Beginner motorbike

TimBru14

TimBru14

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Location
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Hi all :)

New to the forum so please excuse my newby-ness.
I've been looking into getting my learners bike license and buying my first bike but I'm stumped as to what I should get. Prowling the forums has proved rather confusing as many people say that the best starter bike is no less than 600cc while others say that if you have never been on a bike (been on quads but not motorbikes) before then you should get a 250cc. I would mainly be using it to commute to varsity (from my house in Glenwood to Westville (Durban)) but also just for cruising around the area when taking my 1990 Mercedes Benz 200E becomes too costly (does 14 litres per 100 so am trying to avoid using it where I can :crylaugh: ).
My father and many of his friends had bikes growing up and many of them suggest 250cc or higher as anything lower will not keep up with freeway traffic.

Let me know what your thoughts are :D

Cheers
TimBru14
 
Last edited:
Yo. Recommend removing your full name asap.

I would say a 250-500 would be a good start. Get your learners and do a rider training course as soon as you can to prevent learning bad habits.

Budget?
 
Firstly stop looking at capacity and look at kw/Hp.

A 600cc 4-cylinder is nothing like a 650cc parallel twin.

Then after you looked at that forget all about buying bikes.

Go do some rider training with their bikes first and make sure this is really for you.

Then get your learners and even better get your licence as well.

Now go test ride bikes that you are interested and make an informed decision based on real world feel and experience.

Then buy a BMW G310R or G310GS. :)

Okay that won’t work because budget. But I wouldn’t buy a little 250cc.

Could get a nice Kawasaki ER6N or Versys for the money.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Firstly stop looking at capacity and look at kw/Hp.

A 600cc 4-cylinder is nothing like a 650cc parallel twin.

Then after you looked at that forget all about buying bikes.

Go do some rider training with their bikes first and make sure this is really for you.

Then get your learners and even better get your licence as well.

Now go test ride bikes that you are interested and make an informed decision based on real world feel and experience.

Then buy a BMW G310R or G310GS. :)

Okay that won’t work because budget. But I wouldn’t buy a little 250cc.

Could get a nice Kawasaki ER6N or Versys for the money.
Click to expand...

Nice advice, good choice on bikes. If your budget can stretch get a Honda NC750. Its very forgiving, and practical.

(Gs310 looks nice)
 
boanergesza1 said:
Nice advice, good choice on bikes. If your budget can stretch get a Honda NC750. Its very forgiving, and practical.

(Gs310 looks nice)
Click to expand...

Yeah if you are a fairly tall bloke the NC is a good option as well.

For shorties the ER6 is more comfortable to start with.

But left the NC out because of price mostly.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yeah if you are a fairly tall bloke the NC is a good option as well.

For shorties the ER6 is more comfortable to start with.

But left the NC out because of price mostly.
Click to expand...

If money was no object, a triumph tiger. That triple is Smooth, sound 's amazing and always a talking point.
 
boanergesza1 said:
If money was no object, a triumph tiger. That triple is Smooth, sound 's amazing and always a talking point.
Click to expand...

A bit much for a noob though.

Big power and pretty large and unwieldy.

Also a wide seat that makes it feel taller than it really is.
 
Go get some beginner rider training first.
Once you're comfortable on a bike, then you can start test riding to see what suits you.

My first bike is a Honda nc700 xd and I'm very happy with it. It did the BMW motorrad beginner training at zwartkops before I started.
 
Well, I bought a bike (Honda CBR250R), knowing nothing about the topic and with hindsight I DEFINITELY would have preferred something with a bit more juice. It's an absolute pleasure on city roads, but simply doesn't cut the mustard on roads where traffic is exceeding 100 km/h.
 
TimBru14 said:
Hi all :)

New to the forum so please excuse my newby-ness.
I've been looking into getting my learners bike license and buying my first bike but I'm stumped as to what I should get. Prowling the forums has proved rather confusing as many people say that the best starter bike is no less than 600cc while others say that if you have never been on a bike (been on quads but not motorbikes) before then you should get a 250cc. I would mainly be using it to commute to varsity (from my house in Glenwood to Westville (Durban)) but also just for cruising around the area when taking my 1990 Mercedes Benz 200E becomes too costly (does 14 litres per 100 so am trying to avoid using it where I can :crylaugh: ).
My father and many of his friends had bikes growing up and many of them suggest 250cc or higher as anything lower will not keep up with freeway traffic.

Let me know what your thoughts are :D

Cheers
TimBru14
Click to expand...

Howzit Bru

Looking for insight from you on a first bike to purchase. What did you end up getting?
 
Alonso Harris said:
Howzit Bru

Looking for insight from you on a first bike to purchase. What did you end up getting?
Click to expand...

Hi Alonso

I haven't purchased my first bike as of yet (been putting money away each month to save for something). My dad purchased a Sym Crox 125 scooter 2nd hand about 2 years ago now and I have been using it as a run around for about a year now. I'm in a rather strange predicament regarding these cheaper bikes (by cheaper I mean significantly less than big name brands like Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki). This bike has mostly been a pleasure to ride, easy to work on and far cheaper than any car to maintain but I have started to find some issues with it. The first issue came in the form of a starter motor solenoid which was damaged (thankfully only cost around R300 to replace and a local Suzuki dealership ended up repairing it for me). Earlier today, I decide to go for a ride down to the beachfront. I get on as usual, turn the key, hit the ignition and it fires first time but then I can hear the starter motor failing to disengage from the engine. I immediately killed the engine, left it for a few minutes and then tried again only for it to do the same thing. I then removed the key from the ignition and to my dismay the bike began turning over (even with the key in my hand!). I got it to stop by disconnecting the whole battery (which is now flat as a result of turning the engine over for a good 5 minutes before I could grab a screwdriver to disconnect it). The bike will run absolutely fine if I kick start it.
As stupid as this story sounds, that has just been my experience with it. I don't blame it, I mean the whole scooter cost less than 8 grand so how can you really blame it for not lasting but you would think it would last at least 3k kilometres.
Long story short: I have always been a little reluctant to throw money at the big name brands like Honda or Yamaha but the responses I have gotten about big name bikes (from friends and colleagues) has been overwhelming positive. You can still buy a Sym Blaze XS200 bike for around 18k brand new with 2 year warranty but long term it will probably give issues (not that I have heard anything bad about them from a few friends that have bought them brand new).
If you have the money, go for a Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki. It's not that I don't like the Sym bikes, I just don't enjoy spending my weekends fixing menial issues on bikes that just don't happen with name brand bikes.

Hope this helps :)
Cheers
 
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