by "Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
Published 06/15/2017 at 14:17
by "Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
Published 06/15/2017 at 14:17
Tags: grom
STARS: 8
I woke up yesterday morning to a post on my local motorcycle Facebook page about a suspiciously low price Grom. Still having some cash left over from the sale of my Triumph and curiosity/skepticism regarding what all the Grom hype was about, I made the trek an hour and a half north to pick up this little guy.
The Grom is a weird little thing. On paper, it’s specs read like a scooter, it is slow, impractical, can’t really do highway, has an ancient motor design, but an MSRP that puts it DEEP into “low mileage SV650" territory. I honestly cannot imagine how this got past the bean counters at a company like Honda, much less got approved to come to the US. It is hard to describe the sensation of riding one, or more specifically, what it does to your brain. Within minutes I went from fairly safe veteran motorcyclist, to kid riding a big wheel. Can’t really put my finger on what does it either, I have scooters with almost identical specs that don’t bring out half as much hooligan. Every stop light feels like a chance to lock up the rear wheel, every green, a chance to go full throttle all the way to the limiter in each gear. It’s wonderful.
Initial impression from the 2 hour ride home is that the Grom is an IDEAL city bike. First off, for how small it is, the riding position is actually comfortable. Like they took everything from a normal motorcycle, shrunk it by 25%, but left the rider triangle full scale. It filters it’s way through traffic like nothing else, and it’s slow enough that you can ride it hard without drawing much attention to the fact. On the highway it’s less at home. With me in open air it topped out around 55-60mph, a little sketchy on a road with other vehicles, but thankfully she loves to draft. On the second half of the highway section of the ride home, I found a semi with good pace and sat at a comfortable 65-70 without much effort. Can’t imagine I’ll be doing much highway riding, but it is nice to know that she will do it just fine for short treks. The fuel economy also seems to be amazing, the gas gauge barely moved for the whole ride.
I think we are going to be friends. I’ll do a longer write up at some point, but the initial impression is quite good.,
"bob and john" (bobandjohn)
06/15/2017 at 14:24, STARS: 3
YESSSSSSS
Now you see why I love these stupid little things :)
"jimz" (jimz)
06/15/2017 at 14:27, STARS: 1
A guy who works in my building has one, with an extended swingarm (y? y u do dis?)
I couldn’t see one as a main bike, but it’d be great with knobbies for the trails on the property up north I hunt on.
"BeaterGT" (beatergt)
06/15/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 2
Still need to ride one of these bad mild boys.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:30, STARS: 0
Re: the extended swing arm. Because they can, I guess?
Oh certainly not as a main bike, but as a suburban commute/attack vehicle I expect it will get a lot of use. My current commute is about 10 miles of back roads, more often then not I take my little bikes/scooters.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:31, STARS: 1
I do, big cheesy grin the whole time I was riding it. Can’t believe it’s legal, kept looking around for police like it was inherently doing something wrong.
"Tripper" (tripe46)
06/15/2017 at 14:31, STARS: 1
Congrats man, I love mine! The Grom is “slow bike fast” at it’s finest. There are some super tight windy residential roads near my house, and I can’t help but openly laugh as I go all “Moto GP” on them. As you mentioned no one even cares when you go flying down a 25mph road. They’re just enamored by the sight of a tiny motorcycle.
"Tripper" (tripe46)
06/15/2017 at 14:33, STARS: 3
I had a cop flag me down on mine, thought I was in trouble...he just wanted to check it out!
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:34, STARS: 0
Don’t do it if you live anywhere near a city. You’ll need to own one after playing in city traffic on it.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:36, STARS: 0
I can’t believe it exists, feels illegal just to have on the road. I found myself looking over my shoulder just as much as I used to when I’d drive my kart on the roads around my house.
"Tripper" (tripe46)
06/15/2017 at 14:40, STARS: 2
Yea I know what you mean. There is a one lane bridge that goes over a drainage pipe on the back roads that I often ride on. It’s the type of thing you would slow down for on, unless you’re on a Grom (or a dual sport/supermoto), then its a launch ramp haha.
"BeaterGT" (beatergt)
06/15/2017 at 14:43, STARS: 2
I live near Philadelphia but there is no way in hell would I drive a Grom on a NJ/PA highway. The backroads near my house on the other hand...
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:46, STARS: 3
There may have been a random abandoned skate park in the middle of nowhere on my ride home. Rode right past, definitely didn’t drop in briefly, nope, never, not me.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:48, STARS: 0
No way on east coast highways, what saved me in Oregon was the low speed limits and traffic that generally obeys those low speed limits.
I was speaking more about playing in surface street city traffic :p
"BeaterGT" (beatergt)
06/15/2017 at 14:49, STARS: 0
Most definitely. How much did you pay if you don’t mind me asking and do you have any plans for it?
"thejustache" (thejustache)
06/15/2017 at 14:52, STARS: 2
I believe you that they’re comfortable, but every time I see one on the road I wonder how they could be. I’m pretty sure my vespa mopeds seat you higher off the ground, but then again I guess that’s part of the fun? Still I can totally see the appeal of a mini hooligan bike in the city
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 14:56, STARS: 1
Got it for $1800, which is about $700 cheaper than I usually see then for sale around here (not sure if them holding value so well is a local phenomenon or not) . It’s got a couple mods already, adjustable levers, Renthal bars, and a larger front sprocket. I’ll probably do a cheap exhaust and call it done.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 15:00, STARS: 1
It’s hard to describe, the seating position feels totally normal, you barely notice how small it is until you step off. I actually had less fatigue after riding it for 2 hours solid than I do after similar trips on my sport bike.
I’m still very much in the honeymoon phase, going to commute on it a couple weeks and see if my opinion changes.
"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
06/15/2017 at 15:19, STARS: 1
I think it is official that I need to find someone with a Grom I can play with.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 15:26, STARS: 0
Don’t do it, you’ll need one afterwards!
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
06/15/2017 at 15:31, STARS: 0
Sweeeet!
"BeaterGT" (beatergt)
06/15/2017 at 15:35, STARS: 0
Wow that’s amazing. I really need to get my license.
"Makoyouidiot" (makaan12)
06/15/2017 at 15:58, STARS: 2
I weigh 330lbs. I have ridden a Grom. SO MANY SMILES
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 16:07, STARS: 1
The only time I wasn’t smiling was on some single lane 55mph roads (before I figured out hoe to draft) , for everything else it was perfect
"Makoyouidiot" (makaan12)
06/15/2017 at 16:13, STARS: 1
I’d love to buy one to ease my wife into biking, since she’s scared of them but I’d like her to learn how to do it. I just can’t see my way to spending for a Grom that we’ll want to get rid of in less than a year once she gets used to it.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/15/2017 at 16:18, STARS: 1
Yeah, for some reason these little guys seem immune to depreciation. Used ones going for within a few hundred of MSRP. I only jumped on this because it was borderline scam good price.
Would I pay MSRP? Initially no, after riding it, maybe? I don’t know, it’s a lot of money when you consider the used market. Like I said in the post, the new price puts it well into “clean SV650" territory.
"CRider" (crider)
06/15/2017 at 20:02, STARS: 0
Well, you’ll get most of your money back if you decide to sell it, and you probably won’t want to. You’ll just get another bike.
"Makoyouidiot" (makaan12)
06/16/2017 at 10:44, STARS: 0
I could always put knobbys on it and ride around my fields.
"Makoyouidiot" (makaan12)
06/16/2017 at 10:46, STARS: 0
If I were buying new, I’d be looking closer at something like the new Kymco Spade, mainly due to the lower price. Also, slightly bigger engine.
