Suzuki GP125 Motorbike

Author's product rating:   

Comfort	Satisfactory
Handling	Good
Looks	Good
Features	Satisfactory
Fuel consumption	Excellent

Advantages:	Cheap, economical, lots of fun
Disadvantages:	Dodgy electrics & prone to rust

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The GP125 is a small 125cc 2-stroke, single cylinder road bike which was made by Suzuki during the late 70s through the late 80s and puts out around 12bhp. It’s pretty basic mechanically speaking, consisting of a kick-start only motor with a single piston and shabby 6 volt electrics.

My GP is great. Admittedly through rose-tinted specs as it’s my first bike, but for what it is – a hack, I doubt I could have bought better at the time. It’s definitely given me some problems; partly down to my own daftness and lack of mechanical know-how, and partly down to its own quirks and foibles, of which it has its fair share. The fact that it was made in 1988 no doubt has something to do with it. All the trouble in the world, though, is worth the grin it puts on my face.

I bought it in February 2002 for £450 – I winced a little at the price for such an old bike but the fact was, there weren’t any others for sale at that time of year and despite its age, it had less than 2500 miles on the clock and had spent most of its life up to that point garaged. I’ve now nearly hit the 6000 mile mark with it.

It took me a while to get it out on the road, having only just passed my Compulsory Basic Training (CBT), but after the skittish and temperamental new Honda CB125s they were using at the training school, it was a dream to drive. Its balance is ideal for me and the seat height is just right for all of my 5 foot 2. I should note that at the time I bought it I weighed over 16 stone and it was still quite nippy at that. At 2.5 stone lighter though, you can definitely feel a difference. It can beat just about anything bar another bike off the lights if you’re on the ball with it.

The seat is comfortable over relatively short distances – about 40 minutes at a time, and the suspension is capable enough but very bouncy. Two-up use really isn’t recommended. I’ve been on the back of it a few times and never end up anything short of terrified. The stock tyres are rotten – not enough grip and a suspect make. I fitted Michelin Macadams which cost about £80 including fitting.

The bike itself is 96 kilos which makes it simple to flip round corners and the ease of the ride really makes you feel a part of the machine. The riding position is pretty much sit-up-and-beg with quite wide bars to give good leverage in turns. It’s hard-wearing and impossible to knacker unless you do the one thing I did within three months of buying it and fail to top up the 2-stroke tank...Result? A seized engine necessitating a rebore and new piston. I’ve fallen off it a couple of times and it’s always worked straight away. On one memorable occasion I had to drive home after falling off with my handlebars twisted about twenty degrees to the right.

The brakes are without a doubt the single best mechanical thing about the bike, and have helped me avoid trouble on a number of occasions – like last week when some berk in a Volvo tried to pull out in front of me from a car park. The front brake is served by a left-mounted hydraulic disc – for the size and power of the bike, this is more than ample. The rear brake is a drum. Neither have needed any real maintenance since I got it, though I did replace the bulgy rubber brake hoses with stainless steel braided lines and drained and refilled the brake fluid when I first bought it. The pads are now a bit worn and in need of replacing – I think they are original.

The electrics on this bike are an absolute nightmare – 6 volt so parts can be difficult to come by. Unreliable by definition. Indicators would suddenly stop working for no conceivable reason until I finally stripped them all down and the wiring don’t match any of the diagrams in the Haynes manual. The horn doesn’t so much blare as bleat like a startled lamb. I had a persistent charging problem at one point so all the indicators, the brake lights and the horn would stop working. One advantage of the kick-start is that at least you can drive it on a dead battery.

As I mentioned, the bike is quite susceptible to rust. The frame is painted steel and corrodes quite easily if it flakes off. The wheels are chromed steel with spokes – difficult and fiddly to clean. For some reason, my rear wheel is the worst one and won’t shine up. The front one is in reasonably good condition and only has a few unshiftable patches. I would recommend using Autosol to clean them up, and perhaps some light sandpaper for the really bad bits. Don’t use too much pressure though as you will scratch the chrome if not careful. Another place to watch for corrosion is the suspension forks – try to keep any rust there in check or your fork oil could start leaking out. As long as it doesn’t creep below the dive line, it should be OK.

One problem I had which took me ages to figure out was that the bike started to seriously not work in the wet. It would literally take a bit of water on the road or some rain for it to stop working. I would change the spark plug and it would usually work a bit longer before giving out again. Once, it broke down on my way back from uni and I had to push it two and a half miles home, mostly up hill, in pouring rain and, since it was February, in the cold and dark. Finally, I worked out that the problem was the ignition coil was getting wet. It’s a little grey box under the front of the petrol tank, mounted above the frame. Now, every so often I spray the sucker all over with WD-40 and it’s fine.

If you have one of these bikes I’d recommend a similar ‘take everywhere’ toolkit as mine: double ended Philips screwdriver, plug spanner, spare spark plug and a small can of WD-40. Also, check that 2-stroke oil religiously. The tank is conical so it can look like a lot is in it, but because of the shape, the level goes down faster the emptier it gets.

Another thing about this bike that’s really great is the fuel economy. It used to do me 90 or so miles to reserve when I drove on country lanes to get to work; now I go to uni in Glasgow city centre, it gives me about 70. It might not sound a lot between fill-ups but that’s only about 4 litres of petrol, costing about £4.50 to fill up each time – it does not have a big tank. There’s probably another litre in reserve but I like to fill up every 70 miles since running out and having to stop to turn the reserve switch on some of the busy roads I now ride on would be a bit dangerous.

Before I finish, I should point out that due to my ineptness at all things mechanical (apart from changing spark plugs and engine oil), everywhere I’ve said that ‘I’ did something to the bike, what I really meant was that my fiancé did it while I handed him tools and looked interested. I wouldn’t recommend this bike unless you have someone who knows roughly what they’re doing when it comes to bike mechanics.

Overall, then, the Suzuki GP125 is a great first time bike that will do everything you need as a learner, and give you plenty of grins and fun besides. There’s a lot to be said for small bikes – even my Triumph Sprint ST-owning fiancé loves to ride it when I let him. Due to the age of even the newest examples, and the dodgy electrics though, I would caution those who aren’t confident enough to have a go at their own maintenance, or don’t have someone around who is.