First Ride

Thursday 22nd November 2018,

 

So I took her on her maiden voyage today, covering  approximately 15 miles in total. These are my first impressions;

1 – Handling

Handling is decent, predictable, with the bike tipping into corners with ease (to be expected on a bike which weighs 118kg wet). I get the impression that there is slightly more rake on the front forks, as in the forks are not quite as upright as my previous MSX 125 (which I shall refer to as the Grom from here on). Although this makes the bike handle in a different way to the Grom, its not better or worse, just different, and i would say the bike feels more planted when banked over than the Grom.

2 – Engine

Now this bike is brand new, and as expected when ridden today, the word that comes to mind is that it felt “tight” (you may be able to recognise what i mean if you’ve ever bought a brand new bike). it didn’t feel as powerful as the Grom engine, although as i’m in the running in stage, I was taking it steady (well, as steady as you can on a small capacity bike that really needs some revs to get anywhere!). On start up she purrs smoothly and surprisingly, when the revs did climb she had a raspy note to her which sounded nice, but not over the top by any means. There is a lack of engine braking compared to the Grom, which maybe down to different compression ratios? I will have to look into that to confirm although the lack of engine braking was noticeable, albeit not a bad thing, again just a different experience.

3 – Fit and finish

This bike is the coolest looking mini bike out there! I know looks are subjective but this thing looks like a mini Ducati Monster! It oozes style in my opinion and i can see many a youngster (and more mature bikers just looking for a fun small bike to blat about on!) really liking this bike for its style. Having looked around the bike i would say the finish is very very good, bordering excellent. Is it on parr with the Grom? Yes and no, for example, I noticed one of the lower plastic panels touches the top of the rear set on one side (and not the other), which, over time and vibration, may cause the panel to mark. I can honestly say however, other than that initial observation on a walk round, there is more to praise on this bike compared to its more expensive Japanese rival. For example it has nice touches like a daytime LED running light which looks trick, LED indicators all round, 5 gears, a gear indicator, as well as braided brake hoses and funky brake discs. Ducati-esque trellis frame, upside down forks and decent looking mirrors that are large enough to provide a decent view behind you.

4 – Summary

Initial impressions are positive, and time will tell whether ditching the Grom for the WK Colt 125 was a wise decision. I will be riding her through the winter and have already taking the liberty to douse her in ACF-50 anti-corrosion spray. To my mind however, nothing on this bike appears to be of lesser quality than its rival, and some parts look virtually identical, such as the box section swing arm, front forks and the display. Even the tank cap is identical to the Groms!

This bike cost £1500 on the road, which was an offer one particular UK dealer had at the time. This bike retails at £1899 on WK Bikes website, which, even at that price appears to be attractive. This is a first impressions type post so apologies if I’ve missed things out. Hopefully I will cover more and more aspects on this bike over time, although if you do wish to know anything, please comment and I will do my best to answer.

In the meantime, thanks for reading!