First bike help

Hi there,

I'm looking at getting my first bike and need a bit of help.
I'm thinking of going for a 125 and don't have a huge amount of change to spend.
So first question is what would people recommend? As far as tastes go, I love classic British.
Plan is to customise further down the line and make it my own, but getting a bike is the first step.
Thoughts on the following bikes?

This one is WK RT125 (£1400). Looks nice, but have no idea about reliability and can't find out who makes the engine.



It looks identical to this Hanway Raw 125, which isn't available in UK. I'm sure it's the same bike, but again not sure of reliability.



Then there's this HMC (£1700)


And the Skyteam Ace (£1800) But I'm worried it might be too small (I'm 6ft)


I know people are saying Chinese built aren't as good. But in reality are they going to be that bad? And what are the major problems?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Where do you live (as in, are licenses restricted)? What's your intended use?
A 125cc is a very small bike. Basically a city bike. You stand a chance of outgrowing it very fast. I'm not sure of the exchange rate, but I think you can get a lot more bike for the money.

scott s said:

Where do you live (as in, are licenses restricted)? What's your intended use?
A 125cc is a very small bike. Basically a city bike. You stand a chance of outgrowing it very fast. I'm not sure of the exchange rate, but I think you can get a lot more bike for the money.

Click to expand...

+1

Anything Chinese is most likely a Lifan powered machine. Although the China built stuff is improving, the QC is not so good, tolerances in machine work tends to suffer from poor materials and production rate. The least you can expect to do right away is to get Honda ignition parts and buy a Mikuni match bore carburetor, If you want to stop it more than a few times, you might considder some better calipers, masters and lines, rotors may be okay for a while.

Buy something with enough power to grow a bit 125 unless and RD125 may get boring fast, but not an R6R, I think for a new rider the upright ride position is best, you can see further ahead and in traffic or around town it's way more nimble, learn to use mirrors, the look back can become a bad habit, learn to ride in rain before you have to. Have fun, be careful no one sees you but you.

RD

Its going to be more reliable than a 50 year old worn out brit bike anyhoo, at least for the first 1000 km's
Get one and learn to ride, then you can try and restore some old british beauty! Its a labor of love and you learn immense amounts on the way!

You gotta say no to China bikes. China namebrand bikes? That's something I haven't heard of. I would rather buy a used/ old Honda or Yamaha then any of the bikes listed above. You will have better realsale value with a real brand.

There is a huge ACE owners group on here. Check with them they have all the fixes mods and what is good or bad. I see you speaking in pounds for prices so I am guessing you are in the UK and limited to the 125cc for the first year? I know those bikes all have a Honda clone motor and generally they are good, it is the finishes and fasteners on the rest of the bike that suffer but from what I have seen the Ace are pretty good. That being said for the same money a used Hondzukisaki will be better built and probably the same price as the new China bike you will need to fix right from the start.

Maritime is spot on. There's a few Honda XL125's on UK ebay for about the same money as the Ace.
I really like the look of the Skyteam, and thought about buying one last year, until I found a mint, very low mileage Laverda Formula Kevlar for £1800.

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