What do you think of import motorcycles? What is a good motorcycle to buy?

Question

I asked another question about costs involved with running a motorcycle and I got some very helpful replies.

I was looking into buying something like these - http://www.betterbiker.com/catalog.html - the second one down on the left looks nice! < Excuse my ignorance, I know nothing about bikes at all! I'm a car driver and looking into getting a motorcycle.

What do you think of cheap imports like these? Is it worth it or should I buy a second hand Honda or Yammy or something?

What can you suggest, I would like to spend under a grand where possible. £600 less ideally.

What is better a manual or automatic? What should I look for? Where can i buy me a good bike? I'm looking at 125CC bikes and not scooters.

If you can answer any of the questions I'd be very grateful!

Answer 1

I brought all my motor bikes from bike shops. Two out of the lot i had were import FZR 400 Genesis EXUPS. Go to your nearest bike shop. They will be able to give you all the advise you need. 125&#039;s have changed since i passed my test 16 years ago! My first bike was a GP100!! Now 125&#039;s look like smaller versions of the big ones!! Go to your nearest shop. If you do not want to spend a lot go get the advise from a shop then buy one off eBay. That is how i sold my last 400. Good luck! xx

Answer 2

Those bikes are not good buys. For the money you want to spend and still get a good motorcycle  look at Kymco and Hyosung they make a 125 that is not here in the states. I am not sure where you are and do not know the exchange rate

dollars to pounds. These brands are cheaper than the big Japanese motor companies and just as good. They are NOT from china.

Answer 3

I see a lot of questions here about where to find parts for this type of bike. I would be concerned that a couple years down the road you couldn&#039;t find what you need to keep the bike running and at that point it is basically a throw away. Go for a used j*p bike instead.

Answer 4

i bought a jinlun 125, 2 years ago brand new of ebay for £750, and have never had a prob with it!

Answer 5

If you aren&#039;t particularly knowledgeable about motorbikes, and are on a restricted budget, avoid the cheap Chinese/Korean imports for now, and stick to known brands - especially the big 4 Japanese manufacturers (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki).  They got where they are for a reason.

The vast majority of bikes (as you say, not scooters) have manual gearboxes, although it&#039;s not like an average car - you select up or down, going through the gears sequentially.

The bad news is that £600 won&#039;t buy you much.  You could pick up a half-way decent used Honda CG125, Suzuki GS125 or Yamaha SR125 for that, if you&#039;re really lucky.  If you can go up to £1000, you&#039;re more likely to find something worthwhile.

Now, have you got the right licence?  If you haven&#039;t passed any kind of bike test, you&#039;ll first need to check that your driving licence has motorcycle entitlement on it, as this is not necessarily standard.  Then you&#039;ll need to take the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) with an approved instructor, for a cost of about £100.  This is usually a 1-day course.  You cannot fail it, but the instructor can refuse to issue a certificate if they do not feel you are up to the required standard; another day generally fixes this - check first if this will incur an extra charge.  Most instructors charge a flat fee for the course.

Don&#039;t forget the helmet - you&#039;ll need one by law.  Ã‚£50 gets you a basic, minimum standard one, but you should buy the best you can afford - it&#039;s your head, after all.  Gloves, jacket, trousers and boots can be got for about £200-250 all in if you shop around.  You don&#039;t legally need them, but you don&#039;t want to fall off without them, and as a learner there&#039;s quite a high probability you&#039;ll be tasting tarmac, even if at a low speed.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Buy cheap, buy twice.

The Chinese are the world&#039;s worst polluters, have a horrible human rights record, and export c**p.  Chinese bikes are copies of 1970s era j*p bikes.

Buy from one of the Japanese companies or Taiwan&#039;s &quot;Kymco&quot; or &quot;Hyosung&quot; of Korea.  

I would be leery of buying a used small displacement bike.

Answer 7

dont get an import get the good reliable bikes, parts are easier to get aswell

Answer 8

I would rather have a Japanese bike with 60K miles than a no name bike for half the price.  The second you need parts or service your cheap bike will become worthless.

Answer 9

Alwaysd bought new Honda scooters - excellent in every way.

But I only wanted to go at 30 m.p. on those 49cc models!

gd luck

Answer 10

dont buy cheap imports they are unrreliable and in some cases unsafe. stick to the top makes honda,kawasaki,suzuki and yamaha, there is a reasonable priced yamaha just been released on the market, ybr125 retails at £1,695 otr this is a nice looking bike considering yamaha havnt been in the 125 road bike market much.

there is also some good second hand 125s out there but unfortunatly this time of year they are snapped up pretty quick by the 17 yr olds just left school. best time to buy is winter, there is more around and the price drops at this time.

try www.midlandssuperbikes.co.uk  they stock around 200 new and used bikes.

happy hunting and ride safe.

kev

Answer 11

BMW F800

Answer 12

Be American, buy American.