Honda C125
‘The iconic scooter has been updated for the 21st century – but the winning Super Cub formula still remains. It’s light, agile, easy to live with.’
The Super Cub has made a name for itself over the last 60 years as a bulletproof, doanything machine most at home on the daily commute, but capable of traversing the globe too. Since production first began back in 1958, Honda has sold over 100 million models in various iterations of style and capacity – and to celebrate hitting the milestone and cement its place as the best-selling machine of all time, Honda revamped its Super Cub with a pretty major styling revision and a raft of technical updates.
The Super Cub is powered by the same motor that’s found in Honda’s hugely successful Grom (MSX125) and its new Monkey 125. Essentially, it’s a simple and reliable single cylinder fourstroke with air-cooling and two-valves, which kicks out a fairly respectable 9.5bhp of power at 7500rpm and 7.7lb-ft of torque at 5000rpm.
As you’d expect, it’s not the most powerful 125cc machine on the market, but it’s still got plenty of beans to get the jump on most fourwheeled traffic off the line.
Ringing its neck on the open road, you’ll have to be pushing hard to hold it at 60mph, but it’ll happily sit at 50mph all-day long.
To get the Cub moving there is a heel-toe gear shift set up, just like on the original Cub. It’s a simple affair, thanks to the user-friendly centrifugal automatic design, which works to disengage and engage the clutch automatically while you shift up or down the box. It’s smooth and quiet, and if you’re really pressing on you don’t even have to roll off the throttle, just stamp up the box and keep it pinned.
Conventional telescopic forks are one of the new additions to the new Super Cub, replacing the old leadinglink style set up. Yes, it’s perfectly capable around town, with a more than adequate level of comfort, but if you’re really bombing down B-roads you’ll be bouncing around all over the place. But hey, this isn’t a sportster… For braking, the Cub is equipped with an ABS-assisted 220mm disc and single piston caliper up front, and a 130mm drum at the rear. Like the suspension, it’s not a high-tech set up, but it’s more than capable of pulling the bike to a halt with ease, thanks in part to the Cub’s lack of bulk and speed.
The classic Super Cub has been a staple twowheeler for more than 60 years and if Honda’s Super Cub C125 it’ll be around for many more years to come.