A bit of advice

[Mrs Baggy]

Hello all,

my daughter is going to learn to ride soon, after the year on a 50cc, she's looking to get a Varadero 125. This is mainly due to her height, she's 6 foot so doesn't fit many 125's (the scooter for the year will be fun!!).

Anyway on another forum they've said that the Vara125 is really sluggish, anyone found this?

Cheers
Lou

[Sharribee]

Lou, speak to Lady Vader, she rides a 125 Vara and loves it

[Lord Vader]

Sluggish she certainly is not
and the bike goes well too


I tell you Deb gets 80mph out of her little vara.When i picked the bike up from the dealer and rode it home i found you only need to use the rev's.THe vara redlines at 12000rpm so you looking at changing gears at around 8000 to make decent progress but i am sure its one of the best 125's on the market

[MacP]

A friend of mine learnt on a 125 vara and she was tall too - she loved the bike - she's on a KTM RC8 now so it can't have been slow!

[davsato]

one of the young oafs at work had one and riding beside him he did over 80mph measured on my GPS, thats plenty fast for any sensible use. so 'sluggish' compared with what? yes, a gsxr1000 will do more than that in 1st gear, but compared to the 50cc moped your girl's been used to it will feel like a rocket ship!
they are no more 'sluggish' than any other 125, dont forget they all only have 14HP. twist and go's are a bit more rapid at the lights for a few yards but they dont have to worry about gears and clutches, you'll soon catch them and as soon as you find a bump in the road you will see why 19" wheels beat 12" any day. (or even try and ride in a straight line!)
theres nothing wrong with the baby vara at all, its a great learner bike if you want to do your two years then move up to something bigger because its one of the few 125s that feel like a big bike, most are tiny ickle things. its got the proper size and a proper v-twin engine, you can get luggage for it and lots of other accessories, spares are easy to find on ebay.
so i would say your daughters got her head screwed on, good choice.

[Adrian]

I have had my 125 Vara for about a month now after riding a scooter for the last two and a half years and I love it. It feels very safe, you don't feel the bumps in the road, it cruises really nice through the gears and is very forgiving to new riders. It has great road awareness and visibility too compared to a scooter.

Ade

[Mrs Baggy]

Cheers guys, that's really helpful, I'll make sure that she reads all of this as I think she was a bit put off.
We tried lots of bikes at the Bike Show and with her height she's found that she's quite restricted on what small bike she can have.

I shall start saving my pennies for her!

[Baggy]

... and what worried me was that she looked even more at home on the Transalp In 2 or 3 years time, I may have to start hiding the keys to mine.

She won't let me forget that she could reach the ground on a standard seat and I've had to resort to a lowered seat...

Keith

[Mrs Baggy]

... and what worried me was that she looked even more at home on the Transalp In 2 or 3 years time, I may have to start hiding the keys to mine.

She won't let me forget that she could reach the ground on a standard seat and I've had to resort to a lowered seat...

Keith

Yes, I noticed that!!! I've changed my mind about getting a Transalp. Instead of the usual teenager call 'Mum, can I borrow your car?'. It would be 'Mum, can I borrow your bike?'!!!!

[monkeyboy44]

im still learning on mine and to me it is noway sluggish, if anything you reach 3rd way too quickly hence changing the rear cog to make it a bit smoother. i researched loads of 125 before i bought the vara and it really does blow the rest out of the water. the best thing about it for me is, is that its big, so when i pass my test and buy its big brother i will be 'sort of' used to the size. i agree though there isn't enough 'instant' power there to get you out of trouble on big busy roundabouts/dual carriage ways but its a 125 and i dont ride on those roads on my commute.