So I've been the flogger of a modded 2007 cbr125 for 4 years now. I still have it, but I just picked up a new one last week ...
First impressions are that this is an enormously more sophisticated and refined motorcycle than the previous model. Rolling down the road, it feels like a modern 600 but with a more comfortable riding position and no power. I also get the impression that someone has spent some time in the wind tunnel with this. Crosswinds have little effect on it, there's minimal buffeting, and it seems to slip through the air more easily than the old one did. Again it feels like a modern 600 in this regard.
Today, with 120 km on the odometer at the time, I sacrificed a perfectly good opportunity to do a 15th SR run to see what happens when the tiny terror ventures out on the 401. Time to get those tiny piston rings seated.
Lo and behold, after winding it all the way out through the first 5 gears down the on-ramp (try that on a 600 without risking the cops seizing it) I'll be damned if it didn't settle right into traffic at an indicated 120 km/h in sixth gear without me having to tuck in ... and it's rock-solid stable, every bit as good as any other bike I own. Very little vibration seeped through the bars or pegs, it just buzzed happily and comfortably down the road.
Of course, hills and headwinds affect it - the hill between Guelph Line and Hwy 25 pushed it back to 112 km/h (still faster than the transport trucks); I tucked in a little, just for a moment going up that hill to help it out a bit, then it picked back up to an indicated 120 cresting the hill and I backed off to maintain 120 going down the other side.
What a great little bike, just the way it is. I'm happy. I might not even go into the engine on this one - doesn't seem to need it. Little bit of suspension work to get it just right, and rearset footpegs so that I can run reverse shift pattern (I have to do this to every bike I own), and I'll probably call it done.
First impressions are that this is an enormously more sophisticated and refined motorcycle than the previous model. Rolling down the road, it feels like a modern 600 but with a more comfortable riding position and no power. I also get the impression that someone has spent some time in the wind tunnel with this. Crosswinds have little effect on it, there's minimal buffeting, and it seems to slip through the air more easily than the old one did. Again it feels like a modern 600 in this regard.
Today, with 120 km on the odometer at the time, I sacrificed a perfectly good opportunity to do a 15th SR run to see what happens when the tiny terror ventures out on the 401. Time to get those tiny piston rings seated.
Lo and behold, after winding it all the way out through the first 5 gears down the on-ramp (try that on a 600 without risking the cops seizing it) I'll be damned if it didn't settle right into traffic at an indicated 120 km/h in sixth gear without me having to tuck in ... and it's rock-solid stable, every bit as good as any other bike I own. Very little vibration seeped through the bars or pegs, it just buzzed happily and comfortably down the road.
Of course, hills and headwinds affect it - the hill between Guelph Line and Hwy 25 pushed it back to 112 km/h (still faster than the transport trucks); I tucked in a little, just for a moment going up that hill to help it out a bit, then it picked back up to an indicated 120 cresting the hill and I backed off to maintain 120 going down the other side.
What a great little bike, just the way it is. I'm happy. I might not even go into the engine on this one - doesn't seem to need it. Little bit of suspension work to get it just right, and rearset footpegs so that I can run reverse shift pattern (I have to do this to every bike I own), and I'll probably call it done.
