Few q's from a noob

DonkeyRhubarb

Im looking to get a bike mainly for commuting. I have a full B licence for a car and am sick of the traffic in the morning!

1. Does my B licence cover me to drive a bike up to 125cc?

2. If I was to get compound insurance for my car and a bike would it work out costing a rediculous amount?

3. What are peoples opinions on the Honda Varadero?

Im a 22 year old male, 1 year full licence, 1.6 toyota carina e. Love it to bits, but it's not morning traffic material!

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Mike

Persius

DonkeyRhubarb wrote: »

Im looking to get a bike mainly for commuting. I have a full B licence for a car and am sick of the traffic in the morning!

1. Does my B licence cover me to drive a bike up to 125cc?

No. Generally a full category B licence covers you to drive a bike up to 50cc and a max speed of 45 km/h (i.e. a class M vehicle). Note that the government withdrew this privilege about a year ago, so if you only passed your test in the last year or so, you won't even be allowed to drive a scooter. Seeing as you've only got a licence for a year, you'd want to check the cut-off date for a class M licence. Do a search of this forum, I think it was on a previous thread recently

2. If I was to get compound insurance for my car and a bike would it work out costing a rediculous amount?

AON give discounts to people who also have car insurance. Only way to find out what it costs is to ring them. Carole Nash, Quinn and (I think) Adelaide also do bike insurance. Thats it.

3. What are peoples opinions on the Honda Varadero?

It's generally considered a decent 125. You'd want to be tall though.

Fr Dougal

Persius wrote: »

No. Generally a full category B licence covers you to drive a bike up to 50cc and a max speed of 45 km/h (i.e. a class M vehicle). Note that the government withdrew this privilege about a year ago, so if you only passed your test in the last year or so, you won't even be allowed to drive a scooter. Seeing as you've only got a licence for a year, you'd want to check the cut-off date for a class M licence. Do a search of this forum, I think it was on a previous thread recently



AON give discounts to people who also have car insurance. Only way to find out what it costs is to ring them. Carole Nash, Quinn and (I think) Adelaide also do bike insurance. Thats it.



It's generally considered a decent 125. You'd want to be tall though.

+1
Everything that Persius said.

I don't think you can "compound" your insurance for both into one policy but as Persius has pointed out, some companies give a discount if you have a motor policy with their Car Insurance provider.

DonkeyRhubarb

Could you give me an example of a company that does cars and bikes? Ive rang quinn and got a quote for 1200 for the Varadero 125cc. My car next year will be around 1600. 2800 for total insurance is just not justifyable.

Fr Dougal

Quinn Direct do car and bike insurance.

Also, AON and AXA are linked somehow.

colm_c

DonkeyRhubarb wrote: »

Could you give me an example of a company that does cars and bikes? Ive rang quinn and got a quote for 1200 for the Varadero 125cc. My car next year will be around 1600. 2800 for total insurance is just not justifyable.

Quinn is probably the cheapest at the moment, although it's always worth a call to the other too.

a_ominous

@Persius, I get the impression that you believe there can be a connection between car and bike insurance. There is none. Mostly, but AON will offer a discount if you have car insurance with them. IIRC Hibernian offered a discount if you had house insurance, but this has nothing to do with No Claims Bonus (NCB) or anything.

Other ways to lower quotes include getting training, mentioned elsewhere on this forum. Take a trip around a few bike shops. Lots of them can give you the AON insurance premiums and can arrange insurance. So they'll be able to give you actual insurance on specific bikes there and then.

Bike insurance is not cheap. Rates drop significanly after ages 21, 25, 30, 40.
Bike insurance is grouped by bike power/weight and age. Lowest insurance for a 50cc moped (group 1). AON and Carole Nash have different numbers of groups (12 and 17 or other way round, can't remember).

Quick answer: get provisional A licence and a 50cc scoot. Get some lessons. Hold this for a year and change then when 1yr NCB has kicked in. Should get significant reduction then. Apply for driving test and pass, get approx 30% discount, if not already factored in the assessment.

DonkeyRhubarb

So here goes...


AON wouldnt quote me!im looking at the Yahama YBR 125 now. managed to get a quote for it 3rd party only for 950.
The bike seems to have amazing fuel efficiency, which is exactly what I want. It doesn't even need to go above 45mph.

I think it's rediculous that I can't at least get a discount when I have a car and bike policy from quinn. Sure I can only be on one vehicle at a time! Think about it!

So anyway, the Yahama YBR 125 is cheap, I can afford a 07, it gets about 125 miles to the gallon, theres very little to go wrong with it. It's needed for a 15 - 20 min commute either way to college.

Anyone got a better suggestion, please go ahead:)

Persius

YBR 125 is good solid first bike. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Got a very good write up from the Irish Times last year.
Honda CG 125 is more or less the same thing. Might be a bit more expensive (can't remember). Was talking to a courrier who used one. He also had a bigger bike, but said the CG 125 was ideal for city traffic.
I'd say just sit up on both of them, whichever is more comfortable for you and looks nicer, go for it.

Edit, don't forget, you'll need to do your test on a bigger bike (i.e. at least 150cc) otherwise you'll only get an A1 licence and you'll only ever be able to ride 125s. For this reason you might be better looking for a second hand bike (05 or 06). Shouldn't lose as much money if you sell it on again in a year to get something slightly bigger (assuming you stick with biking).

DonkeyRhubarb

Id well imagine Ill stick with biking anyway. For years I wanted a car and now I love every minute driving. Its something I do to relax, to fill time, to get out, to basically anything. Love it.

A bike wouldnt let me go anywhere new, but Id get there a different way. It's also one step closer to having every vehicle on my licence:D

I sat on the YBR 125 and found it very comfortable. So all Im waiting for now is to see if the bank will help me!

Persius

This might be of interest to you. A 2005 YBR 125 for sale for €1,500. It's got 22,000 kms (not miles), which is a bit on the high side, but it comes with a few extras - the most relevant being the top box and the screen (which you can remove if you don't like).

Keep that for a year or so, and you should be able to sell it for only a few hundred less than your purchase price. Btw, I've no financial interest in the bike, just spotted it and remembered this thread.

Thinkingaboutit

Persius wrote: »

YBR 125 is good solid first bike. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Got a very good write up from the Irish Times last year.
Honda CG 125 is more or less the same thing. Might be a bit more expensive (can't remember). Was talking to a courrier who used one. He also had a bigger bike, but said the CG 125 was ideal for city traffic.
I'd say just sit up on both of them, whichever is more comfortable for you and looks nicer, go for it.

Edit, don't forget, you'll need to do your test on a bigger bike (i.e. at least 150cc) otherwise you'll only get an A1 licence and you'll only ever be able to ride 125s. For this reason you might be better looking for a second hand bike (05 or 06). Shouldn't lose as much money if you sell it on again in a year to get something slightly bigger (assuming you stick with biking).

The Irish School of Motoring and one or two other places can hire out bikes to riders doing their test. All that is needed is a valid licence in the relevant category.