Bike Shopping

Prior to doing my CBT, my OH and I had spent a lot of time getting my sister-in-law's Suzuki GS125 back on the road. She had bought it brand new 6 years previously, as her instructor recommended getting a learner legal bike to practice on before sitting her test. Unfortunately, she failed her test and lost the motivation to get her licence. Consequently, the GS sat in her parents' back garden for 6 years, accumulating 90 miles (yes, that is not a typo) on the clock, about 10 of which were through pushing it around the garden.

Once my OH finally fixed the problem and got the GS MOT'd and insured, it was back on the road. He then did a deal the his sister that he would take the bike on for a year, put some mileage on it, and we would either keep it and pay her market value for the bike, or sell the bike and give her the money.

Just before I did my CBT, my OH took me out to the airfield I've mentioned un earlier posts. This was to let me have a litte bit of an idea of what I was letting myself into. Once I did my CBT, the plan was to use the GS to build up my confidence before taking formal lessons. Unfortunately, although the GS is a learner legal machine, it's not ideal for a novice. The mirrors are tiny and the clutch leaver is very stiff (which wasn't helped by it being bent, when my sister-in-law dropped it). Consequently, I haven't really used it.

Despite these issues, now I have had lessons, you might think those would be tolerable, until I pass and can get pretty much any bike I like, so long as the BHP is less than 33, or the machine is restricted to that. However, the GS has what my OH describes as the 3 second side stand. Turn your back on the bike, when you've parked it on the side stand and 3 seconds later hear the sickening crunch of the bike falling over. Thus, I cannot use the side stand to help with getting on and off. Not exactly what could be described as idea for practicing.

So, the search for a bike began. I set my criteria:
1. Maximum £2000 budget.
2. Reasonably well know make - therefore I would be better placed to sell for a decent price and obtain parts.
3. Cheap to insure.
4. Traditional style - trail style bikes are too tall; sports style (why, it's a 125!) and cruisers push your feet forward, which I'm not too happy with, given my inexperience.

As I mention in my "First Lesson" post, the Honda GS125, although a very good bike, does not have a side stand, so was out of the running. I had considered a van van, as having had most of my lessons on it, I was happy enough riding it. That was until I read the Motorcycle News (MCN) review. It stated the van van does not have a light in the instrument panel - err, so that makes it day time use only. What's the point in that?

I then had a look at the main manufacturers' websites and it didn't look promising. Only Honda had a traditional style bike, namely the GS. All the others had either sporty style or cruiser...

Last weekend, while I had been having lessons, my OH took himself off to various dealers to see "in the fresh" what the market has to offer. In his travels, he came across the Suzuki EN125. On the face of it, it appeared to be an evolution of the GS, but it had a proper side stand. We had a look around the net and, although it was not on Suzuki's UK website, there seemed to be a reasonable amount of not Suzuki dealers selling them. Also, a fair amount of training schools use them, which, given the abuse they'll get in that environment, is a good advert.

Yesterday, we paid a visit to Scott Murray Motorcycles in Dunfermline, so I could have a look myself. I was very impressed with the look of the bike. It turns out it is an official Suzuki bike, but it's a parallel import, though it has DSA type approval, therefore it's totally UK raod legal. It would appear Suzuki don't import them directly, as the EN would effectively compete with their other 125s, which is a bit daft, from a business point of view.

Jon Murray of Scott Murray Motorcycles couldn't have been more helpful. He explained the deal with the bike, as described in the above paragraph. My OH and I had a really good look over the machine and it looked very good quality. It's all genuine Suzuki parts, made in Japan.

So, lets go back to my criteria:
1. Maximum £2000 budget - check
2. Reasonably well know make - therefore I would be better placed to sell for a decent price and obtain parts - check.
3. Cheap to insure. - check
4. Traditional style - trail style bikes are too tall; sports style (why, it's a 125!) and cruisers push your feet forward, which I'm not too happy with, given my inexperience. - check.

Jon Murray even got me sitting on it and I felt really comfortable on it. Now, this bike is brand new and usually I have the opinion of buy second hand and let someone else pay the depreciation for you. However, I would be toiling to get a second hand Japanese bike that met my criteria for less than £2000, unless it had been thrashed into the ground. It seemed the perfect bike for me.

So my OH and I could have a "discussion", we went to Scott Murray Motorcycle's accessories shop. Firstly, this allowed me to look for top boxes, as I wanted a little storage, even if only for my lid. Secondly, we could have a chat about the EN without Jon Murray listening. I thought I was idea and so did my OH. I also found a top box that fitted my lid.

We went back through to see Jon Murray and I bought the bike. There are even going to fit the top box for me, which saves a little hassle. Cool. All I need to do now is arrange insurance and get the cover note to Scott Murray for road tax purposes. The main thing that will slow things down is the DVLA getting the registration papers out to Scott Murray.
So, I'm now looking forward to getting my new wheels. I had a choice of red or blue. As red is my favourite colour and the rest of the fleet is red, guess what colour I chose?!

Now, all we have to do it extend the driveway, fit a ground anchor and get rid of the GS. That shouldn't be too much hassle, so long as it doesn't rain for the next week. I don't really want to dig turf and soil in the wet - would you?