Mito - really that bad!?

[DaveS]

I am still looking for a first bike and have seen a mito.
Its a nice yellow '94 and has 14k miles, which is high, but the bike is spotless, its in really good condition, looks like its never been ridden. The price (from a dealer) is £1500.

Firstly does this seem like a lot of money (bearing in mind thats a dealer price).

But really i wanted to know is the mito really that bad when its been looked after? I've searched here and google but cant find any genuinely informed comments. Does anybody know the truth and can share their experience?

Thanks
..Dave

[Kickstart]

Hi

Not got a Mito but do have a Freccia (the predecessor to the Mito), which has the same engine.

Nice bikes. Easy to screw up if you abuse them, but generally nicely engineered. Very solid bodywork as well.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Key Walshe]

I've got a Mito (all be it in pieces now in the garage as I now use an Rs250) and I find it hard to fault them.

I got it in July 2001 2nd hand accident damaged. It was a 2001 Evo2 model and had 200 miles on the clock. I paid £1700 for it and £400 in repairs so I was very pleased with the price of it going off similar models at the time.

As Keith said, if you abuse them, they will go wrong - but as will almost any high revving sports 125 2 stroke (RS, NSR, RG, TZR etc.) as they aren't meant to be abused, they need lots of maintenance and looking after - which means let the engine get upto temperature before you start to raise the revs above 8,000 and use top quality 2 stroke oil (fully synthetic only! Castrol TTS or R2 and Silkolene Comp2 Plus are some of the best) and keep a check on the piston & rings after about 8-10,000km's! Also clean the powervalve at about 5-10k km's as it can start to get coked up if used regularly for town riding - but that's usually a requirement for all 2 strokes, and the Mito seems good at keeping itself clean!

Mine did 35,000km's (22,000miles) until an engine bearing went meaning a full engine strip down to replace it, at which point I replaced the original piston and rings whilst it was apart and did another 10,000km's until I bought my Rs250 and at that point I put it in the garage for storage!

£1500 sounds a good price, I presume it's the 916 style bike being in yellow, in which case it will be the Evo1 (7 speed gearbox, twin ring piston, 34mm carb, 3 spoke wheels) which has the same engine as the previous model and very similar (if not identical to the Freccia as Keith mentioned, so he's a great source of info when/if help's needed - and all 2 strokes in general!). 14,000km's isn't a high distance for a 94/95 bike, it's quite low I'd say as it's under 10,000miles. It may be best to put in a new standard OE piston (though rings should be fine) and as it's in almost new condition I'd say it sounds a good buy - especially from a dealers!
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My Bike pics - https://www.bikepics.com/members/cagivamito2001
Current Bikes: Aprilia Rs250 (1998) Cagiva Mito Evo2 (2001) Suzuki RGV250 race bike & a Senior TKM100 race kart
Previous Bikes: Aprilia Rs125 Harada Identikit (2001) Aprilia Rs50 Harada (2000) Aprilia Rs50 Rossi (1999)

[Kris]

I've witnessed varying Mito ownership experiences, some good and some bad. It appears to me that build quality and reliability can vary a lot from bike to bike. For instance I know a guy that bought a Mito (7-speed 916 lookalike) second hand, treated it like shit, crashed it and never washed it but it started on the button and never let him down until the engine went after 16K miles. On the other hand another guy I know had one from new (same model) treated it the exact opposite to the first guy. Loved it to bits, pampered it etc and he had nothing but trouble with it. One day the electrics just died and no amount of fuse-changing could get it working. Another day the engine blew up after ridiculously low miles. First day he received it the mirror fell off whilst the bike was just sitting there etc etc. Nightmare bike.

I think it's definately worth taking someone who knows a bit about bikes along and just checking everything works on it.
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NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
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[Jammy-G]

I heard Mitos are good.

My friend got a 1999 Mito about a month ago, he had been looking for about 3 months for a bike and found this 1999 perfect cond. Mito with low mileage for £1395.

Great deals are around, just have to look for a long time !

Anyway it will be better than my Yamaha RXS100 !!

[G]

Just a thought; remember some dealers will put a lot more effort into making sure the bike is shiny and /looks/ in good condition, than actually make sure the bike is running well and has been well maintained.

In the summer holidays I worked at a garage for a bit. Most of the time was spent cleaning the cars so that they /really/ gleamed.
A lot less attention and effort was paid to mechanical work.
It's the shininess that sells vehicles 90% of the time.

[DaveS]

Well thanks for the input and advice guys, but..
I decided to take the advice i was originally given on this forum and spend far less than that (£700 infact) on my first bike.
i'm only going to have it for a few months then do my DAS so i only need it to find my feet on. Now i can drop and crash it as much as i like and only be concerned about myself not the bike

..Dave

[Jammy-G]

Good idea, im getting into bikes aswell, I'm buying a RXS100 for £300 to get me past my tests and used to riding before I feel confident enough to move onto something bigger.

Still not 17 yet ! Got to wait another 3 weeks noooooo !

[AcIdBuRnZ]

Yeah...then another 4 years before DAS
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Past: Honda NSR125R >> Kawasaki ER-5a2 >> Kawasaki ZZR-600e1 >> Suzuki GSXR-750Y >> Honda VTR 1000 Firestorm
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