Hyosung XRX125

"You can't ride that you big bastard, you'll break it!"

I'm beginning to suspect Melbourne dealer Don Stafford was absent the day they taught Diplomacy 101 at school. Though he had a point, since the XRX125 and I share roughly the same dry weight at 116 kilos.

Hy... who?

Hyosung Corporation (www.hyosung.com) began operations in 1952 and has built up into a massive conglomerate that's into textiles, engineering, IT and of course motorcycles.

The bike side of the business (www.hyosungmotors.com) began in 1978 and initially earned its keep building motorcycles for Suzuki's expanding Asian market. In 1986 it opened an R&D centre aimed at developing the firm's own bikes.

The Oz end, Hyosung Motors Australia (www.hyosungmotors.com.au) started in 2000 and is locally-owned. At this stage there are seven models in the range, including scooters, four-wheelers, a 250 cruiser and of course the XRX. That should grow to 11 by the end of the year, with the flagship being a 600 V-twin road bike.

Given the success of Korean cars in Australia, rival marques have good reason to be looking over their shoulders.

Sounds of silence
Okay so the real question is did it break and does it any way resemble a real motorcycle? How does no and yes respectively sound? The basis of the XRX is an electric start, four-valve, air and oil-cooled, four-stroke, plus five-speed box with wet clutch, all wrapped in a conventional steel frame. There's a monster upside-down set of forks up front, a single twin-piston disc brake, and a normal enough monoshock with drum stopper out back. No surprises - more or less a package you could find with any one of several brand names attached to it.

Carburetion is by a cable-to-slide carb backed up by an accelerator pump and manual choke. Starting was never a drama, hot, warm or cold. It likes to have a good long warm-up and in fact was pretty cold-blooded for a southern winter. It's also uncannily quiet at idle - a few times I walked away to open a gate and wandered back convinced it had stalled, only to be proven wrong again.

The mighty 125 did manage to shove my bulk about - despite dire predictions to the contrary - and after one hell of a run-up once managed to show 110km/h on the speedo. There's no tacho by the way, but you don't need to be a genius to work out when the power flattens off.

Day one I basically held it flat everywhere I went. Though barely run in, it responded just fine and ended up convincing me that it was unburstable. It is not something you'd ride on the highway or freeway if you could possibly avoid it - it really struggles to hold more than 90-100km/h and anything resembling a hill or headwind has a dramatic effect on top speed.

The gearshift was a little stiff but accurate, while more running-in is likely to loosen it further. Braking was just fine, and suspension good. Steering was quick - on the flighty side in crosswinds - and the stock road-oriented tyres gripped reasonably well.

Fit of the plastics wasn't great, welding on the frame was untidy in spots, and I'd prefer to see the hydraulic hose on the front brake caliper tucked away better. However engine finish was very good.

I used the bike as a daily commuter and was sorry to have to hand it back.

Should you buy one?
There are good reasons to consider the bike. Cheap and cheerful sums it up. It was a great little get-about (an interesting alternative to a small-capacity scooter) and would be fine if a little easy trail riding appealed. You can get one on the road for a little over five thou, so pricing is very sharp.