3 years ago I paid £1000 for a 1980 Suzuki GS550L from ebay. It was complete, running and had a new MOT. It was exactly what I was looking for, simple, reliable and cheap to run (free road tax and exempt from MOTs and ULEZ charges). As you would expect, it needed a few minor things sorted out, but I'm a retired mechanic, so that was no problem. It has been a pleasure to ride (which I do virtually every day, as my main transport) and has never let me down.
Yo Spicy. I actually bought the CBR600F at 15:00 last week 😂 Not sure why the add is still up but i have it and am in love with it! The (ex) owner agreed to £725 and everything runs SO WELL. There are some substantial vibrations at lower revs but the bike is sooo smooth at higher revs and it pulls like a missile. I'm seriously impressed. Yes it has 110k miles, but honestly I see this bike blitzing past 150k miles+. In the event the engine goes boom or whatever, i'll probably fit another used CBR600 engine in it. Why not when the bike is in good condition? If you ask me which bike would i rather keep, my 2022 Tiger Sport 660, or my (new to me) 1997 CBR600F, I would pick the CBR 🙂
Back in 2007 I bought a 1992 CB750 from Ebay for £750. It was in decent condition with about 30K miles on it, only being sold as owner was trying to raise money for insurance for his sons first car. I rode it all year round for the first 3 years I had it .. went everywhere on it as it was my only form of transport. After that it became a sunny day toy and coincidentally became much easier to look after at the same time ;) Anyways, I traded in the old CB, with 48K miles on it and a seized front caliper, against a brand new MT07 in 2018 ... and got £695 for it!! So it depreciated by just £55 in 11 years.
125’s are probably so expensive because it costs between £600 and £1200 to do a full test these days, it’s a shame. That GSX has been dropped to £575 now aswell there has to be something wrong…..
Fast food delivery rider's on L plates probably account for 80% ish of all 125cc Bikes 🏍 on the road's. I often wonder how many have Business insurance or just Social Domestic and pleasure. 125,s are probably worth more for parts to keep the Fast food bike's going. Which push,s up second hand prices.😢😢
Back in the 80's I bought a Honda 125 Superdream for £500, I think it were around 3 years old. All my mates had similar Japanese bikes for the same sort of money, only the rich kids parents bought them a brand new 125 for I guess around the £1000 mark back then.
I bought a GSX 550 EF (the full faired version of the bike you show for £650) for £600 as a runner in need of some work (fork seals, tank needed cleaning from having E10 sat in it etc) there are still some bargains to be had out there, especially if you don't mind doing minor work on a bike!
i sold a 125cc last yr needed a speedo cable and a mph clock was a chopper style 2006 new tyres brakes low mileage , £300 ,the reason why cbrs vfr 600 ect is because the parts cost aload a ignation coil are crazy prices
I just bought a Honda NTV 650 for 900 euros recently serviced oil change.I also have a Pioneer 125 King I bought 4 years ago for 650 euro it's been ultra reliable with it's Lifan CG clone.
You mentioned in a video you did about how the licenses work over here that people have been not progressing beyond their CBT, and just keep redoing it every couple of years. Could that be one reason for the 125's over a grand?
125s also hold there money there so cheap to run mine cost me £13 to fill up lasts a couple weeks easy get 250 miles plus out of full tank insurance is cheap aswell so effectively there worth more
There is still a massive driving lesson/test backlog from the Covid shutdown, so a lot of young people are taking a CBT in order to commute. This increased demand has massively pushed up the price of a 125. They are also in demand from the 'gig economy' delivery crowd. My first transport 10 years ago was a Honda 50cc two stroke ridden to my door for £400. I would struggle to find that model on the road with an MOT for under £850 - £900 now.
I usually take my 125 to a trade seller so they can do the headache work of trying to sell it. I dont have to deal with mind games when selling directly cause I've been there done that.
I had a GSX550ES as my first "big" bike, 25-ish years ago. It was a good bike once. The 16-inch front wheel made it handle really well, but might make tyre choice an issue nowadays. Any bike of that age is a gamble. As to 125cc prices, Just Eat and Deliveroo etc. have absolutely ruined the market for cheap runners, especially scoots. Also thieving scrotes are a significant problem for urban riders.
It's always a gamble. Don't spend your whole budget on buying the bike. It will always need money to keep it on the road. Import bikes with carbs will usually need setting up to run UK fuel. California spec US run too lean.
There are so many 125 bikes because of the money and time it takes to pass a full licence. I have never been able to do it until now and I'm 40 (not very well off, kids etc). A CBT is one day, relatively cheap and not difficult. That plus it seems that so many people will buy Chinese bikes new these days, very cheap, no MOT needed, I can see the appeal. I'm currently doing my tests. MOD1 booked for a couple days. I found it much easier to find big bikes that 125 bikes. 125 bikes hold their value AMAZINGLY. If I had the money and space I would buy up 2 125 bikes now and sell them when the weather gets nice again. VERY easy to make on them. Bandits, Hornets CBF's. Get em listed for 1200 to 1300, knock them down and you get a bargain. Paid more for 125 shitboxes lol
I was looking at that triumph sprint a few days ago. Didn't get past the looking at the ad stage because iirc triumphs of that kinda era had a design fault with a spindle/cog(?) in the gearbox kickstart area. Maybe its that model, maybe not, but i just dont trust them olg trumpets. Upgraded/replacement part is a couple of quid but you have to split the cases to fit it. And to be fair grand to 1500 is zzr11 / pan america / bmw tourer bracket and better suited to the 500 mile a week trip to work i need a rat/hack for. Much better bet if your ok with a 20 to 30 year old bike.
If you are experienced at fixing bikes then you can pickup great bikes under £1000 - if you are going to be paying someone else or don't like breaking down then not such a good idea.
One bike that didn't show in all those pages is the Honda XL125V - the Varadero. Rare and becoming a bit of a cult thing, still selling at good money. If you ever get chance of riding one then do so, it may make a nice video. I love mine in the same way you love the DRZ.
Fantastic small large bike that our courier company had as a spare. Did 95,000 miles without real issue apart from reg/rec going at around 80,000. Redline around 12,000 and survived being reclined in most gears which really got it moving.
I'd love to see one of these videos but for supermoto's or dual sport bikes! I always find that I see american dual sport recommendations for beginner bikes but then I look on the second hand market and can never find anything like a reasonable DRZ to start learning on for commuting and easy trail riding. Love these videos though!
Yer in the UK they stopped selling the DRZ in the UK in 08 they are now quite rare so little chance of something worth buying under £4k It is a bit of an issue I talked about here ruclips.net/video/DQeQKlktvBk/видео.html
@@spicy110 Currently I like going everywhere on a mountain bike which is why dirtbikes and electric bikes are more appealing to me compared to something like sport bikes (and going offroad seems like way more fun). I just checked and google says petrol stations are down from 40000 in 1960's UK to 8350 now and zapmap says EV charging stations are at 36000 locations. Although realistically im not sure how that pans out with the different charger types and charging taking longer than just filling up gas and leaving. Thanks for your comment and video for making me look into that I think you changed my mind a bit on ebikes. Now the only problem is buying a 10kish zerofx, altis sigma or stark varg LOL. I guess you're right there really is a gap in the market here, shame :/
I have just bought a brand new Kawasaki z125 for my daughter. I was looking for a second hand bike first that was in good condition preferably a Japanese brand. Could not find anything that looked even remotely decent for under 3000. Kawasaki had the z125 with £500 off a new bike, if bought on finance. £3800 on the road the only new Japanese 125 that was cheaper was the cb125f but she preferred the Kawasaki ( it does look cooler) I would have considered a Benelli BN 125 as that looked really good value but there was no dealer local. We plan to keep the Kawasaki until her CBT runs out, two years as she will be 24 and she can do a direct access rather then A2 and have to do it again later. So it a bit of a longer term bike then some 125s and if it is looked after should hold its value really well. I feel sorry for youngsters who don’t have well paid jobs or parents that can help with the costs, because the value for money second hand 125s are few and far between and then they get ripped off on insurance as well as having to do theirs tests twice to get a full A license unless they are prepared to wait. It is no wonder they are put off getting in to motorcycles.
Please note, I mixed up saying E5 and E10 when commenting about leaving fuel in a bike.
is it bad I was just about to comment that
@@mrtommygunwhite no it ain't bad mate, I was just about to do the same thing aswell.
3 years ago I paid £1000 for a 1980 Suzuki GS550L from ebay. It was complete, running and had a new MOT. It was exactly what I was looking for, simple, reliable and cheap to run (free road tax and exempt from MOTs and ULEZ charges). As you would expect, it needed a few minor things sorted out, but I'm a retired mechanic, so that was no problem. It has been a pleasure to ride (which I do virtually every day, as my main transport) and has never let me down.
Yo Spicy. I actually bought the CBR600F at 15:00 last week 😂 Not sure why the add is still up but i have it and am in love with it! The (ex) owner agreed to £725 and everything runs SO WELL. There are some substantial vibrations at lower revs but the bike is sooo smooth at higher revs and it pulls like a missile. I'm seriously impressed. Yes it has 110k miles, but honestly I see this bike blitzing past 150k miles+.
In the event the engine goes boom or whatever, i'll probably fit another used CBR600 engine in it. Why not when the bike is in good condition?
If you ask me which bike would i rather keep, my 2022 Tiger Sport 660, or my (new to me) 1997 CBR600F, I would pick the CBR 🙂
I love those old Suzuki GSs too, they're like a working mans Katana C:
Back in 2007 I bought a 1992 CB750 from Ebay for £750. It was in decent condition with about 30K miles on it, only being sold as owner was trying to raise money for insurance for his sons first car. I rode it all year round for the first 3 years I had it .. went everywhere on it as it was my only form of transport. After that it became a sunny day toy and coincidentally became much easier to look after at the same time ;) Anyways, I traded in the old CB, with 48K miles on it and a seized front caliper, against a brand new MT07 in 2018 ... and got £695 for it!! So it depreciated by just £55 in 11 years.
I had a 1986 GSX 550 ES back in 1991. Great bike , comfortable and quick but hated bends and starting on wet mornings
125’s are probably so expensive because it costs between £600 and £1200 to do a full test these days, it’s a shame. That GSX has been dropped to £575 now aswell there has to be something wrong…..
Wtf its the E5 thats safe not E10,E10 is what chokes up and gunks the carbs up,always run on E5 even though its more expensive.
Fast food delivery rider's on L plates probably account for 80% ish of all 125cc Bikes 🏍 on the road's. I often wonder how many have Business insurance or just Social Domestic and pleasure.
125,s are probably worth more for parts to keep the Fast food bike's going. Which push,s up second hand prices.😢😢
Back in the 80's I bought a Honda 125 Superdream for £500, I think it were around 3 years old. All my mates had similar Japanese bikes for the same sort of money, only the rich kids parents bought them a brand new 125 for I guess around the £1000 mark back then.
I bought a GSX 550 EF (the full faired version of the bike you show for £650) for £600 as a runner in need of some work (fork seals, tank needed cleaning from having E10 sat in it etc) there are still some bargains to be had out there, especially if you don't mind doing minor work on a bike!
i sold a 125cc last yr needed a speedo cable and a mph clock was a chopper style 2006 new tyres brakes low mileage , £300 ,the reason why cbrs vfr 600 ect is because the parts cost aload a ignation coil are crazy prices
I just bought a Honda NTV 650 for 900 euros recently serviced oil change.I also have a Pioneer 125 King I bought 4 years ago for 650 euro it's been ultra reliable with it's Lifan CG clone.
You mentioned in a video you did about how the licenses work over here that people have been not progressing beyond their CBT, and just keep redoing it every couple of years. Could that be one reason for the 125's over a grand?
100% and wider market because any rider over 17 can have one wether they are full licence holders or just CBTers
125s also hold there money there so cheap to run mine cost me £13 to fill up lasts a couple weeks easy get 250 miles plus out of full tank insurance is cheap aswell so effectively there worth more
125's are also the most moded and thrashed
There is still a massive driving lesson/test backlog from the Covid shutdown, so a lot of young people are taking a CBT in order to commute. This increased demand has massively pushed up the price of a 125. They are also in demand from the 'gig economy' delivery crowd.
My first transport 10 years ago was a Honda 50cc two stroke ridden to my door for £400. I would struggle to find that model on the road with an MOT for under £850 - £900 now.
125cc are expensive to buy because everyone is skint and theyre the cheapest form of personal transport leading to high demand.
I usually take my 125 to a trade seller so they can do the headache work of trying to sell it. I dont have to deal with mind games when selling directly cause I've been there done that.
I had a GSX550ES as my first "big" bike, 25-ish years ago. It was a good bike once. The 16-inch front wheel made it handle really well, but might make tyre choice an issue nowadays. Any bike of that age is a gamble. As to 125cc prices, Just Eat and Deliveroo etc. have absolutely ruined the market for cheap runners, especially scoots. Also thieving scrotes are a significant problem for urban riders.
same issue here, LAMS bikes are way more expensive than full power ones in the second hand market
That is brilliant yes for me the blue one
It's always a gamble.
Don't spend your whole budget on buying the bike.
It will always need money to keep it on the road.
Import bikes with carbs will usually need setting up to run UK fuel.
California spec US run too lean.
If the photos are screenshots it's likely not legit.
I think the answer is a full A licence is a lot harder to get these days, and if you do have one, you probably are spending more money
There are so many 125 bikes because of the money and time it takes to pass a full licence. I have never been able to do it until now and I'm 40 (not very well off, kids etc). A CBT is one day, relatively cheap and not difficult.
That plus it seems that so many people will buy Chinese bikes new these days, very cheap, no MOT needed, I can see the appeal. I'm currently doing my tests. MOD1 booked for a couple days. I found it much easier to find big bikes that 125 bikes. 125 bikes hold their value AMAZINGLY. If I had the money and space I would buy up 2 125 bikes now and sell them when the weather gets nice again. VERY easy to make on them.
Bandits, Hornets CBF's. Get em listed for 1200 to 1300, knock them down and you get a bargain. Paid more for 125 shitboxes lol
I was looking at that triumph sprint a few days ago. Didn't get past the looking at the ad stage because iirc triumphs of that kinda era had a design fault with a spindle/cog(?) in the gearbox kickstart area. Maybe its that model, maybe not, but i just dont trust them olg trumpets. Upgraded/replacement part is a couple of quid but you have to split the cases to fit it. And to be fair grand to 1500 is zzr11 / pan america / bmw tourer bracket and better suited to the 500 mile a week trip to work i need a rat/hack for. Much better bet if your ok with a 20 to 30 year old bike.
If thats just the going price for Bandits, I might have to get one
Look at marketplace and see all the stolen cheap ones, no keys no logbook it been 'custom buggered ' etc
If you are experienced at fixing bikes then you can pickup great bikes under £1000 - if you are going to be paying someone else or don't like breaking down then not such a good idea.
its very very hard to get a good condition 125 for a good price. Ended up getting a new one instead.
One bike that didn't show in all those pages is the Honda XL125V - the Varadero. Rare and becoming a bit of a cult thing, still selling at good money. If you ever get chance of riding one then do so, it may make a nice video. I love mine in the same way you love the DRZ.
I would say they have been a cult thing for a decade. They were not even common back then, great bikes!
Fantastic small large bike that our courier company had as a spare.
Did 95,000 miles without real issue apart from reg/rec going at around 80,000.
Redline around 12,000 and survived being reclined in most gears which really got it moving.
I'd love to see one of these videos but for supermoto's or dual sport bikes! I always find that I see american dual sport recommendations for beginner bikes but then I look on the second hand market and can never find anything like a reasonable DRZ to start learning on for commuting and easy trail riding. Love these videos though!
Yer in the UK they stopped selling the DRZ in the UK in 08 they are now quite rare so little chance of something worth buying under £4k It is a bit of an issue I talked about here ruclips.net/video/DQeQKlktvBk/видео.html
@@spicy110 Currently I like going everywhere on a mountain bike which is why dirtbikes and electric bikes are more appealing to me compared to something like sport bikes (and going offroad seems like way more fun). I just checked and google says petrol stations are down from 40000 in 1960's UK to 8350 now and zapmap says EV charging stations are at 36000 locations. Although realistically im not sure how that pans out with the different charger types and charging taking longer than just filling up gas and leaving. Thanks for your comment and video for making me look into that I think you changed my mind a bit on ebikes. Now the only problem is buying a 10kish zerofx, altis sigma or stark varg LOL. I guess you're right there really is a gap in the market here, shame :/
I have just bought a brand new Kawasaki z125 for my daughter. I was looking for a second hand bike first that was in good condition preferably a Japanese brand. Could not find anything that looked even remotely decent for under 3000. Kawasaki had the z125 with £500 off a new bike, if bought on finance. £3800 on the road the only new Japanese 125 that was cheaper was the cb125f but she preferred the Kawasaki ( it does look cooler) I would have considered a Benelli BN 125 as that looked really good value but there was no dealer local. We plan to keep the Kawasaki until her CBT runs out, two years as she will
be 24 and she can do a direct access rather then A2 and have to do it again later. So it a bit of a longer term bike then some 125s and if it is looked after should hold its value really well.
I feel sorry for youngsters who don’t have well paid jobs or parents that can help with the costs, because the value for money second hand 125s are few and far between and then they get ripped off on insurance as well as having to do theirs tests twice to get a full A license unless they are prepared to wait. It is no wonder they are put off getting in to motorcycles.
That's because they want us all off the roads period,..... research Klaus Schwab, WEF and their 2030 agenda, if you have no clue.
make a video on the dreaded fb market / Gumtree 👍
the prices of 125's is ridiculous. a new yamaha mt125 is £100 more than a new royal enfield guerilla 450 !!!
You missed Honda CB125F Cat n for £920 with 28k.
I think he’s glad about that 😂
Do you think you’ll end up with a new bike any time soon ?
Haha no chance, I am just making ends meet.
@@spicy110 fair enough, if I could have 2 bikes they’d be very similar to the ones you have there’s no need for extras
i swapped my CBF600 for a Zontes ZT350 T17 and i have to say that the Zontes IMO is a better bike
I have reviewed that bike! ruclips.net/video/BjNMx-T2eZI/видео.htmlsi=w4eqXIsB87GQ2VW9
@@spicy110 i know, ive watched it great bike for the money
arr ok cool
@@spicy110 I might have to sell my bike, as ive got a problem with my spine, and i need to have surgery on it.
Velocette LE, a bike so ugly the owners club insisted they make their own special separate club just for the LE
Most of them were used as local police patrol bikes and painted battleship grey.
Police liked them because they were very quiet and you could creep up on villains, it's one reason the where called Noddy bikes
why Autotrader!?
Less scammers.
@@spicy110fair, I find prices are inflated there
50cc. Chinese crap.😂.Bice Suzuki