Hey all, im new to the forums and have recently got into bikes (Friend took me out on his bandit 600)!

Looking to take my CBT soon, and am looking for a decentish first bike. Obviously a 125, needs to be pretty cheap to buy and run (insurance costs, reliability etc..).

I've been recommended the HONDA CG125, which seems to be ok around £500 and cheap to insure.

What do you guys suggest? I'm in the Uk!

Ethos

Mate , read the above and check ebay and get what you can afford! Welcome aboard!

CG's are the ubiquitous 125 - last forever and even if they dont they are easy to fix!

Thanks for the replys!

Is there any other good learning bikes?

TBH any of the 125's. Sr's are a favourite of the traiining schools - this must tell us that are reliable even if they have dodgy cruiser styling!

I wouldn't argue with a CG 125 - good all round learner bike, spares grow on trees and you can kick them straight when (not 'if', sorry. Let's face facts) you drop it.

After two years on that - or whatever the current requirements are, I can't keep up - go for a 600 Bandit. Like a CG 125 but with a hooooooge grin factor

You can't go wrong with a CG- that's what I'll be getting as soon as the weather picks up.

The insurance for the CG is about £300 for Third Party... £600 Fully Comp.

You could get other bikes but the CG is near bulletproof by all accounts- you couldn't do much better

Welcome by the way

Uw.L

PS- how old are you by the way?

19, 20 in July!

Seems like the CG would be a good choice, i'll have a snoop around the local papers. Any suggestions on Insurance companys? Had a play around with Norwich union online and they quoted me £410 3rd party for a 1993 CG125... doesnt seem too bad...

Also does anyone know where I can find specs on the CG125, top speed/acceleration (can't seem to find any info sites).

Thanks for the help!

Don't worry about the specs if it goes and it stops thats about what it'll do. Its no sports bike, top speed is somewhere between 60 and 70 depending on whether you are going into or with the wind but it'll get you to where you are going more often than not at not far short of 100mpg. That's what you've got to remember until you get some experience, your full test passed and some no claims built up to get the cost of insurance down. When I bought my CG it cost me £900 and was £80 to insure, oh how times have changed (okay it was 1992) and I got almost all of that back in P/Ex when I passed my test 6 months later.

i use mc direct for my insurance, got me a great quote through axa.
they even threw in free recovery from anywhere in the uk.
Or you could try direct choice.
both will do a quote online.

Hi Ethos and welcome!

The other great thing about buying almost any 125 is that it will keep its value if you look after it - they are like gold dust to get hold of secondhand!

Have fun but don't worry about speed - when you first start even the CG will seem fast, it's not like being boxed in a car!

" use mc direct for my insurance, got me a great quote through axa"

Could you give me a url for them? I can't seem to find them on google?

http://www.motorcycledirect.co.uk/

Nice, cheapest ive found so far is £227.72 from Equity Red Star!

cool did that come with the free recovery too?

So that's nearly £200 quid off already. Try Bennetts next they are pretty good too.
And that's

http://www.bennetts.co.uk/

not

http://www.bennets.co.uk/

oh how surprised some people must be.

I personally wouldn't recommend a CG after having owned one for a year.Ok it goes and stops just about and sips petrol,but it wasn't that good an experience for me.If you travel over 40mph be prepared to use your feet as well to stop it in an emergency

I'm not too sure what else is about these days,but anyone tried a Suzuki GS125? After all at least that has a disc brake up front and that counts for a lot in my book.

Whatever you end up buying,I hope you enjoy the experience.

Ian, how dd you find that, when you're insured with Carol Nash..

Ethos, you'd probably be suprised how many folk start off on CG125s. I've seen some people say, 'Make the cross of the holy spanners', every time on is mentioned.

I owned a Yam RS 125 instead and it was a bucket.

I had a cg for 5 days!!!!! was a lovely bike tho!

but i'd suggest looking around, seeing what 125's you can get in your local free-ads and then asking guys on here what they think of them!

Cos i've been looking around for a 125 for a while, and i know leon has, and I've had trouble, cos round here there doesn't seem to be a lot around! + if you get your hopes up about a cg, then can't find one, you'll be dissapointed!!

if you do end up with a cg I have a Haynes Manual that you can probably have, depending on whether I get another cg or not!!

Gonna go see an sr125 on tues!

oh + welcome to the board!!!

rach

There seems to be more Cg's around than many of the older bikes,they seem to be indestructible.
You could try seeing if you can get a classic insurance quote for it, I think some places class bikes over 10 years old as classic, your age might be against you though.