good deal on a bros 400/alternatives?

Chalk

ok so ive abandoned any thoughts of ever shifting the 125 virago,
after seeing mine go unsold at a reasonable price [imo] and seeing stephens go unsold at 1500.
ive saved some cash and ive organised a loan , to sort out some other things so ive decided to get a bros.

im guessing ill have about 2500 to spend plus insurance.

im fairly attached to the streetbike look and the bros to me is animal looking thing.
does anybody have any experience of buying one of these, dealers seem to want around 3500 so i cba paying them a grand for nothing.
im looking for a good price on a non-knackered machine,
im wary of the whole curried thing but alos doubt i could spot a pos.

any advice on buying, recommendations for a different bike would be appreccitaed

a_ominous

Try Bray Honda for the Bros. There's 3 listed on the site. They're also the only place where I've seen a few Bros in the shop. 2 for €2500 at the moment according to website.

Chalk

thanks for the quick reply,
ill try drop out to them at the weekend.

madrab

just sold mine 2 weeks ago *tear*

it was a great bike

check gorey bikes i was there a couple of weeks ago and they had 4 or 5 of them

xzodia

just bought one havent had a chance to use it. it was a 1988 bike cost 2500 but very low milage,

Traffic

Chalk keep away from any x courier bikes as they seem to be a v popular bike with them

Chalk

xzodia - cool , got any pics, where did you get it, if it was a dealer would you recommend buying off them?

traffic - there popular with curriers as theyre so reliable and good in traffic while still having a fairly decent top end speed . ill be watching out for excessively worn ones and high mileage of course.

madrab

this was my baby, well that was her befor the cops said no to the exhausts :-)

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/22933/4701.jpg

Chalk

sweet lookin machine

if you dont mind me askin, how much did you get when you sold her?
is she charcoal or black?

xzodia

yes bought it from a dealer and did me a good deal when i bought the gear off him aswell
dont know if he has any more of them , only 25k kilometers on the bike and got a friend of mine to check it for me and said it was in perfect condition,

http://www.killeenmotorcycles.com/

madrab

traded her in for a 600 transalp (she is called alf and i love her )
got 2500 for her, as she looked good but she was in need of a good engine service

i miss her (her name was Matt.n.Luke )

and if you are wondering what she sounded like with those exhausts on

http://f3.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/IOlKQj2uH1NUIcbZY-U-3qNkVJUL6B2lru5QNItEikLMmmPfONnXtIQzeqYG66HDIG4eQKa_4O4uZFYMiWpNUsEI20xN/MVI_0366.avi

Chalk

that cbg site looks good
few decent lookers on there.

definitely gonna drop out to gorey over the next couple weeks,
ill let you know how i get on.

Phryxus

Have you considered a cbr 250?

Similar price range
Group 5 (same as the bros)
fairly flickable for a 250

the mc22 (rr models) look great too


btw those pipes on the bros look animal

Chalk

had thought about a cbr250 , but am thinking of getting the 400 as ive been told the step from 125 to 250 feels huge for about a month and then you wish you had something bigger.

ive heard the bros is fairly reliable and i wouldnt be too sure about buying low cc sports bikes based on the way ive seen them ridden into the red.

Ratchet

bros is better choice in town, Vtwin is very user friendly in traffic

i say you will actually pay more or the same insurance amount for cbr 250rr which is not really the bike for day to day journey.

madrab

Phryxus wrote:

btw those pipes on the bros look animal

thanks man they sounded cool too....i miss my bros...sniff sniff*tear*

omb0wyn5ehpij9

a jump from a 125 to a cbr250 is a bigger jump than to a bros. A cbr250 puts out about 40-45bhp depending on how well looked after it is, and its top speed is about 115mph. Its a very very nippy bike for what it is. I was extremely surprised when i got mine, i was expecting it to be slower and less powerful. As you say tho, if your not used to sportbikes you might not like commuting on them. I dont mind it at all cos im used to it.

If you pick up a clean cbr250 it will be as reliable as a bros. And parts are fairly easy to come by seeing as there as so many of them on the road. Also, with so many cbr's knocking around at the moment, the price of them has dropped a bit

Chalk

theyre still changing hands for 3500 plus afaik,
thats a bit out of my price range tbh, considering insurance on the group5 is close to 3000

id like to get a sports bike but id want to get a 6 rather than a 250, so itll be a few years for that move

Phryxus

Chalk wrote:

theyre still changing hands for 3500 plus afaik

That would be the ones around 97 but if you look on the buyandsell site there's probably ones from 90 or 91 for 2000 - 2500

I suppose if they don't have too many miles on them they'd be in pretty good condition

Billabong

I just made the trade up to a Bros 400 (1991 12K)from a virago 125 (01 15K) 2 weeks ago. Paid 2700 for the bros from J.P. Motorcycles with 1700 on trade in which I was lucky to get. I went around to 6 shops looking and got offered an average of 1500 for my virago and between 3000 and 3500 for ****ty condition Bros's. Motomax had one which was 3500 with 15K which was a bit of a rip off, dont pay more than 3000 from a dealer unless it is in excellent condition which tends to be rare.

Get a bros if you want a workhorse which requires minimal care and maintenance. Engine sounds beutiful compared to any 4's under 400cc, real fruity. Its a real nice an relaxed bike (not a rev factory around town) with a comfy seating position, even for me at 6'3". It will start every time first time no matter how cold it is and will give you 160Kph if you ask nicely with acceleration at around a modest 0-60 of 6 or 7 seconds or so which I feel is plenty for a second bike especially from a Virago 125 which will barely make it to 60. I do regular motor way trips of 100 miles and quite simply look forward to going as compared to the virago which I used to dread as it drained all your energy and killed your back. Also in case you care, I get about 40 Mpg during mixed usage.
Best of all even in **** condition, I think they are one of the best lookin bikes on the road, mostly because of their simple uncluttered design.

Best thing about these bikes is when you crash them, every breakers yard is full of spares. Watch out for couriered bros's as the couriers love them for their reliability and their ability to slip through the smallest gaps in heavy traffic.
Final point is they really dont complain when left out in the rain all year round, very few parts rust.

BTW : Phryxus, bros's were only made until 1992 an were known as the hawk gt in the U.S. They didn't receive their cult status until the late 90's, due in my opinion to its design being ahead of its time.

Kazujo

I think MegaBikes on Wexford street have a few second hand

Phryxus

Billabong wrote:

BTW : Phryxus, bros's were only made until 1992 an were known as the hawk gt in the U.S. They didn't receive their cult status until the late 90's, due in my opinion to its design being ahead of its time.

I was talking about the cbr's

Chalk

1500 trade in is about 500 more than i was being offered,
and 2700 for the bros in a dealer is also an excellent price,

i didnt get a chance to check anything out this weekend,
and will probably wait until i get the cheque from la banco till i do,

will keep an eye on jp before i go anywhere else,

thanks for the repsones,

btw phryxus, do you think theres much chance of getting a 15 yo cbr thats in good nic?
id imagine theyd be falling apart by now?

Phryxus

I'd say they'd be pretty reliable on the condition that they weren't driven too hard, it's a quick bike but it's still only a 250, I'm sure if you picked up one with decent mileage you wouldn't have any problems.
I know bray honda have two in at the moment imported from japan and they're in great condition. I think they're going for 3400 which may seem a bit much compared to buy and sell prices but as far as I can see you're getting what you pay for.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Ive a 1990 reg cbr250 that i will be getting rid of in june to make way for a sv650s. My bike is in very good condition. There is only 23k on the clock. Now whether it was changed before it came over here i dunno, but ive receipts for all the work ive got done since i got it. The problem with buying a cbr straight in from japan like you would get from a shop is that they have been sitting around in warehouses and crates for years so there is a lot of little things that need to be fixed, which you dont realise til you have been driving it for a while. I had a lot of little nigley problems which i had to fix but its running sweetly now

Chalk

got any pics?

might be persuaded to change my mind

madrab

Billabong wrote:

I just made the trade up to a Bros 400 (1991 12K)from a virago 125 (01 15K) 2 weeks ago. Paid 2700 for the bros from J.P. Motorcycles with 1700 on trade in which I was lucky to get.

that wasnt perhaps my bros that i just sold to jp???

grey, 89d, around 40k on it???

goes by the name mattnluke???

Chalk

hey billabong did you get 15 or 1700 for the virago/
what kind of cond. was she in?

mine is perfecet '01 with 14000ml,

are you tellin me you got the bros for a grand?
thats unreal, i hope there as nice to me

do you know someone in there?

Billabong

Firstly, sorry if I offended you phryxus, I must have misread, I stand by my comments on the Bros though its an excellent bike for those of us still restricted.

The Virago I sold to JP was an 01 125xv (burgandy) with 15K on it. I crashed it once on the motorway, the second week I had it, slowed to about 30 before I dumped to avoid nasty truckage.
-slightly bent handlebar.
-scrapes on the usual places
-Chipped paintwork on the rear fender
-new chain and sprocket needed
-new back tire needed
-other than all that it was in perfect condition
I got 1700 on it on the trade in for the 1991 bros (2700 which was already an excellent price) with a direct import from Japan although I suspect it was clocked before it came to Ireland. No problems with it though, it runs like a dream. When I did go to motomax they offered me 1500 trade in initially and suggested I was lucky at that. As soon as I said JP offered 1700 they quickly followed suit and matched it, but the two bros's they had were 3500 for good condition 89 with 15K and 3000 for a piece of **** with 40 or 50 K on it. I included a picture of the Bros from just after I got it. I've since got a new front fender from cityspares for 40 euro and i've put a shiny big dent just under the bros honda sign on the tank. I bought it on sat and dropped it coming into my drive way on monday (front wheel lock on wet yellow line, my knee made th dent when I landed on it)

Ill state it again as I believe in showing my respect for businesses which are run by decent people with decent pricing. I have found JP motorcycles to be excellent to deal with, they deffinitely undercut most other bike shops I have looked at. The bros is my second bike from them and they will likely get my business when I get my hornet 600 as soon as I am derestricted.

p.s. Im a random student bum with no connections whatsoever with JP so I dont think I was getting a special deal or anything and even at that they had the bike advertized on cbg.ie for 2700. JP did seem to think it was ridiculous that the other shops were trying, and getting away with selling the bros at 3500.

Phryxus

Billabong wrote:

Firstly, sorry if I offended you phryxus, I must have misread, I stand by my comments on the Bros though its an excellent bike for those of us still restricted.

No need to apologise, no offence taken and I agree that the bros is a fantastic bike in looks and performance.

Chalk

thats one lovely lookin bros

did you have to wait after purchasing or did you drive it home?

[may as well ask these questions in this thread ]