Here's the bike
. I've had her for almost a year from new. Previously rode an old wine Honda Fes125 and then a new Vision 110. A van reversed into me at speed on the Vision about a year ago. The bike was badly damaged but the incident caught on CCTV and the company settled. Luckily I wasn't hurt. It was a sharp lesson about knowing where the horn is in an instant - I missed! She was still under warranty, but I don't think Honda fully investigated the damage to the front of the bike. About three months later, the steering started to seize up badly. Honda agreed to trade it in and I upgraded to the PCX instead. Really enjoying the ride so far and it's coming up for it's second service at 4K miles. I reported an irritating vibration at 25 mph, which sounded like a cably tie stuck in a computer fan, but they seemed to deal with that on the first inspection. Not sure what it was. Recently I started getting a lot of vibration on acceleration from stop. It's worse going uphill. So I'll raise that at the next service.
I do just over a hundred miles a week commuting, both winter and summer. I live in a coastal area, with one particularly sandy section en-route. So the main challenge is the risk of rust from the sea-salt, sand, storms and UK rain. I was pretty thorough preparing her for the winter with a thorough coating of ACF50 and weekly washes, but I've noticed some rust appear in recent weeks with the extra long cold snap and our heavily salted roads. I think I'll need to oil the bike more frequently and use a sprayer as well as the brushes to wash her down more frequently after mucky rides.
My essential riding kit includes:
- A set of Koss Porta Pro headphones unclipped and fixed into my helmet with velcro (£25). These are great because they simply unclip, are quite thin and have a really great sound.
- A cheap rechargable clip-on bluetooth volume controller and track selector to connect my headset to Deezer on my mobile (ebay £2.50).
- A set of Alpine Motosafe earplugs which are attenuated to keep out wind noise (£13). There's always a breeze at the coast and I like to ride with the face up on my helmet for half the year.
- I highly recommend a Zojirushi Travel mug (£25, with no taste of plastic or steel with that all-essential coffee!)
PCX likes:
- Looks good imo.
- Liquid cooled so oil lasts much longer than it did with the Vision.
- Light and easy to get up the garden path - I live on a terraced street, so we only have parking for one car out front.
- Agile and quick about town.
- Quiet.
- Petrol consumption, road tax and insurance.
- Idling stop is useful. It should be mandatory for all vehicles and busses) to improve air quality in heavy traffic.
PCX petty grumbles:
- Althought it's partly because the roads around here are deteriorating each and every year, I thought the bike would a have better suspension than the Vision. But it doesn't. The Fes was a much more comfortable ride, but then it was a much heavier bike too.
- Felt like an idiot to discover that my modular helmet would no longer fit under the seat when I upgraded the bike, but the included helmet lock and hook works just fine.
- The glovebox/phone charger tray is a challenge to get into and small.
- No open pocket to just dump something into or hang a coffee holder off. Gotta remember the flask now, which I suppose is more environmentally friendly.
Thinking of:
- Adding a larger windshield.
- Swapping out the rear suspension after the warranty is up.
That's about it for now. Really enjoy dipping into the forum. Thanks again.
- The bike
- PCX125.jpg (340.69 KiB) Viewed 558 times
