Yamaha YBR125

I`V driven this bike for 20000k`s now and it`s still going strong, almost no fuel usage, and genually a great bike!

Having just done cbt fancied a chinese bike that looked good til i read reviews. Found my local yamaha dealer very knowledgeable and not biased towards yamaha. Bought a brand new one and i love it. Needed gear selector adjusted to suit my boot but this was no issue to the dealer who quickly sorted this. Great bike, enough power to get around town and commute. Brakes smoothly and power delivery is spot on. Spend the extra over a chinese bike for the quality, you will certainly gain savings in not having repair bills often! Looks good and certainly is fun!!

I have own the ybr for only 2 day and its my first geared motorbike and it perfect, I haven't got anything bad to say about it, I understand that not everyone has that opinion, I didn't even wanted to write a review but after I saw what people were writing about I had to write about how good it is. Now I would like to say the good thing about, the body look great, it very quick and I mean quick, the gear change is smooth and it cheap to run, so I dont understand why a lot of people are saying so much bad thing to say about.

I bought a brand new ybr 2weeks ago and think it's a heap of rubbish.it's so slow it's unreal.a 125scooter is much quicker taking of at lights. Also the gearbox is dreadful. It gets stuck in first gear at times and neutral is impossible to locate and if you do manage to locate neutral and release the clutch the bike is often still in gear a d you end up stalling the thing.

I hane a YBR 13 plate with just over 1000 miles on the clock I go for a ride most weekends its good fun. I might get a bigger bike soon. I'am a 56 year old got back into biking last year with a Sanya 125 £47 third party Insurance.Insurance for a year on the YBR cost £84 fully comp.

My son has a YBR 125 he bought it from my daughter over a year ago it is on a 61 plate done 18000 miles starts up first time second set of tyres same chain could do with a new one now.

I have owned a YBR 125 for four years and overall I would recommend this bike. It is well built and reliable but it struggles to get above 55 mph which means lorries can overtake on dual carriageways and in winter with the poor headlight this is very dangerous. The back tyre is too thin its more like a bicycle tyre but parts are easy to get. I am changing to the Suzuki en 125 as a replacement.

Bike itself is nice to ride and a first time starter every tim. However the materials used in manufacture of this bike are absolute rubbish. I've had mine coming up 2 year and it's impossible to halt the advance of rust. Even the paint is flaking off the forks due to corrosion underneath. I bought this bike in preference to a similar AJS because I expected better quality from Yamaha. I gather the two bikes are actually made in the same Chinese factory with the AJS costing about a grand less I would have made a different decision in hindsight.

Have been riding bikes for 20 years on and off and have ridden a very diverse range. I started looking for a 125 that's looks good and that is reliable, after a while it chose the ybr in white. I bought the bike new so had to wait a couple of days to get it in which time I wondered if I had made the right choice or not. Now I have the bike and been out on it quite a lot I am more than pleased with it, the only thing that let's it down is the thin rear tyre but this isn't really a problem as the bike has excellent grip. I filled the tank right to the top from about quarter a tank and just managed to squeeze in a tener . Whilst out today and after doing 155 miles I decided to see how much fuel I had used and couldn't believe only 6 quid. Overall the bike is excellent, economical and for the money well worth it.

Now done 15000 miles on my custom version.One of the easiest bikes to service at home,no need to remove anything to adjust the valve clearances,the whole job takes less than 30 mins.One slightly tricky screw on the air filter,but that's all.I repaced the chain and sprockets at 11000 miles,another easy job,and this winter removed and resprayed the swingarm and the exhaust.The bike will get tatty otherwise,the paintwork is cheap,but easily redeemed.I noticed the underside of the fuel tank was rusting when I removed it to clean and seal the contacts on the coil,but again,a bit of antirust paint and you're fine.Keep changing the oil( I also engine flush with each change as the bike has no oil filter) and this bike will run for a very long time. Keep an eye on the electrical contacts,especially the coil and the ECU as I had a slight conk-out in the rain,but just spray with contact cleaner and ignition sealer and you'll be fine.

I'm a new rider so this review will be heavily subjective but should give some tips to riders of most levels looking for a good little runaround.

I have the 2014 model and downhill on a nice straight stretch, good weather with a little wind behind you it's possible to get a touch over 75mph, rider of around 11 stone. Climbing up a hill causes a huge loss of power though, it's hard to keep it at 60mph even in fourth gear and hitting the redline. Lack of a sixth gear is a problem though, even stock I swear that little engine could just about top 80mph in short bursts though that skinny single front disc is going to struggle to stop you, stomping hard on the back will just lock it and throw you off. I know it's only a one piston four stroke but this to me is the biggest weakness of the bike, along with the stock tyres which don't grip as well as I'd like (just lean into the corners more). Still, if you want raw power you're not going to be looking at 125cc bikes, I'd wager.

The strongest points are it's a comfortable rider - nearly impossible to stall with very forgiving handling, giving you a taste of what biking is all about. It may not have ABS but if you're careful you won't lock the stock brakes; beginner riders take note, go easy on the brakes and allow a decent stopping distance even at low speeds. I took a nasty tumble at 40mph which I could have avoided by turning in more and not stomping so hard on the back brake but since I was barreling into it at 60mph they were good enough to shed 20mph before which is the difference between sore shoulders and broken bones, believe me.

Talking about spills, this thing is tough. Really. I was thrown off (my own fault trying to keep up with much better riders) so the right side of the bike took a lot of abuse, but all I needed to replace was the front windshield and the right mirror, although getting the sheared right mirror stalk off required a huge socket wrench. Engine is as good as ever and those bars between the front wheel and engine did their job - bit of a gouge on the footrest and rear brake but still rides like new. Full marks to Yamaha for the reliability.

More positive points... the fuel injection is beautiful; she'll idle at just over 2,000rpm from cold and then drop to 1,500rpm after about ten minutes riding. As with any bike I'd recommend a few minutes warm up before fully opening the throttle. The engine sounds nice pulling away in third when the engine is around 3,500rpm, really gutsy for a 125cc. And rest assured, if you want to smoke BMWs pulling away from a dead stop at traffic lights there's enough power to do that.

Gear shifting is fairly decent, personally I'm still popping her out of gear and into neutral more often than I'd like some weeks later but it's probably poor technique rather than a fault with the bike. Peak RPM for shifts is between 5,000 and 8,000 the way I ride, though late shifting between 7,000 and 10,000 will get the speed up quicker from a stop. This is much harder on the engine, reduces fuel economy and is NOT recommended during the initial 600 mile break in.

Overall you'll know within a week or two of ownership if you'll need a bigger bike, but the Yamaha YBR125 is a lot of fun even for a daily commute. I run with BP Unleaded 97 (the high octane premium stuff, in my experience makes the engine run smoother unlike the cheaper supermarket filling station slop) and I'm getting around 70 MPG because I'm still in the honeymoon period and I'm riding fairly aggressively to get the feel of the bike. Some small flaws aside this is a great starter and I don't think I'll be able to sell her even when I move up to something more substantial like a Hornet or R1. You really have to work hard to have a bad ride any time you throw your leg over and personally I always look forward to throwing another dozen miles on the clock... the mark of a good vehicle is that it keeps you on the road for just one more mile even when you think you'll call it a day.