Commuting by motorbike

Incyder

Don't buy a hideous crap chinese scooter thing. Get a proper 125cc bike from honda, suzuki, kawasaki, yamaha.

Lizling

How far do you have to go, distance in miles ?

7 miles each way.

Maybe OK in the summer but what about rain & snow?

Trains, buses, on foot, tube, minicab, river taxi... all the non-2-wheeled options just in slow and inconvenient combinations. A car wouldn't be an option even if I had one because there's no parking.

Could you cycle ?

I've decided against cycling partly because I feel like I'm well past the age where I feel as if I should have got some form of motorised transport, partly because I'd like a bit more road presence so that people might see or hear me coming, and partly because I can wear a lot of protective gear on a motorbike without looking silly, but as a cyclist all you've got is a bit of lycra and a funny hat. Also, I live at the top of a hill. I did use to cycle when I lived and worked somewhere else though, and it was good.

If reliability is the key point it maybe worth looking at a bit
extra for a well known brand and buy new.

Reliability is definitely important to me but I'm not sure if the premium I'd have to pay for a completely new bike is worth it. I did fall in love with one from a well-know brand in the showroom but it was £3800 I don't think I can justify that when it'll lose a big chunk of its value as soon as I ride it away and then another chunk when I inevitably drop it. I was thinking of going for a something that's 2nd hand butgood condition and low mileage- probably a Honda or Yamaha or similar (not one of the random Chinese brands I'd never heard of until I looked on eBay). Sound like a reasonable plan?

scotsman4th wrote:

Where I went taught me until they were confident I was ready. She said it could take a day or a week, it was the 1 off payment

I'd love to find a place like that. It would take the pressure right off. Don't suppose it was in the London area, was it? None of the CBT training companies around here seem to advertise their prices online, let alone useful details like that.

asbokid wrote:

don't do it. not worth the risk. i've witnessed two serious motorcycle accidents in the space of a few days on the mile end road.

Luckily, I won't need to go anywhere near Mile End road. However, I will be seriously considering getting a helmet cam so that if anyone does kill me, someone might catch the b******.

incyder wrote:

Don't buy a hideous crap chinese scooter thing. Get a proper 125cc bike from honda, suzuki, kawasaki, yamaha.

Couldn't agree more. No hideous crap chinese scooter things. Promise.

Derivative

To the guy who thinks a 125cc bike gets 45mpg, you're talking utter balls. A 600cc bike will get that if you ride conservatively.

My CG125 got 100-110mpg depending on how it was ridden.

Costs for me were £100 CBT, £300 insurance, £600 for the bike (best to go for a fair bit more, mine is basically a write off from the amount it'd cost to get the next MOT) and whatever you want to spend on gear. Oh, and a bloody decent lock, especially in London.

Seconding the ped for manoeuverability though. Far easier to nip in and out of traffic which I'd imagine is awful in rush hour in London from what I've seen of it.

To be quite honest, seeing what it's like around here in Hull around the normal commute times, I would just go for a bicycle. Even a ped can be too big to get anywhere sometimes and you're just sat there. Easy to average 15mph over 10 miles unless you're a lardass.

KillerWatt

asbokid wrote: »

don't do it. not worth the risk. i've witnessed two serious motorcycle accidents in the space of a few days on the mile end road.

Just because you've seen 2 other people f**k up on the road, that doesn't make a bike dangerous.

Rolandtheroadie

Lizling wrote: »

I'd love to find a place like that. It would take the pressure right off. Don't suppose it was in the London area, was it? None of the CBT training companies around here seem to advertise their prices online, let alone useful details like that.

I'd imagine there should be a lot of competition in your area with various training schools. Thats probably why they dont advertise prices, others would just undercut them.
I'm sure ones round here also offer a 1 hour free taster session, before you decide whether to do the CBT or not.
Go on, call a few today.

Lizling

scotsman4th wrote: »

I'd imagine there should be a lot of competition in your area with various training schools. Thats probably why they dont advertise prices, others would just undercut them.
I'm sure ones round here also offer a 1 hour free taster session, before you decide whether to do the CBT or not.
Go on, call a few today.

I've already done the 1 hour taster session, since it was free. I wouldn't do my CBT with that school though thanks to the sexist attitude I got from the instructors:mad:.

This morning I've found out that one school way out on the edge is running a spring sale where it says I can do my CBT all in for £90.:T If I don't pass, the next attempt would be bike hire only which is £50. That compares well to the £120, sometimes plus another £10 for insurance, sometimes plus another £10 for weekends, then £60 plus insurance for the 2nd go I've been quoted by the 3 others I called.

zappahey

Incyder wrote: »

Don't buy a hideous crap chinese scooter thing.

Seconded. They're very badly built from poor quality materials and are very difficult to get parts for.

asbokid

EdgEy wrote: »

To the guy who thinks a 125cc bike gets 45mpg, you're talking utter balls. A 600cc bike will get that if you ride conservatively.

My CG125 got 100-110mpg depending on how it was ridden.

that's a single cylinder 4 stroke though.. some of the high revving 2 stroke 125cc bikes don't even manage 30mpg.

asbokid

KillerWatt wrote: »

Just because you've seen 2 other people f**k up on the road, that doesn't make a bike dangerous.

on both occasions, it was the other road user who caused the accident.

one biker was knocked off by a 25 ilford bus whose driver didn't see the bike when he pulled away from a bus stop.

the second biker had just pulled off from some lights and a van driver who had been waiting to turn right, tried to dart across but managed to hit the biker.

both bikers suffered nasty injuries.

that was in the last few weeks alone. the newspapers are full of tales of motorcycle fatalities and bikers left wheelchair-bound by accidents. the motorist, encased in his cage, at least has a fighting chance of surviving an accident, mostly intact. when you have a collision on a bike, it's usually pretty nasty.

fwiw, i'm not anti-bike. i've held a full bike licence for over 20 years and have ridden from 50cc to 1200cc. i wouldn't bother nowadays. there are just too many other road users, especially in london.

Derivative

asbokid wrote: »

that's a single cylinder 4 stroke though.. some of the high revving 2 stroke 125cc bikes don't even manage 30mpg.

Yeah, but someone buying a 125 for commuting isn't gonna go for an RS125 or similar. Unless they're daft. Never mind the fuel costs, how about rebuilding the engine, etc.

For commuter bikes you are talking 90mpg unless something is seriously wrong.

On the 'new bike' front, a brand new CBF125 runs at about £2400
http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/125cc/#!/cbf125/

Fair bit more than your £1500 target though. The problem is that these are learner bikes. Which means, in general, a used bike will have had multiple owners, loads of bodge jobs (cheap bike makes it not worth bringing to a mechanic) etc. If you do go used, make sure you find a good example with 1 or 2 previous owners. Mine had 10 and it's a write off now as I had no way of checking it over beforehand. Perhaps even pay £50 or so for a local mechanic to have a quick look over before you buy.