Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Good performance, "big bike" feel, resale value |
| Disadvantages: |
off road riding, dodgy sidestand |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Built by little known Spanish manufacturer Derbi, the 50cc Senda R is a stylish, well built single cylinder two stroke powered learner trailbike with six speed transmission. Derbi has a good record in the lower classes of motorcycle Grand Prix racing but as far as I know, when the Senda was released alongside a range of scooters, it was their first attempt at building roadbikes.
I was lucky enough to pick up one of these little beauties for £975, £500 off list price at the time. It was one year and 2000km old, had a few scratches and scrapes, to be expected for a learner bike, but this aside it was the bargain of the century. I'd just turned 16 and having passed my CBT (essential for road riding) I was moving up from a Honda MTX 125 field bike to my first roadbike. I'd previously ridden a mate's Honda MT50 so was expecting a big drop in power from my tuned MTX. Not so. OK, the bigger Honda made fast riding less work but the little Derbi was never far behind. In standard form it is restricted to 30mph, but there are two stages of derestriction - one takes you to 55mph and the other reaches 75mph. I chose the 55mph stage as my riding consisted of town and B-road work and very little dual carriageway use. In these environments, the Derbi is a fantastic little bike, the revvy engine combined with a highly capable chassis makes for an easy and comfortable ride to work, college, etc and cost me roughly £5 a week in fuel. Road tax set me back £15 and insurance in my own name was roughly £400 TPFT, so it really is motoring on the cheap.
As for reliability though, there are a few points that need to be looked after. Firstly, with derestriction you do tend to sacrifice reliability. I rode my P-plate machine in 55mph mode for a year and had one failure where the piston rings had stuck to the piston causing a loss of compression and power. I was able to rectify this myself at home as I am a competent DIY mechanic and cost me nothing as it needed no spares. This breakdown could probably have been attributed to the previous owner using cheap 2-stroke oil in place of the (admittedly expensive and scarce) recommended Motul oil. The only other fault I encountered was a grabby clutch, again caused by not using the specified oil. Once the transmission was drained, flushed, filled with the correct stuff the problem was fixed. The reliability of bikes does seem to vary however as with Ducatis, some bikes run unmaintained for years where pampered machines have frequent problems, its just a matter of picking a good one. Here are a few hints on how to pick a good one.
Service history - If its been maintained by a dealer network chances are it will be tip-top with all the correct fluids. Ask for any reciepts for parts, repairs or sevices, the more paperwork the better.
Previous Owner - Check out the seller as much as the bike. 50 and 125cc trail bikes are common theft targets so take care. If in doubt, walk away, there are plenty more 50cc trailbikes on the market.
Accident Damage - Have a good look. Are the handle bars straight? Look under the side panels at the pillion footpeg brackets as these can snap clean off. Don't worry about scrathes to the plastics, this can be used to haggle the price down. Don't be scared to ask if it's been crashed either, learner bikes are always on the recieving end of the odd tumble.
There were a few small minor complaints I had about the Derbi. The sidestand is a major design problem. It's too long and consequently stands the bike virtually upright, the consequence being that the slightest gust of wind can have the bike on its side, scratching the plastics and making it look tatty. A quick DIY fix is to bend the sidestand bracket out to the side so it leans over a bit more and is more steady, but an owner shouldn't have to do basic things like this to a bike that cost around £1600 new. Home maintenance is another small problem area. Although the bike is well put together and it never feels like any bits are going to drop off, it is quite fiddly to work on. It's easy to break bits of bodywork when trying to remove them, and some bits just aren't very willing to come off at all. If you do need to replace any parts however, spares are no more expensive than for any Japanese made bikes, but can take a couple of weeks to arrive. There are a good number of dealers nationwide, and if you can deal with one of these directly this will save messing about with phone orders.
In conclusion, for a 16 year old the Derbi is as good as a superbike. All the performace you need, gorgeous with it, easy to ride, not as expensive as you might think (you can pick up early N-P plates for £400) and ridden and looked after properly it will be as reliable as anything Japanese. Dont try to take it on any motocross tracks as it really doesnt belong off road, first and foremost its a roadbike styled as a trailbike, but is good fun on smooth country trails. Find a good one, look after it and you'll probably sell it a year later for more than you paid for it. I fell off mine twice (gently) and still managed to sell it for £1000. And for the superbike riders out there, lay up the FireBlade for the winter, for the price of a carbon exhaust for your bike you can buy a Derbi Senda R. Good value, good laughs, great little bike.
| More Reviews |
 needs lots of TLC
Review of Derbi Senda R by
aunder2k2
Advantages: fast, stylish
Disadvantages: prone to faults
...your thinking of buying a derbi senda then you have a few questions you need to ask yourself, am i good at mechanics?, will i look after this bike properly? and do i have alot of money?. If your answers to these questions were "no" then dont buy this bike, if "yes" then by all means buy it,
The reason why you need to ask these questions are because if you do not look after this bike it WILL fall to bits, i had a number of problems with this bike ...
...of my life with my Derbi Senda R the front light started to give up on me and allthough the bulb was changed it still wouldnt come on from time to time. On the good side very fast (de-restricted), and very stylish and will make heads turn (when in good condition) but very prone to damage. So if you are willing to spend alot of time looking after this bike then you will have years of fun on it. If your just going to ride it and never check anything ...
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helpful
20.09.2004
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 Derbi senda DRD
Review of Derbi Senda R by
nico666
Advantages: Drives good easy to maintain
Disadvantages: Not power full enough
I have now driven the derbi senda drd for 1½ years now I must say I have never been disappointed. Derbi senda is produced in spain, they make cross versions and street version I had the street version. I bought it new, and the first thing I did was to take the indicator off so the bike could drive 55 mph instead of the In standard version which is restricted to 30mph. Of cause this is illegal, but 30 mph is a bit boring in my opinion. The first 600 ...
...This is not only for derbi but all kinds of engines!! Anyways the first 600 mph was a bit boring but if you don't do the motor will consume more oil than necessary and the piston on espically one of these can be damaged every easily I got a some friends which also have Derbi´s and they had to buy new pistons for their bike because they didn't go slowly in the start. The seat can seem hard but after a while it gets soft. I wasn't still satisfied with ...
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01.05.2005
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 best 50cc
Review of Derbi Senda R by
northlights
Advantages: very fast for 50cc
Disadvantages: parts
...motorbike.
It was a 2003 Derbi Senda R Extreme, It cost me new £1899 from derbi direct in lincon.
First i will give you a few bits of advise:
1. If you dont want to be stuck at 30mph take out the restriction in the exhaust, its where the expansion chamber bolts onto the cylinder. just use a dremel of something similar to cut the weld holding the restrictor in.
2. With it being a dirt bike styled 50cc people will want them. Make sure you secure ...
...it a locked garage but 2 men can easly lift the bike, (ground anchors are best) Alarms are even better, datatool make one that has low battery drain and fits perfectly under the seat.
What can i say, from the first day i took it out it turned heads (i had de-restricted it) getting upto about 55mph totally standard was fast enough for the first few days. A large range of aftermarket parts allow you to tune it to your hearts content.
Offroad, its ...
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23.01.2005
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Quick review of Derbi Senda R
Review of Derbi Senda R by
CHARLEIGHCONTAGIOUS
This bike is very fast for a 50cc motobike.
This is a great start of bike for someone around the ages of 16-18.
My cuzon also had one at the same time i did, neither me or my cuz had anything wrong with the bike. So much fun to ride around a track. The bike cost 2175 new and a learns starter pack was sold to me for £250 which i was very impressed about and so were my folks at home. The colour of the bikes varie and i think that some of the best colours for the bike is black and red and the kawasaki green shown in the picture. So i would rate this bike 5 out of 5 stars. :)
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05.06.2009
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Derbi Senda 2003 Extreme
Review of Derbi Senda R by
Muddymotox
Advantages: Real Head Turner, Faster that other 50cc trail bikes
Disadvantages: Quality of some parts
...motorbike.
It was a 2003 Derbi Senda R Extreme, It cost me new £1899 from derbi direct in lincon.
First i will give you a few bits of advise:
1. If you dont want to be stuck at 30mph take out the restriction in the exhaust, its where the expansion chamber bolts onto the cylinder. just use a dremel of something similar to cut the weld holding the restrictor in.
2. With it being a dirt bike styled 50cc people will want them. Make sure you secure ...
...it a locked garage but 2 men can easly lift the bike, (ground anchors are best) Alarms are even better, datatool make one that has low battery drain and fits perfectly under the seat.
What can i say, from the first day i took it out it turned heads (i had de-restricted it) getting upto about 55mph totally standard was fast enough for the first few days. A large range of aftermarket parts allow you to tune it to your hearts content.
Offroad, its ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful |
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helpful
01.06.2004
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