So since I haven’t been writing for a while I thought I will start my comeback with something new. Something which I have not done before – a review 🙂

My First bike in Malta – Yamaha YBR 125 2016

I bought this bike from local dealer new and owned it for about a year making it my proper first bike in Malta (story of Hyosung Aquila will be told another time :).

As a first bike it was perfect in my opinion. Very easy to handle in Maltese traffic (almost constant city like traffic). Light, agile and small made it very easy to gain confidence in lane filtering and squeezing in between cars. No ABS could have been an issue and it did put me in trouble couple of times including a small accident which was ny fault. But in the end without it I gained better habits when it comes to breaking, now on bigger bike (with ABS) I still instinctively use progressive breaking and pulse breaking techniques.

Being it so light made it easy to pick up after a drop – and I had few 🙂 – and to learn how to handle the bike while stationary. 

Another huge plus of the bike that it was dirt cheap. Not only to buy but to run, maintain and to fix what I broke when I drop it. After my small accident when I had to fix from break lever and windshield the bill came less than 120euro. If you add to it that it used barely any petrol, needed service every 10000km, never used any oil and never gave me any issue it is in my opinion perfect daily runner. Especially that at the time when I bought it It was possible to buy it for equivalent of 2.5 monthly minimum wage salaries. – affordable to anyone really. 

So why did I sold it?? As long as the bike is great as a commuter its lack of power, slim tires, and not most comfortable seat make it horrible on longer rides. I felt like I was ready for a bigger bike, wanted to go further, longer and to places where YBR couldn’t or didn’t feel comfortable going….. and I laid my eyes on my next bike …. The BMW G650GS…..:) 

Still It was a real pleasure to own it, ride it and most important to gain rider confidence thanks to it.

We can finish with some quick specs:

• This is a relatively small bike. Bit under 2m (1985cm) in length and a bit over 1m (1080cm) in height. Fully loaded with petrol it weights only 126kg which makes it very easy to handle for pretty much anyone. 
• It is powered by 124ccm Single cylinder fuel injected petrol engine which manages whole 10.1 HP (7.3kW), There is no real point talking about torque or any in depth details of such small engine.
• It has electric starter without any kickstart option and basic analogue instrument panel with RPM meter and fuel indicator (not very accurate I might add) 
• Engine delivers its power through 5 speed gearbox and chain drive. 
• When it comes to suspensions it is again very simple construction with telescopic forks up front with 120mm travel (4.7inch) and single swing arm with 105cm travel (4.1 inch) 
• Breaks are small but adequate to the size and the power of the bike. Front uses single 245mm disc and back 130mm drum. 2017 model I owned did not had ABS however from what I remember that was an option for an additional cost. 
• To finish the specs it is worth mentioning that bike has relatively comfortable dual seat with a small luggage rack and passenger grab rails. 

Below you can find few of my riding videos including small accident 😦

Hope you like the content enough to give it thoumbs up 🙂