The Church in Scotland are holding a huge event over the May holiday weekend at Ingliston (next to Edinburgh airport). As part of this event, individual parish churches throughout the country are being able to showcase their work in a tented village.
My church has purchased one of these tents (which after the event will be packed up for use in emergency relief work). My OH and I have "volunteered" to be involved in the setting up of what goes in the tent. Naturally, we're going to promote the Young Church's project, Riders for Health. Prior to my acquisition of the Hornet, I was going to take my EN to the event, as it is similar to the bikes that Riders supply to health care workers. That plan's now scuppered, but never fear, the Pan European is going instead! We're going to park it outside the tent and bedeck it with information about Riders. I thought the organisers wouldn't be impressed, but we asked permission and they said yes. How cool is that! I will report how the event went after the weekend.
Tuesday 29 April 2008
EN125 owners manual
For those of you who own a Suzuki EN125 and are looking for an owners manual (for general maintenance etc), the Suzuki GS125 Haynes manual is very useful. The engine, frame and suspension are identical. There's usually plenty of used manuals on eBay. The GS125 didn't change from 1982 until Suzuki stopped production in 2002, so the date of the Haynes manual for use on an EN isn't critical.
Monday 28 April 2008
EN125 Review
Under the various motorbike photos at the right of this blog is a Site meter icon. This monitors activity on the blog. Don’t worry, it just shows me how many hits, page view and country of origin the readers are from. It also allows me to see how the reader got to my blog (i.e. the referral page). Where this is a Google-type search, it will tell me the search term. Through this I have noticed one of the most popular searches is for a review of the Suzuki EN125. Although I've made various comments about the EN, I haven't written a proper review of the bike, so here goes.
The Suzuki EN125 is a learner legal motorbike, which comes in 2 versions - totally naked or with a small screen and belly pan (the EN125-2A and EN125-2 respectively). Although it is manufactured under licence in China, it is not to be confused by many of the poor quality Chinese bikes flooding the market, as it is made to full Suzuki specification using all Japanese manufactured Suzuki parts.
The EN is a grey import (to the UK); it is made for the Mexican market, so the headlight points in the wrong direction (as Mexico drives on the right). This is easily corrected using the screws at the back of the headlight. I only discovered this hadn't been done when I came to trade in my EN. Given I had bought the bike from a local dealer, I assumed this would have been corrected (not best pleased at Scott Murray Motorcycles for that one!). Also, the original speedo and odometer reads in kilometres. A special adaptor has to be fitted to change these to miles, to comply with British legislation. Mine was fitted with one when I got it.
I found the EN an easy bike to ride, with smooth handling, decent enough brakes and controls which were easy to find with gloves on. Full-comprehensive insurance was pretty cheap, at just under £130 for the year (helped with me being an early 30s, female with 7 years no-claims discount on my car insurance - many motorbike insurers will take this into account where you have no no-claims discount). It has a gear indicator and fuel gauge, both of which proved very useful. The fuel gauge seemed pretty accurate, but I still re-set the trip counter when I topped her up, just in case. In terms of fuel economy, it was a very efficient machine - I got 200 miles between top-ups and never had to put the bike onto reserve. That works out at about 20 miles per litre or around 100 miles per gallon.
Buying a grey import can cause problems when getting parts, however as the EN is made by Suzuki, the parts can be obtained reasonably easily, if you know what to look for and were to get it. The obvious place, I thought, was where I bought the EN from, but when I needed to get new mirrors and a brake lever following my accident, Scott Murray Motorcycles didn't have any spares in stock, didn’t know how long it would take to get them in and didn't know how much they would cost (made me wonder what they did know!). That led me to seek alternatives…
Ebay is an obvious choice, with a reasonable number of EN specific spares (at a good price) available. Also, the EN is effectively an evolution of the GS125, the equivalent GS part could be suitable. I found all the items I would have needed for basic servicing were also GS parts (up to an including the chain and sprocket). The replacement brake lever I got for the EN was for the Suzuki RV125 (also known as the van van). The new mirrors were generic motorbike mirrors from ebay, as the screw holes are a standard 10mm thread.
The EN benefited from both centre and side stands. This is very unusual with 125 bikes, but I found the side stand useful for getting on an off the bike (it's a confidence thing) and the centre stand great for maintenance, especially great for oiling the chain. The disadvantage with the side stand is it is not switched. On most British spec bikes, the bike cannot be put into gear with the side stand down; when you attempt to put the bike into gear with the side stand down, the bike will kill the engine. The lack of a switch lead to me to fail one of my tests, as I didn't kick the side stand out of the way prior to carrying out my u-turn - oops. I didn't do that again!!!
The other feature I liked about the EN was the luggage rack at the rear. It wasn't designed for carrying anything too heavy (3kgs was the weight limit, if I recall correctly), but it allowed me to fit a top box to the bike, in which I could carry a change of trousers etc. With bungee cords I would have been able to carry a spare helmet or tied down a bag (if I didn’t want to carry a rucksack on my back).
There's a small amount of storage space under the seat, which I used for storing my disk lock during travel. I could have probably fitted a thin pair of waterproof trousers under the seat, if I didn’t ride in waterproof bike trousers anyway.
After 8 months of riding in almost all weathers, but always stored under a bike cover, the exhaust was starting to show slight signs of rust, where the chrome had been damaged either with the Suzuki stamp or where it was attached to the frame. It was only slight spotting and I was to deal with it, but traded it in instead. Other than that, there were no apparent problems with the bike.
The main thing that lets this bike down is lack of power. Even as a learner I found this frustrating, as it didn’t really like going above 50mph; not great for heading along a dual carriageway. Although I could get it up to 70mph (downhill, with a following wind), that was on the rev limiter. Also, when going up-hill in country roads, I would have to drop the gears to second and rev the nuts off the engine to get 30mph.
Personally, I think the EN is a great learner bike and would also be ideal for city commuting too, if you didn’t want a scooter. It's reliable; cheap to insure and run; and parts are reasonably easy to get, once you know where to look. Also, I think if Suzuki started making this bike for the European market too, it would make a killing. Maybe with the new motorbike test being introduced in October, the market for 125 motorbikes will increase and, with that, a greater range of 125s from the Japanese manufacturers.
The Suzuki EN125 is a learner legal motorbike, which comes in 2 versions - totally naked or with a small screen and belly pan (the EN125-2A and EN125-2 respectively). Although it is manufactured under licence in China, it is not to be confused by many of the poor quality Chinese bikes flooding the market, as it is made to full Suzuki specification using all Japanese manufactured Suzuki parts.
The EN is a grey import (to the UK); it is made for the Mexican market, so the headlight points in the wrong direction (as Mexico drives on the right). This is easily corrected using the screws at the back of the headlight. I only discovered this hadn't been done when I came to trade in my EN. Given I had bought the bike from a local dealer, I assumed this would have been corrected (not best pleased at Scott Murray Motorcycles for that one!). Also, the original speedo and odometer reads in kilometres. A special adaptor has to be fitted to change these to miles, to comply with British legislation. Mine was fitted with one when I got it.
I found the EN an easy bike to ride, with smooth handling, decent enough brakes and controls which were easy to find with gloves on. Full-comprehensive insurance was pretty cheap, at just under £130 for the year (helped with me being an early 30s, female with 7 years no-claims discount on my car insurance - many motorbike insurers will take this into account where you have no no-claims discount). It has a gear indicator and fuel gauge, both of which proved very useful. The fuel gauge seemed pretty accurate, but I still re-set the trip counter when I topped her up, just in case. In terms of fuel economy, it was a very efficient machine - I got 200 miles between top-ups and never had to put the bike onto reserve. That works out at about 20 miles per litre or around 100 miles per gallon.
Buying a grey import can cause problems when getting parts, however as the EN is made by Suzuki, the parts can be obtained reasonably easily, if you know what to look for and were to get it. The obvious place, I thought, was where I bought the EN from, but when I needed to get new mirrors and a brake lever following my accident, Scott Murray Motorcycles didn't have any spares in stock, didn’t know how long it would take to get them in and didn't know how much they would cost (made me wonder what they did know!). That led me to seek alternatives…
Ebay is an obvious choice, with a reasonable number of EN specific spares (at a good price) available. Also, the EN is effectively an evolution of the GS125, the equivalent GS part could be suitable. I found all the items I would have needed for basic servicing were also GS parts (up to an including the chain and sprocket). The replacement brake lever I got for the EN was for the Suzuki RV125 (also known as the van van). The new mirrors were generic motorbike mirrors from ebay, as the screw holes are a standard 10mm thread.
The EN benefited from both centre and side stands. This is very unusual with 125 bikes, but I found the side stand useful for getting on an off the bike (it's a confidence thing) and the centre stand great for maintenance, especially great for oiling the chain. The disadvantage with the side stand is it is not switched. On most British spec bikes, the bike cannot be put into gear with the side stand down; when you attempt to put the bike into gear with the side stand down, the bike will kill the engine. The lack of a switch lead to me to fail one of my tests, as I didn't kick the side stand out of the way prior to carrying out my u-turn - oops. I didn't do that again!!!
The other feature I liked about the EN was the luggage rack at the rear. It wasn't designed for carrying anything too heavy (3kgs was the weight limit, if I recall correctly), but it allowed me to fit a top box to the bike, in which I could carry a change of trousers etc. With bungee cords I would have been able to carry a spare helmet or tied down a bag (if I didn’t want to carry a rucksack on my back).
There's a small amount of storage space under the seat, which I used for storing my disk lock during travel. I could have probably fitted a thin pair of waterproof trousers under the seat, if I didn’t ride in waterproof bike trousers anyway.
After 8 months of riding in almost all weathers, but always stored under a bike cover, the exhaust was starting to show slight signs of rust, where the chrome had been damaged either with the Suzuki stamp or where it was attached to the frame. It was only slight spotting and I was to deal with it, but traded it in instead. Other than that, there were no apparent problems with the bike.
The main thing that lets this bike down is lack of power. Even as a learner I found this frustrating, as it didn’t really like going above 50mph; not great for heading along a dual carriageway. Although I could get it up to 70mph (downhill, with a following wind), that was on the rev limiter. Also, when going up-hill in country roads, I would have to drop the gears to second and rev the nuts off the engine to get 30mph.
Personally, I think the EN is a great learner bike and would also be ideal for city commuting too, if you didn’t want a scooter. It's reliable; cheap to insure and run; and parts are reasonably easy to get, once you know where to look. Also, I think if Suzuki started making this bike for the European market too, it would make a killing. Maybe with the new motorbike test being introduced in October, the market for 125 motorbikes will increase and, with that, a greater range of 125s from the Japanese manufacturers.
Sunday 27 April 2008
My New Toy
They say that boys don't grow up, their toys just get bigger. Well, I don't believe that bigger toys should just be for them...
This is my new bike; a 2002 Honda Hornet. I picked it up from Cupar motorcycles last Friday. It was quite scary to begin with, being both the biggest and most powerful (despite the restriction) bike I've ridden. The nerves weren't helped by my OH and I parking our bikes in horizontal formation just outside the dealership - oops!
After we got our bikes vertical again, I really thought I had made a HUGE mistake. If I couldn't get it away from the dealer, how would I manage. Once I got over my fright (as that was all that I'd given myself, along with a very bruised pride!), my OH drove the hornet to a quiet residential street, so I could get used to the clutch etc. I wish we'd thought of that earlier. Never mind.
I rode it home safely, which is about 30 miles. On the way home, we headed to my Mum's to show it off. She had a seat and loved it! I told her she'd just have to get a bike licence. (As you may have gathered, my Mum's quite cool).
Since picking the bike up I've covered approx 200 miles, replaced the clutch lever (which was bent following my horizontal parking incident), added an optimate plug to the battery and fitted crash bungs. I fitted R&G crash bungs as these were recommend. They are a little more expensive than others I could have got for the Hornet, but R&G make them specifically for the bike model and test them at race days. Also, they look pretty good too.
Roll on the good weather and good riding.
Friday 18 April 2008
Tales of the Unexpected
Most types of shopping fill me with a stoical, yet reticent attitude - "I don't like this, but as I need X, I'll have to just get on with it". The other thing I find about shopping is when I am on a mission to buy something, I can never find what I want, but when I'm not really looking, the ideal product jumps into view. This happened following my first proper run since passing my test.
Sunday was all planned; my OH and I would go to church in the morning on our respective bikes and head out on a small run on reasonably familiar roads. As I something to return to Cupar motorcycles (the Suzuki dealer in Cupar), we planned the route on the basis of passing that way. I had already decided I would like to get a slightly bigger bike as the EN 125 is a great little bike, but show it a hill, even in town, and it'll be bouncing off the rev limiter in second gear. Great for a learner, but if I kept pushing it the engine was probably going to die. Okay, so I needed a bit more power, but what would fit; not just a novice biker, but a short one too. The best way to find out what I would be comfortable on was to sit on a few bikes.
The previous day, we had been in Glasgow. There's a Honda dealer there, so we went for a browse. The dealer didn’t have anything second hand bikes that were suitable, as they were too tall or not suitable for restriction to 33bhp. The guy at the dealer was really helpful. He explained which bikes were suitable for restriction. Apparently restricting a bike to 33bhp doesn't make a huge difference to how the machine drives and handles, but the top speed it reduced to 70-80mph (no autobahns for me at the moment!). The main issue when restricting a bike is how much torque the engine generates - the more torque, the better. My OH's line about this is "You buy horsepower, but drive torque". When a bike's restricted, it makes little or no difference to the torque.
Okay, so that cleared out that restricting a bike to 33bhp wasn't as big an issue as I thought it would be - there are kits for a large range of bikes and they are easy to fit. The next problem was what could I (excuse the phrase) "get my leg over". Again, the guy at the dealer was great. He showed me a couple of the bikes Honda make which are (as he put it) primarily aimed at the new biker, as they are easy to ride, confidence inspiring and can easily be restricted, if necessary. He encouraged me to have a seat. I tried out the CBF500, CBF600 and CB600F (no typo, they are different bikes). Although the 600 bikes have a larger engine (usually with bikes, the numbers indicate the size of the engine), they felt lighter. It's all down to how the engine's laid out and the frame etc. Anyway, they all felt very comfortable, but were brand new. I, as a general rule, don't buy brand new vehicles; I prefer someone else to take the hit on the depreciation of the vehicle. Also, it was only 4 weeks since I'd passed my test and I was only starting to look at the market…
Cupar motorcycles have an excellent reputation. The have been Ride magazine's recommended dealer, in Scotland, for 6 of the last 10 years (I think). Ride magazine is a motorbike magazine (as you may have guessed) with high standards. Also, my OH had bought his Suzuki Bandit from there and they were excellent with that. Besides, I had the item to return. Once that was dealt with, we had a browse of the bikes. The only machine below 33bhp, which wasn't a 125 was a Honda CBF250. I had thought about getting one. It wouldn’t be too big (in terms of weight and height) and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it restricted. However, after the information I have gleaned on Saturday, my plans had changed - why not sit on a few bikes and see how to get the one I really liked restricted. Apparently one of the most popular bikes to be restricted is a Suzuki SV650. Cupar had a couple of them second hand and my OH pinned down a salesman, so I could have seat and see what I thought. I also told the salesman I am on a restricted license and enquired how much it would be to get a bike restricted (I didn't explain the height - it's quite obvious!). Shockingly, the restrictor kits cost £300ish pounds - significantly more than I had expected (I didn't expect them to be cheap, but still…). However, Suzuki is currently doing an offer where they will pay for the restrictor kits on a range of their brand new bikes. Looking at the cost of second hand unrestricted and then putting a restrictor kit in was looking less appealing, when compared to brand new with the restrictor kit fitted for free.
This led me to sit on several other Suzukis, which are part of this offer. A few of them were a little too high or the riding position wasn't comfortable. Things didn’t look great, but I was only having a look at the market and at this point had only sat on 4 bikes. Then the salesman happened to mention they had a second hand Honda Hornet (aka CB600F), which had a restrictor kit and was ready for the showroom - would I like to see it. Nothing ventured I thought.
The minute I sat on the bike, it felt a very comfortable riding position. The bike is low mileage, has a full service history and was a great price for what it was. I totally loved the feel of it, but would buying it be a rash decision. This called for a "bottle of juice" moment. This entails telling a salesman (any will do - we've done this to car, computer and camera ones) we need to have a think and go for a bottle of juice. We usually do get a bottle of juice to drink while we discuss the product.
My OH has a 3G phone, so while I went to purchase the said bottles, he did some surfing of the net. It looked like Hornet was the "perfect" machine in terms of cost, reliability etc. A quick check of our finances showed we could afford for me to trade up, so long as Cupar was willing to take the EN as a trade-in. Although the EN is a great bike for learning and pottering about in town, I was aware as a grey import, selling it privately may not be easy.
Cupar were happy to take the EN (subject to a workshop check) for a reasonable price, all things considered. So I bought the Hornet. I'm leaving early from work to pick it up today. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about riding it. It much bigger than anything I've ever ridden and is an unfamiliar machine. I just need to take it canny and I'm sure I'll be fine.
Sunday was all planned; my OH and I would go to church in the morning on our respective bikes and head out on a small run on reasonably familiar roads. As I something to return to Cupar motorcycles (the Suzuki dealer in Cupar), we planned the route on the basis of passing that way. I had already decided I would like to get a slightly bigger bike as the EN 125 is a great little bike, but show it a hill, even in town, and it'll be bouncing off the rev limiter in second gear. Great for a learner, but if I kept pushing it the engine was probably going to die. Okay, so I needed a bit more power, but what would fit; not just a novice biker, but a short one too. The best way to find out what I would be comfortable on was to sit on a few bikes.
The previous day, we had been in Glasgow. There's a Honda dealer there, so we went for a browse. The dealer didn’t have anything second hand bikes that were suitable, as they were too tall or not suitable for restriction to 33bhp. The guy at the dealer was really helpful. He explained which bikes were suitable for restriction. Apparently restricting a bike to 33bhp doesn't make a huge difference to how the machine drives and handles, but the top speed it reduced to 70-80mph (no autobahns for me at the moment!). The main issue when restricting a bike is how much torque the engine generates - the more torque, the better. My OH's line about this is "You buy horsepower, but drive torque". When a bike's restricted, it makes little or no difference to the torque.
Okay, so that cleared out that restricting a bike to 33bhp wasn't as big an issue as I thought it would be - there are kits for a large range of bikes and they are easy to fit. The next problem was what could I (excuse the phrase) "get my leg over". Again, the guy at the dealer was great. He showed me a couple of the bikes Honda make which are (as he put it) primarily aimed at the new biker, as they are easy to ride, confidence inspiring and can easily be restricted, if necessary. He encouraged me to have a seat. I tried out the CBF500, CBF600 and CB600F (no typo, they are different bikes). Although the 600 bikes have a larger engine (usually with bikes, the numbers indicate the size of the engine), they felt lighter. It's all down to how the engine's laid out and the frame etc. Anyway, they all felt very comfortable, but were brand new. I, as a general rule, don't buy brand new vehicles; I prefer someone else to take the hit on the depreciation of the vehicle. Also, it was only 4 weeks since I'd passed my test and I was only starting to look at the market…
Cupar motorcycles have an excellent reputation. The have been Ride magazine's recommended dealer, in Scotland, for 6 of the last 10 years (I think). Ride magazine is a motorbike magazine (as you may have guessed) with high standards. Also, my OH had bought his Suzuki Bandit from there and they were excellent with that. Besides, I had the item to return. Once that was dealt with, we had a browse of the bikes. The only machine below 33bhp, which wasn't a 125 was a Honda CBF250. I had thought about getting one. It wouldn’t be too big (in terms of weight and height) and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it restricted. However, after the information I have gleaned on Saturday, my plans had changed - why not sit on a few bikes and see how to get the one I really liked restricted. Apparently one of the most popular bikes to be restricted is a Suzuki SV650. Cupar had a couple of them second hand and my OH pinned down a salesman, so I could have seat and see what I thought. I also told the salesman I am on a restricted license and enquired how much it would be to get a bike restricted (I didn't explain the height - it's quite obvious!). Shockingly, the restrictor kits cost £300ish pounds - significantly more than I had expected (I didn't expect them to be cheap, but still…). However, Suzuki is currently doing an offer where they will pay for the restrictor kits on a range of their brand new bikes. Looking at the cost of second hand unrestricted and then putting a restrictor kit in was looking less appealing, when compared to brand new with the restrictor kit fitted for free.
This led me to sit on several other Suzukis, which are part of this offer. A few of them were a little too high or the riding position wasn't comfortable. Things didn’t look great, but I was only having a look at the market and at this point had only sat on 4 bikes. Then the salesman happened to mention they had a second hand Honda Hornet (aka CB600F), which had a restrictor kit and was ready for the showroom - would I like to see it. Nothing ventured I thought.
The minute I sat on the bike, it felt a very comfortable riding position. The bike is low mileage, has a full service history and was a great price for what it was. I totally loved the feel of it, but would buying it be a rash decision. This called for a "bottle of juice" moment. This entails telling a salesman (any will do - we've done this to car, computer and camera ones) we need to have a think and go for a bottle of juice. We usually do get a bottle of juice to drink while we discuss the product.
My OH has a 3G phone, so while I went to purchase the said bottles, he did some surfing of the net. It looked like Hornet was the "perfect" machine in terms of cost, reliability etc. A quick check of our finances showed we could afford for me to trade up, so long as Cupar was willing to take the EN as a trade-in. Although the EN is a great bike for learning and pottering about in town, I was aware as a grey import, selling it privately may not be easy.
Cupar were happy to take the EN (subject to a workshop check) for a reasonable price, all things considered. So I bought the Hornet. I'm leaving early from work to pick it up today. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about riding it. It much bigger than anything I've ever ridden and is an unfamiliar machine. I just need to take it canny and I'm sure I'll be fine.
Saturday 5 April 2008
My First Run
Today, I finally went out on my bike, without my L plates!!! Okay, so it was just down to my Mother-in-law's, but it's a start. The weather wasn't too bad. Dry and bright when I left, though there were a couple of hail showers when I was out; fortunately I wasn't caught in them. They'd hurt.
It was weird, though. I would have thought that given it's the same bike that I've been ridding since the end of July last year that ridding once I've passed my test would be the same, but it's not. It's something I can't put my finger on, but I think it's partly knowing I can ride a bike and also I feel more relax as it doesn't feel though I'm constantly being watched, due to the lack of L plates.
Let's hope I can get plenty of miles and experience under my belt over the next few months. Then I think I'll be in a position to start looking for a slightly bigger bike; probably a 250. In the meantime, I intend to have fun on my current machine!
It was weird, though. I would have thought that given it's the same bike that I've been ridding since the end of July last year that ridding once I've passed my test would be the same, but it's not. It's something I can't put my finger on, but I think it's partly knowing I can ride a bike and also I feel more relax as it doesn't feel though I'm constantly being watched, due to the lack of L plates.
Let's hope I can get plenty of miles and experience under my belt over the next few months. Then I think I'll be in a position to start looking for a slightly bigger bike; probably a 250. In the meantime, I intend to have fun on my current machine!
Thursday 3 April 2008
Not fair...
But, it most certainty is wet and windy. It's now 3 weeks since I passed my test and I haven't ridden my bike since. The weather has been foul. I can handle some rain, so long as it's not throwing it down, but wind; it's awful.
Roll on the better weather. Hopefully this summer is drier than last year...
Roll on the better weather. Hopefully this summer is drier than last year...
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