Let's have a brief look at the Yamaha YS125. It's not often that I
write about motorbikes, but it's 2024 and I've recently passed my motorcycle
test, so I'm in an up-beat mood. The YS125 is a learner-legal 125cc motorbike
sold by Yamaha from 2017 to around 2021, as a replacement for the decade-old
YBR125. NB It has nothing to do with the Yamaha YZ125, which is a motocross
bike, or the Yamaha Y125Z, a scooter.
The YBR125 was apparently very popular, with sales of over 150,000 units. I
have no idea how well the YS125 sold, but I have seen a few here and there,
including this one in Trieste, Italy:
Some 125cc motorbikes are sold in Europe with 150cc or 200cc engines -
150cc is the minimum requirement for the Italian autostrada - but as far
as I can tell the YS was only available as a 125.
I bought mine to learn how to ride a geared motorbike. Now that I've passed my
test my YS125 is in theory surplus to requirements, but it sips petrol and
doesn't take up much space, and one of the few good things about being
middle-aged is that motorcycle insurance is cheap.
The YS125 represents an interesting turning-point in the evolution of modern
motorbikes. A long time ago all of the big motorbike manufacturers had a
boring, ordinary 125cc learner model - neither a sports nor an adventure nor a
custom bike - but now only Honda has a standard learner bike, the CB125F,
which is yours for just over £3000. Where did they all go?
There's still a huge demand for 125cc motorbikes, but the entry-level end of
the market is now dominated by cheap imports from China. Chinese bikes are
controversial. There's a stereotype that they're unreliable and don't last.
It's not that Chinese manufacture is inherently rubbish. The YS125 itself was
made in China. It's just that importers in Europe and the UK tend to import
the absolute dregs.
On top of that the Japanese manufacturers have all gone upmarket. Yamaha's
nearest modern equivalent of the YS125 is the XSR125, which is considerably
more capable but also a lot more expensive, at £4800 (vs £2800 for the YS125
in its final year). Yamaha's other entry-level 125 is the sporty MT-125, at
£5000.
Honda has a range of 125cc motorbikes, but they're mostly novelty models such
as the pint-sized Grom or the semi-automatic Super Cub 125. Other 125s from
other manufacturers, such as the Kawasaki Ninja and the Suzuki GSX, are aimed
at the sporty market, and so the basic commuter 125 is a dying breed, on the
endangered list.
What's the YS125 like? Agricultural. Part of the reason for its obscurity is
that it was essentially a continuation of the 2005-onwards Yamaha YBR125. The
YBR125 was originally sold with a carburettor, a kickstarter, and an
old-fashioned round headlight, but by the end of production it had been
updated with electronic fuel injection and plastic fairings. The YS125 added a
slightly larger fuel tank, a tweaked engine that complied with EURO 4
emissions standards - the YS125 is ULEZ-compliant - and a simple digital
dashboard:
It also added a linked braking system. From 2016 onwards European standards
required that new motorcycles have ABS, or alternatively a braking system that
linked the front and rear brakes. The YS125 has a disc brake at the front but
a drum at the back, so Yamaha added a linked braking system. It's odd. When I
press the rear brake pedal the front brake lever moves slightly. The rear
brake itself is designed to stop the bike on a hill, but it's not particularly
effective otherwise, which is something that tripped me up slightly when
learning to ride a bigger bike, but more of that later.
Yamaha's publicity materials quoted a fuel consumption of 2L/100km, which is
140mpg, but most reviews suggested a range of 300 miles from its 14-litre
tank, which equals around 100-120mpg or so. That's still not bad. I find that
£10 of fuel takes it from a couple of bars on the meter to full. The fuel
meter is such that I can start off at two bars and reach my destination with
three bars, perhaps from the tank tilting in the corners.
Performance-wise Yamaha claimed 7.4kw at 7400rpm, which is just slightly less
than 10bhp. In the UK the legal learner limit is 14bhp, and I can confirm that
the YS125 is not a rev-happy speed demon. Let's talk about the good and bad
things.
Not long after writing this post I did a short video ride around Salisbury's Woodford Valley on one of 2024's rare sunny days.
Good Stuff The YS125 is almost purpose-designed for commuting in a city. It's slow
off the lights, but it keeps pace with ordinary cars and vans. It chugs along
easily at 20mph, 30mph, and 40mph in second, third, and fourth gears - 20mph
falls slightly between second and third gears, perhaps because a 20mph limit was
still unusual in 2017, when the bike was new. It weighs around 120kg and I have
no trouble moving it around. I am six feet tall, and I can easily, easily get
both feet on the ground while sitting in the seat.
It's physically tiny, and it doesn't look aggressive, so I find that squeezing
in between traffic isn't a problem at all. No-one waves, no-one shouts, I have
not been glared at. Parking is easy.
My commute amounts to around 50 miles a week, and every three weeks or so
I have to buy £10 of petrol. The bike doesn't smell of petrol, and it
doesn't leak oil all over the place. Maintenance consists of periodically
wiping off and lubricating the chain and checking the oil level. Yamaha
sold a top-box as an accessory, although there are also aftermarket mounts
that allow for panniers. As far as I know the battery, fuses, wheels,
probably chain are shared with the YBR, which was on sale for ages, so
parts are still widely available.
As a recently-qualified motorcyclist I can't comment about the handling.
The only time my knees have touched the ground while owning my YS125 have
been while I was changing the oil (it takes one litre of 10W40 and has a
separate filter). But, again, in town I can easily wend my way around
vans, pedestrians, bollards etc.
Bad Stuff
As mentioned up the page performance is sluggish. I noticed this after
doing my motorcycle training and my test. Moving from a 650cc Kawasaki
back to the YS125 was a striking experience. In particularly it needs a
fistful of revs to pull away at more than walking pace. Up to 50mph it
keeps up with traffic, topping out at around 65mph in fifth gear, although
I have only briefly touched that speed, and the speedo over-indicates, so
it was probably more like 60mph.
The biggest problem is handling - not so much cornering but staying
planted on bad roads. On regular roads the YS125 doesn't have a problem,
although it tends to smash over potholes, but it copes poorly with ruts.
It has a habit of tramlining, as if it wants to follow ruts in the road
rather than bumping over them, and in general I wouldn't want to ride in
the countryside in poor weather at high speed on a YS125. On the other
hand mine still has stock tyres, so perhaps the problem is the tyres.
That's about all the bad stuff I can think of. It has no integral storage at
all, beyond a small compartment for a toolkit, but that's motorcycles for you.
Did I mention the toolkit? It comes with a toolkit:
The lack of storage makes it awkward if you're going to be a delivery driver.
Where are you going to put your helmet and security chain, hmm? Despite the
sluggish performance it's still inherently fun to ride a motorbike though, and
as a tool for learning how to use gears it worked in my case, as I now have a
full motorcycle licence.
On the used market prices from dealers vary from £1000 or so to £1800
depending on condition. A scan of eBay suggests that anything less than £1000
has masses of rust, and anything above £2000 is wishful thinking, bearing in
mind that a brand-new Honda CB125F is only £3000. The YBR is still widely
available used, and older YBRs have a classic, retro look that has aged well,
although I have no idea if the YBR was ULEZ-compliant or not.
Incidentally, the YBR's predecessor was the carburetted SR125, which looks
great but dates back to the 1980s. My hunch is that the few SR125s available
nowadays are valuable antiques. There was also a 250cc version of the YBR,
with a 21 bhp engine. To confuse matters Yamaha still seems to sell a version
of the YBR125 in Pakistan, as the YB125Z-DX, but it's not formally imported
into the UK.
Is that it? Can I stop now? My impression is that the equivalent Honda, the
CBF125, holds its value slightly better, and judging by the reviews the Honda
had one extra horsepower. But I imagine that either one will teach you how to
ride a geared bike, after which you have the choice of selling it to the next
student, or keeping it and using it for errands.
