Aprilia RS125, should I?

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Hey all

Was looking to buy an Aprilia RS125 for my first bike, have been offered a 2004 one for £1300 in a few months if the fella still has it, and i love the look and sound of the bike.

Problem is, is this suitable for doing a 20mile round trip 5 days a week and the occasional cruising with friends? Ive asked someone and they say its more a sunday afternoon bike, and really not suitable.

Im desperate for a bike, and dont wanna spend 1.3k on something thats gunna die on me a lot. If this bike aint suitable, then what would be fore the same price range?

Thanks in advance

Edit: Should add this is mainly for commuting, hence the 20 mile round trip daily, to work. Want a bike as it will be faster and easier through traffic etc.
 
2 stroke screamer doing that kind of mileage isn't gonna last overly long,

probably a better idea to get a bigger bike of some form, I'm gonna be doing that kinda commute soon and I'm tempted by a GS500, boring I know but it'd be a second bike alongside an NC30 and would at least be comfortable and get good fuel economy :p
 
Hmm, yeah i want something with a fair bit of power too. My first choice would be a ZXR400 but cant seem to find any atm.

It will be on a CBT initially untill i scrape the cash for the A2 license
 
2 stroke screamer doing that kind of mileage isn't gonna last overly long,

probably a better idea to get a bigger bike of some form, I'm gonna be doing that kinda commute soon and I'm tempted by a GS500, boring I know but it'd be a second bike alongside an NC30 and would at least be comfortable and get good fuel economy :p

The Aprilla is more expensive to service, buy parts for and to run. If you want a fast 125 go for an nsr125.
 
The Aprilla is more expensive to service, buy parts for and to run. If you want a fast 125 go for an nsr125.

I have a very good friend who is a bike mechanic and said anything that needs doing is cost of parts only, he said he will do anything else he can for free.

As for the roads, its dual carriage way and pretty much long straights the whole way that it isnt on the dual carriage.
 
I have a very good friend who is a bike mechanic and said anything that needs doing is cost of parts only, he said he will do anything else he can for free.

As for the roads, its dual carriage way and pretty much long straights the whole way that it isnt on the dual carriage.

Well, had an nsr125 derestricted for a good year and used it everyday to travel to college on (around 9 miles round trip, but always ending up doing closer to 15 as i took the long way home) :)

Found it more than adequate for commuting.
 
Well the reason i said its more to do with the type of roads rather than the distance is 2t engines do not like constant revs (mental exercise to vary throttle is key). The RS will happily sit at 80 on a carriageway but this is against everything the bike is good at.
 
Well the reason i said its more to do with the type of roads rather than the distance is 2t engines do not like constant revs (mental exercise to vary throttle is key). The RS will happily sit at 80 on a carriageway but this is against everything the bike is good at.

Im not gonna go throttle mad, I just want something to **** those chav racers off in their wannabe cars with the stupidly large exhausts on a battered car.

Sitting at 80 on the road would be fine for me, and tbh, i wouldnt even do that untill im comfortable on the bike anyway, as this will be my first bike.

Thats what im really after, just a commuting bike that, when i want, i can revs the nuts off and it wont break down straight away. It wont constantly be red-lined, no matter what I get.

Please star out all swearing - Zefan.
 
I'm going to buck the trend slightly here.

If your mate is a mechanic and will do your work for free, then buy the bike and have a full service done. Get him to thoroughly check everything (you can strip and rebuild a 2t engine in less than a day) so that you know you've got a stable base to start with.

Then, if you run it on the best 2t oil (and make sure it's always brimmed), warm it up thoroughly before you even contemplate hitting the limiter and make sure that if you're doing any long runs at constant speed to vary the revs (so don't just pin it at 80-90 all the way), then I see no reason why it won't see you through until you can get a bigger bike.

I rode my RS50 ever day for a year and I must admit I did let it run until the oil warning light came on a number of times and I never had any trouble with it.

*EDIT*

Don't buy a CG125 unless you want the next cheapest option of getting to work than a pushbike. I can't stress how utterly, totally, horrendously boring they are. Shocking bikes for anything other than reliability and MPG.

Somebody said if you want a fast 125 get an NSR...dont.
They aren't fast and I actually used to keep up with my mates NSR125 on my RS50 up to 65. They have pathetically skinny tyres compared with the RS and are generally very boring bikes.
 
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You will get varying opionions on 2t 125s reliability. They are as reliable as you let them be.
Warm them up properly and feed them good quailty synthetic oil. (by the way, if you weren't aware, you would have to feed it a bottle of £6-10 oil every 4-5 petrol tanks on average).

edit - as above poster said lol
 
bit more info needed -

budget?
licence?
all rounder or just commuting?

I dont really wanna spend over £1300, as insurance etc will cost me
CBT at first, and when i get the money it will be A2 restricted.
Well, id say all rounder, mainly commuting. It will be used to go around 20 miles 5 days a week, and then social riding of an evening / weekend.
 
You wont want to ride a CG125 socially, your friends will laugh and you'd have more fun chasing them on foot.
 
I'm going to buck the trend slightly here.

If your mate is a mechanic and will do your work for free, then buy the bike and have a full service done. Get him to thoroughly check everything (you can strip and rebuild a 2t engine in less than a day) so that you know you've got a stable base to start with.

Then, if you run it on the best 2t oil (and make sure it's always brimmed), warm it up thoroughly before you even contemplate hitting the limiter and make sure that if you're doing any long runs at constant speed to vary the revs (so don't just pin it at 80-90 all the way), then I see no reason why it won't see you through until you can get a bigger bike.

I rode my RS50 ever day for a year and I must admit I did let it run until the oil warning light came on a number of times and I never had any trouble with it.

*EDIT*

Don't buy a CG125 unless you want the next cheapest option of getting to work than a pushbike. I can't stress how utterly, totally, horrendously boring they are. Shocking bikes for anything other than reliability and MPG.

Somebody said if you want a fast 125 get an NSR...dont.
They aren't fast and I actually used to keep up with my mates NSR125 on my RS50 up to 65. They have pathetically skinny tyres compared with the RS and are generally very boring bikes.

NSR125 boring bikes, rofl for a 125 they definately aren't slow and are among the top 5 fastest bikes imo. It all depends on exactly how they were de-restricted too as several restrictions exist on the engine. Have a look at http://www.nsr125.com/derestrict.htm
 
NSR125 boring bikes, rofl for a 125 they definately aren't slow and are among the top 5 fastest bikes imo. It all depends on exactly how they were de-restricted too as several restrictions exist on the engine. Have a look at http://www.nsr125.com/derestrict.htm

It was fully derestricted, as were all of the other bikes that were owned by that group. My RS50 wasn't quick and it kept up with my friends NSR125 and another one that I had a play with on the way to work to 65.

They aren't anywhere near as fun or quick as the RS125 and the Cagiva Mitos (which are pretty insane for their displacement).
 
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