First time MotorBike

Psygnosis

Hi
Im thinking about getting a motorbike. I have absolutey no idea of what to get. I was wondering how hard it is to ride a bike does it take much practice and say I got a 125 cc bike (Seems to be what everyone starts on) Would I be able to say travel from Dublin to Offaly or would a bike this small be able for the journey.

Im 26 years old and don't drive at all
~How much would I expect to pay on insurance and what would a decent size bike be I could get on provisional and how much sya for different size CC

Also would it worth doing a training course on bikes.

krinDar

Originally posted by mickb00

Im thinking about getting a motorbike. I have absolutey no idea of what to get. I was wondering how hard it is to ride a bike does it take much practice and say I got a 125 cc bike (Seems to be what everyone starts on) Would I be able to say travel from Dublin to Offaly or would a bike this small be able for the journey.

I am sure the Bike could manage it, the question is could you ?

What do you want the bike for ? Commuting daily to work ? What
distance, type of roads etc. If you were commuting from Offaly
to Dublin daily a 125 would be difficult. If you were coming from
the suburbs on just 30Mph roads then a 125 is almost perfect:
light to move around, friendly for a beginner, very frugal etc.

The venerable commuter/beginner bike is the Honda CG 125. Most
people here will probably say tis terrible, it might be, I never had one,
but it does fit all of the above.

There is more to it also, you might have a particular style that you
like, be it cruiser, sports bike etc. For insurance, the cruiser seems to
be very popular. sports bikes (NSR's) are definately a
*bad* idea, they are more expensive to insure than their much better,
larger engined counter parts.

Licensing: http://www.magireland.org/inf_LicenceRegs.htm
Has all the information. Basically what you should look for is an
A license. This will allow you to ride any bike up to 25Kw (33Bhp).
A (not complete) list of such bikes is availible here : http://www.magireland.org/33bhp.htm

You can assume that all 125s are less than 25Kilo Watts.

Insurance: TBH I am not sure, insurance seems to fluctuate a
lot and I never seem to get it correct, that said I wouldn't be surprised if it cost you 1000 euro for a 125. Ring the two
companies who do motorcycle insurance:
Carole Nash (1800 298 55) and Hibernian (1890 33 22 11)

Also would it worth doing a training course on bikes.

The perfect route would be to get training *before* you pick up
your new bike if possible. AFAIK the ISM (Irish School of Motoring)
have some bikes of their own that you could practise on. It would
be a *really* good idea.

robertob

I'm new to motorbikes in the past year. Early thirties.Motorcycle Action Group has some useful information.
There are some other threads on this motorcycle topic. Do a search.

Do training. Highly recommended. Irish Rider Training Association or ISM. This will give you a bit more confidence on the road. And show you how to assert your presence on the road. Have seen quite a few scooterists riding nearly in the gutter at 30 MPH and cars nearly pushing them off the road. They have as much right to be on the road, commanding the lane. Did this a bit myself from years of cycling.
There is a place in Meath too but you need your own bike. ISM supply a bike if you want to try it out. 75 euro for a 2 hour lesson IIRC.

Regarding CC and power of bikes, if you're going to do Dublin/Offaly regularly, you'll find a 125 labours a bit on the open roads. I started off on a 125 Suzuki Marauder (cruiser style) from Lucan to city centre, about 10 miles, mostly on dual carriageway. I upgraded to a 400cc TransAlp (an import) after 2 months. Felt that lack of power on dual carriageways was unsafe. Unable to accelerate away quickly from cars and other bikes.
Another factor in decision to upgrade was the test for A licence specifies a minimum of 150cc bike. You could hire a bike from ISM for the test, but in my case I had already found the power of the smaller bike limiting.

But as krinDar said, 125 is more than fine in city traffic. Very economical. 5 euro for 100 miles commuting in city traffic. Cheap insurance, group 2. You'll see most couriers use bikes less than 250cc. Not much point in having power of a bigger bike or the lenght of a bigger bike preventing you manoeuvering through traffic.

There are only 2 insurance companies for motorcycles. Carole Nash AFAIK only insure over 25s and bikes > 250cc. They did quote me for a 125cc, but only third party, fire and theft. I preferred the comfort of full comprehensive starting off.
Hibernian Direct site can give you online quotes.

One thing you will to have to do in real life is go out to some bike shops. Sit on a few bikes, see what feels comformtable. Also some bike shops can arrange insurance for you, with AON who are a broker for Hibernian. This is usually cheaper than going direct. If you're buying a bike, you'll need gear helmet, bike jacket (waterproof with padding). You should get a discount when you're buying the set. 10-20%. If you're not offered is, ask for it.

Oh yeah, apply for the test ASAP. I had a 5 month wait, it's now approx 6-7 months depending on centre. This will reduce you insurance by 20-30%. I think Hibernian plan to give an automatic 35% for full licence holders in June. See MAG site for press release 6 May 2003.

robertob

Was out at lunchtime and another thing I should mention about a bigger bike:

bigger bike = more weight = more stability in wind

My brother had a GS125 weighing in about 100kg and got blown across 3 lanes on the Naas road on his way home. Fortunately traffic was on the other side and no harm done. But on a long ride from Offaly to Dublin, you will experience crosswinds.

Ergo, go for a bigger bike. And preferably don't go for a restricted bike unless it's factory restricted. The insurance companies won't allow consider a cheapo restrictor when classifying a bike. A 600cc Bandit is group 10, factory restricted to 33 BHP it's considered a group 6 bike. Hence cheaper insurance.

Fabritzo

Fabritzo recommends that u get something u can afford to lose or repair at minimum cost, if you've never driven a motor-vechile (use garda accent) before the chances are that you're going to crash it or something might crash into you in the first year or so.

Couriers seem to like the Honda CG125 and there must be some reason that the Irish School of Motoring use the Honda CB250 and it's Suzuki variant.

Divine

R6.....**** the insurance they wont catch you on that anyway :-)

seamus

125c is too small for Dublin-Offaly.
125 cruisers especially suffer on open roads.

I prefer to take my 125 (max speed 50-60mph) for 8 minutes on the M50 as opposed to 15 minutes on the dual carraigeway, cos it's safer.

I'd go for something with a bit of power, but not too fast or powerful. A 650cc DragStar should do the trick. Powerful enough to take on strong winds and open roads, and heavy enough to keep you stable. It will also be comfortable enough for the distance between Dublin and Offaly.

You're 26, so insurance won't kill you. Especially since you live in Offaly.