I coated the electrics in ignition sealant only to find that it would not start again. Quite a lot of physical effort is required to kick over the 608cc single, and in a very short time I collapsed in a heap of sweat. The only way the SRX was going to get home was with me pushing it. Half a mile might not sound very far, but when it’s up hill despite the bike only weighing 380lbs it damn near finished me off. Not a good start.
The next day further attempts at Starting the beast just resulted in huge explosions coming out of the silencer - very strange. Not being the world’s best mechanic, I concluded that the timing must've slipped, so the bike was shipped off to the nearest dealer where all they discovered wrong was a broken carb return spring, although they also gave the bike a full service.
After that, it started and ran beautifully. One of the reasons that people favour the XBR500 is its electric foot, but I soon found that despite being a ten stone weakling, I could fire up the motor on the second or third kick. I found it helped a lot if the bike was left on its stand, allowing me to put all my weight into the kick without having to hold the bike upright at the same time. However, one of the safety features of the SRX is that if you engage gear with the side stand down, the engine cuts out. This stops you falling off, I suppose, but can be a pain kicking the bike back into life. No centre stand was fitted, for some reason, which will make puncture repairs very amusing.
The SRX was then taken despatching, mostly running from St' Albans to the Smog and around the Home Counties. On the motorway it would thump along contentedly at 80mph, but had little extra power beyond this speed, unable to get past the ton on the clock. In fact, it felt slower than my XT350 and ridiculously under powered for a 600.
Best points were the superb front brake (twin discs) and the headlamp. The brakes were the most powerful I've ever tried, including a FJ1200 and R100RT that I subsequently acquired. Similarly, the headlamp is the most powerful I’ve ever come across. I loved the feel of the big single engine and the gorgeous looks of the thing. Getting through traffic was made easy because of the narrowness of the bike.
The biggest failing was its lack of comfort. Basically, the seat lacks sufficient padding and the bars are too low and narrow for me - although in the bike's defence, I am a strange shape, a six footer with short legs and a long back. Only RT BMWs and large trailsters suit me. Certainly in town the bars were a real pain, as was the slowest practical speed in top gear of 40mph. It averaged only 58mpg regardless of how it was ridden - a function of the strange carbs, balance shafts and fat piston? The 608cc capacity put the bike in a very expensive insurance bracket when it was no faster than a good 250!
The SRX crippled me on journeys of over 100 miles, so much so that I used my car for longer journeys - the Citroen Visa diesel averaging 49 to 53mpg on cheaper juice! The car had a similar top speed to the bike and weighs five times as much. Something has gone very wrong with the design of modern motorcycle engines.
Handling, thanks to a rigid frame and low mass, was just fine. On short runs through the twisty stuff the bike could be scratched with the best of them, braking left to what would be suicidal moments on fatter bikes. Nothing ever touched down and the bike was only upset when the going got really bumpy when the back end failed to cope.
Overall then, I was greatly disappointed by the SRX. The riding position and poor economy ruled it out as a practical hack. The lack of speed ruled it out as a fast plaything. Only the style of the big single, as a sort of modern version of a Goldie had anything going for it, but then those old Brit bikes never had much of a reputation for practicality. Higher bars, a better seat and some more power might've made it more usable.
Trevor Pointon