BABY BROTHER’S A CITY SLICKER
Testing motorcycles for a living is the most glamorous occupation in the world, involving as it does bombing around a few corners on dry roads in glorious sunshine, then lying in a hammock sipping a Martini while dictating deathless prose to a topless blonde.
Which made me wonder why I was riding around a cobbled roundabout in Lisbon in torrential rain.
Thank heavens then that I was on the agile and dinky CB125R.
Honda’s designed this to be light and easy to control for enjoyable city riding and, boy, have they nailed it.
At a class-leading 126kg and with a low centre of gravity in the middle of the bike, even in the horrendous conditions it was a delight to duck and dive through city traffic.
It’s surprisingly sizeable for a 125, and after a tweak in the styling department has a sharp and stylishly sculpted look to it, making it look like the baby brother of the CB1000R. Lovely.
Acceleration, as you’d expect with only 13 horses at your disposal, is a languid affair, although beautifully linear, aided and abetted by a feather-light clutch and a six-speed gearbox as beautifully made as a Swiss watch – with the added benefit that the whole bike costs less than the watch would.
Powering out of corners is accompanied by a surprisingly meaty growl, helped by the Honda boffins tilting the exhaust up so you can hear it better, since the sound is part of the joy of bikes – at least until the electric ones take over.
Maximum power is at 10,000rpm, with the red line at 11,000, and you need to keep it buzzing there to make speedy progress, while ignoring the flashing light on the dash pleading with you to change up. You can, however, adjust this to make it go away.
Handling is a delight, thanks to that light weight, low centre of gravity, wide bars, new more rigid swingarm and top-spec Showa forks. Braking is smooth and progressive, with a nice bite and feel from the back brake for trailing into downhill corners.
All in all, this Honda is a really pleasant way to introduce newbie bikers to the joys of the open road, at a price cheaper than the Yamaha and KTM equivalents, although more than a Suzuki. And with a range of up to 300 miles per tank, it’s much cheaper to run than a Lisbon tram.