I picked it up this morning and rode the long way home along the Cornish north coast.
Never having rode a “twist and go” scooter before it was quite an experience, but I soon got used to it. Things to remember:-
Don’t blip the throttle when stationary, or rev it as soon as the engine starts.
Don’t pull the clutch in as you stop – it’s the brake.
Don’t pull the clutch in to change into second gear after pulling away. There are no gears and its the brake
Keep your feet still – i.e. not feeling for the gear lever or rear brake.
The left hand lever is NOT the clutch. Neither is it the rear brake!! It operates both brakes simultaneously – and the same pressure slows the bike down faster than the right hand lever which is the front brake only.
I think it would be better to have the rh lever operate both brakes and the lh on rear only. It is pretty rarely I would want to operate the front brake only, but I can see times when I’d like to operate only the rear brake. Oh well.
When leaving it with the steering lock engaged – make sure that it is not in the position that leaves the parking lights on too or you will return to a flat battery.
Like every bike I have had (that I can remember) you can put it on the centre stand and lean it over on the prop stand at the same time to give better access to low down things on the right hand side.
It goes very well and seems to quite happily do 40-45 mph on the flat and still air at half throttle – i.e. the running in setting. (Curiously the 113cc Address can be driven faster than the Himalayan during the run-in period)
It’s very relaxing and enjoyable to drive. AND, as I thought, a quick trip to the pub to collect a carry out meal was no issue. I would not have wanted to be manouvering either the BMW or any other bike of 200Kg or over on the pavement.
I’ve now done 70 miles and the tank is showing about 3/8 full. That would indicate about 112 miles on a full tank. The gauge showed a full tank when I picked it up, but I don’t know if it was full to the brim. The tank holds 5.2 litres or 1.14 gallon. The handbook does not mention how much is on reserve, but bikez.com suggests 0.8 litres. At 120mpg (which most owners say they get) that indicates about 116 miles to reserve then 21miles to run out. A petrol station is not far from the house so I can start to check it out.
Two up
Just back from another 35 mile ride two up. It was quite comfortable and although slow on steep hills (at half throttle), some of 15% gradient, performance was adequate. After the running in period (and full throttle) it should be fine.
My wife loved it.
I filled her up when the needle was covering the lowest (emptiest) empty line and I only got 4.4 litres in there. After filling, the needle was well past the full position so it must not have been 100% full when I got the bike. 120+ mpg looks very realistic.
But if it holds 5.2 litres, that means I had 0.8 litres left in there, with the needle sitting on empty!! According to the facebook owners page this is normal.
It’s the weight. (or lack thereof)
It is 100Kg, which is half the weight of my BMW but it actually feels a lot less than that. Maybe the COG is even lower than the BM. I can push it or pull it with very little effort.
SS1000
It seems to go quite well, so well in fact I am thinking of trying a SS1000 run – 1000 miles in 24 hours.
It would need to be mostly motorways and calculations show that, with breaks, I would need to average over 50mph. At 50mph average I only have 30 mins to spare. At 55mph its two and a half hours.
The wind will be critical. The average UK wind speed is around 8 knots. If the Suzi can do 55mph (GPS) in still wind that comes down to 47mph into an 8 know head wind, but maybe it will manage 63mph with an 8knot tail wind.
After running in I must test it to see the GPS speed on a local road – say the A30 in both directions.
But, having done the test and verifying that it is possible, will I actually do it? If I really wanted to do it I’d use the BMW and I can easily drive at the legal limit. I don’t think that would prove anything though. But, as far as I can see the Suzi would be one of the smallest bikes to do it – out of 2,587.
I guess the question is what would 1000 miles or 20 hours at full throttle do for the engine?
Lights
The headlight is what you’d expect from a 35/35W bulb – it probably gives out around 500 lumens at will last about 1200 hrs. At 30mph average speed that is 36,000 miles.
If I replace it with standard 55/60W I could increase the light out put to around 1500 lumens and the same life. Or if I get the brightest I can find, a Bosch megalight plus120 I can get 1700 lumens but only 500 hrs or 15,000 miles.
The Bosch is £18.75 for two from Amazon. A standard Osram is about £4.58 for one.
Confusingly bulbfacts.com show only 9% increase in Lumens over the Osram but 55% more Lux on dip and 33% more Lux on high beam. Maybe this is because the filament is smaller and focuses better.
I don’t know why Suzuki don’t fit a 55/60W bulb as standard. They do supply a heated grips set, so this implies there is sufficient spare power. Maybe something will deterioate with time. A new headlamp is £72 so not too bad in the unlikely case that it all goes wrong.
I have fitted a 55/60W bulb. It is much brighter.
Toolkit
This is laughable. It comprises a cheap and nasty double ended screwdriver and a single ended box spanner which I believe fits the spark plug. That is it!
The screwdriver handle split when I used a mole wrench on it to try and remove the headlamp retaining screw under the headlamp. This had been grossly overtightened probably with a wrongly adjusted electric screwdriver. The cross head screw is probably JSI but there are no markings.
I need to put together a small tool kit.
Brakes
The brakes seem fine to me although I’ve only tested them in a straight line on tarmac. They stopped the bike very quickly with no wheel lock.