my son is a prime example of young 125 owners who get the bike either new or secondhand with some MOT left on it, gets it derestricted and thrashes the snot out of it until it blows up, then goes and buys another one and does the exact same thing because they're living in an age where it's cheaper to buy a new inkjet printer than buying ink for the printer you already have, and they treat bikes as just as disposable. There's little respect for the machine and even less regard for their own safety - evident when you see them bipping around in half helmet, t-shirt and shorts, and airmaxes or vans doing 50 on a 49cc screaming scoot with a glowing engine.

I'm a bit of an old git and only just recently got my CBT! (wish I did it years ago...) Anyway, having a 125, and a simple machine it is (not stuffed with electronics, simple single cylinder engine), it's a perfect time to get stuck in and learn about how the bike works --- and learn to work on it yourself (Haynes manuals can be useful). It will definitely give you a solid base of knowledge going forward. And I'm no mechanic (okay, I am a maintenance engineer, though, but the point still stands!) Make the most of your time (and money) during this stage!

Great video. If your 1st bike is new and you see the price don't forget to add on delivery charge, helmet, boots, gloves, waterproof jacket and trousers, 1st and 2nd service, plus a contingency for parts you might need once you own it including rack, top box, Garmin, taller screen, tail tidy, centre stand, backpack, usb, heated grips, additional front lights, plus a year's insurance. If it's a used bike then however trustworthy the seller put something aside for a full service including some consumables. I liked the point about a lot of rubbish advertised on Marketplace and I saw posts about the pitfalls of buying used 125s which are the most likely to have been poorly maintained, dropped, ridden with audible mechanical issues, had questionable extras such as through-exhausts fitted, and been thrashed every day of their lives (to keep up with traffic).

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink...

Good ol' Spicy being sensible and preaching common sense. Bless ya! The only way you can getting away with 'cheaping out' on motorcycles is by learning to do the maintenance yourself - but that then requires the purchase of tools (and you never have enough tools) and a suitable space in which you can carry out any maintenance, so it's a different expense and relies on an amount of 'man maths' to know where to draw the line on 'what things cost'. Bikes become exponentially more dangerous to use the longer that necessary maintenance isn't carried out. Sadly, you can't teach experience. Keep up the good work bud.

I have just put around £800 into my 1986 NC21, DX pain, but worth it, she looks a bit raggedy on the outside but mechanically shes almost brand new. Trying to find parts to make her look prettier like new fairings is bloody hard though being a Japanese import, I had to import a LOT of parts. Chain has a bit of surface rust from sitting a few weeks so the first thing I did before riding was scrub it and then go through the entire chain checking for stuck links or excessive wear, it doesn't have any issues just some specs of surface rust luckily. I love fixing things! its great fun, and fixing your own bike gives you a greater knowledge of it.

Being able to "afford" a bike is something I see in forums and FB groups all the time and I'll probably get shot down for saying this but bear in mind I waited years and years to get get to a point where I could properly afford biking.People doing their CBT and asking if trainers and puffer jacket would be ok because they can't afford the gear or people buying bikes in shit conditions because they are cheap and wondering why they never run. If you are looking to get a bike never look to scrape by. Get decent gear, buy a decent bike, budget for insurance, breakdown cover, MOT, services, new tyres, potential breakdowns and cost of parts. If you comfortably do this then you can afford to have a bike, if can't then I'm afraid you can't afford one.

The worst ones on the car forums are the people who say how do I fix this ruined tyre or is it ok to drive on etc. The answer is buy new tyres. If you say that they will throw a hissy about how not everyone has money to spend on brand new tyres etc etc. If you can't afford to keep your vehicle safe, don't drive it.

If you get something wrong with your car, it just stops. If you get something wrong with your bike, you could die. Spend the money, maintain the bike. How much is your life worth? Maybe if you dont love your bike that much, maybe don't ride?

I had a chain snapping on my mt5 going between my back wheel when I was younger.. lucky I wasn’t riding fast at that time because it locked up my wheel so fast

When I got my bike, I had about £300 for repairs and maintenance. It needed a good service, and my exhaust was scratched, Luckily for me, i found an exhaust for £299 so I replaced it straightway. 😂

Hi spicy just looking through old watchlist?hows yrself and reeno hope yr both well,

This man has more sense in him than a 100 people put together these days

I agree but at the moment I’m running a gaderaid bottle as a chain slider

I've had to block a guy that had the sense to ask for help adjusting he's chain. I did it for him and ran him through how to do it. The next time I found he's cush drive was so slack I could move the sprocket by hand with ease so I adjusted the chain again and highlighted he needed a chain both sprockets and the cush drive rubbers. Even found them all for him noted prices and places to get them. A month later he had got a seat cowl and sprayed it and fitted it at 3 times the cost of the maintenance parts. He then sent a video message showing he's chain had fallen off and saying that he knew it needed replacing but he's missus hadn't listened and hadn't allowed him to buy the parts needed. This guy has now crashed at least 3 times on he's 125 and now wants advice for getting he's full license. I fear for he's and others safety on the roads but no matter how I say it to him he doesn't seem to get that maintenance is key and needs doing. It's no good the bike looking the way he wants it if it's mechanically falling to bits and dangerous to ride which has been proven by him coming off it so much. Is there a cure for stupidity?

You should see that state of my motorcycle shoes 😂 big holes and split soles along the footpad, patched with sole cutouts. Not bad for £70

Most regular posters on forums are there to feed some ego trip. A friend of mine learnt that the hard way. They were worse than Stack Overflow.

A rolling stone gathers no moss

You're awesome, this is a masterpiece of frustration and probably futility. As the song goes "People are Strange. Sometimes I find myself being the idiot. A guy once told me - Ducs are nice but they go about their business with so much noise, I'm like - WTF are you talking about? Get off my cloud! Even though it has been one of my pet peeves for a long time. doink. I have a friend - I kept saying, you're rear tire is bald - she laughed. I whispered to her husband - hey man - no-one likes to hear stuff about their bike, but her tire is bald - maybe you should mention it. You know, Like love and all that. 2 weeks later - hey her tire blew but she's OK, you were right. FFS - like a bald tire is a science project. The beauty of a motorcycle is that it is a minuimal machine that can do so much. The flipside: if one part of that minimal machine fails, it can lead to real consequences. The other other side: A lot of maintenance is pretty straightforward because stuff is kind of right there. Do that stitch - and admire your clean lubed chain running on fresh sprockets - you are a mechanical god - life is good.

Omg, you nailed it on the head. Unfortunately, there are some real muppets and ask the most stupid question, it’s like saying on a medical health group. I have a chest pain…what wrong…give me link etc etc. it makes you wonder if some folk are incapable of looking for the bulb size instead of asking for a link lol. The mechanical side stuff is a joke, I never listen to any of them and just go straight to the main stealers and leave them to it. I’m not meddling with my 15k bike unless it’s simple but it’s common sense that if you aren’t sure don’t go by the professors on these groups, you might aswell talk to your granny for technical advice. Yes there are some great folk giving sound advice from experience but you can kind of suss out the muppets to the real old timers who know. I’ve been on Mutt, Triump, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki groups owning those and dear me, I just read but didn’t really input as the so called experts would jump on you and give their opinion, sound advice etc and then you get the know it all muppets who give the worst and most dangerous advice.

I just bought a brand new bike and it came with a v55/4 form I just hope I filled it out right

the issue with no one is listening to the experienced people these days is that anyone can be "an expert" of anything with a google search. People think that if they go on google and spend 5 minutes on research they know everything, even more than an experienced person. as someone who had a 125 I took a really good care of it. I freaked out every time there was an issue and spent days on researching what it could be. When I couldn't figure it out myself then I went to a mechanic to fix it for me. Funny thing is 9/10 things I either the mechanic confirmed something I suspected or I was really close. I wish I was more mechanically inclined but that comes with practice.

I've been trying to buy a 125 for months now. What you have said is completely right the bikes out there are not maintained well at all. Most of these bikes have run out of mot or within a month or two the general way people use the bikes is just run and leave the problems to the next owner. Either buying a car or just purchasing a different 125 usually. As well as this almost nowone has a v5 or logbook which is quite risky with motorcycles.I mainly look on facebook marketplace and am buying in the midlands/birmingham area which is known for being bad so not sure whether this is my area or generally. As well as this there is a lot of bad selleres i've probably messaged upwards of 70 people for bikes and about 5 have answered and the 1 i actualy saw the bike for had zero oil in it and was just dodgy all around. If anyone has any advice i'd appreciate it as i have no clue currently how i'm actualy going to buy a bike.

It’s a great post, but as you know… sometimes there’s absolutely no telling some people no matter what you say… 😊 And I confess, I don’t know how to adjust a chain… I guess I could learn how to do it… I suppose 😊😊

Don’t leave anything to chance. If you take motorcycling seriously and want to enjoy the time spent out riding there are no short cuts to proper maintenance, you’ll be safer for it. Lovely coastline Spicy110

Bike doesn't start. Oh must be valve clearances then

I have a 2013 Sinnis Apache, I've added myself in the owners groups on FB and I've seen people giving stupid advise. At the moment I have a problem with my engine casing and need to change the gaskets and I need to know the torque number of the bolts but everyone says to me that I don't need to do the right nm. I've tried to look it up on the internet but I can't find it anywhere, I've even looked in my Haynes manual and can not find it at all. It annoys me so much that people give crappy advise and at the same time calling people stupid for asking

Tried to give similar friendly advice to a guy asking for help finding new pads for his bike, like the guy you spoke about his bike looked rough, rusty chain, lots of wear on the sprockets, fork seals leaking, rear shocks leaking + next to no tire tread.. lets just say he went nuts f'ing and swearing, saying I was this and that.. like no, I just don't want to see you have an accident and hurt yourself or others on the road