I’m in the market for my first motorbike. I got the license the other day, and the helmet and gloves yesterday and now I’m all set to buy myself a bike.
What I was really looking for was a Honda CT110 (“Postie Bike”). They’re really cheap to buy and to run and are apparently really reliable bikes. Not particularly fast or powerful but that’s not what I’m looking for, and I’m restricted to 250cc anyway with the license I have.
I haven’t had much luck finding 2nd hand Posties and I’m running out of time because I need transport to and from a job I have lined up starting on the 13th.
Tonight I started looking at other bikes up to 250cc and was amazed at how many are for sale. What should I look for?
I have a very low price range to work in. For $1500 AUD or lower, is a Postie Bike (Honda CT110) the best I’ll get? Is there much risk (in terms of later repairs, etc) in buying an old bike?
Here’s what a Honda CT110 looks like…they’ve got so much character!
Check chain and sprokets.
(the chain should have around 1/2 inch of ‘play’, and the chain adjuster should still have ‘room’ for more adjustments. Look for wear on sprokets (u want no odd shape in sproket ‘grooves’ )
Okay, now I’m no longer really looking at Postie Bikes. I’ve found a whole stack of bikes in the 250cc range that are within my new price range of up to $2500 total cost (rego, etc, etc).
Probably most of us have little knowledge of what goes on in the Aussie motorbike market, so take our advice with a grain of salt. Great basic advice from Digitaldave.
I used to work for a motorcycle school, and we used all 200 and 250cc bikes for teaching. My two favorites of the ones we used were the Honda Rebel (250) and Honda Twinstar (200). Both bikes were super easy to live with, and couldn’t be killed (unless you crashed them). Believe me, students learning to ride, many learning to work a clutch, put a lot of wear & tear on those bikes, and they needed very little maintenance considering.
My additional piece of advice is a reminder of the dangers of riding a “bike” in traffic. You are about 25 times more likely to die if you are involved in a collision than if you’d been in a car. For long-term use, consider a car if it’s within your means. Plus a car is easier for throwing several unis in to get to the good riding spots!
Hi John, thanks for the advice (and Dave). Well I just missed out on what seemed like a great buy…I guess the guy who bought it thought so too. It’s quite frustrating trying to find one close enough to where I live with rego and safety certificates. The pic I’ve attached is one of the remaining possibilities - a Yamaha RZ250, '84 model for $1600. Not sure if it has rego or not though.
No Rebels or Twinstars available unfortunately. As I said I recently got my license and the one they taught me on was a beautiful Honda 250 -something.
That’s an interesting statistic. Something else I found interesting was that, according to the people where I got the license, 75% of motorbike accidents are single-vehicle. Then apparently almost half of those involve alcohol in some way. Kind of a nice thing to know since I know for sure that I’ll be a cautious driver and would never drink and drive/ride.
The reason I’m getting a bike is that at the age of 18 and studying at uni I don’t have the money to buy or run a car. I will eventually get myself one.
I’m going to have to figure out how to strap a unicycle to the bike :). That was one of the things I actually liked about the Postie Bikes (see my first post) - they have a nice rack that you can strap stuff to. Maybe I can sort something out if I separate the wheel and frame…it would only be riding for a couple of k’s to get to trials and muni locations anyway.
I have a 250, which is definately enough power to get you from here to there, and to carry the weight of another person, or whatever your fitting on. I found that I don’t like it for long trips, due to me being 6ft, so being comfortable is definately a must, and also easy to strap stuff on, which I think you know.
Basiclly other than it being in good condition, which depends more on how it was treated, rather than the age of it i’d think, cause motorcycles usually don’t get as many miles as cars do, you just have to know what you want it for. I’m looking to get a bigger bike, and i’ve found a couple that are ok, but I wanna get one that looks nice to me, which I know isn’t important, and also that is functional, so I could use it more than once in awhile. Or as is the case now, when my van looses it’s serpantine belt and leaves me sit on the highway, which is another story.
i don’t think john’s post had anything to do with the causes of accidents
it seemed to me that he simply highlighted your increased risk of serious injury or death when involved in an accident while on a motorcycle
no seatbelts, no airbags and too many people do not wear proper protective clothing
You guys are forgetting that the motorcycle is a motor vehicle as well. My point was that it was roughly 25-times more dangerous than a car. That’s based on statistics from the 1980s for the USA. My understanding for the New York area, at least, is that the most common way to die on a motorcycle is by being involved in a collision with a car. Cars tend not to see you.
Your odds are probably much better in less car-centric places. The higher the percentage of non-car vehicles on your local roads, the more likely the car drivers are to notice you.
Just keep in mind that you need to assume no one can see you. defensive riding is key. My grandparents used to own a motorcycle shop in the 70’s, and they sold japanese bikes(i.e. honda, yamaha, suzuki, kawasaki.). I like jap bikes cause they are much better designed than american crap. They are WAY more reliable than a harly or something. I beleive all the bikes you have been interested in are good choices. I’m a big fan of dual-sport bikes (road, and offroad), if you want to do some nice trail riding than you have a bike for that. They can also carry trunks and what not. But I think thats more for the traveling type. From what I’m guessing, all you need is a small versitle road bike for just getting around, So your choices are reasonable. My mom has a 1980 somthing Moto Guzzi Lario (very sexy italian road bike) that I will probably start riding. I’m gald you are choosing a motorcyle over a car (because I come from a hardcore motorcycle backround), they are way cheaper. Happy Hunting!
My step father sold Benelli, Hodaka, and then Kawasaki.
(Kawasaki - the 1st maker of 3 cylinder 2 cycle engine)
I used to know bikes by the sound they made
(never had to visually see them)
Because we (as a family) went to races my father participated.
He raced short track and scrambles.
We sponcored motoX and trials riders too.
BTW, He was killed by a 67 year old man in a car that flipped over a divided highway and landed on top of him. (driver fell asleep) He was driving a Honda ‘Golden Wing’ pulling a trialer they sold as accessory at that time. He died doing what he loved best.
I always had the fastest bike around my hood.
If anyone got close, my dad would bore, repiston, rejet the carb, take parts off (like the front brakes), whatever for me …
(driving with no front brake was a blast I had to sit on the gas tank to ‘try’ to keep the front wheel on the ground when ‘gettn on it’. You also need to use ‘engine braking’ for the most part too)
my parents would always do that. I’m trying to do that now, but all the bikes nowadys are all crotch rockets and they all sound the same. By any chance do you know Bill Browkaw?(my grandpa) He used to race short track and ice. He was inducted into the hall of fame for trials also. And my grandma got inducted into the sturgis hall of fame. oh, and my aunt is on the U.S. womens trials team and is sponsered by montesa. So I guess I’m next in line to be good at some motorcycling category. I want to learn vintage flat track real bad, but It can’t work out.
My parents separted when I left for college. (I had a sweet 4 stroke single cylinder 250 Triump trials bike then) My dad was killed shortly later, so, now I’m totally removed from bikes. It’s just to damned dangerous in Chicago streets. I sold my last bike in 85.
Short track = ‘flat track’ I think, just different size oval.
I miss my old homemade ‘skid shoe’.
Dunno where it went
