How much to pay for a Baby-dero 125?

DubVelo

How much should I parting with for an '03 or '04 or similar age Varadero?
Anything in particular to look for with these?

I'm thinking of going for one of these to build up some confidence and for ultimate fuel economy and renting a school 600 for the test.

BrokenArrows

DubVelo wrote: »

How much should I parting with for an '03 or '04 or similar age Varadero?
Anything in particular to look for with these?

I'm thinking of going for one of these to build up some confidence and for ultimate fuel economy and renting a school 600 for the test.

I learned on a varadero 125 in England and did my test on a rented 600 but you're going to need to get a good few lessons on the 600 to get comfortable.
So it might work out cheaper just to buy a 600 initially.

the cats pajamas

I learned on a 250cc and rented a 600cc sv s off roadtraining.ie for my test.
He did 3 hours the night before and 2 hours the morning of the test and I found them very very reasonable.
Maybe send lookbehindyou a pm and see what he can do for you.
Pricing everything and it might help you decide.
ps. I passed my test and I only credit lookbehindyou with it

minidazzler

They are a solid bike, but they will feel underpowered very quickly. Look under the fairings for gunk to see if it was never cleaned.

Pay no more than 1200 for a decent quality one, and that would be high-end.

DubVelo

Rode a CG125 once. That felt underpowered the first time out, I was like 'I'm starting to get the hang of this, I'll gun it through this bend... LOL WTF!? Nothing happened!!'.

There's the MPGs though, it's all about the MPG. And maintenance. I'm skint.

Wonda-Boy

You get an awful lot of bike for the money with a Varadero and they dont look wimpy like other 125cc bikes. I did my IBT on one also and found them a great bike to learn on.

fatbast

i have this 125 for sale its a hyosung sm125 engine looks like the honda xr125....it has only done two kilometres since 2012 so its new. 1450 euro

Del2005

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

You get an awful lot of bike for the money with a Varadero and they dont look wimpy like other 125cc bikes. I did my IBT on one also and found them a great bike to learn on.

They look the part but really struggle for anything bar city work, they are to big and heavy for regular use on open roads. A friend had one and only using it to commute from Swords to town got sick of it after a short time.

With the changes to licences the only reason to buy a 125 is being under 18.

Edit

I was thinking of the 12 horse 125s a full fat one would be fun, but the Varadero only makes 15 horse unrestricted, once your over 18.

lostboy75

will be selling my 125 Varadero in the coming weeks, it has been replaced, agree with Del2005, out on the open roads it lacks the grunt, but around the town or city it was perfect. did all you asked of it and did it comfortable.
unfortunately i live in the country, as i mentioned previously if there was a 250 or so engine in it, i would have happily kept it.
as Wonda said, its far from a wimpy bike looks wise, its a fairly big imposing bike for a 125 (hence the power problem), and from my point of view was a great bike to start on.

Wonda-Boy

Its like any bike really, you need to buy a bike for what you want the bike to do.

DubVelo

I was thinking of touring on whatever I get to be honest so there's the MPGs again. Also self preservation. Though I agree a 250 or bigger version would have been great.

Will it do 90 to 100 km/h happily enough? I don't need it to do more than that really I wasn't planning on motorways.

Though then again, I have to get the test done on a proper bike before I can ride off the island. Feck... it's a tricky one...

DubVelo

fatbast wrote: »

i have this 125 for sale its a hyosung sm125 engine looks like the honda xr125....it has only done two kilometres since 2012 so its new. 1450 euro

Cute bike but I wouldn't want to deprive some teenage lad the pleasure of posing outside school on it.

Thanks anyway!

Del2005

DubVelo wrote: »

I was thinking of touring on whatever I get to be honest so there's the MPGs again. Also self preservation. Though I agree a 250 or bigger version would have been great.

Will it do 90 to 100 km/h happily enough? I don't need it to do more than that really I wasn't planning on motorways.

Though then again, I have to get the test done on a proper bike before I can ride off the island. Feck... it's a tricky one...

For starters a low powered bike doesn't aid in self preservation as you can go into a corner to fast on a moped, which is restricted to 45km/h, training is what makes you safe on the road and you need more than Initial BASIC Training.

While 90 to a 100 might sound OK, for use on open roads it's not. You'll be at full power all the time, so the bike will drink juice, which isn't good for the engine and once you get a bit of a headwind you'll be down to 80.

If you want to comfortably cruise at 90 you need something that can do about 120 easy.

You need a full licence to go up North, even to Donegal as the road goes through a different country.

Wonda-Boy

DubVelo wrote: »

I was thinking of touring on whatever I get to be honest so there's the MPGs again. Also self preservation. Though I agree a 250 or bigger version would have been great.

Will it do 90 to 100 km/h happily enough? I don't need it to do more than that really I wasn't planning on motorways.

Though then again, I have to get the test done on a proper bike before I can ride off the island. Feck... it's a tricky one...

As long as you are "Touring" around the neighbourhood then its perfect.

DubVelo

Del2005 wrote: »

For starters a low powered bike doesn't aid in self preservation as you can go into a corner to fast on a moped, which is restricted to 45km/h, training is what makes you safe on the road and you need more than Initial BASIC Training.

While 90 to a 100 might sound OK, for use on open roads it's not. You'll be at full power all the time, so the bike will drink juice, which isn't good for the engine and once you get a bit of a headwind you'll be down to 80.

If you want to comfortably cruise at 90 you need something that can do about 120 easy.

You need a full licence to go up North, even to Donegal as the road goes through a different country.

After what I did to a school 600 a while back I respectfully beg to differ! :eek:

Lack of skill and sensitivity + a lot of power at your fingertips can = a lot of trouble very quickly. Corners were great fun though, everyone's different I guess.
I take your point about more training. Direct Access is often about a week in the UK I think, depending on experience of the rider.

Feck, I forgot about the North, I was just thinking I've never seen the Giant's Causeway!

minidazzler

DubVelo wrote: »

After what I did to a school 600 a while back I respectfully beg to differ! :eek:

I don't suppose that was in Waterford? :pac:

And slow bikes don't actually help with self-preservation. If you are on any sort of open road you will have arseholes overtaking you at every opportunity because they are pissed you are going so slow. Which is risky.

Del2005

DubVelo wrote: »

After what I did to a school 600 a while back I respectfully beg to differ! :eek:

Lack of skill and sensitivity + a lot of power at your fingertips can = a lot of trouble very quickly. Corners were great fun though, everyone's different I guess.
I take your point about more training. Direct Access is often about a week in the UK I think, depending on experience of the rider.

Feck, I forgot about the North, I was just thinking I've never seen the Giant's Causeway!

I'm not saying that you won't get into trouble on a bigger bike what I'm saying is that a it doesn't matter how powerful the bike is you can still get into trouble without training, thinking that a bike is safer as it'll only do 100 as against a bike that'll 300 is wrong.


Once you do your IBT apply for the test and say you are unavailable for 6 months, might be able to make it up North this year.

DubVelo

minidazzler wrote: »

I don't suppose that was in Waterford? :pac:

Nah not Waterford, glad to hear I'm not the only one though! Anyway I'll say no more about that little incident. What's that saying? Any landing you walk away from...

Yeah IBT all done and the six months are out anyway.

lostboy75

the Varadero will do the 90 comfortable enough, the 100 it can do, but its more or less outside its comfort zone.
the size of the rider on these bikes will have much more influence on where the comfort zone is to!!
yes you can mess up on any bike, and as all above have said training, training, training.

Doylers

Vara was my first bike I had it a year(literally a year on the button). Mine was going for 1000 at the time it was a 00, very good condition with heated grips. I paid 800 for it in the end which I feel was a fair price. Its a nice bike very comfortable to ride nice upright position for when your new.

I rode to dungarvan for work on it loads of times, she will do 90, 100 if your not on a hill but at that speed she burned though petrol very fast.

When I sold it a year later with a new chain I got 900. As people are saying there are slow and you will feel it, believe it or not its safer to be on a bigger bike I have the power to get out of the way faster now.

I suggest getting a bigger bike restricted its better value in the long run as you can keep it longer and you can work on it yourself and gain some new skills.

DubVelo

I was reading 100mpg could be had out of them on a run, what speeds do you need to be doing to achieve that then?

lostboy75

Doylers wrote: »

Vara was my first bike I had it a year(literally a year on the button). Mine was going for 1000 at the time it was a 00, very good condition with heated grips. I paid 800 for it in the end which I feel was a fair price. Its a nice bike very comfortable to ride nice upright position for when your new.

I rode to dungarvan for work on it loads of times, she will do 90, 100 if your not on a hill but at that speed she burned though petrol very fast.

When I sold it a year later with a new chain I got 900. As people are saying there are slow and you will feel it, believe it or not its safer to be on a bigger bike I have the power to get out of the way faster now.

I suggest getting a bigger bike restricted its better value in the long run as you can keep it longer and you can work on it yourself and gain some new skills.

I agree with all above,and yet, I will say have had no reservations about having gone with my little Vara first.
there is also the other point here to consider, as you mentioned in your first post. don't spend too much on your first bike. I have never dropped one (yet...) but 'when' it does happen, would rather it happen on a starter bike than the 2012 bike you bought for over 5 grand. yes you can drop one at any stage, but would definitely say its more likely in the earlier days.

Del2005

DubVelo wrote: »

I was reading 100mpg could be had out of them on a run, what speeds do you need to be doing to achieve that then?

Slow speeds and expert use of the gears. If you want to keep with traffic, even in urban areas, you'll never get close to 100mpg.

For a lot of driving conditions a bigger engine will return better fuel economy in the same vehicles as it's not being worked hard and never underestimate the need to have a bit in reserve to get out of trouble.