Whether you’re looking for a cool cruiser, a sleek sports bike, or a zippy runaround, there are plenty of motorcycles to choose from. Not all, however, will be suitable for the beginner biker.
To help new riders find the right bike for them, this article explores a diverse selection of motorbikes to suit any budget.
1. Aprilia RS4 50
Designed specifically for young riders, the Aprilia RS4 50 is perfect for beginner bikers. Celebrated as ‘the superbike for 16 year olds’, the RS4 50 features a 50cc two-stroke engine, six-speed gearbox and a race-style rev counter with digital speedo, to offer the authentic experience of a sportbike.
Featuring Aprilia’s innovative technology, this racer replica can be a little expensive for a first bike – but it’s completely worth it. Be prepared to spend around £3,000 to get a second-hand one in good condition.
2. Honda Vision 50
If you’re looking for something to nip around town in, try the less powerful, yet equally as fun, Honda Vision 50. While it is technically classed as a scooter, the Honda Vision 50 is easy to ride, economical and reliable, making it perfect for city riding and commuting. You’ll also benefit from a spacious, comfortable seat which could easily fit two people, and thanks to its sleek shape and lightweight nature, the Honda Vision 50 easily conquers congested streets.
For a good-quality second-hand model, you’ll probably want to spend around £1,200, although you can get ones for as little as £450 if you’re on a strict budget.
3. AJS JSM 50
The AJS JSM 50 is a sporty scrambler-style bike, perfect for new riders seeking something thrilling, but not too powerful. Featuring an impressive six-speed gearbox and a 49cc two-stroke engine, this zippy, all-terrain looking bike is great for AM licence holders. Aesthetically, the JSM 50 is exciting, with its strong satin black alloy wheels and its vibrant, bold bodywork.
Stylish and affordable, you can buy one of these mean machines for around £1,700, depending on the condition.
4. Yamaha MT-125
Designed with young riders in mind, the Yamaha MT-125 is budget-friendly, reliable and extremely good looking. With a three-section digital dash which displays a clock, petrol gauge, trip time, mpg, distance to service and average speed, the MT-125 features everything a new rider could hope for.
Despite featuring a speedy yet not-too-powerful 125cc engine, the MT-125 boasts a ‘big bike’ feel and riding position with its naked chassis, athletic styling and wide-fitting handlebars. Depending on the condition of the bike, you can get a second-hand MT-125 for £2000 to £4000.
5. Kawasaki KLX250S
For someone seeking a little more power after passing their mod 2 test, the Kawasaki KLX250S features a 250cc, four-stroke engine and can be ridden legally both on and off-road. With a large, cushy seat and a natural riding position, this dual-sport bike is surprisingly quiet, comfortable and easy to ride.
While it’s not the most powerful off-road bike out there, the Kawasaki KLX250S can easily keep up with motorway traffic, as well as tear through mud with ease, climbs moderate hills and pull itself through deep sand – perfect for up-and-coming adventure bikers.
To get your hands on a second-hand model in good condition, look at spending anything from £3,250. If you want a real bang for your buck, the Kawasaki KLX250S is a great choice.
6. Harley-Davidson Street 500
The Harley-Davidson Street 500 is the perfect cruiser for bikers who are looking for something a little more laid-back, but still powerful. Since its release in 2014, the Street 500 and Street 750 have surpassed the Sportster and became the motor company’s go-to starter bike. Featuring a 492cc, liquid-cooled, ‘Revolution X’ v-twin-engine, the Street 500 was specifically designed to dominate the city streets and appeal to new riders.
While it is rather large and heavy for a 500cc, the cruiser offers a low-set seat which makes it easier for new riders who need to be able to reach the ground quickly. Reach to the bars is natural, with a relaxed seat position, making it an ideal cruiser for new riders with a smaller build, who are seeking a bike for city riding. For a second-hand Street 500, be prepared to spend around £5,000.
7. Honda CMX500 Rebel
Stylish, lightweight and fun, the Honda CMX500 Rebel is a novice-friendly cruiser featuring a reasonably powerful 471cc liquid-cooled, four-stroke engine. The Rebel is perfect for riders with a small build, thanks to its low seat and lightweight frame. Above all, it’s reliable, versatile and makes for a fun ride, especially suitable for cruising around town with ease.
The Honda Rebel is also available in 300cc – great for new riders who aren’t yet used to the power of a 500cc. As a side note, you’ll need an A2 licence to ride this beauty. Another budget-friendly cruiser, the CMX500 Rebel can cost around £4,000 or more depending on the condition of the bike.
8. Suzuki Bandit 600
The Suzuki Bandit is an ideal starter bike for those looking for a more powerful ride with the promise of reliability. First released in 1995, the Bandit was one of the first budget middleweight bikes, coming after Yamaha’s Diversion which was launched in 1991. In fact, the Bandit was considered the better of the two bikes because it was significantly cheaper, good looking, and served its purpose perfectly as a speedy yet budget-friendly bike.
With a top speed of 125mph, the Bandit is not only fast, but it handles well – which is great for new riders learning to handle a more powerful bike. Nowadays, Suzuki Bandits range from £600 to £2000 depending on the condition – an excellent price for such a powerful bike.
9. Suzuki SV650
Featuring a 645cc V-twin engine, the Suzuki SV650 is powerful but not quite enough to intimidate a new rider. In fact, the bike offers an impressively smooth ride and is moderately lightweight, making it easy to handle.
Featuring a Low RPM Assist helps avoid stalling, which is great when you’re a new rider. Practical and comfortable, the Suzuki SV650 features an upright riding position while still maintaining a very sporty feel. As a bonus, the Suzuki is fuel-efficient with an average of 48mpg.
You can get your hands on one of these beauties for around £3000 – £6000, depending on the condition.
10. Triumph T120 Bonneville
At a glance, you may not think that the Triumph T120 Bonneville would be a suitable bike for beginners, but take a little time to get to know the ride, and you’d be wrong. Fitted with a powerful 1,200cc twin-parallel high torque engine, the T120 Bonneville has plenty of power to get you where you need to go without fuss. As a cruiser, the T120 is powerful enough to be fun without the fear factor.
With a mid-range, surprisingly comfortable seat, you get a good balance between control and a relaxed riding position. As with many of Triumph’s classic creations, the T120 Bonneville boasts a timeless beauty with its handcrafted chrome detailing, heated grips, and 160 available accessories.
Costing anywhere between £8,000 – £11,000 depending on the condition, the T120 Bonneville may be slightly more expensive than the other beginner bikes listed here, but it definitely makes up for it in performance.
Secured Motorcycle Loans at Evolution Money
Whether the Vision or the Bandit has caught your eye, or you’re hoping to keep your options open by buying and insuring more than one bike, finding your first motorcycle can be difficult. For beginner bikers, the more research you conduct and the more experience you gain from handling and trialling different bikes, the more informed your decision.
Also, for those concerned with affordability, at Evolution Money, we’re able to offer motorbike loans to help you buy your ideal bike. Our motorbike loans range from £5,000 up to £50,000.
We take your personal circumstances into account and offer affordable repayment rates to suit you. For more information on secure motorcycle loans at Evolution Money, contact our qualified loan advisors at Evolution Money today for a no-obligation quote on 0161 814 9158.
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What’s Been Happening?
In the closing months of 2018, a number of high-street banks across the United Kingdom were hit with significant IT failures that impacted customers’ ability to access online services.
In the UK, for the last few years at least, we’ve been constantly bombarded by the press about the growing online threats of hacking and data theft. However, as banks rush to make the necessary improvements to their IT infrastructure, it’s being increasingly noticed that customers are finding access to their own cash can often become impaired during the process; in some cases, people have even missed important payment deadlines despite them having the required money in their accounts.
According to Which, banks in the UK are affected by serious IT failures and outages on a daily basis. From the 1st of April 2018, through to the end of the year, Which discovered that exactly 302 reports were filed by 30 of the UK’s major banks and building societies regarding serious IT failures – this averages out at roughly one incident a day!
Barclays reported the largest number of major incidents, at 41 over the investigated period. This was closely followed by Lloyds Bank with 37, Halifax/The Bank of Scotland with 31, NatWest with 26, RBS with 21 and the Ulster Bank with 18.
Furthermore, ClearScore recently conducted an eye-opening survey, specifically targeting individuals affected by these banking service outages. The results of this survey highlight the significant impact service outages have had upon banking customers; of the 2,000 people interviewed for the survey after experiencing a service outage, roughly 67% found errors in their credit history.
However, it appears that many more mistakes might be sailing under the radar; data suggests that roughly only around a quarter of banking customers actually think to check their Credit Scores after service outages. Additionally, a third of customers have never even considered checking their Credit Score – regardless of whether or not they’ve experienced a service outage.
How Does It Affect Me?
If online services are impacted by outages, people can be left unable to make important payments – leading them to miss payment dates. Missing payment dates can have a significant impact upon a customer’s credit score, and this is especially unfair to customers who’ve had the money in their accounts but were unable to access it.
In some cases, defaulting on an important payment may incur costly late payment fees. Such fees can have staggering effects on customers with irregular streams of income; you could potentially be pushed over your credit limit or into your overdraft, both of which have a chance of damaging your credit score further. Worryingly, having a poor credit score can often affect your ability to qualify for a new mobile phone contract, a loan or even a mortgage.
If you’re worried that your credit score might have been adversely affected as a result of a banking service outage, feel free to check your credit score out now using an online service.
What Should I Do If I’ve Been Affected?
If you’ve spotted an error in your credit score that was most likely caused by something outside of your own control, here’s what you can do to fix it:
Talk to the Bank, Company or the Lender
Ideally, your first stop when trying to fix a credit inaccuracy error should be to contact the company or lender who you’ve been unable to pay because of the service outage. Many companies and lenders will likely be happy to amend the error immediately; however, you should be prepared to go through your company’s, or lender’s, official complaints procedure.
Talk to the Relevant Credit Reference Agencies
As your credit score is a reflection of your financial behaviour, and also belongs to you, it’s important to ensure it’s accurate. You therefore have the right to dispute any information it contains if you think it is incorrect.
If the company, or lender, is unwilling to address the problem, you may have to go directly to one of the UK’s three Credit Reference Agencies: Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all have online forms you can complete that will allow you to raise a query concerning late payments due to bank IT outages. In order to settle the dispute, the Credit Reference Agencies will investigate the issue and contact all related parties.
If the company or lender you are having trouble with fails to agree with your assessment of the events, there’s no need to feel hopeless – a Notice of Correction can also be applied to your credit score file. A Notice of Correction is typically a 200-word explanation of the events from your perspective, usually describing how this incident isn’t reflective of your usual financial behaviour.
How Do I Improve My Credit Score?
A person’s credit score should represent an accurate record of their financial history. There’s no need to worry though if you have a low credit score from prior circumstances – there’s plenty you can do right now to begin to improve it.
Whether it’s by ensuring you’re registered with the electoral roll at your current address, or by applying for a credit-building credit card, there are multiple ways you can begin to rebuild your credit score. For some top tips on how to repair your credit score, check out our fantastic blog post on improving your credit score.
1# https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/03/revealed-uk-banks-hit-by-major-it-glitches-every-day/
2# https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/04/two-thirds-of-people-find-credit-score-errors-after-bank-it-failures/
Evolution Money, a secured loans provider based in Manchester, have been nominated as a finalist in the MEN Business of The Year Awards.
The announcement follows the recent news of a three-year, £100m senior debt facility with NatWest, continuing a strong year for the company.
Steve Brilus, CEO of Evolution Money, said: “We’re honoured to be nominated in the prestigious MEN Business of The Year Awards. As a Manchester founded company, it is a privilege to be a finalist alongside so many other fantastic local businesses.
Evolution Money has had an incredibly successful 2018 and 2019, but none of our achievements would have been possible without the valued contribution of each member of the Evolution family.”
Steve added: “At Evolution Money, we are always striving to evolve and innovate in order to support our future growth and on-going commercial success. Our focus will always be our customers, ensuring responsible lending is at the heart of everything we do.”
Award-winning Evolution Money, is part of the Manchester-based, Darwin Group. Since its launch in 2011, Evolution Money has grown to be regarded as one of the fastest growing finance companies in the UK, being recognised in “The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100”. Evolution Money has built up a substantial loan portfolio in just over eight years, having lent more than £210m to more than 23,000 customers across the UK.
The MEN Business of The Year Awards will take place on Thursday 14th November at Principal Hotel Manchester
For more information about Evolution Money, visit: www.evolutionmoney.co.uk
The Premier League 2019/20 season is now in full play and recently transferred players, up and down the UK, have started to settle in to their new teams.
A recent study by Evolution Money has revealed which UK towns and cities have produced the most valuable talent of all the UK-born players, playing in the 2019/20 Premier League season.
The capital boasts the lion’s share of valuable players, with the market value of London-born players reaching an impressive, £503.64m. There are 39 players in this seasons Premier League hailing from London, making London the UK’s largest producer of football talent.
Despite having such a large pool of players contributing to London’s market value, one star player contributes a huge 25 percent of the total market value for the city. Walthamstow born, Tottenham Hotspur forward, Harry Kane, currently boasts a market value of £135m, making him the highest valued player in the league.
Following London, in places two to five, are four cities located in the North of the UK; Liverpool (£141.16m), Sheffield (£128.25m), Manchester (£127.12m) and Glasgow (£81.45m).
Both Liverpool and Manchester have produced players with a current market value of a striking £72m. Marcus Rashford, from Manchester and Trent Alexander-Arnold, from Liverpool, are each responsible for over 50 percent of their cities market value. Both also play for teams in the cities they were born, Manchester United and Liverpool FC.
Robin Russel-Fisher, Finance Director at Evolution Money, said: ‘’It’s really interesting to see which UK towns and cities have produced the hottest players in this season’s Premier League and it’s great to see that the talent comes from all across the country.
As a Manchester founded company, we were particularly pleased to see that Manchester made it into the top five.”
At Evolution Money, we understand that people can need a helping hand with their finances from time to time, that’s why we offer convenient and flexible financial solutions to our customers throughout the UK.
Some of the towns and cities with a place in the top 15 have earned their spot with the value of just one player. Milton Keynes, in position seven, has produced only one player currently playing in the Premier League, Dele Alli, however Alli has a current market value of an incredible, £81m. The northern town of Barnsley also has only one homegrown star in the Premier League this season, John Stones, with a market value of £54m, putting his town in position 11.
Evolution Money are delighted to announce a new 3 year, £100m Senior debt facility with NatWest which secures the capital requirements for the business over the coming years.
This facility will allow Evolution to continue delivering its growth plans whilst capitalising upon exciting new product opportunities.
Commenting on the facility, CEO Steve Brilus said: “I am delighted that we are continuing our partnership with NatWest who have supported Evolution since 2013. This sizeable commitment reflects our strong working relationship with the NatWest team, their confidence in our business and a shared vision of the future opportunities that exist in our sector“
Matt Glew, Relationship Director of NatWest’s Large Corporate & Institutions business, added “We are very happy to have closed this new facility with Evolution, and are looking forward to continuing to work closely with Steve and the team as the business moves into the next stage in it’s journey. We have extensive experience in the 2nd charge mortgage sector and are excited to see Evolution grow with our support.”
Filip Skolnik, Structured Finance Director at NatWest, added “This commitment is a testament to the quality of the business that Steve and the Evolution team have built over the years, and we are pleased to have supported the business during it’s earlier years and having now structured a new financing solution that will enable progression to the next exciting growth stage.”
Think carefully before securing debts against your home your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other loan secured against it. If you are thinking of consolidating existing borrowing, you should be aware that you may be extending the terms of the debt and increasing the total amount you repay.
