The idea behind the Yamaha YBR125 Custom is dead simple: take the straightforward YBR125 commuter, customize it a bit with high bars, more chrome and a lower seat, bump up the price a tad, and there you go, a pointlessly more expensive and less tasteful runabout. In reality, it makes a lot of sense as the low seat makes it even more easy to ride and it’s more practical thanks to the addition of a rack.
Engine
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The Yamaha YBR125 Custom’s no-frills, air-cooled single doesn’t set the earth on fire but is a little, willing puppy of a motor which whirrs harmlessly and trundles happily. In town it’s brisk enough to purr past and through everything. But show it a dual carriageway or road rated at over 50mph and you’re in trouble.

Ride and Handling
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The YBR125 Custom’s chassis is even more simple: ridiculously low, slim and light. It’s so easy to ride that anyone with more experience instantly starts to muck about on it. Perfect learner fodder, in other words. If you want a word to sum it up it’s: ‘unthreatening’.

Equipment
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Nothing much to get excited about, but lots of common sense where it counts. Clocks and controls are decent, the new nine-spoke alloys are a sweet touch and the addition of a mainstand and rack is a bonus. Compare and buy parts for the Yamaha YBR125 Custom.

Quality and Reliability
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Better than its roadster cousin, so it’s halfway there already, c/o chomy mudguards, ‘slash cut’ silencer, white faced clocks etc. As for reliability, it’s understressed and neither version has yet reported any problems.

Value
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As a riding proposition, the YBR125 Custom offers nothing more (for £150 extra new than the roadster, so arguably it’s worse value. On the flip side, the Custom’s better equipped and finished, easier for novices and more stylish, too. You can’t ask much more for the money. Find a Yamaha YBR125 for sale

Insurance
Insurance group: 2

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Model History
2008: Model launched

Other Versions
Yamaha YBR125 roadster