125 suzukis
 

I´ve been wanting a bike lately for a bit of everything. Town riding, cargo, country and eventually and very important as well travelling long distance. I´ve been looking at Honda and Yamaha mainly. The YBR 125, the CG 125 cargo, CGL 125 tool, XR125L etc...however I´m just not convinced with any of them. Recently I started to look at suzuki, which I had not really looked into before because the nearest delearship is in a town that is about an hour away from here, and I´m worried that if I travel long distance and possibly internationaly on a suzuki I won´t be able to find cheap and available parts like Honda or Yamaha. Anyways what do you think? In particular regarding the Suzuki gn125 and the EN125-2A? By the way I´m living in southern México right now on the border with Guatemala.

(only thing about those two suzukis is that they don´t have spoked rims, which I´ve heard is much better for withstanding rougher road conditions etc...)

There are some posts on the HuBB by some Belgium guys who bought two new GN 125"s in Ecuador and then went down to TDF about 15k km I think. They were very impressed with them and from memory had zero problems.
One of the guys loved the bike so much he bought one when he went back to Belgium.
Its on my short list for my South American trip as well.

On my last trip (Mexico/Central-America/South-America) I found the Suzuki GN125 to be commonplace. Virtually every country I went through had an abundance of that little cruiser.

So much so that when I do my next South America trip, I plan on using a Suzuki GN125 based for the parts availability. Also, I have heard good things about the reliability and they can be found here in the USA too.

Of course the most common "real" bike would be a honda CG125/CGL125. Those are very robust and extremely common all over the world.

Why is it that you say ¨real¨ bike? Also the CG is now a 150cc, 11.3 hp. The CGL 125 Tool is also something I´ve been thinking about because of the price, but it´s only around 9.7...which makes it about par with the YBR´s in regards to power...so why spend another $500usd for the Yamaha??? If I´m going to spend the extra $500 I might as well get the 150 cargo...any thoughts?

Edit:
Also which would be more recomendable the Suzuki gn125 or the EN125-2A..also the EN125-HU? (the only thing I don´t like is that they both have solid rims)

By "real" motorcycle I meant not a step-through or scooter. Something with the tank in the front and the engine in the middle.

Personally I wouldn't worry at all about whether the wheels are cast or spoked. Unless you're doing hardcore off-road it will not be an issue, and none of these bikes are dirt bikes. I slammed into 5,000 topes and pot holes with my cast wheels on my trip and never had an issue.

I've never ridden any of those bikes so I can't tell you which would be better. For travelling a larger tank is a plus. For driving around Mexico and those god-forsaken topes you want suspension travel and ground clearance.

Between the GN125 and the EN125 the EN125 looks taller and has a bigger tank. The GN125 is a "chopper" down there and is meant to be a little bit more stylish.

The YBR is nice because they make many different variants (the dual sport YBR, the solo-seat + huge luggage rack YBR, etc...).

Whatever specs the honda has, the positive will always be that parts will be everywhere for your entire trip. And really, it's a Honda. It will be fine.

And I know you haven't mentioned it, but I wouldn't bother with Kawasaki's "125 wind" or whatever it was. Kawasaki is the only one of the big four that is not well represented in Latin America. They're around, but in very small numbers and not common in most countries.
Good luck!

That´s what worries me about the Suzuki EN125-HU, that I won´t be able to find parts easily, and-or they´ll be much more expensive. Anybody know as to their availability-price in latin america?

Also, I was reading that the Suzuki en125-2a has better brakes than the en125-hu?? Is this true? Because the en125-HU does interest me a bit more because of the spoked wheels...in regards to maintnance aswell.

I´d prefer to buy a used Honda NXR 150 bros in good condition for under 30,000 mxn (around $2,700 usd) than buy one of these completely non dirt bike (no double prop.) at around $2,000usd ...I feel the extra $700 would be well spent although it wouldn´t be new....any thoughts?

Edit:
Oh and as for the YBR 125 the thing is it´s just not got much power...it´s got some 9.7 hp....I found out because in 2009 they started manufacturing them in China instead of Brasil and they changed the carbs.

Suzuki EN125's are everywhere in Latin America, one of the most common bikes on the continent. You won't have any problem with parts. The only questionable country maaay be Brazil, because to my knowledge there is only one Suzuki importer there and Suzuki only sells 10% of what Honda sells there. But I would venture to guess that the vast majority of those bikes are EN125's.

Really, parts will not be a problem at all for any of the 125cc motorcycles down there. It's the rare larger displacement bikes (200cc+) that have major parts availability problems.

Looking at the Suzuki Mexico website, the only difference between the two is the EN125-HU has a luggage rack, spoked wheels and a drum brake in the front.

The EN125-2A has no luggage rack, cast wheels and a disc brake in the front.

(And if you did not know, disc brakes have better stopping power and feel than drum brakes.)

But once again, for your purposes cast wheels or spoked wheels will make no difference. You will not be doing anything tough enough on those bikes to warrant choosing spoked wheels over cast wheels.

The NXR150 would be much more capable, but you may have more trouble with parts/repairs with a fancy fuel injected bike.

Really, don't over-think it. Choose whatever bike you want the most and go. I did the whole trip on a ninja 250 that nobody had ever seen. If you buy the bike in Latin America, you can probably find parts in Latin America.

Thanks for the replies Jordan,

I´m really leaning towards the Suzuki en125-2A right now then (due to itps superior power and fuel milage than the hondas and Yamaha YBR)....but how does it compare with the gn125?

Also in regards to a Honda NXR 150 bros...only the new 2012 and up I believe models have fuel injection, and if I do buy one it´d be used and most likely still have a carb so I don´t think that´d be a problem. The question is do I wait and try to buy a 150 bros used at around 30,000 pesos ($2,700 usd) or buy new now and go with say the suzuki en125-2a which costs about $2,000 usd.

GN rider here. I really like my bike, not fast, but is a really reliable bike. In Brazil the GN125 is sold as Suzuki Intruder and the EN125 as Suzuki Yes. The smaller fuel tank in not a big problem (I usually get between 65 an 75 mpg on a fully loaded bike). The NXR 150 is a good bike but a brand new NXR 150 costs almost 2 slightly used GN125s in Brazil. The only big drawn back on the GN, at least for me, are the wheels (alloy wheels and a small 16" rear tire) and low suspension not good to ride offroad (but some light offroad are possible).

I have a Brazilian built Honda XR125L which has the same engine as the CG125 in a trail bike chassis, claimed 11 bhp, 105-115 mpg (imp), 12 litre tank and a very comfortable seat, a great little bike.

A honda built XR 125 L...so it´s got to be from 2008 and under. I´m trying to decide on buying this bike right now, but it´s Chinese made today. Not really sure if that´s a huge difference but an example of a similar situation is the Yamaha YBR that while made in Brazil had 12 hp and now that it´s made in China only 10 because they apparently changed the carb in China.