motorbike experts
 

I'm looking to buy a commuter bike. I'm preferrably looking for a 250cc scooter, and have no idea what to look for.

What would make a better commuter, a chopper, a sport bike, or a scooter?

well depends on your type of commute, a scooter will be a great a-b if its just city and you have nothing you need to bring with you other then a backpack. not to mention the cheaper insurance and cheaper running costs.

a bigger scooter like a burgman may be a good choice as well but you need a class 6.

myself, i dont suggest a motorcycle for commuting, the stop and go traffic during rush hours make it boring and frustrating IMO. espcially on hills where you find your clutch hand getting tired easily

a communter motorcyle as in going from your home on Granville ave to your friend's home
on Oak, or going to different supermarkets...Then you are wasting your time, it will
take 10 minutes to put on your gear and helmet, and warm up your bike, but the trip
takes less than 10 minutes.

a communter motorcycle as in travelling city to city daily, I am sure you won't enjoy it.
The weather, the highway, the awful cagers, the trucks, the bugs, and your overheated
crotch would make you drive a car again.

just bought a 125cc cbr

You can't get your motorcycle license on anything less than a 250cc

Congrats. New or used? How much?

I use my bike for commuting daily. I used to have a scooter which was far more convenient because it had storage. The only problem was it was too slow to go on bridges and no good on hills either. Vancouver to SFU was dreadful on it so I got a CBR 125. Lack of storage is a huge loss but it opens up travel to places outside Vancouver like Richmond, North Vancouver, etc.

Yes you can. The no passenger restriction remains.

Ah. My bad.

125cc.. they are the stupidest "sportbike" ever(not talking about race bikes). Like if you can't handle a 250cc+ sportbike, why not just get a 125cc dualsport instead or big scooter with storage. Anyways... I say cruisers with lots of low end. They are way more fun in traffic. I rode 500cc vulcan cruiser and 250cc ninja. 250cc is very so so in traffic(if you sit on them the right way), it is only fun in curves.

storage = scooter
more fun = 125 bike

the higher cc's you go, the less practical it is on the street and the more expensive insurance is. Come on, who really needs 1000cc in the streets of Vancouver? But of course its all about what YOU want.

congrats on the 125!

ok i admit that the 125 is a slow bike, but its not the stupidest. what it lacks in top speed though it makes up for in corner speed. Upgrade with stainless steel brake lines that its a cornering monster...the way that thing corners still boggies my mind and sometimes i feel way more confident bombing into a corner full out and not braking on the 125 then i do my zx6r (speed realitive)

Actually, regardless of whether you have a 125/250 or 600, your entrance speed is relatively the same, but with the lightness of a 125/250 you are able to accelerate earlier in the turn a LOT sooner than you can with a 600.

I learned that from West Coast Super Bike racer training last week.:D

someone that is scared of a 250cc will not be cornering all that fast regardless what bike they are riding. And I believe we are talking about city riding. So those intersection turns will be taken about the same speed on any bike. But if you are talking about the track, then yeah 125cc can be fun.

I agree with Warp9. The 125 doesn’t have the best top speed but it seems to corner well, at least as well as any other sport bike.

SuperSlowSS, I don’t think it’s a matter of being scared or not being able to handle a 250+cc sport bike. Not everyone wants or needs a big powerful bike to get around the city. Even so, how often do you utilize the bikes full potential on the street, back roads, track, etc?

I went on a group ride yesterday to Mission and Harrison. We did back roads, twisties, straights, curves, hills, highway, heavy traffic, no traffic, you name it. I had the only 125cc bike of the 40 something sport bikes there and was never left behind. The guys with 600cc and litre bikes were surprised.

As Noizz said, it really comes down to what bike you want. I like my cbr125.

Was that the UBC MCC newbie ride?

Actually I should clearify, I just can't stand the cbr125. If we have better 125cc bikes like in europe, I would be ok with one. haha

And I totally agree with you. No need for anything powerful or fast to get around the city. But why a 125cc sportbike? It just seem so limited. Why not just stick with a scooter(better storage) or dual sport(better body position), or something faster(that can hang with a v6 family sedan).

you can hang with 600cc guys for many reasons. Not one of them is because you have a 125cc sportbike. I'll list a few:
1. you are a better rider than those guys
2. everybody just took it easy
3. they are new at riding or just not very good
4. you can't use the full potential of a 600cc on the street even if you race supersport.
(p.s. and I just saw your video... sure if you call that hang with them. :p And from the video, it seemed like a very relaxed pace)

Anyways, ride whatever you like. The most important thing is that you are riding a bike. Any bike! :D

All good points. The pace was relaxed as there were a couple people riding 2up. Even so, they never shook me and I always closed the gap. I agree, scooters offer more storage but aren't suitable for highways and bridges, which I often use. The cbr125 is a good balance for those who seek fun practical transportation.

Of course it'd be nice to have a road bike, mountain bike, scooter, litre bike, adventure bike, sports car, pickup truck, van, atv, snow mobile, jet ski, helicopter, leer jet, sail boat, yacht, train, air balloon etc. But realistically, who wants to wash that many vehicles?

weeeell...if you can own all those then I don't think you need to wash anything in your life other than your hands and body. hahaha :p

I'm paying ~1g, but I'm waiting for him to sell it to me (guy from my church)

If it bails out, im buying a ninja 250r...

any dealers i should be lookign at?


And yes this is a city bike. The storage thing is no big deal. I'm only using it to go to wokr.

Scooters are your best option if you have no highway segments. You'll save a ton with a 49cc too.

wow, for 1g...I would buy it to flip it. haha