125cc motorcycle running costs

GermanShepherdLover

Impending change in family circumstances mean I won't be able to afford the £400 a month in petrol that I have been forking out for my daily commute of 60 miles return. So I'm thinking about getting a 125cc motrobike to drive on a CBT.

I think that the following setup costs are resoanable but would welcome any comments. The one area that seems to concern me is servicing costs since I will essentially be doing 350 miles per week factoring in weekend trips to the gym, etc.

Bike. Either new Sym or second hand Honda at £1700 on the road.
Waterproof Jacket plus Trousers at £150
Helmet at £100
Gloves at £50
Boots. I already have a pair of steel capped work boots.
Insurance at £100. I'm 55 and have maximum no claims on my car. I will be keeping the car for bad weather and holidays.

Is there anything else that I need to consider? The above costs seem to give indicate that I'll be in pocket after 6 months if you exclude service costs. If I go the second hand route then I'm quite capable of oil changes,etc myself because I'm an engineer but the new bike route probably means that the services need to be done by the dealer or similar. My local dealer has an offer of 3 years servicing for £400 regardless of the number of services required if you buy the bike from them but I'm wondering if they will baulk at what could be a service every 6 weeks if I stick to the formal service schedule?

Any thoughts?

forgotmyname

How many more MPG will the bike get over the car?

35mpg average for the car would be 18p a mile in fuel. Over 15,000 miles £1350 worth of fuel saved if the bike does double the MPG.

Tale off the tax, insurance, MOT, Servicing and your probably better off sticking to the car.

Servicing on the Honda seems to be between 2500 miles and 4000 miles? £100 a time?

So thats £300 off your savings. And with 15,000 miles a year how long do you plan on keeping it?

You will be turning a £1700 bike into a few hundred £ worth within the year.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

GermanShepherdLover wrote: »

Bike. Either new Sym or second hand Honda at £1700 on the road.
Waterproof Jacket plus Trousers at £150
Helmet at £100
Gloves at £50
Boots. I already have a pair of steel capped work boots.
Insurance at £100. I'm 55 and have maximum no claims on my car. I will be keeping the car for bad weather and holidays.

Is there anything else that I need to consider?

I'd go with a slightly older Honda or Yamaha, reliable as anything, under a grand to buy, and with the mileage you'll be doing less of a hit on depreciation.

Service it yourself. Cheaper by far.

Higher mileage 125's are rarely worth more than £800, but also rarely worth less than £500, as the learner demand for cheap bikes is always there.

The closer you can buy to that price band, the better off you'll be.

I wouldn't go for a newer machine, as apart from anything else, it is the case that most people that try to do this later in life end up giving up on the idea pretty quickly once winter kicks in.

And to be clear, if you're new to biking, or inexperienced, then chances are you will drop it in your first year with the consequent bumps bruises and scrapes to both you and the bike.

Particularly riding in winter.

I commuted daily on a bike for several years, and it was utterly miserable in winter, even as a bike-mad teenager.....

I'd never do it now, even though I ride a big bike built for clocking up miles in harsh conditions in complete comfort. That baby goes in the shed in November and rarely comes out again until March.

I don't want to put you off, biking is great, but if you don't have a full bike license and a lot of experience, or plan to get a fair bit of training, I'd really caution against jumping into a daily commute going into winter on a 125 with minimum/cheap safety kit and right after passing your CBT.

Jo_F

If you are getting a geared bike, please do not wear steelies when riding it. They are built for working in not riding in.

Norman_Castle

18000 miles per year on a 125. No thanks. What roads you will be on. On faster A roads a 125 will struggle.

Add thermal underwear to the budget and waterproof boots otherwise after 60 miles per day through the winter you'll have trenchfoot.

Cash-Strapped.T32

I spent 3yrs+ commuting on a 125scoot (Gilera DNA, cost me about £600), and the running costs were wonderful, but as others have said, when it's *REALLY* cold, you sort of have to plan your day a bit more, as in you ensure you have waterproofs ready the night before, maybe keep an emergency pair of socks in your bag, a spare set of warm gloves, etc..

I used to ride 250mi per week, and I was spending about £8 to a tenner tops for fuel, and that included a fair whack of personal travel too.

Insurance - about £80 tpft, tax - £16. Job done.

I know people have horror stories about show & ice, but really, since I was bigger than the bike and could manhandle it, I found myself more confident in truly bad snow than the cars - I'd see drivers pressed up, nose against the glass terrified that the car infront would stop & leave them stranded half way up a hill, or they'd lock it & slide down, whereas I could just bounce up & down on my seat, have both feet flat to the floor like outriggers and pass them with ease or even scoot along the pavement (when we were talking real arctic blizzards & all the road rules went to hell :P)

I always found the most dangerous times were in light snow, just enough to give a dusting of icing-sugar on the roads, people still expect you to ride at normal speeds (and the idiots still drive up to the limit) but the road surface simply won't tolerate it.



Yes, I did get to work that day, and amazingly, only about half an hour late...(most of which was spent getting up the drive)


My worst bit about winter riding was my hands - on exposed roads they used to get really cold until I got some of these off amazon;



..they worked a treat such that I could pretty much use summer gloves in winter (it's all about the wind chill).

I loved that little bike, but ride a big 850 tourer now.
I only got rid because I moved work & had to switch from riding A-roads to the motorway and while the bike would touch 70-75, it wouldn't have been wise to push the engine that much for very long, extended periods every day.


Despite my gung-ho attitude on the scoot, I wouldn't dream of taking the big bike out in bad snow, my confidence in snow-riding was totally based on the fact I was bigger than the 125, but with my big bike, if it lost it on ice, I'd struggle to keep it up (I hear you can get tablets for that now though ).

Stooby2

If you're an engineer, servicing a 125cc motorbike should very easy for you. New air & oil filters, oil and a spark plug are the main renewables and there's plenty to be had fairly cheaply on ebay (avoid anything Chinese though). The tappets are dead easy to adjust. Keep on top of chain lubrication and adjustment and it should last you a good while. Replacing a chain & sprockets is straightforward enough in any case and on a 125, cheap enough.

As others have said, your boots just won't work. Cold, wet feet are no fun at all. If you spend some money on a decent pair, they'll last you for ages and keep your feet dry. I have these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/400280353437?lpid=83&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=83

And you'll find them recommended on many bike forums.



Same for your hands. I have these gloves...

http://www.dirtbikebitz.com/2012-richa-ice-polar-gore-tex-motorcycle-glove-black-p-17921.html?gclid=CPyU3uVproCFbPItAodlh0AKQ&utm_campaign=products&utm_medium=BaseFeed1&utm_source=GoogleBase1

Agin, it's so worth spending money on some decent kit. It will last and do the job. When you get to work and they are wet, try to dry them out before the ride home.

You might want to consider your choice of jacket and trousers. You might find a good second hand leather jacket and trousers and get a one piece oversuit. For £150 you'll probably find your jacket and trouser would not do the job either waterproof wise or crash protection wise.

Trebor16

GermanShepherdLover wrote: »

Is there anything else that I need to consider? The above costs seem to give indicate that I'll be in pocket after 6 months if you exclude service costs. If I go the second hand route then I'm quite capable of oil changes,etc myself because I'm an engineer but the new bike route probably means that the services need to be done by the dealer or similar. My local dealer has an offer of 3 years servicing for £400 regardless of the number of services required if you buy the bike from them but I'm wondering if they will baulk at what could be a service every 6 weeks if I stick to the formal service schedule?

Any thoughts?

You will need to factor in tyre costs in your calculations too, and possibly a new set of chain and sprockets every 12k miles. if you keep the chain well lubricated and keep a close eye on the adjustment that will help it last a bit longer.

bigjl

I would likely go for a CBF 125 myself. Spiritual successor to the CG125.

Will do over 100mpg and is not too small so adults don't look silly on them.

I had a Scooter a couple of years ago, Yamaha 250, was nice but struggled to hit 70mpg which wasn't as good as i would have liked.

I have no experience of Sym scooters but to be honest Honda make the best and most durable motorcycles and scooters.

I wish i had bought a Honda but they didn't do a 250, after riding it i would hsve been as well off on a 125 Silverwing or the previously mentioned CBF125.

bigjl

As mentioned by a previous poster.

Don't wear steel toed work boots, get proper bike boots.

I have seen first hand the results of bikers coming off wearing steel toecap boots, if you are unlucky the steel bit can act like a guilotene.

Decent helmet , decent boots, decent gloves and a jacket with some armour and shoulder and elbow protectors, jackets doesn't hsve to be new, lots of barely worn ones for sale on eBay or Gumtree.

bigjl

forgotmyname wrote: »

How many more MPG will the bike get over the car?

35mpg average for the car would be 18p a mile in fuel. Over 15,000 miles £1350 worth of fuel saved if the bike does double the MPG.

Tale off the tax, insurance, MOT, Servicing and your probably better off sticking to the car.

Servicing on the Honda seems to be between 2500 miles and 4000 miles? £100 a time?

So thats £300 off your savings. And with 15,000 miles a year how long do you plan on keeping it?

You will be turning a £1700 bike into a few hundred £ worth within the year.

I think you are a bit high in the servicing cost to be honest.

All a four stroke bike needs is clean oil and chain adjustments.

Find a little local bikeshop to get cheaper hourly rate.

Or buy a manual and do it yourself.

Absolutely easy as you like on these modern bikes.

When i was a courier many moons ago all i did to my bike was change the oil as it had a gauze filter and change the air filter. Regular chain adjustments snd take it to a bike shop for brakes and valve clearances.

You could find a usable CBF125 for around £1200 and you would pay a third or a quarter of the fuel and have a simple easily majntsined bike that you could replace every two years for little loss invalue due to demand for 125's.