cruiser or a bruieser?
steven cooke
15/01/2012
15/01/2012
cruiser or a bruieser?
recently i have been looking for a bike, a nice 125 to get me going on the road, i've been looking at suzuki gn's and the honda cg, both good bikes but some are really expensive for what they are.
so i started to look at biketrader and to my suprise it threw up some leftfield ideas in my head, i started to look at the cruisers ie the kawasaki eliminator and suzuki gz, hmmm both 125 nice to look at, low seats not breath taking quick but nice looking and cheaper than the trainer cg an gn. are these bikes a good ride and with having forward controls as opposed to mid does that make a differance? and does the low seat make you feel more confident in riding? if anyone can put me off or on to these machines please let me know.
cheers Steve
An expert will answer this question soon. Please feel free to add your own thoughts below
Hi again
You are doing your research aren't you and well done for that.
So, it looks like you're going down the second hand Jap route (good choice) and yes the choices are huge. Don't forget the Yamaha YBR alongside the Honda CG, Suzuki GN etc. The YBR is excellent value.
Cruiser or .....? the choice is personal, what do you like the look and feel of? They're not all forward controls either. The Kawasaki Eliminator is cruiser style but feet "where they should be" as is the YBR Custom. Best advice is to crawl around the bike local shops and try them on!
THat'll get you to meet the service team too. Often the local back up is a big influence in bike choice (would you choose a ***** if the local ***** dealer comes accross as rubbish?)
As far as performance goes "not breath taking quick" they're pretty well all the same. A learner legal 125 is max 14bhp (most are 12.5 bhp for some reason - the only 14 bhp's I know are the Hyosung, the mulhascen engined Derby and the Aprillia) So, the very pretty CG125 RR is actually the same as the much cheaper CG underneath.
I've often said that the best first bike is the BARGAIN. One that you can resell and not loose any money on. Most "first bikes" are exactly that. Once you've got the bug, you'll be looking to move up the ladder and that bike becomes a trade in.
Hope that helps
Nigel
Nigel, once again i think almost nearly i now want an Eliminator, sat on one while i looked at a kymco, the differance is WOW and i suit it better too, also tried a GZ and hmmm, not sure! see i like the kawasaki but i also like the suzuki..... theres only one way to find out......FIGHT!