Experience With A Tempest (2020)

Back in 2007 (I think) I carried out a short test ride of one of the then newly imported AJS 125cc models, owned by our section leader Roy, while at the Suffolk Jampot Rally. Although being of the sports style, which is not my preferred type of bike, I could not really find anything about it to really dislike except that the engine characteristics of it were not, in my opinion, really suited to helping the learner motorcyclist, the market that this bike was obviously intended for.

Moving forward more than a few years I had studied carefully two later models that AJS Motorcycles were offering, first the Cadwell and then the Tempest, which the club had been offering as second prizes in their annual raffles, while attending the Kettering open days. I had to admit that I was very impressed with what they seemed to be as regards the quality of parts and the way they were put together, bearing in mind that they were quite a lot cheaper than the 125cc offerings from the major manufacturers, none of whom incidentally made any bikes which were of the same style (traditional or old fashioned, depending on your point of view). Although there were quite a few other makes of Chinese built 125cc bikes of similar style, none of them, to my mind, looked as good and, unlike the AJS models, none that I have seen had a centre stand either, which is an absolute must for me on any new bike. In the end I decided that I liked the Tempest Roadster enough to move something else on and make room for one in my garage, eventually taking delivery of a new bright blue one at the start of 2020.

The Tempest (and Cadwell) uses a version of the old air cooled Yamaha YBR 125 motor and now has fuel injection on the later ones such as mine. This engine is not as powerful (by some way) as the later 125cc models produced by Yamaha and other main stream manufacturers for the category A1 licence holder, but of course those engines were designed for the new emissions laws whereas the old engine had to be adapted to meet the current specifications and undoubtedly lost some power along the way. Nevertheless it is similar in power and weight to a couple of other lightweight bikes I own and I find that quite suitable for a lot of the back roads that I like riding on and the YBR engine, during its production years with Yamaha, had a good reputation for reliability if looked after properly.

Checking it over before taking it on the road I continued to be impressed by the seeming quality of its components and general construction. Chinese built bikes have had a lot of criticism in the past over their quality (or lack of it) but these ones seem as good as any other bikes on the market regardless of where they are made. They have very little chrome on them and use stainless steel for the whole exhaust system and alloy for the wheel rims. The latest version now has linked brakes (like Moto Guzzi have used for years) where operating the rear brake pedal also operates the front brake as well. I am not a lover of this system but as it is now compulsory on all new 125s that do not have Antilock Braking Systems I am stuck with it and will have to get used to it. Other than that the only thing I am not keen on is the headlight lens, which is now polycarbonate instead of glass, but as nearly all bikes seem to be like that now I guess it is only me that is out of step and to be fair it doesn’t detract from its light output and only considerable time will tell if it will eventually start going opaque from the sunlight as seems to happen to many car headlights made of this material. The front fork stanchions are thicker than any other bike that I own regardless of capacity and the sliders are fitted with a fork brace. The tyres are actually the same size as those fitted to a 500cc Honda twin that I owned in the late 1990s and overall the bike looks as if it could cope with considerably greater power than this engine would put out. Another thing I liked was the large fuel tank (for a 125) which holds nearly three and a half gallons, which is welcome now that garages have become an endangered species on the back roads where this bike is likely to be used the most.

Out on the road for my first ride on it and the first thing I noticed was the hard ride. With 33psi front and back in those wide tyres it seemed that every ripple was being transferred to the rider. It is a light bike and the suspension also seemed very hard, but as it is new it will probably lighten up with increasing mileage. In truth, by the time I arrived back home I wasn’t noticing it much any more. The next thing that I noticed was that the engine seemed quite gutless. The instructions which came with the bike said that during running-in, for the first 1000 miles the engine should not be revved past 5000, but at that engine speed it is not even running within its power band (which seems to be between 6500 and 8000 for best performance. How much actual running-in modern engines need is debateable and I would think that 1000 miles is rather excessive but with zero miles on it at the start I was not going to push my luck with the revs or let the engine slog at an engine speed below its power band – at least for now.

I have always been an enthusiast for lightweight bikes and so am no stranger to bikes with engine sizes less than 250cc. The characteristics of the engine immediately reminded me of that first 125cc AJS that I test rode in 2007 and the addition of fuel injection does not seem to have altered the characteristics at all. I suppose that the best bike I should compare it with is the 1959 Francis Barnett 197cc which I know very well, having owned it for 55 years now. The Tempest has almost the same physical dimensions, including weight, seat height etc and according to the available data, the same amount of brake horsepower on offer. However, it doesn’t feel like it as although they ultimately reach about the same top speeds the Tempest just does not have the torque that the Francis Barnett has and would never be able to cope with the Barnett’s 3 speed gearbox (the AJS has 5). While they are both happy to roll along at 50-55mph on level going it has to be a reasonably steepish hill or headwind that forces the Barnett to need changing to a lower gear rather than just opening the throttle a bit more, while the AJS needs constant gearchanges to keep the engine buzzing within its power band and in effect has to be “rowed along” on the gearbox in such conditions.

In fact the AJS power delivery reminds me very much of a 100cc Yamaha YB100 two stroke which I owned during the 1990s which also had to be kept buzzing in order to maintain speed, but even that seemed to have more torque if my memory is correct. But that was where the similarity with that bike ended as the quality of the AJS build is far better than the physically smaller and pressed steel framed Yamaha.

Once you accept that the engine has to be kept buzzing within its power band in order to get anywhere then it is no problem as the engine is quite happy to do this, but for anyone jumping on one after years with an old British heavyweight single and using a power band far wider and at half the engine speeds of the AJS they are likely to be very disappointed with the Tempest at first. Give it time though, accept the engine characteristics for what they are, and you will learn to enjoy it for there is nothing at all wrong with the handling and steering. Also, those linked brakes which I was not very keen on do not in fact intrude at all, to the extent that I never even noticed it during my very first ride on the bike. I am still not over keen on the idea that I cannot use the rear brake on its own should I so desire, but in the weather that I am likely to use this bike in it should not give me any problem at all. Once I got home after my initial ride (with some wet roads) the only thing that I could find for critical comment was that the rear mudguarding was not as I would really like it as it didn’t come down far enough at the back for my liking and where the plastic part of the guard at its front end did not come low enough to stop the swing arm pivot and its bracing from getting constantly plastered with road muck.

It might seem that I have been rather critical of what is, after all, a cheap and small bike and that I am disappointed with it. However, that is not the case and I certainly do not regret buying it. I think that the bike itself could easily handle the power of an engine twice the size and would probably be a better bike for it. As for the rest of my impressions, when looking around at what else is on offer from any of the other manufacturers of that engine capacity of bike I can’t find any that I would prefer to have, or would have bought and although I might prefer to have had the engine characteristics of my old Francis Barnett I know that current emissions requirements mean that would be out of the question when lean burning engines and very quiet silencers are a must and although I still love riding my Francis Barnett after all these years there is no doubt that I prefer the Brakes, electrics and probably handling as well of the AJS and I think that it is very good value for the money.

Incidently, if you want to know more about the workings the Tempest (and Cadwell) and what goes on inside the engine then I find that the Haynes manual for the Yamaha YBR125 & Custom 2005 to 2016 (Haynes No 4797) is very useful in this regard. Obviously the information concerning the Yamaha cycle parts is not too relevant but everything for the engine is there.

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