New 125 Rider and Hello

Welcome Eddy![]

I hope you’re still planning on getting a bike for commuting – even London traffic is mostly fun compared to public transport (apart from the occasional getting trapped in stop-start hell…).

I just did my CBT, and got a 125cc bike for commuting into work. I didn’t fancy paying out £2K or more for a bike, and not having much mechanical experience I preferred the idea of a new bike since then I wouldn’t have to run the risk of buying a bike that’s due for the knackers yard. I decided to take the other ‘risk’ and pick up a chinese import – I’d read around and while some warned all who’d listen to steer well clear of them, most of those who’d bought one were pretty happy with it. I’ve only just started commuting in by bike (a little over 100 miles so far, almost all from 14-mile each-way commute in London traffic). So far, so good, and Europa Trading International was who I bought from, with the X-Stream Crusader Classic (a cruiser style learner) costing just £640 otr, including a cheap jacket, gloves and helmet. They’re really your main alternative option if you want to make sure you don’t get something too battered, although there aren’t many race-replica ones – it’s mainly custom/cruiser styles. If you want to know about the 125’s around, pick up a copy of Used Bike Guide, it’s got a 125cc section, so you can see basic ratings for the most common bikes with normal used values, which will give you a good starting point for picking up a 2nd hand bike instead.
The impression I got is that (at least with the chinese imports) if you buy a new bike, the supplier of your bike can generally get a pretty good quote (I contacted some of the major insurance brokers and they couldn’t match the quote – incidentally the insurance was actually with Rampdale, in case they’re good for provisional licence holders generally). I’m 28, so would be classed as less of a risk, but 3rd party fire and theft was £295 with no no claims bonus, an estimated mileage of 7000 miles, commuting included, and living in a somewhat dodgy area for vehicle theft, with a provisional held for just 1 month and a shiny new CBT, only the age difference would really push up the quote.
Other quotes I got were often much higher. Your age would be a factor, but by shopping around you can get widely different quotes (I tried quotes for another bike I was considering and got between £250 and £800 for the same cover from different brokers). One particular trick is to get a quote via the supplier of your bike, and then phone up one of the others to see if they can beat the quote. (Note, if you opt for a chinese import, you’ll have to phone insurers because their online systems probably won’t have the make in the list).
Don’t forget to budget for picking up things like a rain cover (if it’s not garaged), clothing (2nd hand is OK on some of it, just not the helmet – budget £50 or more for a new helmet), chain and lock, oil and petrol, etc.

If you’re used to off-roading then you’ll have a head-start over me (deep end straight into commuting). Someone else mentioned DAS, but since cost sounds like a consideration, I’d just look at a 125cc for the moment – cheaper to insure and when you have some no claims bonus and some more experience, then you should find the insurance quotes a bit more reasonable to be able to afford something whizzier.

Hola Eddy.. welcom to planet insanity.. pull up a chair.