Advice please

[NzNewRider]

Hi Guys,

I have ridden motorbike over 8 years now (overseas), and want to continue riding in NZ.
I m looking to buy a motorbike, struggling to get my head around which one to start with.
Long story short, should I go a small CC bike for 6 months to one year to get used to conditions or otherwise.

If smaller CC, looking to buy a CF Moto 150 or 300. Is CF moto a reliable brand?
If not, any advice on first Nz bike would be much appreciated.
Not very keen for cruisers.
Tourers or sports.

Cheers.

[BMW_BeMyWings]

Hi,

I was in the same situation. Haven't been on a bike for 20 years. I left my bike overseas when we moved to NZ. Then midlife crisis hit and I wanted a bike.

My favorite was a BMW 1200 GS. I was riding my cousins 800 G/S back in the 90ies and since then I wanted a bike like this. Not that th e1200 GS has much in common with the old 800 G/S.

So the question was, get the GS straight away or get a smaller one for a start. I ended up buying a 1200 GS. My reasoning was:

Weight - can I lift it if I lay her down? Does the weight impact riding? I.e. is it a lot less safe to sit on a 225kg bike as a returning rider compared to a 170kg one? I do manage to get her upright, I proved it a couple of times. And weight mainly only matters when you are stationary or slow riding.

Power - does it matter if you kill yourself with 95 bhp compared to 60 bhp? My argument was that it is mainly a question of your mindset. If you ride like an idiot then you cause more damage if you sit on a 95 bhp bike. I am at the end of my 50ies and I would say about myself I am a more relaxed rider. When do I apply the 95 bhp? When I overtake. Apart from that I like to cruise along with 100 (or around that speed). So the power doesn't really make a difference then.

But this is really only my specific situation. It is hard to apply that to others. Some 30+ year old who is into sports bikes and wants to put their knee down might need a different approach and probably shouldn't start with an BMW S 1000 RR.

For me buying the big bike was the right thing to do. I did a couple of RideForever courses which were immensely helpful and if it was only to confirm I am doing the right thing. Others might disagree with my approach. And that's fine. Because riding a bike foremost happens in your brain. It has to do with confidence, skills and mindset. In the beginning I stopped and let cars pass me on a gravel road. I didn't have a problem with that. My safety was more important than to show off. After some time of riding I overtook them. Because I was more confident. We are all different and in the end you need to find out what you are most confident with.

[F5 Dave]

So can you transfer your license?

CF Moto are Chinese. A few years ago you wouldn't consider buying a Chinese bike so bad the reputation for shoddy manufacturing. They really didn't approach it like the Japanese in the late 50s early 60s.

Also dealer support was rubbish with fly-by-night importers not backing them up with parts.

So has this changed? Fucked if I'd want to be the one to find out.


Have a look on TradeMe to get a feel for the market in your price range.

[husaberg]

Wr250r......
Does almost everything reasonably well and is cheap to run to boot.
Don't be fooled by the Name they are not a high strung enduro bike They are a genuine road legal trail bike in the mold of the old XL250.

brand new they are about 10G but dont worry about km over 20,000 as they run forever.
You can get a decent early one for 4-5G