Hyosung, who have been producing lightweight commuter motorcycles and scooters since 1979, has moved into the proper motorcycle market with the launch of a stylish 650cc street machine. The Hyosung Comet 650’s in-house 90 degree V-twin produces a very healthy 79 horsepower (58,5 kW) and revs cheerfully to its 10 500 red line when thrashed.
I spent a weekend with the Comet and was very impressed with the Korean machine. Hyosung worked closely with Suzuki, from whom they used to buy their engines, for years, and the Japanese influence is clearly to be seen in the engine and frame.
Hyosung opted to build larger motorcycles for Western markets when they saw the rate at which the Chinese were moving into the commuter market, but their contract with Suzuki did not allow them to use the Japanese engines in motorcycles intended for export. The company started building their own 125cc and 250cc V-twin engines in 1998, and the first 650cc machine followed in July last year.
The Hyosung Comet 650 is a great looking machine. Upside-down front forks and twin two-pot front brake callipers that grab 300mm double disks up front give it an up-to-date aggressive look. The test bike was improved by the addition of an aftermarket Ace Motorcycles belly-pan that retails for R1 250. The bike’s also very practical, with a 2,9 litre storage compartment under the pillion and handy tie-down lugs both underneath and on top of the sporty seat.
Finish is good for a machine that’s this inexpensive. The instruments look a little gaudy, and the warning lights don’t show up very well in bright sunlight but the layout is tidy and practical. The finish on the alloy wheels isn’t as good as on the Japanese opposition, but overall build quality is generally good, especially when you consider that the motorcycle is over R20 000 cheaper than anything remotely like it from the big four Japanese factories.
On the road the Hyosung performs superbly. The first time I grabbed a big handful of throttle I was taken aback by the lively nature of the machine. Acceleration is very brisk, with the front wheel keen to get airborne in the lower couple of the six gears. The red line is at 10 500 rpm, but I found that the bike pulled strongly from low down and there wasn’t much point in delaying gear changes beyond about 9 000. The Comet also makes a pretty good cruiser — at 130 km/hr it’s trundling along at half speed, and at 160 it lopes along effortlessly with lots of torque in hand. When I arrived at one destination somebody asked me what it was like to ride at speed without a fairing to tuck in behind. To my surprise, I realised that I hadn’t noticed!
My Triumph Sprint has stunning brakes, so when I first switched over to the Hyosung I thought the stoppers were by comparison below par. After I got used to them, however, I re-rated them as fair — they get the job done well enough, but the lever feels a little wooden and has to be squeezed harder than I enjoy when the chips are down. Handling felt very quick and twitchy at first, until I settled into the bike and began to enjoy it properly. The front end is a little light and sometimes felt slightly nervous at speed, but I found that if I just ignored things and threw the bike around as if the twitchiness didn’t exist, the bike’s behaviour was fine. The forks and rear shock have damping and preload adjustment, and fiddling with those could well iron out any imperfections.
The single biggest obstacle to sales in this country is perhaps the name on the Hyosung’s tank. Motorcyclists are brand loyal and wary of anything that doesn’t come from the top manufacturers, but I think the Koreans have become a force to be reckoned with. Hyosung has been building scooters and motorcycles for 25 years, and by the mid 1990s was producing over 150 000 units a year. They now have their very lively and likeable 650cc engine in production, and will be offering a 1 000cc V-twin later this year. And, for those who think that the South African agents are running their business from a wooden hut behind a video shop in Carltonville, there’s comfort in the knowledge that Kawasaki South Africa has been the official importer for nine years, with over 2 500 of the 125cc and 250cc machines already on our roads.
The Hyosung Comet 650 retails at R41 000 from any Kawasaki or Triumph dealer, and comes with a 12 month unlimited mileage warranty.