it and you might be fine most of the time but there but as you'll discover, theres lots of dodgey drivers out there waiting to cream you off the bike. Just call up the ISM and book in for a few lessons, you'll be glad you did. Hate to sound like an old man here (24 BTW) but dont get a bike until you have All the safety gear... A good helmet which meets many standards (look out for the British racing standard, its a gold badge at the back of the helmet), a decent set of gloves with Kevlar/carbon fibre armor and they should keep your hands warm and dry, a jacket with armor on the elbows, shoulders and plenty of back protection (both armored and cushioned). A pair of leather trousers, they will take the shaving if you slide down the tarmac so your legs dont have to. Whatever you do, dont forget the boots, I lost part of my foot in Feb because an uninsured off-duty Garda ploughed me off the bike and ill never be able to walk the same again. Anyway the point is every biker goes down at some stage, it might be just a small slip of the wheels and not too much damage but its best to have the right protection in place. I also would not advise you to buy in Ireland, most of the bikes for sale here are damaged in some way and over-priced. Get yourself onto ebay.co.uk, type in bandit and then limit the years to 2007,2008 and youll pick up a good machine at the right price. Make sure you get a HPI check on the bike and bare in mind the VRT costs.

goodlad

n.catenthusiast wrote: »

best of luck with it.

Would you consider looking a dealer 2nd hand bikes?

If yr new to biking it can be prudent to but from somewhere that'll give you a 3/6 months parts warrenty. means if your sold a lemon you have some reprise.

Obviously bike'll be a bit more expensive but you have peace of mind that bike is in reasonable condition and has been serviced recently

Im not against that idea at all, in fact i agree with it.
I have been looking up bike shops around kildare, im dropping over to one called andys bikes n bits tomorrow evening to see what he has.

Im not in any mad rush to buy so i will shop around.

goodlad

USER X wrote: »

Bandits a great bike, I bought a naked 2008 650 in January of this year after passing my test last year. I dont think its a good idea to just jump on a bike without getting lessons first. Sure you can drive it and you might be fine most of the time but there but as you'll discover, theres lots of dodgey drivers out there waiting to cream you off the bike. Just call up the ISM and book in for a few lessons, you'll be glad you did. Hate to sound like an old man here (24 BTW) but dont get a bike until you have All the safety gear... A good helmet which meets many standards (look out for the British racing standard, its a gold badge at the back of the helmet), a decent set of gloves with Kevlar/carbon fibre armor and they should keep your hands warm and dry, a jacket with armor on the elbows, shoulders and plenty of back protection (both armored and cushioned). A pair of leather trousers, they will take the shaving if you slide down the tarmac so your legs dont have to. Whatever you do, dont forget the boots, I lost part of my foot in Feb because an uninsured off-duty Garda ploughed me off the bike and ill never be able to walk the same again. Anyway the point is every biker goes down at some stage, it might be just a small slip of the wheels and not too much damage but its best to have the right protection in place. I also would not advise you to buy in Ireland, most of the bikes for sale here are damaged in some way and over-priced. Get yourself onto ebay.co.uk, type in bandit and then limit the years to 2007,2008 and youll pick up a good machine at the right price. Make sure you get a HPI check on the bike and bare in mind the VRT costs.

Thanks for the advice, i full intend to get riding lessons.
And i wont skimp on the gear, i would sooner get an older bike so afford better gear.

I hadnt looked at buying from the uk, i think i will buy here though.
Im sure if i take the time shopping around i can pick up a bargain.

goodlad

I have been looking around a bit more and called a few bike shops.
One in tallaght superbikes is nice,

http://tallaghtsuperbikes.cbg.ie/detail.aspx?ID=3336189

From talking to the guy the price is 3600.
Thats a 6 month warranty

I know it will be more expensive from a dealer rather than going private but does that price seem a bit high to you guys?

USER X

2007 Black bandit on ebay.co.uk

2007 Black bandit for €3185 with 5244 Miles on the clock, VRT is €800 (https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/showBikeCalculator)

I bought my 2008 in January of this year for €3500 with less than 5000 miles on it. If you really dont want to make the trip across the water, have a look up north. I can understand why you would want to buy in the ROI, you get a bike that you can jump on and go straight away but from anyone ive talked to about bikes down here, the quality just isn't there. Have you had a look on biker.ie? If you havn't joined biker.ie yet, be careful when posting because the site only has the one Mod (Chopper) and he will ban your acc and blacklist your IP if he doesnt like what you have to say. Hope you find yourself a good bike and post a photo up when you get it!

RosieJoe

Biggest problem the OP will have when buying abroad is that he has only got a learner permit, meaning that he cannot drive the bike back himself.

goodlad

Yup that would be a pain alright.
I think i will stick with buying in the country.

I just seen this

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/991554

Lovely looking bike!

KamiKazi

goodlad wrote: »

Yup that would be a pain alright.
I think i will stick with buying in the country.

I just seen this

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/991554

Lovely looking bike!

Very nice bike. Was thinking of buying it as my next bike will definitely be an SV650, but I'm gonna wait until after winter, that's far too nice to drop on a patch of ice

goodlad

Yeah its pretty nice.
Although its not restricted, although i *think* i can get insured even if i get it shop restricted rather than factory restricted.

KamiKazi

goodlad wrote: »

Yeah its pretty nice.
Although its not restricted, although i *think* i can get insured even if i get it shop restricted rather than factory restricted.

You can get it insured irregardless of restriction. Your licence won't be valid without restriction however.

Cuddlesworth

goodlad wrote: »

Yeah its pretty nice.
Although its not restricted, although i *think* i can get insured even if i get it shop restricted rather than factory restricted.

You won't get the bonus of factory restriction though.

goodlad

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You won't get the bonus of factory restriction though.

What bonus?

Donnelly117

goodlad wrote: »

What bonus?

insurance afaik

Cuddlesworth

goodlad wrote: »

What bonus?

Insurance company's(except Quinn) reduce their premium if the bike is factory restricted. That coupled with a AON assessment can lead to some very competitive quotes rather then the usual 1K+ bull.

goodlad

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Insurance company's(except Quinn) reduce their premium if the bike is factory restricted. That coupled with a AON assessment can lead to some very competitive quotes rather then the usual 1K+ bull.

Thanks for the info.

I dropped into Tallaght superbikes.
The deal they offered me was a 03 bandit 600n for 3550.
That's with a meta alarm, and 6 months warranty.

Buffalo jacket, legs, gloves and helmet for 300.

They can also restrict it for 250.

What do you guys make of all that? Good or bad?

Cuddlesworth

goodlad wrote: »

Thanks for the info.

I dropped into Tallaght superbikes.
The deal they offered me was a 03 bandit 600n for 3550.
That's with a meta alarm, and 6 months warranty.

Buffalo jacket, legs, gloves and helmet for 300.

They can also restrict it for 250.

What do you guys make of all that? Good or bad?

I picked up a restricted 06 ER-6N last year for 4k with 11k kilometres on the clock, crash bobbins and a immobiliser private. I would say it's overtly expensive for what you are getting. I would seriously look at the private market, yes you could get stung but with everybody selling their toys you can pick up so much more for 3.5k.

Any gear that costs you 300 is ultimately only worth 300. And when you drop, or when it starts pissing rain, or when it gets freezing cold your going to want more than 300 between you and the rest of the world.

KamiKazi

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I picked up a restricted 06 ER-6N last year for 4k with 11k kilometres on the clock, crash bobbins and a immobiliser private. I would say it's overtly expensive for what you are getting. I would seriously look at the private market, yes you could get stung but with everybody selling their toys you can pick up so much more for 3.5k.

Any gear that costs you 300 is ultimately only worth 300. And when you drop, or when it starts pissing rain, or when it gets freezing cold your going to want more than 300 between you and the rest of the world.

+1 to everything Cuddlesworth just said.

I'd buy private (bring a mechanic with you to make sure you don't get a lemon) and you'll get yourself a beaut of a bike for 3.5k.

All that gear for €300 will mean that it will all be useless. I spent almost €1000 on gear, granted its very good stuff, but that was the cheaper end of the spectrum of gear available. You're wasting your time with cheap gear, you'll only end up spending proper money on proper gear down the road.

Cuddlesworth

If you went private, you could get this guy to 3250 or even lower. Cheap insurance and a nice clean bike for 3+k. Ring Aon and see what type of quote you could get with it and a grade 2 assesment. I think you would be surpised.

Its worth considering you could be driving the bike at least 2 years so a saving over two years of over a grand is well worth it. And being factory restricted they should be easy to sell on.

Or

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/967428
http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/980333
http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/943654

Cuddlesworth

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/1021738

This was factory restricted, so if you restrict it again you can avail of the cheap insurance.

goodlad

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/1021738

This was factory restricted, so if you restrict it again you can avail of the cheap insurance.

Thanks for the replies.
That bandit is lovely

I will try sort going to see it.

I keep having the debate about buying private or from a dealer.
I just keep telling myself the "what if" something goes wrong and i bought private.

I went to a bike shop in kildare earlier tonight called Andys Bikes n Bits.

Really sound fella, he had a nice bandit there thats 2003, half faired.
Even though it was yellow it was lovely but slightly out of my price range at 3600.

I just cant shake the feeling that i might be better off paying the extra and buying from a dealer for my first bike for peace of mind.

Am i mad thinking that way?

reverandkenjami

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/motorbikes/1021738

This was factory restricted, so if you restrict it again you can avail of the cheap insurance.

Leave my bike out of this

KamiKazi

Andy's sound alright Do you not know anyone that know enough about bikes to have a look at one for you?

If not you could always offer a mechanic some cash to check out a bike for you.

colm_c

Be sure to get your insurance quote in writing or at least a reference, there's some people over on biker.ie who got quotes online from QD for the bike they wanted, bought said bike and rang up QD to get insurance. QD said that because they didn't have a full unrestricted license they won't quote them and won't insure them.

Bottom line -- make 100% sure your insurance quote will be valid for the bike you want.

Also +1 about the gear, cheap gear is a waste of money especially this time of year when it's cold, and wet out - it really tests your gear - bad gear this time of year will make you want to throw in the towel at biking completely.

If you want to get some good deals head to hein-gericke in Newry, they're stuff is good quality and reasonably priced, also there's 0% VAT on helmets in the UK/NI, which is a good saving.

I would also get lessons before you get a bike (most instructors/schools will let you rent a bike as part of the lesson), so you can then go and sit on a couple of bikes in any bike shop and get a feel for them without buying something that you'll be very uncomfortable on.

goodlad

colm_c wrote: »

Be sure to get your insurance quote in writing or at least a reference, there's some people over on biker.ie who got quotes online from QD for the bike they wanted, bought said bike and rang up QD to get insurance. QD said that because they didn't have a full unrestricted license they won't quote them and won't insure them.

Bottom line -- make 100% sure your insurance quote will be valid for the bike you want.

Also +1 about the gear, cheap gear is a waste of money especially this time of year when it's cold, and wet out - it really tests your gear - bad gear this time of year will make you want to throw in the towel at biking completely.

If you want to get some good deals head to hein-gericke in Newry, they're stuff is good quality and reasonably priced, also there's 0% VAT on helmets in the UK/NI, which is a good saving.

I would also get lessons before you get a bike (most instructors/schools will let you rent a bike as part of the lesson), so you can then go and sit on a couple of bikes in any bike shop and get a feel for them without buying something that you'll be very uncomfortable on.

Thanks for the advice.
Im gonna be getting some more quotes today so i will make sure and have reference numbers.

Nice idea about newry, im going to be up there soon anyways picking up some baby stuff so can look at getting a helmet while up there.

I have gone to a few places and sat on a lot of bikes over the past 2 weeks, ive pretty much decided on getting a bandit, they were very comfortable.

Im going to see two bikes for private sale at the weekend and going back to see a dealer sale again later in the week.

I had chat to a few mates last night who drive bikes for several years, they advised me to buy from a dealer for my first bike as long as its not a complete rip off.
Mainly because i know nothing of bikes for now and the warranty is worth it.

Ah decisions decisions... I need to stop looking at bikes for 5 minutes before my brain melts. haha!