If you expect good performance and handling, this bike won’t satisfy you. If you need mileage and Style only, go for it. Of course no waiting time.
Issues are:.
Wobbling(Dealer say it is CEAT tires. They changed the tires. But the problem still exists).
Low power for a 125cc bike. 8.8 BHP is unbelievable because 7BHP, 100cc vehicles are performing better than this.
Bad Suspension (Common issue in most of the bikes with high pillion seat.)
Nothing is smooth except the paintings!! (down-shifting gears, throttle, suspension)
5 Bad hand bar (too big and high so it increases the wobbling. If you go more than 50 kmph and break. No guarantee for your life)
- Height. Increased ground clearance. Suzuki thinks Indian roads now are worse than they were in 1980’s ?. So if you are average indian height, you will struggle.
This is my fourth bike after 3 superb performers TVS Super champ, Suzuki Max100R, Kawasaki Bajaj WIND125.
I didn’t want to go for 150+cc bikes (heavy) and 100cc(too light). So I decided to replace my WIND125 with another 125cc. I expected the same power+stability of WIND125 What a bike!! Kawasaki is great!!
I went for this bike because of no waiting time and feel good new design, less price.
But I payed the price for that :-)
I trusted SUZUKI when I bought this. I trusted expert reviews (they ride bike on papers). Since none of my friends having this bike, I blindly bought one with imagination of MAX100R in new form.
Price is 5 thousand less than Shine (56-61). If you need a stylish bike in 125cc, you can buy this and you have to spend some more money to make it good.
Change both tires (Tubeless) - 5000 Rs
Change handle bar - 500 Rs
Total - 61000 for a slingshot plus with no issues.
If SUZUKI can improve the quality of the above 3 items, the vehicles cost will be around 60, 000. It is fine because people like quality more than money and this can beat Honda Shine if they do so because the style is good and mileage is good.
But you cannot change:
1.The engine that has less power (8.8BHP in paper but really 7BHP)
- 2nd and 4th gears are dump. They became breaks when cruising. Why the hell a low power vehicle need 5 gears? don’t fool people.
Nevertheless the engine needs to be more responsive. I hope they tuned for more mileage(65kmpl) and it can be tuned by a good mechanic for better performance, the service people does not know??
SMK Suzuki, Velachery???
One good think is if you write to SUZUKI thru their website, they will get back and promise you to solve all issue. But they cannot because these are legacy issues (as told by Service Manager, SMK suzuki, Velachery, Chennai)