Yamaha XT125R

AS a newcomer to biking I thought I would do it properly. Brand new bike and equipment, no expense spared. I was 17 at the time so it blew through my savings and inheritance. After buying the bike late December 2009 I enjoyed riding when the weather was good(living in England meant only a few days a week). It wasn't a full month later that the first of numerous problems started.

The battery went. Quick fix I thought. After getting the bike back it was again only a few months before the bike had problems starting again. Combined with the problem that the bike started dripping some substance on the floor which began melting (no exaggeration) my mums garage floor. Again the Yamaha dealer I brought the bike from said they had "fixed" the problem.

It was now summer and the weather was much warmer. The occasional problem of started still remained however when I was out on my bike it was brilliant. In town not getting above 50 was great. At that speed the acceleration was better than most traffic allowing me to nip in and out of traffic and actual enjoy riding. Out in the country my bike did 60 and up to 65 at a push. Sunday drivers and country drivers are easily overtakeable, don't however imagine you will be entering the TT though. It is not built for speed. Its a good run around not speeder.

When the weather got colder again the old problems started cropping up again. It was that winter that I became a professional bump starter. When the electric start didn't work the kick start was a 50/50 guess. When my clutch cable went I sent it back in to the dealer for a fix, just mentioned the problem of not starting. Again they "fixed" it.

I'll fast forward 2 years of continual problems to this last year. They finally found I had water in the ignition coil, which is the reason they gave for not starting for years. This was fixed in a huge final fix in warranty in December of 2011. It is now June of 2012 and I have just got a quote to fix all my problems again. £450 to cover chain and sprockets (I understand chain and sprockets wear over time) a new speedometer and mileage indicator. The petrol sensors and dodgy sounding engine.

However as I have said, when the bike was fully working it's light weight and small frame made it perfect for slotting in and out of traffic both in towns and cities but also out in the country. Cruising with some of my friends on their low powered bikes have been some of the memories of my summer. But on the whole I will remember this bike as broken and putting me a lot out of pocket. It is for this reason I would recommend to a person looking to buy a bike like this to get a Yamaha wr125x or a dt125. Both of which look slightly less appealing but buying a bike for looks rather than quality is crazy.

I got the Yamaha XT125R bike 3 months ago and have found it very reliable and handy. I bought this bike for £1100 and found it the best money my mum has spent. When I first started riding it was my first time on a geared bike and I found it surprisingly easy to ride and was a fantastic bike to learn on. Since then I have been on a number of different 125's and found the XT to be the most reliable and economically friendly. Ideally the electrics could be alot easier to maintain I wish they had a normal speedo rather than a electronic one but I still think its a fantastic bike to learn on as Its fast enough for commuting but not fast enough to kill yourself. I recommend it 100%

First my ignition barrel broke I cant lock the steering anymore and sometimes struggle to turn it on, takes forever to turn on every time I get to 60 mph it thinks I ' ve got no fuel left only just manages 64 mph when other 125 cc bike can get to 72 my clutch cable went after 2 months of buying brand new and then got refused to do it on warranty (was done on warranty after a lot of persuasion).

Basically its rubbish - spend a little more buy a dt much better every time I even think about going somewhere on mine it breaks 2200 pounds of junk metal it will never hold its value.

Ive had mine for 2 months, the more im riding it the more Im liking it, im used to bigger bike performance and got this as a hack.

The bikes had no problems apart from the speedo stopped working, this seems to be a a common fault with these (dealer said it was) fixed straight away under warranty.

For a first bike this would be great, OK its not quick but no 4 stroke 125 is, but to learn riding on this would be spot on.

I quite like this bike. I bought it as a commuter, I will not have ago at the low power as I am used to much larger bikes, people should remember it only has a small engine.