Searching for a Motorbike. Which one to get??

hackfish

I'm going to buy a motorbike.
Any suggestion to what kind of motorbike to get.
I'm searching for something of 125....
may be a scooter....

Can anyone give me tips or suggestions of what kind of motorbike NOT to get... which ones have good reputation... etc..

Thanks guys!
Gracias!

seamus

What age are you? What are you primarily going to be using it for?

What style do you prefer? Cruiser - e.g. Harley-Davidsons, Racers - the standard leaning over one, or something in between?

All bikes have their good and their bad points. As for reputation, well, if you've heard of the manufacturer, it's probably fairly reliable. Just like with cars, if you've never heard of the manufacturer, and it seems way too cheap to be true, then it's probably a heap of ****e.

Have you your eye on any particular bike(s)?

rymus

Insurance wise.. if youre not too delighted about the prospect of riding a turbocharged hairdryer, then your best class of bikes are 125cc cruisers. I think theyre practically all group 2. Suzuki Intruder (sigh, my first love) and Yamaha Virago are lurrrrrvly. Suzuki Marauders are single cylinder and therefore not exactly speedy and Honda Shadows are in group 3, despite being a 125 and belonging to the mini-cruiser family. <edit> How could I forget the baby sister of my current bike... the 125cc Yamaha Drag Star. Ohh, suit you sir, ohh!</edit>


Theres probably a few more decent 125's out there, just cant think of any.

Youre going to get fleeced for insurance if you choose the likes of an NSR 125, and NS80 or one of those hilarious Aprilia 125's that sound rather like XR8X's.

Ya couldn't go wrong with a cruiser... cheap insurance, comfort, and the ladies love shiny chrome

ToxicPaddy

Rymus,

Im 28 with a full clean driving licence for about 8 years, 4 years no claims bonus on a car...

Any idea on how much id pay (rough estimate) for insurance on a 125 cruiser type bike..??

Was looking at the 125 Dragstar a while ago.. nice bikes btw

Tox

krinDar

Originally posted by ToxicPaddy

Im 28 with a full clean driving licence for about 8 years, 4 years no claims bonus on a car...

Which has absolutely no bearing on motorcycle insurance.

Any idea on how much id pay (rough estimate) for insurance on a 125 cruiser type bike..??

Tox

Assuming you only have a provisional license I would guess it could be around 1000 euro.
Ring Carole Nash (1800 298 550) for a real quote, they seem to be a little more forgiving to provisional riders than Hibernian (1890 33 22 11).

rymus

Originally posted by ToxicPaddy
Any idea on how much id pay (rough estimate) for insurance on a 125 cruiser type bike..??

I'm gonna guess that you're looking at around €600 Comp or about €200 TPO on a 125cc (group 2). I presume you mean full clean license for a car, which obviously doesnt transfer over to a bike. You'd be back on an A or A1 provisional but the test is simplicity itself. No claims bonus wont transfer over to a bike from a car either.

Now that I know youre all asking where oh where did I get my figures from - http://www.rossmotorcycles.com/insurance.html Not exactly 100% accurate. It says I, a 22 year old male, should be paying €1257 for TPO on a group 6 bike when in fact Im paying roughly €850. So there ya go...

Silent Bob

Originally posted by krinDar
Which has absolutely no bearing on motorcycle insurance.

Odd the way that no-claims from car insurance has no effect, but as soon as you make a claim on anything BOTH premiums will increase :rolleyes:

seamus

Originally posted by Silent Bob
Odd the way that no-claims from car insurance has no effect, but as soon as you make a claim on anything BOTH premiums will increase :rolleyes:

It shouldn't. The status of your car insurance should be exclusive of the status of your bike insurance and vice-versa. If you've insured both thru Hibernian, then they're using that position unfairly (and illegaly I assume), by using double standards. If they increase both premiums after a claim on one, then you have the right to claim all monies from back premiums based on either no-claims bonus during the time you've been insured.

I had a crash in a car in 2001, and I didn't tell Hibernian when I went to insure my bike, so claims on cars shouldn't make a difference.

batman_oh

hilarious aprilia rs125?
obvioulsy u have never been to see race 2 strokes, they sound ten times worse, the sound from the aprilia is due to it being a 2 stroke in a high state of tune, and is by far the quickest production 125
frankly id rather have my teeth removed with a pliers than drive a cruiser 125, they are sooooooo slow and offer no fun at all, u cant even have fun in corners, at least the aprilia allows u to piss people off, hammerin cars and bein able to corner like a nutball
sorry it was my first bike and to slag it off in favour of the most borin things on the road seems silly

a_ominous

Also have a look at this thread

rymus

Originally posted by batman_oh
hilarious aprilia rs125?
obvioulsy u have never been to see race 2 strokes, they sound ten times worse, the sound from the aprilia is due to it being a 2 stroke in a high state of tune, and is by far the quickest production 125
frankly id rather have my teeth removed with a pliers than drive a cruiser 125, they are sooooooo slow and offer no fun at all, u cant even have fun in corners, at least the aprilia allows u to piss people off, hammerin cars and bein able to corner like a nutball
sorry it was my first bike and to slag it off in favour of the most borin things on the road seems silly

Ahh I was waiting for someone to defend the magnificent 125cc hairdryer.

Cruisers are slow? Ever see a 1100cc Drag Star? No? that's probably because it was a blur as it was passing you... Even on my 650cc drag star I can beat beamers (and anything else I've come across) off the traffic lights.


Ohh and nobody that had ever driven a cruiser would describe them as offering "no fun at all".

If pissing people off is all you're looking to do then away with ya. I'll close with... "girlies love the chrome"

Fabritzo

Yes Cruisers are slow, hence the name. If I had a 650cc engine under me I'd be expecting to beat BMW Touring cars off the mark

seamus

Originally posted by batman_oh
hilarious aprilia rs125?
obvioulsy u have never been to see race 2 strokes, they sound ten times worse, the sound from the aprilia is due to it being a 2 stroke in a high state of tune, and is by far the quickest production 125
frankly id rather have my teeth removed with a pliers than drive a cruiser 125, they are sooooooo slow and offer no fun at all, u cant even have fun in corners, at least the aprilia allows u to piss people off, hammerin cars and bein able to corner like a nutball
sorry it was my first bike and to slag it off in favour of the most borin things on the road seems silly

Get back under that bridge, you.

No-one's gonna take the bait.

Cruisers = Comfortable.
Cruisers = Chick magnets.

That's all that needs to be said on the matter

batman_oh

well woop dee do
i also have an aprilia rs250, it does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and quarters in 12.4
it can beat porsche 911 turbos, ferrari 360's and lambourghinis off the line, my rs125 can beat beamers for gods sake
so an 1100cc bike can overcome a 125 in a straight, thats an incredible achievement, try takin on my rs250 which has more power than a dragstar 1100 and weighs about half what it does
ive driven a 125 virago and hated it, the honda ns1 is much faster and more fun
accordin to bike magazine the dragstar 1100 is 'hindered by a dull engine and no ground clearance'
they are really really slow compared to a sports bike
so this blur, how is it fast if it gets annihilated by a 250?

RoadRunner

2strokes shift. I wouldn't mind one of them on the road.
I've got a kx250 offroad and that shifts. It mightn't pull birds but if you are driving bikes to pull birds then you are retarded.

how much insurance would I pay for a rs250. age 24. never had a road bike before. only provisional licence.

batman_oh

they are group 10 by hibernian so if in dublin u would pay a fair bit, if u have a country address not too bad, try carole nash for a random quote, they should quote u given ur age, they are not that bad when they feel like it
the best thing about the rs250 is the fact that nobody else has one on the road really, so i get some mad stares from people wonderin what it is, plus the kick is quite nice from the powerband!

rymus

Originally posted by seamus
Get back under that bridge, you.

No-one's gonna take the bait.

Cruisers = Comfortable.
Cruisers = Chick magnets.

That's all that needs to be said on the matter

My sentiments exactly, back into your box batman

batman_oh

tell u what
u bring out your 650 dragstar and ill bring out my piddly little 125 and ill race you down the wicklow gap, ill leave u for dirt, then youll see why crusiers are slow
i would bother usin the 250 cause that would be a waste of petrol
also fully derestricted rs125 has a top speed of about 110, thats pretty much the same a dragstar 1100

seamus

Originally posted by batman_oh
tell u what
u bring out your 650 dragstar and ill bring out my piddly little 125 and ill race you down the wicklow gap, ill leave u for dirt, then youll see why crusiers are slow
i would bother usin the 250 cause that would be a waste of petrol
also fully derestricted rs125 has a top speed of about 110, thats pretty much the same a dragstar 1100

This isn't about speed. Any idiot can drive a bike at 110mph down the road, but only certain people can drive cruisers and make it look cool

uberwolf

I've gotten away from lights quicker on my bicycle than a lotus before. So what?

Silent Bob

Originally posted by seamus
This isn't about speed. Any idiot can drive a bike at 110mph down the road, but only certain people can drive cruisers and make it look cool

That's a very good point, also why I won't ever be driving a cruiser!

rymus

ahh seamus.. you bring new levels of enlightenment to the motors board.. bless you, bless you my son!

Cake Fiend

To idiots blah-blahing about racing bikes (batman_oh, I'm looking at you..)

Someone buying their first bike is hardly going to be interested in racing fscking 911s. They're going to be looking for something easy to ride, cheap to run and SAFE.

batman_oh

listen ass boy, the argument i had was because it was said the rs was crap, then it was said that the crusiers were fast
you should read the thread as a whole before makin a fool of yourself in future

Cake Fiend

Yes, I'm clearly the one making a fool of myself in this thread... :rolleyes:

rymus

swwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwish!

MojoMaker

It strikes me that nobody on this thread so far really knows much about bikes.

Cruisers don't suck necessarily, but neither are they particularly cool unless you move into the 750cc+ category. Below that cruisers are annoying and (usually) quite small - i.e. slung low to the ground but not in a good looking way - hadlebars same height as seat etc...best looking cruisers by a long, long way are choppers - such as HD Nighttrain, Kawasaki Vulcan 800, Vulcan 750 etc. Bikes like the Virago or Dragstar are what we call "full dressers".

The main market for 125 cruisers unfortunately are spotty young 'uns who cannot drive bigger machines either because of financial situation or licence situation, or both. 125 cruisers look ridiculous on the road and always make me smile. I'm not trying to take the rise out of anyone here, I started on a cruiser, age 26 with a prov A licence - bought a Shadow 750 and didn't waste any time with the small bikes. Inclidentally the Shadow 750 has a mere 43hp so no restriction was needed and I could ride it legally as a newbie.

Birds like chrome? Perhaps...however birds LOVE cubes. Get a big bike mate, you won't regret it. And for God's sake...don't buy new!!!!

P.S - the Aprilia RS125 and RS250 rock :-). NSR125 doesn't :-(

seamus

Ahem, most people drive 125's cos of insurance. I could well have afforded a much bigger bike, and would buy one now, except that's there's not a chance of me affording the insurance on anything bigger than group 2.

And 125 cruisers look far better than any other bike in group 2.

Starting driving at 26, you of course wouldn't have much experience in that area :rolleyes:

MojoMaker

You obviously haven't really checked out the insurance market a great deal. There is very little difference between insurance on a group 2 bike and insurance on say a group 7 bike, not as much as you might think. For example, last year wife insures a 50cc group 1 Yamaha scooter, €400, premium for group 8 Vulcan 800cc was €825 - no ncb or driving history in either case.

125 cruisers look terrible, case of flattering to deceive if you know what I mean. Even Honda's Varadero 125 looks a better alternative. KMX 125 or 250 are a lot more fun. Aprilia RS125 is definitely no hairdryer, great bike but perhaps a little pricey. What about Bandit 600 (UK3) spec? Group 5 insurance. Also, Kawasaki ER500 is low insurance.

Best 125cc cruiser on the market is the Honda Shadow, without question.

Gmodified

Moyo,
Maybe you are happy with your insurance and there is not much difference for you when comes to insuring bikes
but this doesn't mean that the rule applies to everybody.

Just to bring you back to earth

My Brother was trying to insure 80cc NS 1 but he is not going to pay 2200 for the insurance.
He is 21 with one year NCB

and in your case

the difference between 50 cc moped and your Vulcan is 425 yoyo's from your pocket.
Maybe bigger bike will justify the premium but this also translates to over 100% increase in your premium.
Is this also OK?

You should actually play with hiberniandirect.ie

rymus

Originally posted by MojoMaker
Best 125cc cruiser on the market is the Honda Shadow, without question.

Debatable... I drove one before and wouldnt go back to it or any shadow if thats what they drive like.

It strikes me you dont really know a whole lot about bikes either but thats another story altogether.