Honda NSR125 > Reviews > Great Bike. Beginners and all

Author's product rating:   

Comfort	Good
Handling	Good
Looks	Excellent
Features	Good
Fuel consumption	Excellent

Advantages:	Fantastic appearence, good handling, cheap to run, the list goes on
Disadvantages:	Can be difficult to corner, insurance, attractive to thieves

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I bought my NSR 2 months ago. I originally had a scooter to get used to riding and get a years no claim bonus on the insurance. I bought my NSR for £2000 privately. It's a 2000 model and so far I haven't had any problems with it.

It's a 2 stroke engine, which means you need to top up the oil every week or so with 2 stroke oil, I recommend castrol, it may be a bit more expensive but its worth it to look after your engine in the long run.

The bike looks fantastic and if it weren't for the tiny exhaust and queit engine it would be difficult to tell its only a 125 engine. Its quick enough for learners as well as experienced riders. Its learner legal and will reach a speed to 80mph easily. It may not be as fast as other 125's like an Aprilia RS or Cagiva Mito 125, but it's very reliable. Honda make great bikes that are very reliable and easy to ride.

The only downside to the bikes appearance is that it is very attractive to thieves. My advice for any rider is to forget about immobilisers and alarms and simply get a nice thick chain. Also a disc lock can come in useful but i would never leave my bike unchained, not even for 5 minutes.

The handling is fantastic, however cornering at low speeds is difficult. This is the same with most race replica bikes and you may find it difficult to master the U-turn needed for the full bike test. The braking is also really responsive. I find the bike very easy to ride and I have used other similar bikes with only the CBR coming close with regards to comfort of riding and handling.

Its great fun to ride, weaving through traffic and the responsive throttle and brakes make it a joy even to go to work. The fact that you can ride one of these at 17 brilliant however I would recommend getting some road experience on a scooter or a smaller bike as this bike is very fast for its engine size. All you need to get started on a bike like this is a CBT certificate for around £100 and some L plates. The road tax is only £15 and petrol is very cheap compared to a car or bigger bike.

Overall the bike is very cheap to run and maintenence will be low compared to other bikes of its class. Ive had no problems with it since i got it and as long as you change the brake pads and oil the chain regurlary you should have no problems with the bike. The only costly part of having this bike is the insurance. If youre a beginner you may have to settle for Third party fire and Theft insurance as opposed to comprehensive as this bike is very likely to give you some high quotes if you have no expreience. Saying that i was able to get TPFT insurance for just £350 with only 1 years no claims bonus which isnt bad at all.

There are plenty of reasons to buy this bike and to be honest i cant find many faults. I would definately reccomend it to anyone.