How would this be as a first bike for a very short (prob exactly 5ft), tiny (less than 8st) woman who’s never ridden anything with two wheels before, unless you count that one time 20 years ago when she tried a 50cc scooter and went straight into a wall?
No, not me, a friend of mine! Apparently, I’ve inspired her to get a licence. There I was thinking she was talking about just getting a CBT so she could ride a small Vespa but she wants to go for the whole hog and mentioned this one. As far as I’m concerned, the Marauder is one fugly bike, but for some reason it’s the one she wants.
Anything you want to say about the Marauder, pros or cons? Or, recommend other small 125cc bikes for her to consider?
Paivi, I had one nearly 3 years ago as my first bike and owned it for about 10 months. It’s cheap to run, cheap to insure, very comfy and gave me loads of confidence to go out on local roads but the major downer was that it was sooooo slow! Top whack of about 65pmh and that’s downhill with a tail wind. I wouldn’t advocate taking it on fast-ish A roads as you’re more of a liability as you don’t have the oopmh factor to overtake anything bar the odd snail. Also if your friend is contemplating one, stock up on plenty of chrome cleaner because they take a helluva lot of polishing! Oh re the height thing, it would be fine for her, I’m 5ft 6" and my feet easily touched the floor.
How would it be for central London riding, though? Not sure if she’d take it to work, but if she did, she’d be commuting from Fulham to Blackheath during the worst rush hour. I’m not sure she’d be leaving the 30mph zone that much, so speed’s secondary. I’m more curious as to the comfort, practicability of a cruiser for central London riding & commuting, and maintenance (not sure she’d be bothered to be doing a lot of polishing!). Compared to say a scooter or a normal bike, would a cruiser be more or less to insure, or about the same?
I commuted it on the odd day and it was fine. It’s not the quickest bike off the mark but would be OK for poodling around town or local roads, which is essentialy what I used. Comfort wise I found it great and it went for miles on a fiver’s worth of petrol so good for the budget conscious! I developed a fear of the CG125 having taken my CBT on it. couldn’t get it on the side stand and found the gear changes really clunky, though lots of people rave about them. Best thing to do is take a test of ride of a CG then a Marauder and do a comparison.
