A few years ago, Big Boy Scooters posted a video on their YouTube page depicting the journey of two legends, Anton Gaybba and his Big Boy TSR 250. In the video, we saw Anton successfully put over 35,000 reliable kilometres on his TSR over the recorded 7-year span of riding and had travelled far and wide to prove that the size and price of your bike have no relation to the amount of adventure that can still be had. Reading through the comments below, I saw that Anton replied a few years after the video was released and what he said will shock the anti-Chinese and small bike haters. He updated us 3 years post-video, saying the TSR had passed 10 years of ownership and was still running strong.
We journos can swing a leg over a bike and give you our initial impressions and our feedback as we ride hundreds of bikes a year, but we rarely get to put over 1000 km on a test bike, which means we have to dive into the rabbit hole of research to find out what ownership looks like. Our knowledge on long-term ownership is just as good as yours, so seeing and hearing from people who ride their bikes thousands of kilometres and maintain their machines allows us to tell the rest what a ‘sweet buy’, or ‘expensive buy’ a machine will be from the get go and heading into future.
I’ve always been a fan of dual-sport motorcycles as they tick the boxes for those who like heading off-road, but have to settle that there will be a few stages of tar in between. The market is bursting with small and middle-weight adventures and dual sports at present, but not everyone has got over 100k to spend, and if it’s your first time tasting the dual-sport life, do you want to spend 100k?
While Big Boy is widely known for their commercial bikes across the country, the Big Boy TSR has forever been one of the company’s top sellers. When looking at the value and versatility that the TSR offers, it’s simple to understand why it’s a top seller in Big Boy’s stable. For 28k, the TSR 250 offers riders a simple carbureted 223 cc counter-balanced 4-stroke single-cylinder motor, 5-speed manual gearbox, disc brakes front and rear, full LED lighting, an electric start, spoked wheels with semi-offroad tyres, handguards, digital trip and speedo, fuel gauge, USB charge port, gear indicator, ignition security lock, rear carry rack and a comfortable seat—it is feature rich…
The TSR comes in two flavours, namely the TSR 125 and the TSR 250, and both are available in three colour options (white, red and black). Both bikes are identical and can only be told apart by pricing, and even that is just a 3k difference (the TSR 250 is currently on special for just 1k more than the 125).
We’ve tested Big Boy’s TSR 250 before, and we were impressed with what bang for buck it provided, but it did need a few tweaks in the form of less aggressive tyres and a comfier seat to make it a zero-compromise machine for both on and off-road duties. The latest update of the TSR gets exactly that. We see a stronger and stiffer material being used on the seat with coloured stitching to break the dark look and a Big Boy logo. The tyres on the previous model, although really good off-road, weakened the overall performance and handling of the TSR. Just by fitting less aggressive knobbly tyres, the braking, handling and engine performance all feel better.
We know that the kind of riders who are going to buy the TSR are money-smart commuters, farm owners, first-time teenage riders and maybe even the off-the-beaten-path delivery riders. To fit this mould, the TSR needs to be able to handle a beating, be reliable and cost the owners as little to own and run as possible. So, with that in mind, I didn’t hold back on the TSR; I rode it hard, and after almost a month of daily riding, it still runs straight, starts without fault and proves that it can handle a proper “pakslae”.
The TSR is a comfortable bike to ride with a roomy rider triangle; the handlebars are high up and wide, the footpegs are low with rubber inserts, the seat cups you in and is comfortable for short stints. With fewer knobbles than last time, the TSR cruises much smoother on the road, and this also helps reach the frugal 30 km/L fuel economy, which, if riding under 90 km/h, will get you around 360 km out of its 12 L tank. The top end is north of 125 km/h now on a long, long straight away, which translates to cruising happily between 90 and 100 km/h at 7000 rpm, around 2000 rpm under redline.
These smaller bikes are very nimble, and with the TSR 250 weighing just 128 kg, it is seriously easy to move around the garage and to flick in and out of corners. For the dual-sport riders, the rider triangle isn’t bad for standing up on the pegs, if you are my height, at 176 cm. If you are taller, you will need risers or higher rising handlebars so you can feel less bent over and more natural. I find it tough to critique the TSR at this price, as many other companies get these small details wrong and cost 10 times the value of the Big Boy, so buying bars or risers is a cheap fix since there is plenty of budget left, and who doesn’t like customising their ride?
Talking about many other bikes out there, if we are looking at the stiffer and top-shelf competition, we have to look at the Japanese. Even when you aren’t comparing pricing, the TSR goes up against the Honda XR190 and the Yamaha XT200, and pretty much matches both bikes on the spec sheet and nails them in a few areas, too. If you were to hand me the keys to any of them stripped of their fairings, I promise you I would struggle to tell the difference. Then we take a closer look at the warranties and servicing that are offered, and the Big Boy is right up there with a 3-year/20,000 km warranty and 3000 km service intervals that are again similar mileage but cheaper than the rest.
The TSR argues its case well, it is feature-packed, looks pretty dual-sporty, does everything its priced at and more, has been proven to be reliable, and even when there is still any form of reserve, they are backed by SAM (South African Motorcycles) which opens you up to 90 dealers in Southern Africa to service and maintain your TSR. The TSR is honestly the most fun I’ve had on a cheap and cheerful motorcycle in a long time, perhaps a sticker kit and a centre stand later, and I might just be off on my own trip.
For more information on the Big Boy TSR range, visit – www.samotorcycles.co.za
