I bought my beautiful Honda XL125 Varadero from my local Honda dealer, Honda Of Bournemouth, in 2008. I bought the Spangle Silver model and before I had even paid for the bike I was going through the Honda accessory catalogue picking out all the accessories that I felt would be important for me. I use my bike daily for commuting so I ordered a Genuine Honda tall screen to give me a bit more protection from the weather. I also need to take a lot of stuff to work with me so I decided a Genuine Honda top box would be a good idea to keep my laptop, paperwork and lunch safe and dry. I wasn’t keen on the idea of a top box at first as I thought it would detract from the look of the bike but it has been worth its weight in gold and I now I couldn’t be without it. I also invested in a bit of bling for my new bike. I got a Genuine Honda carbon look tank pad with the Honda Wing logo on it and a colour matched undercowl for no other reason than I thought it looked cool. I didn’t even consider buying a mainstand for it. It was listed in the catalogue but I didn’t think that it offered me anything by way of enhanced looks, performance or practicality so I moved on to more interesting and obvious accessories. The salesman suggested that I should consider getting a mainstand for my bike but I really believed that it was unnecessary so I didn’t bother. That proved to be a mistake!
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| XL125 Top Box |
The XL125 was my first brand new bike and I did everything I could to look after it. I washed it properly every Sunday, checked the tyre pressures and tried to lube the chain. The XL125 was also my first bike with a drive chain so when I collected it from Honda Of Bournemouth they showed me how to lube the chain. The technician told me it would be much easier to do if I had a mainstand fitted but he made it look easy so I was sure I wouldn’t have a problem. I should have known that everything looks easy when a professional does it. Lubing a chain sounds easy, looks easy and should be easy but when you’re not very practical and have never done it before then I can assure you that it’s NOT easy! By the time I had finished I had more lube over me, the swingarm, the rear tyre and the garage floor than I got on the chain. Luckily Honda Of Bournemouth is on my route home from work so I could always drop in on the way home and ask one of the techs to just put a bit of oil on the chain for me. Problem solved.
Summer came and we had nearly a whole week of sunshine. Over the weekend the car park at work was resurfaced and I pulled into the motorcycle park on Monday morning thinking how lovely the new black tarmac looked glistening in the sunshine. By 2pm I really hated that shiny new tarmac. I’d never considered that tarmac could get really hot and melt when it’s in full sun all day. With the weight of my bike leaning on the side stand it started to sink into the soft tarmac. I was told that my bike was resting on the floor of the car park by a work mate who had looked out of the window just in time to see my bike slipping gracefully to the ground. I rushed out to check the damage. It wasn’t too bad but there was a crack in the front fairing, scratches on the end of the mirror, handlebar and lever and a scrape on my top box. It was an expensive mistake to make.
When I got all of the damage repaired I paid for a new main stand to be fitted at the same time. I can now lube my chain, park on uneven surfaces and clean my bike while confident that it won’t fall over again. Next time I buy a bike and I am advised that an accessory really is a good idea I’ll consider it properly and probably get it fitted!
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| XL125V Mainstand - Best Accessory Ever!! |
