The Best Intro To LEGO Technic For Just $9.99!
A quick review of the LEGO Technic Motorcycle #42132 set.
There is a somewhat of a misconception out there that LEGO is expensive. While I won’t deny the fact that overall it’s on the more expensive end of hobbies, it’s certainly not the most expensive, and those who perhaps are happy with just smaller sets, can actually get away with extremely low costs for incredibly fun sets. LEGO’s #42132 set is one of those. In fact, looking back at nearly 30 years of personal experience with building LEGO sets, this set is by far the most impressive from every relevant perspective.
This one is an interesting story for me, not so much because I like building Technic sets, but rather because my first-ever Technic set at the age of 9 was, in fact, another motorbike, the #8810 Café Racer. I think this set gives me yet another opportunity to highlight how LEGO prices actually went down rather than up. The Café Racer in 1991 cost $10 for just 80 pieces. The 2022 Motorcycle, however, at $9.99 has over double the piece-count at 163. And while 32 of those are indeed the chain, that’s still excellent value for money, especially if you take inflation into account. Note that the $9.99 price-tag is not even a special offer, that is the sticker price even on the LEGO site.
So, what can you do with 163 pieces?
A heck of a lot, believe it or not. Yes, this is a small set. Pretty much the smallest Technic set you can buy. But for a small set, it packs a punch. First of all, for its size, it actually looks damn good, especially when you look at the side with the chain exposed. And speaking of that chain — which by the way is a great piece to have in a set this small — it drives a not one, not two, but three-piston engine! My jaw dropped. I did not see that coming.
Speaking of other things I did not see coming, is the general flow of the build. The whole thing just kind of sneaks up on you. The building techniques were a lot less basic than I expected, and while sure, not difficult to build, it did teach even me, an old LEGO fart a couple of things.
Another clever aspect of the bike is the fact that the designer chose to use a wider wheel for the back, and a thinner one for the front. Choppers are easy to get wrong just by using the wrong wheels and tires. I think this set gets it very well. It reminds me of Indian motorbikes, and I really love those. I used to be a Harley fan but Indian… man, yeah, their designs are something else.
While the front articulates as expected, I suppose the one downside of such a small build is the lack of suspension, but then again, it’s totally understandable. While maybe the front would have been easy to upgrade with springs, the back would have required a more complex change and the price would have jumped considerably. One aspect I, personally, would have avoided is the use of stickers. While I can’t deny that they help a wee bit, I also don’t think they were really necessary. But then again, I don’t like stickers on LEGO, so I am biased.
By far the best Technic set to start with if you’ve never built one before.
The building stages
Given that it’s such a small set, there aren’t really any building stages per se. This is a set you build in one go, and that’s it. It’s a fun, perhaps 30–40 minutes build. If you really drag it out, you might even spend an hour.
Set stats
- 163 total pieces
- set size: small
- age-rating: 7+
- average build-time: 40 minutes
- display set: no
- new/interesting parts: not really
- playability: yes
- design: good
- height: 9 cm
- width: 7 cm
- length: 16 cm
- average price: 9.99 Euro
Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, Lego fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer!
