YAMAHA YBR125 CUSTOM (2008 - 2019) Review

Year: 2010

Had a YBR125 Custom for a year and it was nothing but brilliant, was only on 6500 miles when I got it and traded it in at 10,500 miles

Buying experience: Brought from a dealer for £1800 and it was worth every penny

This is one to avoid. First off its actually Chinese and you can tell if you look close up. Dodgy welds, cheap plastic, a wretched scratchy sounding starter motor along side a cheap looking exhaust. 125cc bikes are generally poorer quality than the older generation but this one really takes the P*~s! £2800 for a new one! This bike is also slow. The engine gets to 10000rpm at 70mph and believe me that speed requires a hill to achieve. This bike feels very vague to ride. Top heavy, almost wobbly around corners and the stock tyres are JST or some rubbish; nylon tyres from Thailand. This bike has no real presence to it. It sounds a bit like a hoover when it cruses along and not a powerful hoover like a dyson or something, a manky old henry thats been beaten all day every day and has lost the will to suck. Keep the 2800 quid and spend it on something better like a big bike when you pass your test or maybe a crappy lexmoto arrow bike and another 2.5 Arrows as spare parts. at least then you know you are buying rubbish. Credit where credit is due though, it does have a Yamaha badge and that means a better resale price. It also comes with a rack and kickstarter (why I dont know cause its fuel injected). If you are 17 and looking for a 125 to last for a couple of years to come then get a cbf if you must buy new. Otherwise get one reasonably cheap. Granby motors imports Suzuki GN 125 bikes from France for a grand less. also Chinese tho... bloody japs are selling out!

I decided that I needed some cheap transport now that I have retired. Looking into motorcycles and how things have changed, I decided that I did not want a bike that pretended to be a moto gp contender but a comfortable ride. I settled on the YBR custom after reading all the available reviews and I must say I am very impressed. Not having been on a bike for over 45 years, I found that (you never forget how to ride a bike) is totally wrong. Booked CBT and after 60 miles of town traffic and 2.5 hours of absolute terror I passed. Now, having 1500 miles under my belt, I am really enjoying the bike. It has enough power to keep up with most traffic (65 tops)and handles well at slow speeds. The engine is also freeing up so is getting better all the time. I have fitted a top box and this gives more of an impression of being a bigger bike than it is. Down side. It could do with a sixth gear, top speed is at top revs. I would recommend to all but boy racers. Now looking for a bigger cruiser, but is there one that does 130 to the gallon????????

Good 125 for the money you pay. Got a great engine, not massively powerful but good for slower inner city riding. Very comfortable riding position but doesn't feel as well put together as other 125cc bikes on the market.

This is a truly great bike for learners and my first geared bike. It's great fun, has a perky little engine and just looks awesome. I would say getting it to 70mph is a bit of a task, it feels as if it could do with a 6th gear just to get to 70-75mph more easily but 70mph can be done on a flat road with no wind but this little yam will trundle along at 60mph all day long. I love this bike and just take any excuse to go for a ride (Like getting up three hours early for work so i can take the very very long way there :D) all in all a great bike If it's you'r first geared bike this is way better than a sporty cbr or yzf-r 125.

They wouldn't be any better. Sublime and wondrous in everyway.It's taken a right pasting by wind, blind motorists and me own learner mistakes and it hasn't dropped a beat. lusciously glorious in everyway, except 1st -2nd needs a good old tug to avoid neutral. Can't see any reason at all to upgrade to a 600, it's a keeper.

My First ever bike. I have to say I like it a lot. I bought mine new directly after CBT and I took time to run it in properly. If I had any complaints it would have be that the top end could do with another 5 MPH on the level. I have had mine to 75 MPH on the flat with no headwind, but even on a slight gradient and a slight headwind she won`t cruise at 65MPH. I have had to make the decision to sit behind very slow traffic,@ "48 MPH" as I could not rely on being able to get past safely. Re Fuel ecconomy . It`s good but if you Charge about all day @65 then you will see the needle drop faster than what you might want. Drive it sensible and the trips to the gas station will be every fortnight. Now I have to say the the bike is very pretty. I have had loads of comments about how nice she looks. If Yamaha did something along the lines of this in a bigger engine size it would probably be my perfect ride. i think the retro styling is understated and tasteful but then again I did buy one

After reading the MCN review I have a few nags that need putting right. As a testosterone filled college student, it would be an understatement to say I spank my CR, and still never fail to get less than about 250-60 miles on a brimmed tank which at current prices is only 11ish quid. After having a slightly larger sproket on the rear at around 4000 miles, I have cruised from the Southampton area to Bedford using the m25 etc, at approx 60 mph without feeling out of place or as if a piston was gonna join me on the seat. My last nag has to be about the handeling though. If you don't mind a few scratches on the pegs it can go knee down as I rather stupidly discovered after tryin to keep up with a mates R6. The testosterone aside however, after all this abuse and the occational adventure under a heavily flooded bridge on the way to college, it has never put a foot wrong. Only costs bout 20-30 quid a month in fuel doing a 20 mile commute 5 days a week and the best bit is the cheap as chips servicing costs of around 80. One bit of handy advice though, the rear tyre is a bit tricky to find but metzler do a brill one for around 40 quid. You won't need to worry though till around 6-7000 for the rear however, and a more standard sized front is still going strong after 10500 miles in just over a year. Buy a custom and all your days will be merry with the added bonus that girls actually like the dam thing!!! Woop Woop! Love the reviews and advice from MCN though, keep up the good work!!