CG125: The other unkillable Honda

THEY are quite a familiar sight in Malaysia, especially to those of us who grew up in the 1980s-1990s. Attached to sidecars, they haul vegetables, seafood, fruits, knick-knacks as well as other foods and beverages, sold by their operators. The ones used for business are always not in good exterior condition, to say the least.

However, the Honda CG125 is the motorcycle version of the cockroach – super reliable and pretty much indestructible!

While the Honda Cub (moped) series is unanimously voted worldwide as the toughest bikes in the world, I dare say the CG125 is even tougher; they simply lose out to the Cubs in terms of price and practicality, hence the Cub’s No. 1 world-record sales figure.

But as far as abuse, misuse and neglect by its users, the robust CG125 takes them all, while gruffly performing duties that would’ve broken many other bikes.

This one in these photos here is almost a daily fixture outside of an office building in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Selling soybean juice and pudding (or tau fu fa/douhua/doufuhua), it was already there before I worked at that office in 1994 (until 2006). It is there during lunch on weekdays, where office workers and nearby residents buy from its owner, who told me to call him just “Mr Bean” (pix).

This CG125 was registered in 1984 and spent only a year on two wheels, under its first owner. In the following year, it was sold and purchased by Mr Bean, who got a shop to attach a sidecar to it. From then on, it spends its life solely as a business machine.

In the mornings, it does its trade near its home in Cheras. During lunch time, it will make its way to Bangsar, puttering in Kuala Lumpur’s mad traffic at a modest speed. Driven by a fourspeed manual transmission in its bomb-proof 124cc four-stroke, overhead valve, single-cylinder engine, the CG125 sometimes hauls nearly 300kg of total weight (plus itself and Mr Bean) or more.

The 66-year-old Mr Bean learned the trade from his parents who started the business in 1963. “I assisted them until I turned 18, when I got a job as a machinery mechanic. But I quit that job not long after, due to the small salary and started this business.”

The weather-beaten Cheras resident uses about 10kg of beans a day for the juice and pudding. With the business, he raised three children. He has four grandkids now. “Number Four arrived very recently!” said the proud grandfather. be stretched out to their maximum adjustable lengths and were worn and torn from hitting the chain case. The examples of such abuse went on and on. One after another, we saw spectacles we’d never even imagined possible from our home base in Japan.”

To overcome those “challenges”, Honda created the CG125, to be a motorcycle that was above all practical and durable; and that it should have an engine with a maintenancefree, four-stroke design. Among the other criteria it had to meet were:

Its OHV (with pushrods) engine has to be lightweight, with excellent fuel mileage and rugged durability.

The exterior design must be sporty and fun (it’s the 1970s, mind you).

It must be designed with an emphasis on practical, daily use, with easy maintenance being a key feature.

It was to be developed exclusively for developing countries in which knockdown (CKD) production was also possible.

Among the things developed for the new bike were two types of fuel tanks, with one of them flat-topped so that a child could sit on it!

Several other innovations in mechanical design, specification and manufacturing technology were incorporated into the new bike, each with the goal of making it maintenance-free, durable and easy to produce. A great deal of consideration went into developing it, so that people in developing countries would find it easy to use and own.

Finally, the CG125 – made as a “commuter motorcycle”, was launched in 1975. The “CG” nomenclature, by the way, stands for “Cash Guarantee”.

Amazingly, the CG125 is still in production today, 45 years later, in a Pakistani operations. There and also in the rest of South Asia, South America and Africa, plus its many licensed and “pirated” copies in other countries, CG125s are subjected to even worse abuse and still carry on performing their painful duties.

That super-robust 124cc engine has changed little over the years. By now, the CG125 is quite a desirable machine in Malaysia’s classic bike scene, where they fetch quite good prices, no matter the conditions they are in.

I did ask Mr Bean a few times to sell his CG125 to me, over the years; I even offered him a replacement bike on top of some cash. He politely turned my offer down each time.

“There’s no bike that can replace it. The new ones don’t have that ‘bone’ down their frames to attach a sidecar to. Mopeds aren’t strong enough to carry me and the heavy load I sell.

“I only maintain it, doing the usual things required for a bike – servicing, replacing the battery, tyre, chain and sprockets when needed. This bike never gave me problems.

“I’ll stick with it, until one of us can’t do this anymore.”

*A long(er) version of this www.thesundaily.my/gear-up

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