125 query!

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I've just bought a Suzuki RV125 VanVan for my other half to knock about on. I pick it up tomorrow from a place in Birmingham. I have to ride it back to Manchester with the other half as pillion.

The VanVan has a top speed of 60-70mph - what do you think the performance is likely to be like with two person on? :D

[ophic]

not very good - i did a similar trip with a GZ125 Marauder from Brum to Accrington. It was cold and dark and it rained and it took me about 4 hours cos the Marauder never quite made it up to 60. And this was solo.

So try not to get lost and don't do it at rush hour in the middle of winter, is my advice :D

[Anonymous]

********. :)

I plan to avoid the M6 and go up the A41/A50. Hopefully it'll be quiet on a Saturday.

The VanVan has a 7.5 L fuel tank, how many miles do you think I'll get out of a tank?

[Warren]

youl get many more miles out of the vanvan as it is only a 125cc engine.

but dont be going too fast all the way tho . . . im sure the engine wouldnt like it , pull over now and then and let it cool.

and 2 up makes a world of a difference on a 125cc



good luck :)

[ophic]

i went up the A34 - goes thru a few towns and i stopped for dinner somewhere near congleton. The engine in the VanVan seems to be the same as the Marauder so don't expect too much out of it. Hopefully the speedo will be a little bit clearer tho, cos the marauder one is sh*te.

I also had a friend following in a car. Well it was her bike so she had to make sure I looked after it.

Is there no possibility of hiring a van and transporting it that way?

As regards fuel range, the tank is small. The marauder is sposed to do 200 miles and it has a 13 litre tank - not verified this personally but it gives a ball park figure to work off. Also from near Bournville to just short of Accrington mainly on the A34 was 110 miles, so you may just make it on one fuel tank.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Well we did it :)

It took just over 4 hours. Dark, fog, torrential rain and subzero windchill, but we made it!

From Halesowen, went to Wolverhampton, then took the A41 up to Whitchurch, then the A49 to Warrington, then up the East Lancs.

There was me (14 stone) , the Mrs (9 stone), and 2 huge bloody backpacks.

Average speeds was around 35-40mph all the way, in hilly sections it dropped to 20 (on national speed limit roads) - my visor was fogged up most of the way, so i had to open it and was blasted by freezing darts of rain. The Mrs ended up sitting mainly on the luggage rack because we had 2 backpacks. Stopped 3 times to give the engine and ourselves a rest and hit reserve just coming through Warrington. £3.80 worth of gas - absolute bargain :D

I am bloody impressed with the VanVan - it handles brilliantly two-up which I was suprised at. I am looking forward to testing it out one-up before the Mrs takes it over :D It's so economical and right at the end we had a bloke come up to us who had a VFR400 commenting on how good the bike looked! (and i have to agree, it looks bloody cool)

Does this make me a 'true' biker then? :D

[ophic]

well done :) you da man

and i thought i was nuts, but i've been outdone :lol:

[Anonymous]

I'm feeling it this morning though. I've got a cricked back, and my shoulders are burning like a fire in hell :) I'm on the line to Stuttgart from Tuesday so I better get down the swimming pool!

I reckon I could do the round-the-world trip Ewan and Charley style on a VanVan - anyone want to be the cameraman? :D

[TrojanHorse11]

I read your thread with interest and amusement as I can sympathise:

As well as my lovely GS500 (summer only bike), I also have a Honda ANF125 Innova - the "modern" replacement to the Cub 90.

I do loads of miles on it in all weathers and it only does 50 - 60mph tops, slows down on hills etc, but in town-traffic it is truly unbeatable!

Honda reckon it does 46 miles-per-litre, which is 207 mpg!!!! I reckon about 110 - 150 mpg average which is still excellent compared to my car. The Innova only holds 3.7 litres of petrol, so I get about £2.70's worth in!

These 125s aren't so bad after all :lol:

[Anonymous]

Ooh, yes - my father used to have a Cub-90, a 1986 model in the classic red and white finish! He sold it two years ago to a work colleague for £300 in good condition, and (according to him) it's still running today.

Possibly the most economical form of motorised transport there is. £4 for a tank that'd get you 200 miles - lol!

[Ed]

Oh the A49 from Whitchurch to Warrington. I bet you had a mile of traffic behind you and I bet you didn't pull over :twisted:

[Anonymous]

There wasn't much traffic, but I let it all past like the fine rider that I am.

:twisted:

[northwind]

One of the bike magazines describes it as "half way between a monkey and a banana" :) Love the big tyre look, if I had one I'd have to get it on the beach at every possible opportunity.

[mysteryjimbo]

:lol: :laughat:

I've just bought a Suzuki RV125 VanVan


60-70mph - what do you think the performance is likely to be like with two person on? :D :shock: :lol:

I wouldnt want to take a pillion on a 125. My old 125 cruiser was shockingly underpowered for 2 people and was of a similar performance.

[Anonymous]

lol, as i explained - it was slow, but i really do like the bike! i will consider using one instead of my car for my shopping journeys in future!

[BURNER]

Top thread!
Bikes are great regardless of their size, what's the seat height like?

[Anonymous]

Seat height is set to about 75 CM as standard, with weight on it goes down to about 70! It would be (and is aimed at) novice riders and commuters. I would say it's a cross between a cruiser and an SV for seating position.

It really is nice to ride, I was amazed - I was expecting it to be uncomfortable and slow turning, but you can chuck it right over and it doesn't complain! The only thing was the front end was a bit vague 2-up but that was because we had so much sodding weight on the back!

It was actually a better handling ride 2-up than my old Bandit was :D the shocks are a lot better! I can't help but think that the Bandit is actually a more budget bike than the VanVan is.

For a 125, it's very expensive at £2,300. You can get a CG125 for £400 less, a Hyosung comet for nearly £800 less, and a Kymco Pulsar for almost £1000 less!

The finish and build quality seem very good, it has a useful luggage rack, the bars are wide - and it just looks ****in' cool with those wonderful spoked rims and massive monkey tyres! :D

[mysteryjimbo]

My 125 was a Kymco Zing, and it was a really comfortable bike, but looking back on it, i think 125cc is underpowered. It just cant get you out of trouble like a 250cc or 400cc.

[northwind]

But then if you've got into trouble that you need the power to get out of, you've messed up... I rode for about a year on a particularily underpowered, weighty 125 and the only time the lack of power was ever a safety issue was if I did something stupid... Like try and overtake at 60, or sneak into a gap that was too small. Ridden right, it'd still pick up from 30 faster than a lot of cars so that was never an issue.

[TrojanHorse11]

I rode for about a year on a particularily underpowered, weighty 125... ...Ridden right, it'd still pick up from 30 faster than a lot of cars so that was never an issue.

True - my ANF125 Innova out-accelerates virtually any car from standstill or at low speeds.

PS: [I just had to do this as Mysteryjimbo's smilie made me laugh]:

:laughat: my ANF125 Innova

:lol:

[mysteryjimbo]

But then if you've got into trouble that you need the power to get out of, you've messed up... .

Agreed..........but EVERYONE makes mistakes no matter how much experience, its just the frequency that changes. Therefore everyone would get into trouble on a 125cc at some point and need some extra ompphh

[northwind]

I reckon on most 250s they'd get in the same trouble up at the limits of the 250's capabilities, and be going faster into the bargain, to be honest... Depends on the 250 or 125 of course, a restricted RS125 is faster than a Dragstar 250...

[TrojanHorse11]

And on that note, it seems a good time to mention that I am thinking of changing my ANF125 Innova for a Honda CBF250. 8) Any comments?

[Jabba]

And on that note, it seems a good time to mention that I am thinking of changing my ANF125 Innova for a Honda CBF250. 8) Any comments?

Which Pizza delivery firm do you work for? :lol:

[TrojanHorse11]

Actually, I used to deliver Chinese meals on a and I liked it! :shock: but in my car not on the bike (tried it once and it was scary)

[Steve]

join the AA or RAC ride up the road, then nobble the bugger and get them to take it home for you ....not that ive ever done such a thing!!!!

[snoopy]

Yamaha are really beginning to push fuel injection on the 125's which will boost economy and performance considerably. The unrestricted 50cc fuel injection scooters are said to hit 75mph!

Problem is these bikes are a little small. What we need is an SV with a 125cc fuel injected motor. :)

[northwind]

No, what we need is an SV with, say, a 400cc twin stroker :twisted: Go like s*** off a shovel, leave a slimy trail, rebuild your engine every 10000 miles, that's what biking's all about!

[TrojanHorse11]

I can remember seeing an SV400 in a bike shop near me :shock:

What the hell is an SV400? :shock:

(I'll wait for the reply of: "it's an SV400")

[Cloggsy]

It's an import from the far east :!:

[TrojanHorse11]

Any good?

Could be just right for me.

[Carsick]

They're more or less the same as a 650 but with sleeved down cylinders.
They have them in the far east because of odd laws regarding power output and class of bike.

[northwind]

Not quite, actually it's the original SV with 400cc non-sleeved cylinders.

(SVRiders are convinced this means the 650's already bored out- it's not, the engine was designed for 650 and 400 but just happened to hit the street as 400 first) Nice bikes, inasmuch as they're underpowered SVs that weigh about the same as the 650 does... Came with blcak frames and some interesting colours.

Plus (and I've ben looing for one of these bits for ages) they didn't have a grabrail, so if you're doing a solo conversion for your 650, the rear centre section isn't cut away for the grabrail, and it's interchangable. Much neater than saddle shutters...

[Carsick]

Not quite, actually it's the original SV with 400cc non-sleeved cylinders.
Fair enough, if I'm honest, I was just assuming it was sleeved down as that's what they usually seem to do with the smaller variants of bikes, CBR400 anybody?

[northwind]

Yah, I thought the same till some SV400 rider on Socal SV took offence and spent about 3000 words tearing me into little pieces :)

[TrojanHorse11]

Yah, I thought the same till some SV400 rider on Socal SV took offence and spent about 3000 words tearing me into little pieces :)

What's Socal SV?

[Carsick]

What's Socal SV?South California SV Riders (http://www.socalsvriders.org)

[northwind]

Like SVRider only more so :) More really knowledgable people, and more absolute monkeys :)

[TrojanHorse11]

:thumbsup: