125cc scooter advice needed please

Buellguy

fufu_banterwaite wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your feedback it is much appreciated.

Forgotmyname
I have a ‘shed’ area that can be locked and the scooter can be hidden away from public view. Hopefully this will be ok.

Patman
I could go higher on my budget – how much are Piaggio’s? And when you say classified as a trike do you mean I could ride one with a normal driving license?

Ralphy
Are you saying speak to the CBT people before I buy a scooter? I could use one of their scooters to do the CBT?

The journey will be about 70% a main A road and then about 30% on smaller B roads

Also I’ve spent the past 18 months cycling to and from my local train station. Never had any problems in Jan/Feb, so hopefully should be ok. Though obviously if it is a particularly bad winter then things might be different.

Thank you all again for your advice.

Personally, go and speak to an instructor about the CBT first, you'll be able to ask them all sorts of questions, yep, use their bike to do the CBT on, it'll give you a good idea of what's coming before you go and buy yours (you'll still need the kit though, maybe see if you can borrow some).
The 3 wheeled Piaggio's are good, but you are looking at probably about £2-2500 for a second hand one unfortunately. Not sure about the full ins and outs of the 3 wheelers, it all depends on the spacing of the front wheels, some are classed as bikes, some not (just to confuse matters!!)

Arfa__

Why limit yourself to a scooter? Have you considered a small 125 motorbike?

If you're going for a CBT, do it on a manual 125, it's only fractionally more effort and it'll give you more choice in the long run. Do the CBT on an automatic scooter and that's all you'll be able to ride. Even if you do struggle (highly unlikely) many CBT schools will just switch you to a scooter half way through the day, so no big loss. As a strong cyclists, you'll whiz through a CBT and wonder what the fuss is about.

By not limiting yourself to scooter, you've got more choice second hand to look at, e.g. an old Honda CG125 or Yamaha YB125 and so forth.

A manual CBT license will also ease moving up to a proper bike license too.

Kit wise:
Get a good helmet. Possibly factor in a PinLock visor for winter to stop yourself steaming up.
Get a good set of waterproof textiles, jacket/trousers. Aldi/Lidl have deals on now and again. Otherwise scour ebay and the like. Try and find stuff with armour or option to slot some in.
Budget on a pair of summer and winter gloves.
Boots, a good pair of DM's, Cat's and the like will suffice, but proper biker boots will last longer, be more waterproof and offer more protection.

If you do plan to ride through winter as well, budget on getting a few sets of thermal base layers (Aldi/Lidl are good here again) and some lightweight fleeces to go under jacket. You're hands will get very cold: opt for huge handlebar muffs, heated grips or heated gloves. Muffs are fairly cheap, very effective and suit a scooter well. I use heated gloves on my bike, but at £150, not the cheapest.


"I’ve spent the past 18 months cycling to and from my local train station. Never had any problems in Jan/Feb, so hopefully should be ok."

Don't underestimate wind chill. On your push bike, you're probably only do 20mph odd, so about -4/5C wind chill. On a bike at 50-60mph you'll get -8/-9C.

Patman:
"I would have suggested a Piaggio MP3/125 or MP3/400 as these are classed as a trike. Thus, no CBT or L plates required and, according to those who ride them, highly stable."

Is that true, I always thought the front wheels were too close together on these to be classed as trike, and thus you still needed CBT/bike license?

RichardD1970

Taken from the Piaggio UK web site,

Not forgetting the LT (acronym for Large Tread) models that stand out for a number of characteristics such as the front track widened to 465 mm, motorcycle-type turn indicators, a daylight running light integrated in the lower part of the leg shield and integral braking, which on the Piaggio Mp3 LT can also be activated by the brake pedal on the footrest. A characteristic which allows the Piaggio Mp3 LT, in the 300 and 500cc engine capacities, to be ridden at any age as long as in possession of a normal car driving licence.

Jeannine

I have had a Kymco Like 125 scooter for 18 months and just wanted to say that the build quality and performance are both excellent in my opinion. So far (just over 2500miles) reliability has been excellent too - no problems at all!

tom192

I did my CBT and purchased my first scooter last July, I did my CBT on a geared Yamaha ybr125. Wasn't that keen on gears so went the scooter route.

Benefit with scooters is mine only needs a belt change every 15k miles, no need to mess around cleaning and oiling the chain.

I bought a Honda pcx 125 on 0% finance. It hasnt missed a beat in 10k plus miles in less than 12 months. 122mpg average over the last 6k+ miles (search toms pcx on fuelly if you want to view all my data)

My commute originally was 35 miles each way this has now reduced to 22 each way.

Give us a shout if you want any more info

vqmismatch

Regarding the trike on a car licence, or even not needing the CBT for a 50cc if you have had the car licence long enough, one of my acquaintances found the drop in insurance going from no CBT (not legally required in his instance) to having a CBT more than covered the cost of the course. Its also a chance to bend someone else's insured kit if you drop it whilst getting used to a bike.

forgotmyname

A 50cc on a full car licence should be much cheaper than a 125 with a CBT and L plates.

It was for me. Zero no claims on a 50cc Scooter (brand new) was around £100 comp.

UsernameAlreadyExists

A 25 mile round trip on 50cc is going to be an hour or so of Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz whilst being treated like crap by every other road user. I can think of nicer things.

fufu_banterwaite

Again thanks for all the feedback, I do appreciate it.

I will speak to a CBT guy first and do the CBT.

Arfa – I was looking for whatever is going to be as cheap as possible to run, insure, tax, etc as the job I am taking will (initially) be a big paycut. Would a motorbike me more expensive?

Tom & Jeannine – thanks for the scooter feedback – is very encouraging and good to hear. Out of interest how much is your insurance/tax? And how much does it cost you in petrol each week roughly?

Forgotmyname – I did consider getting a 50cc but as UsernameAlreadyExists says I thought it probably would not be quite enough for a 25mile round trip.

tom192

My insurance renewal has come through at 512 quid for this year, I'm 26 1 year no claims on bike. It costs about 6.80 for 135 miles. Service wise new tyre needed at 7500 miles.your looking at around 100 quid a service every 2500 miles at Honda dealer. If I was better with a spanner I would do it myself.