WK BIKES SM50 (2011 - on) Review

Here’s a bike to make any 16-year-old’s visor steam up: the 500 cc supermoto-styled SM50, made in Taiwan and exclusively branded ‘WK’ in the UK.

• Read: top 50cc scooters and mopeds

WK has been set-up by the same UK company who are behind Quadzilla Quads, who’ve been in the learner-legal quad market for over 10 years.

The SM50’s taut suspension barely moves under your weight and you sit high in an aggressive ‘elbows-out’ stance. Shorter riders will struggle to get their feet flat on the floor. The chassis is stable and sure-footed enough for the SM50 to fly through most corners without breaking into a sweat or indeed braking. Dry weight is just 95kg, so it’s light and agile and the brakes have decent power, although not enough for proper supermoto-style rolling stoppies.

With a liquid-cooled, 49cc two-stroke single cylinder engine, learner-friendly bikes will be restricted to 2.9bhp and 30mph, but a £60 de-restriction kit is available, which includes different sprockets, carb jets and exhaust gaskets, to unleash 3.6bhp and 65mph.

The WK SM50 comes with a 12-month unlimited mileage parts and labour warranty. It’s well built, good fun and deserves to be taken seriously, but only time will tell how durable and reliable it is in the hands of a 16-year-old.

Well-equipped and is sold with a comprehensive 12 month warranty, the SM50 is priced keenly for a supermoto-style 50 - cheaper than more established European rivals from Aprilia and Derbi, but on par with the Spanish Rieju.

The SM50 features aggressive supermoto bodywork, spoked wheels, a funky stainless steel underslung exhaust, blue-anodised Renthal-style aluminium handlebars, wavy brake discs, a digital dash, polished aluminium swingarm, aluminium brake and gear levers and electric start.