The original intention was to by a Suzuki Van Van. However, I took my CBT on a GN125 and decided that it wouldn't be a bad first bike to learn on. It's also significantly cheaper than a Van Van and top speed is higher.
Bought the bike new back in April 2006 for £1400. The bike was a grey import - Suzuki no longer officially supply this bike to the UK market. As a result the speedometer is in km/h which is a little annoying. That's the only difference that I am aware of from a standard UK bike. I used the bike daily until recently to ride too and from the station.
The bike rides quite well bearing in mind its size. Acceleration is obviously poor compared to a bigger bike but not as bad as you might think. It could certainly outrun the average car from standstill. It really starts to struggle once you get up to 50mph - especially if you are going uphill. That being said however I am quite a big bloke (16 stone) so performance may be a bit better for a more average sized rider.
The bike can comfortably travel along at 55mph on level ground. I have on occasion managed to get the bike up to 70mph. This is definitely a town bike though and there's no way that I would ride it on a fast A-road or motorway.
Fuel economy is fantastic. Bike only holds about £6 of petrol, but that is sufficient for about 100 miles of city riding.
Have had a few problems with the bike. The main problem is corrosion. Admitedly I store the bike outside. However the bike has developed some really nasty rusty patches - especially on the front forks. The battery is also poor and it can be a real struggle to get the bike to start if it's been left for more than a couple of weeks. Other problems are more minor in nature and perhaps not worthy of mention in this review.
The other major problem which I have with this bike is depreciation. I had it valued by a couple of dealer's recently as I'm looking for a bigger bike. Despite the fact that it's only a year and a half old it's only worth £500!
In summary not a bad bike (for the money). Good to learn on and as a run-around for short journeys. However, depreciation is an issue (unless of course you are buying second hand!). It's also not a good idea to store the bike outside due to its susceptibility to corrosion.
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Sep 11th, 2007
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