125cc scooter advice needed please

Jo_F

With regard to doing your CBT, don't go for the cheapest place, look into each school and find out what they are like, cheap isn't always safer and the schools that tell you they can do it in a morning should be avoided.

The one I did mine at really concentrate on safety, it was safety safety safety all day. Along with making it fun (they shout at you if you don't smile!), they didn't move on to the next move until each of the riders in their group were ready for it.

When it came to the road ride, one of the instructors took me as a one to one, as he could see I had a few nerves, so he could give me his full attention, which I found helped, whereas the others went out in pairs of learners/one instructor.

You should be looking at around £120 to £130 for the CBT.

Arfa__

fufu_banterwaite wrote: »

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?

TBH, probably not a massive amount in it. Economy will be about the same. Not 100% sure on sundries, tyres, belts etc, and servcies schedules on scooters. The choice will really be down to what you prefer riding and what you find decent second hand and in your budget. Just remember, a scooter will have more plastic fairing/protection than your average 125 bike - great in the winter and !!!! weather, but easy to trash if you skid and drop it.

RichardD1970

I'm 44, 1 years no claim on bike, 9 car. My insurance renewal for my Honda PCX 125 was £200, think first years was £280. Fully comp, garaged and Data Tagged. Watch out for high excess with some cheaper companies!

My fuel costs are 5.6 pence per mile according to Fuelly. Oh and £17 year tax.

BeenThroughItAll

tom192 wrote: »

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.

£512????


Really? For a scooter?


Do you keep it unchained and with the keys in the ignition on the road outside Strangeways or something?


My wife paid less than £140 for her first year's insurance with 0 NCB on a year old 125cc bike a couple of years back. I've never heard of anyone paying more than about £200 to insure a scooter. Ever.

tom192

It did go up when I moved house, its also on a 10k policy, I've had one not at fault claim on the car which won't help

Jo_F

I have a Honda PCX, bought new, and my first year it was around £500 for the insurance, came down by about 100 for the 2nd year. I was 42 when I got it, but saying that, I don't have a car licence so not sure if that has a bearing on it, I know the postcode has an effect on car insurance, so maybe that also had an effect.

Arfa__

It is also worth pointing out that insurance will drop a bit once you get a proper bike licence. I did a DAS straight off and got myself a Fazer 600cc as first bike. I'm in East London, highest risk area, first year TPFT was £360, second year it was £180. OK, I'm 35 and have a few years NCD on car, but a work colleague of similar age had quote double mine on his CG125, he only did his CBT.

So, do you CBT anyway. Afterwards if you decide it really is for you, do weigh up skipping buying a 125, go for your full A licence and go buy a big bike/scooter. Sure, there's the big upfront cost of DAS test (~£700), but riding a bigger bike really isn't any harder, in some ways easier, more forgiving and safer as you keep up with traffic and have the ability to zip away from tight spots. Bigger bike may even have ABS on it too, better headlights and so on, never mind the fact you can used motorways and carry pillion too! Scour the small ads, but you'll find the difference in price between a used 125 and ~500cc bikes minimal. If you do start with 125, then go big, factor in money lost flogging the 125 (be it depreciation, newbie scuffs or just money on maintenance done just to sell it), cancelling insurance policies, losing tax for a transition month and so on. Overall, if you do decide this is the right direction, it can be cheaper in long run to just skip the CBT/125 stage (assuming you're over 25).

im-lost

tom192 wrote: »

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.

!!!!!! me, that's expencive.

when I first got a bike, 125, was 27, no no claims etc, it was £150, second year £100 with one year no claims.

And this year, when I get back on the road, after my non fault accident last year (broken bits ) its £81, and thats with a non fault claim worth tens of thousands, even if I go fully comp instead of TPFT its £170.

powerful_Rogue

Arfa__ wrote: »

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?

Not strictly true. Once you've done your CBT, you can ride either a scooter or motorbike. It only become restrictive when you do your actual full test.

Full test on motorbike - ride motorbike or scooter.
Full test on scooter - Ride scooter only.

Jeannine

I think that I'm older than everyone else here (!) - my insurance for the Kymco 125 is about £115. I do about 85-90mpg...

I did my CBT on one of their 50cc bikes - a really tatty Chinese thing, which made me realise I wanted something a bit better built.

One other good thing about the Kymco is that the indicators are clearly audible when they're on, so you don't have to keep looking down to check. It's useful to have a dashboard clock too.