Bike was booked for a service at Honda Sandton today (14th March 2014) exactly a year into ownership. Picked it up a little earlier, the bill came to R1035.96. Doesn't seem like much was done, mostly oil and oil filter and the gasket for that, then some general lubing. Hopefully we're good to go for another year then! I'd like to strip her down sometime and perform a proper lubing, something I always do regularly to my off-road bikes. There will of course be lots of pictures when that happens.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
It never rains, it pours
It's been a while since I updated this so here goes. It's been raining here a lot lately so I have been caught in a good few rainy rides. The little Honda has held up fine. The roads are not doing so well though, there are serious potholes forming everywhere. I have hit a few and the Honda seems to cope with them just fine, they're almost irrelevant which is awesome. Fuel consumption is still around the 3.5L /100 km mark.
On Friday is the second service and exactly one year of ownership so I will be reporting back on that once it's done.
On Friday is the second service and exactly one year of ownership so I will be reporting back on that once it's done.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Low fuel
The little Honda has been running smoothly for a while now. We've had quite a bit of rain so I've been way more cautious lately. The other day my fuel gauge starting flashing on the way home. I can usually do a trip to work and back quite easily when it starts flashing so I continued on home. The next day I didn't fill up on the way to work and on the way home during a right hand turn the low fuel meant the bike started to lose power and splutter, it carried on just fine after I was more upright. I did go to the next fuel station and all has been well since then but I'll definitely try to get fuel as soon as possible now. The loss of power on low fuel can be quite dangerous.
The rainy weather, and subsequent light throttle inputs, has meant great fuel consumption - my last fill-up was 3.423l/100km. Sadly the little Honda has been getting quite dirty so I'll need to give it a good wash again soon.
The rainy weather, and subsequent light throttle inputs, has meant great fuel consumption - my last fill-up was 3.423l/100km. Sadly the little Honda has been getting quite dirty so I'll need to give it a good wash again soon.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
A quick look at the digital speedo in sunlight
Here I show you the digital speedo in sunlight. It always remains readable, the turn signals are more difficult to notice as I'm sure you'll agree but the speed and fuel gauge are always easy to read. Along with the time which is actually quite a useful feature.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Long overdue wash
Some pictures from after a wash. It was quite a mission to clean the plastics as usual, they actually still look dirty in some of the pics! Last fuel consumption was 3.425l/100km and everything has been running smoothly.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
3 weeks without a ride
I recently went on holiday for 3 weeks so the little honda was garaged and not in use during that time. It started up first time when I got back. That first ride after a long time off is always great, so I'm loving the few rides I've had so far. One was in the rain so gentle inputs but she worked fine just needs a good wash again. Hopefully I'll get some pics up when that wash happens.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Top speed
I recently took the little Honda CRF250L for an more open road ride. I opened it up wide for a while and got to a top speed of 134km/h. I was on a slight decline and I do live roughly 1500m above sea level, which robs us of power but it did pretty well I thought. That's an indicated speed, I don't know how accurate the speedo is.
That long trip along with some commuting achieved my best ever fuel consumption of 3.275L/100km. That's gone back up to a more steady 3.582L/100km since then but considering the stop start riding and rather heavy hand on the throttle I'm really impressed.
I should point out that whilst it's only been 6 months of ownership and I really do love the bike, if I had to get a bike now I'd probably get the KTM Duke 390. It looks like a reasonably priced hooligan tool and it's only a bit more. I do have a soft spot for KTM though and it's service intervals aren't as long as the Honda's. I'd probably miss the Honda's ability to hit speed bumps at 100km/h but the extra power and I'd hope grip would be great.
On the grip topic I recently went through a bit of water in my road on the way to work and accelerated a little bit to much a little too early whilst turning and the rear end stepped out quite suddenly. I have some small movement from the rear before but it gave away so suddenly this time I got quite a fright. The front end so far has been rock stable. I'm going to have to be really careful when it rains, especially when it rains.
That long trip along with some commuting achieved my best ever fuel consumption of 3.275L/100km. That's gone back up to a more steady 3.582L/100km since then but considering the stop start riding and rather heavy hand on the throttle I'm really impressed.
I should point out that whilst it's only been 6 months of ownership and I really do love the bike, if I had to get a bike now I'd probably get the KTM Duke 390. It looks like a reasonably priced hooligan tool and it's only a bit more. I do have a soft spot for KTM though and it's service intervals aren't as long as the Honda's. I'd probably miss the Honda's ability to hit speed bumps at 100km/h but the extra power and I'd hope grip would be great.
On the grip topic I recently went through a bit of water in my road on the way to work and accelerated a little bit to much a little too early whilst turning and the rear end stepped out quite suddenly. I have some small movement from the rear before but it gave away so suddenly this time I got quite a fright. The front end so far has been rock stable. I'm going to have to be really careful when it rains, especially when it rains.
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