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Star letter: Small wonder

Although a previous reader mentioned that mpg was not the ‘be all and end all’ about bike ownership, in my case this goes hand-in-hand with overall costs and, for me, it was key in my decision to purchase the bike.

Not very romantic you may say, but hey, times and needs etc.

My journey involves a 40 mile round commute involving 20 miles of riding in London and the other half on 40-60mph A- and B-roads. I’ve found the CBF to be absolutely perfect for this type of journey – I bought one brand new with a small deposit put down. Even with repayments, insurance and fuel I am paying just over £100 per month... my train journey was £250+. Using an online website to track my fuel figures I’ve been returning an average of 135mpg. Simply awesome.

While we all love riding bikes and the freedom it entails may I just finish by saying that I personally wholeheartedly recommend switching down to a 125cc such as the CBF if your type of riding allows you to do so. Okay, so you’re not as cool and you can’t hit 80mph in three seconds, but for my particular journey it outperforms larger bikes in terms of journey time as, for example, the speed I lose in pulling away from the lights is gained in filtering through narrower gaps. As my journey involves no motorway riding it is an ideal bike for me. I’ve even managed to convince a colleague to garage his GSX1250FA for his commute to save on the cash and hassle.

As soon as my commute changes I will upgrade to a larger bike and, while part of the original purchase took into account the superb resale market for selling on the CBF125, having become attached to it I think I’ll keep it tucked away in the garage for years to come.

James Goodrum,
via email