19-07-13, 09:02 PM
1st pic is me at 16 having passed my CBT on my first bike. It was a brand new geared 50cc chinese supermoto called a Skyteam ST50. Main reason I got it was for the gears, I love the off road looks and I was struggling to fit on mopeds. It was gutless, (if you look closely you can just about make out the engine :lol ) weighed about 1000 tonnes and the suspension was all for show but having transport and freedom for the first time was awesome as I was cycling everywhere before. It maxed out at 34 downhill on a good day! It remained completely standard and restricted for the 1 1/2 years I owned it, I didn't mess with anything and it never let me down even though these chinese bikes get really bad press. Liked that bike a lot.
2nd pic is my Yamaha SR125. Not really a lot to say about this bike, it was alright but I didn't own it for very long. Bought it when I was 17 before doing my big bike test to get some experience on something that was a bit more powerful. The forks were dreadful so it bounced along everywhere, the seat was rock hard and too low for me and it had some electrical faults. Sounded quite nice though and looked pretty cool. Sold it on for as much as I bought it for so can't complain.
3rd pic is my old GS500e which was given to me for free by my dad for passing my bike test first time. It was his old one that he had owned for several years but it was getting pretty tired and had a lot of problems. He had just bought an SV650 and was going to break the GS for spares to sell but I said we should do it up. So over a period of a couple of months we worked on it and bought a donor bike off ebay for something silly like £150. We stripped it to the frame which I hand painted with hammerite, took me absolutely ages but actually looked pretty decent. I did the swingarm too. We transplanted in a new engine from the donor bike, which ran very sweet compared to his old oil burner, plus quite a few other parts like a refurbished rear caliper. We then sold a load of spares and remade the costs of everything we bought and I ended up with a completely bombproof Suzuki GS500 that was fun to ride and cost barely anything at all to run. The only mod I did was get rid of the awful clip ons and drill through the top yoke so that it would accept renthal bars. Unfortunately though it was physically a tad small (see the pic and me next to it) and would get too uncomfortable for me on longer journeys. It was also restricted to 33bhp so fairly slow. I eventually sadly sold it, but for more than my dad initially bought it for years before! It was the first bike I got to 100mph on though and the first bike I did a long trip on
.Last is my current bike, my Fazer 600. I bought this last year because I was missing my GS500 and motorcycling badly and after planning on getting a car changed my mind. I had a long time to research what I wanted, a reasonably priced all rounder that was fun to ride, reliable but accomodated my spaghetti legs. Pretty much a better version of my GS500. The usual cheap middleweight suspects came up, Bandit 600, SV650, Honda Hornet and ye olde Fazer. I don't like the hornet. My friends owned bandits and I didn't like how they looked, the tank and back end look awful and they're just ugly versions of the beautiful GSX 1400. They're also a bit common and I wanted something different, most reviews had them as "good for the money, but uninspiring". My dad has an amazing looking SV650 and it's a brilliant bike, loads of fun but I didn't want to copy him again after having his GS500 and knew I wouldn't get a nicer looking one than his. That that left the Fazer.
All reviews were great, fun and sporty enough yet useable everyday were ticking all the boxes for me. The stats nerd in me (we all appreciate a bit of stats) also liked the power figures, the average mpg, the brakes it used and the good balance of torque and horsepower. I wasn't a mad fan of the looks but after owning it for a while actually really like mine now, even the looks. Did I pay slightly too much for it? Yes, probably because it wasn't problem free and has cost me about £500 to get it running great. Unfortunately bikes are expensive in the south west and at the time it seemed a fair deal. Is it a great bike? Yes, however the statement "the only bike you'll ever need but not necessarily want" is spot on because I always find myself looking elsewhere at supermotos and stuff. But then I get back on the Fazer and have an absolute blast and think I'm such an idiot for even considering selling it. I have 2 options now. Selling it, taking a bit of a financial loss and getting a 650cc supermoto. Or, keep it and get mechanical noises etc (could all be in my head) looked at to put my mind at ease. Get carbs balanced. But most importantly get the seat padded out to increase seat to peg distance for my knees, get wider bars and jack the rear end up. Nicer sounding can would be nice too
. It's just taking so much time in my weekend job to fund all that and realistically a supermoto may be more fun for my day to day use.TL;DR
1) Me @ 16 trying to look hard on my 50cc
2) Yamaha SR 125 - Meh
3) My GS500e - Class bike, cheap and fun but too small physically
4) My Fazer 600 - Love it, but find myself wearing mirrored sunglasses so it doesn't catch me looking at other bikes out the corner of my eye :lol