Yamaha SR125

The Yamaha SR125 has received a lot of stick from some people, while a lot of praise from others, during this review i will attempt to give as unbiassed an opinion as i can on this bike, having owned mine for around a year and covering over 10,000 miles i feel that i am fairly qualified to give a good review.

I purchased my bike back in august 2006 when i needed something not to expensive to get me to work, i had yet to pass my driving test and i needed something with cheap insurance... I also wanted a bike that woul be fun to ride as well.
My SR had 5000 miles on the clock when i bought her, and during my ownership i put on another 10,000 without any problems

Looks:
The yamaha has been designed to have a custome chopper look while still retaining enough of a commuter look so that they are not a big fashion statement.
When in good nick these bikes look great with a combination of polished steel and chrome parts, however much maintenance is required to keep it this way.
The exhaust is prone to rust from the smallest of scratches, the upper end of the exhaust seems to rust no matter what you do to it!
The plastic and paintwork stays neat easily which is more than can be said for the wheels, if you are running it all through winter like i did then putting some form of grease on the wheels to protect them until summer would be a good idea.
All in all a smart looking bike with the provisio that you must put in the maintenance to keep it that way.

Performance:
You don't expect to much performance from a 4 Stroke 125 Single, and to be honest you don't get to much! Its nippy enough to beat most cars up to 30mph, but after 40mph the power dies away.
The early power is essential if you filter to the front of a queue of traffic as drivers seeing the L plates try to blow you off, usually they fail because you change gear so much quicker!
Top speed on a flat is around 65mph, but i would recommend 55 because at 60 the engine is screaming a little!
Downhill i have reached 80 but would not recommend it, the bike really struggles with steep hills, often dropping below 40, but thats what you expect with this sort of engine.
Fuel economy is fantastic, 100mpg round town or if you constantly run at top speed of 60mph like me then you will get more like 70, around £7 to fill the tank from the reserve which should give you around 150miles.
Cornering ability is uninspired to be honest! I have had some scary moments trying to 'push it' on this bike! Don't try and be a hero in corners sometimes you can lean till the pegs scrape the ground, usually the bike will start drifting outwards before then!
The stock tires are absolute rubbish in the rain, be very careful in wet conditions, think ahead and no sudden moves!

Reliability:
I have nothing but good things to say! In 10,000 miles i only had to replace the chain once, the back tire, and the speedo cable.
You need to carry out regular maintenance, Oil changes, Chain lubrication, tire pressures etc.
It can be annoying re-tensioning the chain as its usually jammed solid, a tip that you don't get in the manual which makes it 100 times easier is to undo the drum brakes support bar, this will let it move easily, just remember to put it back on before you set off!

Overall:
Providing you maintain it well, and give it some stick you should be satisfied with the performance of your bike as a daily driver or first bike.