Yamaha SEROW 225WE Owner Review
We will introduce Kohiya's passionate story about his riding experience with his beloved motorcycle, SEROW 225WE, from Webike Community's "My Beloved Moto" campaign. He told us about his review of the SEROW 225WE, including its advantages and disadvantages, which he knows well because he's the owner.
Brief self-introduction
Motorcycle history and how I usually enjoy my motorcycle
As for his motorcycle career, he's been riding a Bubbly Urbanist Japanese American, a Yamaha Virago 400 for 6 years, a 250cc Cub, a Suzuki ST250 for 5 and a half years, a Serow 225 for 1 and a half years, and now a mysterious KLX150BF. The way to enjoy a motorcycle, or rather why we ride, is to enjoy the time alone. The coffee at a convenience store in an unknown place. I have a family, and I can't feel alone these days, so I am stuck in a rut.
How long have you been riding this motorcycle?
1.5 years.
Motive for purchase
It all started with a YouTube video of Ewan McGregor's Long Way Down, where he drives a BMW GS across a continent. It was also a promo for CCR's background music, Tricker. It made me want to drive an off-road motorcycle. It was a dream of mine, which I had originally pictured on the ST250, but it was a tough motorcycle that was going down a road with no road to go, with tank capacity, legs, and resistance to breakage.
Satisfaction and Strengths
For purpose
It's a great way to start off-roading. Anyway, even if you are a dossilote, you can somehow ride it without mocking. Excellent resale value. Traded in for 100,000 yen for a 19 year old 20,000k miles that have been mangled dozens of times.
For riding
The steeper the place, the more goodness sinks in.
For appearance
It was well-received by people who aren't interested in motorcycles. I think it's familiarity and cheapness. Personally, I feel it is old-fashioned, but it may be fresh.
Dissatisfaction and Weaknesses
For applications
Touring is boring. The range of protection of each gear is too narrow, so the motorcycle is too busy changing gears, and there is no pulse of the engine or anything like that, just a means of transportation. If you ride for a long time, the vibration will cause you to lose a screw somewhere.
There has to be something negative to make it interesting, and it requires downpouring rainy day touring or something dominant. The seat is very hot in the summer. There are a lot of blow-by's on this motorcycle, and the oil piles up in the air cleaner box, but the hot air from the engine probably enters the air cleaner box under the seat and heats the seat. In the summer, I couldn't sit on it, so I toured standing up. It was a dope motorcycle.
The lack of a rear skirt-like cover unique to off-road motorcycles made it hard to put on side bags, and the back of the seat was short and didn't have as much load capacity as I thought it would. Maintenance and parts procurement were also complicated by the fact that it was an older model with many minor changes, and I got tired of the cumbersome construction of every single one of them thanks to the unreasonable design of the last model.
Anyway, it's not enough to be a normal motorcycle on a normal road. You need to get into a rugged area to see the goodness of it. So it's not for a lonely person. And if you think about it, we never had to go through a roadblock. Come to think of it, neither Long Way Down nor Tricker's promo is a blur.
For riding
Reputations say it has low-speed stickiness, but as I switched from the ST, I felt it was nothing special and the stall tolerance was low. The front end of the motorcycle doesn't have much contact with the ground in the off-road and the front end actually slides. The impression is that it's an extremely rear-loaded motorcycle. Instead, hill climbing and front up can be done even by a siloed rider. But in the turns and downhills, the rare front grip is fearful. The footpeg position is quite rearward and the tank is so far up in the air that sitting in front of it is limited. The posture when riding in the sitting is like sitting on Omar. The distance from the ground feels close.
The distance between the steps and the seat is close.
Anyway, the chassis feels heavy instead of sticky thanks to the bendy frame.
For appearance
I think the old-fashionedness is where my styles lie.
Summary
It's a great companion for the dominant person. (other than me.)
I felt like plunging into an unknown piston woodland road while touring, and somehow or other I would get the pleasure of riding through the mountain roads where no one seemed to becoming, and returning home. I had a feeling that if I continued to ride like this, I would be in trouble someday, so I changed to this motorcycle.
Thank you, Kohiya, for your narrative, which shows your love for the Serow 225 WE!
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