Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Firstly, I love this site! Everyone is newbie friendly, and there's loads of great info. And thanks to Dragonhawk for the California Bike Nights learner page, it's really helpful for newbs like me!

Ok, on to the question - I need a good beginner 125cc on/off road bike. It has to be a 125 because that's the legal limit for people at the grand old age of 16 here. On/off road (enduro bikes, I think they're called?) because I will be using it ... well, off and on road really... Being 16 price is also an important issue, unfortunately.

In the dirt for practising and fun riding, and because where I live most of the so called 'roads' are actually dirt tracks anyway, and on road for general shortish trips around town (friends houses, to school when I miss the bus in the morning, etc.)

I'm 1.65m (5.4" aprox), with a 30" inseam. I've been looking at Yamaha DT 125, DT 125 R and DT 125 RE, though I'm not actually sure what the difference between them is, except the RE is higher than the others. Not sure if it would be too high? No particular preference to those models, just some of the first ones I came accross and from a lot of the reviews I've read pretty beginner friendly; good handling, easy maintenance, etc.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

those are all good bikes for you. As far as i know there are the only 125 sized dual sports out there. As for which one, you need to find them, sit on them and see which is the most comfortable/appealing/affordable. Than make your decision from there.



JWF

welcome! i will probably trade up sport bikes first but when it comes time to add a 3rd pony to the stable an enduro is way up the list. sorry i dont know much to tell you but check your local "craigs list" and cycletrader.

good luck and ride safe.

and yea- Dragon Hawk's website is awesome.

sorry i dont know much to tell you but check your local "craigs list" and cycletrader.

I don't think they have craigslist in spain...

camthepyro wrote:I don't think they have craigslist in spain...

http://barcelona.craigslist.org/mcy/

iatemycat wrote:Firstly, I love this site! Everyone is newbie friendly, and there's loads of great info. And thanks to Dragonhawk for the California Bike Nights learner page, it's really helpful for newbs like me!

Ok, on to the question - I need a good beginner 125cc on/off road bike. It has to be a 125 because that's the legal limit for people at the grand old age of 16 here. On/off road (enduro bikes, I think they're called?) because I will be using it ... well, off and on road really... Being 16 price is also an important issue, unfortunately.

In the dirt for practising and fun riding, and because where I live most of the so called 'roads' are actually dirt tracks anyway, and on road for general shortish trips around town (friends houses, to school when I miss the bus in the morning, etc.)

I'm 1.65m (5.4" aprox), with a 30" inseam. I've been looking at Yamaha DT 125, DT 125 R and DT 125 RE, though I'm not actually sure what the difference between them is, except the RE is higher than the others. Not sure if it would be too high? No particular preference to those models, just some of the first ones I came accross and from a lot of the reviews I've read pretty beginner friendly; good handling, easy maintenance, etc.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

Thanks for the compliments. Glad to hear my page was helpful to you.

As far as if a bike is too high or not, you'll just have to sit on a few to find out. That is one bit of advice that is not easy to give over the Internet. As I said on my learners page - just sit on it and make sure you can comfortably reach all the controls. You can research the seat-height of some bikes and that might give you an idea. But overall, sitting on them is the best and most accurate way to figure that out.

Thanks everyone, all your suggestions ARE appreciated, just I didn't answer 'cause my internet just... dissapeared for about 1 1/2 months... and with the usual very helpful, well-informed and easy to understand people of customer attention, it's only just more or less back.