Good place to buy a motorcycle?

[ShambleS1980]

so yers ago motorcycles were every where. i could buy and sell the things for very little, and now i quite fancy a little runaround like i used to.

i had a kawazaki ar 125 RS but what with the fact that i was an idiot for selling it and they are now impossible to find i decided maybe somethng cheaper would be good..

like a honda CB 100 or something..
maybe the wife would even have a go on that..

And guess what..
either they are miles away and incredibly expensive.
or miles away and slightly expensive..

Apparantly anything i ever sold in the mid 90's has become valuable. And im assuming its because people like me. sold the dumb things in the mid 90's and now we want them back.
icard

any way long story short..
where can i buy a cheap bike from the past. "80's" preferably 100-125 cc so the wife can have a go. probably 4 stroke so she dosent shoot off over the horizon screaming when she lets go of the clutch for the 1st time..

But mostly just so i can zip about potter to the shops have cheap insurance and low fule costs.
I dont mind working on the engin as i used to rebuild the things in the past so im not going to be over whelemd by a 125 even if it is 4 stroke.

 

[johnim]

hi i use a 1987 cg125 and have problems now finding parts. as all the bikes now are the chinese imports. your best bet is local sales / gumtree and maybe ebay. as the others are expensive

 

[Merlin]

I'd go for a Peugeot Speedfight 100 or maybe even a destricted Speedfight 50 / Trekker 50 / Vivacity 50. Plus points are these.

1. It's not Chinese, so the quality is better. Chinese bike reliability isn't good, a quick Google around will tell you that.
2. There is a dealer network in the UK for Peugeot scooters.
3. Spare parts are uber-cheap on a certain auction site *cough*
4. Lots of tune-up and go-faster stuff is available for the Peugeots (upgraded variator rollers, clutch springs, tuned pipes, etc.
5. Insurance is still relatively cheap - Chinese models can have issues with obtaining insurance, unless you go to specialists like Bennetts and when my son and I checked recently, for a Chinese Kaisar 125cc model it wasn't cheap (probably due to replacement parts costs and availability).
6. Peugeot, Aprilia and Yamaha AeroX scooters are popular, so there are plenty around second hand.

My son bought a derestricted 2007 plate Peugeot 50cc Trekker Off Road from a private sale on Gumtree. It's good for over 50 MPH in derestricted form with a tuned pipe. He's getting around 75 MPG even in tuned form (I reckon it's Stage 1 race tuned).

It reminds me a lot of the late '70s and the heady days of Honda SS50s, Suzuki AP50s and Yamaha FS1Es, with the smell of 2-stroke oil.... [/nostalgic]

 

[johnim]

hi dave i still have my 1976 ss50 but use the cg as my run around

 

[Merlin]

@ johnim

Back then, I went from a Peugeot 103 moped to a Yamaha RD200E - the wire-spoke wheeled, air cooled twin model with the coffin-shaped tank, the one that came before the alloy wheeled F model and eventually the LS (Elsie) liquid cooled models. It was the RD200 that I smashed myself up badly on.

This was in 1979, just before they cut learners back from 250cc to 125cc motorcycles.

The Peugeot 103 - It sounded like I had a car at the age of 16 in 1978, as nobody knew what a Peugeot 103 was....

The 1979 Yamaha RD200E - this one's the same colour as the one I crashed on.

 

[johnim]

nice dave will dig out my pics as most of my bike need tlc/putting back together

3 1/2 honda cg 125
1 1/2 suzuki rg 125 gamma
1 honda ss50
1 honda cb250n
1 suzuki gsf 400
1 1/2 honda cd175

just a few pics i have found

my cg last rebuild 6 months ago


gsf400 needs stripping and rebuilding had 2 years now and been sitting there


half my rg125 (spares bike)



i have had a cb100, thomas moped, honda c50/c70/2 c90s too

shambles sorry for hijacking your thread

 

[ShambleS1980]

i like reading it lol.

 

[Merlin]

I've also owned these bikes over the years (in no particular order)

Suzuki A100N

Yamaha V80

Honda CG125 (Japanese model, not the Brazilian one)

Suzuki GP100

Honda C70 Cub

Yamaha Salient 50cc

Suzuki FZ50

Honda Express

Last, but not least, the first motorcycle I restored; a 1967 Raleigh Wisp 50cc that I bought in a tea chest as a box of bits when I was 15 and got it back on the road with a new log book, taxed and MOT tested... mine was WLG 44E... I learned about buike repairs and restoration with this bike. It had a Mobylette engine.

 

[johnim]

actually the engine and loom in mg cg are from a hongdou cg125 so Chinese too the bikes reg 87 but engine reg 53

nice list dave

 

[tokyoracer]

My Farther was keen on bikes and still is as after decades of being away from them got a 1997 Honda CB750 for very little!
Can't say that I am a massive fan of bikes though you won't go far wrong with a Honda whatever you get. Parts are easy to come by, even for older ones and they are probably the most reliable around. Only slight downside is they tend to hold their value qute well. Thoguh bargains can be had!

 

[johnim]

the smaller ones eg cg125 are getting more expensive in good condition unless you get a spare/repair one

 

[Merlin]

The price driving in this thread is totally shameless!!

 

[tokyoracer]

The price driving in this thread is totally shameless!!

Sorry, edited mine out.

 

[ShambleS1980]

i spy with my little eye a cb100 68 miles away for an affordable price...

may just give the man a phone call.

 

[tokyoracer]

i spy with my little eye a cb100 68 miles away for an affordable price...

may just give the man a phone call.

Best of luck.

 

[ShambleS1980]

the cb 100 fell through. But im geting a 100cc something or other for gratis from a friend.
Needs a strip down and re build on the engine. and its 2 stroke. But for the price thats excelent.

forgot what he said it was but i can pick it up in a week or so. and he says it was road worthy before the engine started playing up.

 

[johnim]

nice 1 mate you can't get better than free

 

[Justin]

nice 1 mate you can't get better than free

paid to have?

 

[Merlin]

nice 1 mate you can't get better than free

It depends what make and model and what exactly is wrong with it; it could easily become a money pit....

@ Shambles

I'm interested to find out what you have acquired. I have just been working on a Peugeot Trekker for my son the past couple of weeks, 'un-Barrying' all of the 'Mint, innit' modifications made by the bike's previous Biker Barry owners. It turned out to be a hybrid of a Trekker and a Speedfight 2, with some 'interesting ideas' about lighting.

I've rewired part of the bike, put the lights back to standard and sorted out the main beam that wasn't working, because Biker Barry had changed the switchgear, changed the carburettor back to the standard one and sorted it our thoroughly. My OCD monkey is happy with it now.

 

[ShambleS1980]

he thinks its carb related.
he tried a basic clean of the carb. but hes not that mechanically inclined.

sounds like some sort of mixture issue though. il just strip and re build and see what happens.
according to him the bike is perfect except for the issue which he is sure is the carb.

i should be going over his way in the next week or so, and will pick it up then and see whats what.

i THINK its a KC 100 but i really cant be sure about it because i have forgotten what he said.