A ton of questions from a total n00b

Hi there!

So the day of my CBT is approaching and I've been doing a bit of reading in preparation for buying and riding my first scooter. But, as all newbies do, I would appreciate some advice.

I've looked at a few scooters and narrowed it down to two Honda models: the Vision 110 and the SH Mode 125. They're both pretty good when it comes to usage costs, they're not too pricey, and Honda seems to be a pretty solid brand.

Trouble is, I don't know if I should buy new or get a second hand one. Both options are financially doable, and I know you don't need to do MOT for 3 years and you get 2 years breakdown cover with a new one. Is it worth it, or would you rather get a second hand one? I had a quick look at one today (a 2015 Vision 110 with a top box and windshield, only 2300 miles or so, and I think the price - £1600 - is pretty good), but I still don't know what the best option would be.

Or should I just get a cheap Asian scoot and then move on to something better? On the other hand, wouldn't that be false economy?

Also, insurance. Is comprehensive cover worth it, or should I just go with third party, fire and theft?

Anything else I need to know before I start riding that no one seems to mention on popular sites? Any help and advice would be very appreciated!

Thanks

 

Third part fire and theft : problem here is if the accident is your fault they will not fix the scooter, if the accident was caused by other party your scooter will be fixed by thier cover. fire and theft tends to be a little cheaper than the fully comp but if the scooter does go wrong its down to you to fix it.

Asian scoots : i will be frank and honest here ( because i own one ) NO DONT DO IT, your going to be repairing them alot and its not easy, ie parts and finding shops to do the work , in my area there are about 7 bike shops out of them only one will work on my tiawaniese scooter the others will not touch it. kawasaki - suzuki - honda your fine most shops will gladly fix them up but when it comes to overseas imported bikes like the asian ones they dont want to know.

new or secondhand

NEW : no mot for 3yrs but you would want to have a service regular to keep ontop of things, its not going to come with faults already, its going to have brand new tires etc etc, some bike shops will also throw in a jacket or even a free cbt to consumers, and the first service always comes free. but they will cost a bit more than a second hand scooter.

Secondhand : beware of this phrase " its runs without no knocks or bangs etc etc " 9-10 times a scooter is sold on because its been causing problems or has a problem that been semi fixed, yes they can be cheap BUT cheap does not mean its going to break down within the first 5 miles ride home. if something goes wrong you have no warenty to fall back on and your left with a dicky scooter and a repair bill , people will always lie to get rid of a problem scooter , BUT there are some out there that are perfectly fine. to a total newbie without any knowledge its a mine field , you would be better off having a biker / mechanic go with you to view said machine and look it over give it a good going over to spot the bad points and warn you if its worth buying or walking away.

if your able to afford NEW its always the best way to go if your totaly new to riding and scooters theres a lot of extra benefits with a brand new shop purchase scooter , if your unable to its best said to have a person that has a vested interest in motorcycles with you to look over the machine at hand and give you an honest opinion and point out any problems they see ( if you spot these problems and know a rough cost on fixing you can use this to an advantage when buying second hand ie " bike has a loose front wheel so the wheel bearings will need to be replaced and the exhaust is slightly blowing so would need replacing so i would only be willing to pay X amount " .


Once you have a scooter the main area is protection, we see to many youngsters riding round in shirts and shorts with trainers, so fatcor in the cost for a decent jacket, some gloves and over trousers and your helmet. DO NOT skimp on the helmet a£50 helmet is not really ideal but a £100+ helmet is going to offer a lot more protection, a jacket should have protection usually shoulders - back - elbows. overtrousers want to be waterproof ( soggy bottom is not to nice on a 20 mile ride home lol ) , and them wooly gloves really will not keep your hands warm unlike a set of leather gloves / motorcycle gloves.
FOOTWEAR, some decent steel toecap boots would be fine or some cheap'ish motorbike boots , trainers just are not fit for riding, comfy yes but roadrash proof NO.

if you buy a new bike see what the bike shop will throw in as extra , do not be afraid to try and grab a discount on items ie you will take the bikeif they can throw in a 50 quid jacket or a set of gloves and trousers etc etc.

Oh and welcome to the scooter shack Madmags

 

Thanks, Tamiyacowboy - your post is very helpful indeed!

You've given me some food for thought and, after considering all the pros and cons, I think I'll go for new. The bike shop I'll be buying from and the place I'll be doing my CBT are part of the same company, so I'll try to knock a bit off the price of my new scoot. As for insurance, although fully comp is quite expensive, I'm thinking it might be worth it, especially in my first year of riding, just to be on the safe side.

If a helmet is heavily discounted (from £75 to £25 or so), is it because there's something wrong with it, or could it be for other reasons? I'm thinking of this one, specifically:
http://www.getgeared.co.uk/held_motorcycle_jet_helmet_city_scape_7470_matt_silver

As for overtrousers, can I use the same ones I've used for cycling? And boots, would regular biker style leather boots do, or something like Underground boots? They do have a steel cap and they're pretty sturdy.

 

open face visors are nice in the summer, but in winter time it can get very cold even with a snood over your face , discounted hats tend to be due to new stock, so they are shifting old stock quick to make way for new lines/models of hat.

Overtrousers, we bikers tend to wear thick jeans or bike leathers , with thick jeans we usually throw on some waterproof trousers to keep us dry or pop them under the seat in the storage bucket for those wet days. if your traveling to and from work maybe popping your work gear into a small bag, ie skirt/trousers and wearing some jeans for the ride, a quick nip to the loo's to swap out of the riding gear and your ready for the day.

a nice sturdy boot is fine .

infinity motorcycles has a couple shops round london ( clapham - great portland street - holburn) west london (hanger lane - chiswick )
and not bad on prices to, can always pop into store try on gear then order online from them .
https://www.infinitymotorcycles.com/index.asp

 

With regards to helmets and clothing buy the best you can afford

if they are knockdown price new from a shop its usually because its older stock that they need to clear ready for the next years stock (around now is normal for that to happen)

Get a good jacket (spada are great quality and cheapish) and some trousers (iirc oxford do a pair that are waterproof and cost £30ish usually found on ebay) with boots yes steel toe caps would be fine but a cheaper pair of bike specific boots would be better in a accident its worth spending that money on the gear and not need it than not to spend that money and loose a foot a leg or have loads of roadrash because you didnt spend the money

@scootzmadness will tell you this he used to have the same attitude towards gear thisll do thatll do and after a few accidents not wearing proper gear he has injuries that have changed his life some days he cant get out of bed some days he is in a wheelchair and both of his legs and arms have scars from deep roadrash

spend what you can just in case it does happen

As for scooter choice personally I would go for the vision 110 the visions have been around for 30+ years in both 2t and 4t form the new ones are great to ride and are very nimble in traffic I havent ridden the mode but have ridden the vision through birminghams rush hour traffic couldnt fault it

 

Thanks for that! I'm not far from Holborn, so I'll be sure to have a look. Fortunately, I don't have to wear smart clothes for work, so I can get away with wearing jeans in the office and won't even need to change out of them.
I haven't really thought about the cold weather factor when it comes to helmet choice. Good call!

That's very sound advice! I'm hoping to spend no more than £300 on clothing/gear, hopefully this will be enough to get me some nice, sturdy stuff.

 

£300 should get you some decent clobber
I spent less than that on my missuses bike gear when I had a full licence and she planned to go pillion going through my ebay purchases (not many) heres what i got her off there -
Waterproof Textile Trousers with knee and hip armour £40 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ladies-Wo...hash=item1c70a7ae54:m:mr1ux6lhI8bDuLuBXK67DEg

Jacket - £40 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Newfacelo...hash=item2110000f18:m:mYdnWriSBQvLrDgUhaPPyag

Gloves - £20 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thermal-W...hash=item2cb00f9778:m:mD0SSF7ciG1b9omIViMQMOA

Boots - £40 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RK-Sports...hash=item25be24a4c7:m:metQ5hhTONHW473e3hTfuBg

her helmet was £90 but we got that from a shop for riding every day I would swap the jacket for a Spada one and swap the gloves for Spada gloves too but have a look around and buy the best you can afford once you start buying gear youll get the bug for it and will want more gear can be upgraded and swapped out through time too

 

All solid advice here, welcome to the forum!

 

Forget fancy looking stuff, ie white -red and black to go with your bike, or blue becasue its your fave colour.
buy the gear with protection in mind. IF you one day have a tumble and end up in A&E you can say goodbye to that jacket - trousers - jeans and boots, THEY GET CUT OFF YOU with a heavy duty set of sissors , there is no undressing you, so your gear gets chopped up, but then again if its life or death better the gear getting cut away from you than trying to remove it intact and causing more damage to you.

Jackets can come with an extra inner removable liner its usually a quilted inner made to keep you extra warm in the winter months, but summer time we just unzip-pop them out for a better more comforting ride, some have zipped vents to aid cooling.

Helmets , if your really liking openfaced helmets there are the flip up versions , think bike copper they have flip up helmets and us the consumer can also purchase them to, so they can be a better choice. look at the venting system to ( ask bike store agents ) more vents means better cooling in summer BUT winter it can get a bit chilly on the old noggin with a lot of fixed open vents and they will produce noise to.
so vents that can be opened up or closed can be a nice little touch to. if possible grab one with a chin curtain or have a chin curtain thrown in with the purchase, they keep the wind out from under the helmet cut down on noise and keep the ol neck a bit warmer.

a lot of riders will also grab a set of ear plugs to help combat wind noise to, they help cut out that wind whine but do not make the world super quiet you tend to still be able to hear traffic and horns. its very annoying doing a 30mile run and find by the time you reach the end point your ears have taken a hammering from all that wind buffeting and noise inside the helmet, for a few quid they will protect you hearing to. some folks cannot ride with them and some folks can so its rider choice but worth looking into.

 

Good call! Mind you, I don't really do colours - I'm an all black everything girl, and everything I will ever need for riding comes in black
The ear plugs tip is very handy, too! I have a drawer full of them (I'm a light sleeper), so I'll give them a go.

Also, my CBT is tomorrow and I'm super excited! Anything I should know, or any common struggles I'm likely to encounter?

 

Just listen to your instructer, you are there to learn they are there to teach... Have fun! Most of my bike stuff is black, it sucks at night in winter!

 

Good luck with your CBT, reckon you'll breeze it
Don't forget to let us all know how you got on with it, how the instructor was, but mostly, how you got on with riding a scooter on the roads

 

Woohoo, CBT done! It was actually great fun, and the part that I found the hardest was - wait for it - taking the bike off the centre stand and putting it back on the stand. But then, I'm short and slight, so I kinda expected it to happen.

Anyway, we did a few exercises and manoeuvres in the yard, then moved on to the street - and that's when I noticed I had some really bad habits from cycling in the city, like moving too close to the kerb so as to let cars pass, or stopping/slowing down even if I didn't really have to. I guess it'll take time to eradicate these, but the sooner I'm on the road, the sooner I can start working on it

Another unexpected thing was the cold. Holy crap, my toes are only just beginning to warm up now, and I got home maybe half an hour ago! Note to self: warm socks are a must.

Now, time to find that perfect scooter... Do any of you guys know what the difference is between Honda SH Mode 125 and Mode 125i, other than the fact that the latter comes with a top box?

 

Good boots, good gloves, good jacket, good trousers will cure all that cold.
I use the Furigan gear, all textile, removable thermal liners, best thing is the trousers........no leaks so no soggy crotch for the "wrong" reasons.
Buy cheap trousers, you'll find out soon enough what I'm on about.

 

Just checked out Furygan - lovely stuff, wish I could afford some of it now. On the other hand, sometimes, buying cheap is false economy, so I need to think about it. After all, credit cards were invented for a reason, right?

Also, how long do you reckon a 10.5 mile commute through London traffic could take? I'll be riding from SE28 to EC1. It shows 59 minutes in a car, but that sounds like a lot of time, especially as it used to take me 40-45 minutes on my bike. Or could that be because it's easier to filter on a pushbike than it is on a motorbike or scooter?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-SH-...044996?hash=item3ad7686044:g:nqoAAOSwA3dYd-nO

 

45 minutes on a cycle = not stopping at traffic lights?
I would guess 30 minutes on a scooter.

 

Can't comment about your commute but it will be quicker on a scooter especially after some practice.
Try doing it on a Sunday.

 

I always stop at traffic lights, but since I've just changed jobs, my shifts are a bit different. I used to start at 7 am, so I'd leave home around 5:15, ride to work on nearly empty roads, shower and do my morning routine at work. Now, I start work at 9, which means much more traffic.

 

well done mags and welcome to the world of scooters, you wore a full face helmet i take it, so imagine how cold your face would be with an open faced helmet. as for feet i found those heat holder socks are awesome, thick and have a furry lining that keep your tootsies toasty warm to.

the mode 125i means injection , where the mode 125 is a standard carb version. one is fuel injected and the other is old school carb suck and shoot.

dont let motorists bully you to the kerb side stand your ground on your scooter , i even sit middle the road to annoy them hahaha , wont take you long to get rid of those habits either . as for commute times try a saturday morning about the same time you leave for work, head out and time yourself from home to work. if its a wet-icey day add 5-10 mins onto that time.
Dont forget now your on a scoot you can nip down side roads and bypass the busy areas. do a few runs trying different routes to find one that suits you and the time just right to.