I have owned the CBR125R for
about 8 months now and so feel it is about time I did a full review of
the bike. There are quite a few sites online that bash the CBR on a
number of points including top-speed, looks, size of the rear wheel and
cost.
Given that the speed limit in the UK is 70MPH I do not think that the CBR's is that lacking, indeed the bike has quite happily reached 70 whilst I have been riding with a pillion. The bike may not be an NSR but then not everyone wants an NSR.
I have found the CBR's handling to be nothing short of incredible, a driver with the balls to do it could easily outrace most bikes on a set of twistees.
Acceleration does depend largely on the clutch control of the person riding the bike, however I have found no problems in this area, admittedly whilst carrying a pillion pulling away is a little more 'laggy' but on an engine of this size it is only to be expected.
With regards to the looks of the bike, this is a matter of personal taste, whilst I personally cannot abide by the looks of the bike in blue, red or Repsol colours I think my black and silver model looks stunning. Many may not agree with this but as stated it is a matter of taste.
The bike happily runs about 100 miles to the tank, which given a 10 litre tank means approximately 50 miles to the gallon. This is of course partially due to the engine being a 125.
Many will ask how fast does it go? within reason this is seldom an issue for me when buying a bike, I want a bike that I like and enjoy riding, but the CBR has made an indicated 95MPH (although I did have a tailwind which will have contributed) as mentioned the bike easily makes 70 with a pillion on the rear.
One issue that I have discovered is with the headlights, because of the stock suspension settings the Headlights to receive an awful lot of vibrations, this in turn causes the headlight bulbs to blow. I have had both blow at once whilst travelling down an unlight country road, thankfully however the high-beam filaments tend not to be affected quite so easily so I could still get home.
The cost of the bike is an issue, it is certainly not the cheapest bike on the market, however from what I have seen the bike is (Suicidal headlughts aside) very reliable, four-stroke engines do commonly have fewer issues than two-strokes which will certainly contribute towards this. When I have needed parts I have found them to be reasonably inexpensive, though as nothing has really needed replacing I could not currently vouch for all the parts.
I did have to replace the rear tyre a week or two after buying the bike, but this was my fault not the bikes, there was a large pile of nails left in the road and I didn't see them until far too late. The replacement tyre cost £70 however this was partially because I bought Bridgestones instead of the tyre that came as standard.
All in all my impressions of the CBR are very good, I find it is a very comfortable ride, as I do nearly 60 miles every day on her this is definitely an important point. I cannot deny it would be nice to have a little more power than the current 15bhp if only for overtaking lorries on the dual carriageway. Other than that I cannot find many issues with the bike, to me she is asthetically pleasing, goes as fast as I need (not necessarily want, but it probably keeps me alive) and is more than capable of taking a pillion without to great a performance drop.
My girlfriend has in fact just started to learn to ride a geared bike on her, had I gone for a de-restricted NSR or the like (I do have my full licence after all) I would have been unable to _safely_ teach her. After all had I gone for a CBR400 or similar, how many people would feel comfortable learning to operate a clutch on a bike that is that size? Not many.
Given that the speed limit in the UK is 70MPH I do not think that the CBR's is that lacking, indeed the bike has quite happily reached 70 whilst I have been riding with a pillion. The bike may not be an NSR but then not everyone wants an NSR.
I have found the CBR's handling to be nothing short of incredible, a driver with the balls to do it could easily outrace most bikes on a set of twistees.
Acceleration does depend largely on the clutch control of the person riding the bike, however I have found no problems in this area, admittedly whilst carrying a pillion pulling away is a little more 'laggy' but on an engine of this size it is only to be expected.
With regards to the looks of the bike, this is a matter of personal taste, whilst I personally cannot abide by the looks of the bike in blue, red or Repsol colours I think my black and silver model looks stunning. Many may not agree with this but as stated it is a matter of taste.
The bike happily runs about 100 miles to the tank, which given a 10 litre tank means approximately 50 miles to the gallon. This is of course partially due to the engine being a 125.
Many will ask how fast does it go? within reason this is seldom an issue for me when buying a bike, I want a bike that I like and enjoy riding, but the CBR has made an indicated 95MPH (although I did have a tailwind which will have contributed) as mentioned the bike easily makes 70 with a pillion on the rear.
One issue that I have discovered is with the headlights, because of the stock suspension settings the Headlights to receive an awful lot of vibrations, this in turn causes the headlight bulbs to blow. I have had both blow at once whilst travelling down an unlight country road, thankfully however the high-beam filaments tend not to be affected quite so easily so I could still get home.
The cost of the bike is an issue, it is certainly not the cheapest bike on the market, however from what I have seen the bike is (Suicidal headlughts aside) very reliable, four-stroke engines do commonly have fewer issues than two-strokes which will certainly contribute towards this. When I have needed parts I have found them to be reasonably inexpensive, though as nothing has really needed replacing I could not currently vouch for all the parts.
I did have to replace the rear tyre a week or two after buying the bike, but this was my fault not the bikes, there was a large pile of nails left in the road and I didn't see them until far too late. The replacement tyre cost £70 however this was partially because I bought Bridgestones instead of the tyre that came as standard.
All in all my impressions of the CBR are very good, I find it is a very comfortable ride, as I do nearly 60 miles every day on her this is definitely an important point. I cannot deny it would be nice to have a little more power than the current 15bhp if only for overtaking lorries on the dual carriageway. Other than that I cannot find many issues with the bike, to me she is asthetically pleasing, goes as fast as I need (not necessarily want, but it probably keeps me alive) and is more than capable of taking a pillion without to great a performance drop.
My girlfriend has in fact just started to learn to ride a geared bike on her, had I gone for a de-restricted NSR or the like (I do have my full licence after all) I would have been unable to _safely_ teach her. After all had I gone for a CBR400 or similar, how many people would feel comfortable learning to operate a clutch on a bike that is that size? Not many.
