Well I have had my Sanya 125 motorcycle for a few months now and I thought it was about time I told you all about it. It is a Chinese import that my brother-in-law had to put the front end on and I had to register myself. I bought it from ebay for £499, delivery was £85 and I bought a helmet, top box and a lock for £60 from the same shop. Registration cost £60, tax £15, number plate £20, insurance £175 and a full tank of petrol £12!!
So for £926 I had a brand new motorbike on the road. I had to ride it from the Forest of Dean to my house, that was a good run for the bike and for me seeing as I hadn’t ridden one for 10 years. I pitied the people behind me as I could only go 30mph because the bike needs to be run in for 1,000 miles. It got me home though with no problems. Since then I have been riding it round town and to and from work. It needs a lot of choke on these chilly mornings and I keep on forgetting it won’t start while the side stand is down (this seems to be a new thing on bikes that happened in the ten years I haven’t ridden). Once it has warmed up though it rides very well. I am just about getting used to the indicator beep, when I first rode it it seemed really loud as indicators don’t normally beep on bikes. I can do 200 miles on one tank of petrol which as I said cost £12 and it has a petrol gauge which is something very unusual on a motorbike. Also it has a gear indicator so you always know which gear you’re in. The only thing I don’t like is that the gears can be changed either with the toes or the heels, the heel lever just gets in the way. I do like the fact that it has an electric start and a kick start, it’s always good to have the kick start as back up.
It’s getting a bit happier doing 40mph now and when it is fully ridden in it will do a monstrous 56mph!! But seeing as I just want it to get me from Glos to Cheltie and vice versa 56mph will do fine. Moomin rides on the back with me which is one reason I wanted the top box (to stop her falling off the back, motherly neuroticism there I think). I also bought a belt with handles on for her to hold onto me, this means I can’t actually feel her on the back so she pokes me every now and again to put my mind at rest. All in all we both like this bike very much. Nothing has rusted on it yet, it’s big enough for people to see and the light is bright enough too. If you want a bike that will get you from A-B and don’t need to be a speed demon then I highly recommend this bike. The closest Japanese bike would be the Honda CG125 which is about £2,000 on the road. It may go a little faster, but it is only a little faster.
