2018 Honda CB125E review

The decision to purchase a CB125E isn’t a complicated one. If you’re a proud new owner, the chances are you weren’t lured by its performance capabilities, its technological advancements or even, probably, its looks.

There’s one reason you’d fork out for a brand-new CB125E and it’s more likely a financial one. And at $2299 (plus on-road costs), it’s a damn good choice…

Not only are you getting a brand-new motorcycle, complete with a factory-backed warranty and a perfect bill of health, but you’ve got yourself a set of wheels for the same price as it would cost you to commute to and from work through a single public-transport zone in Melbourne’s CBD, five days a week, for a single year.

Moolah aside, it’s a damn good choice for plenty of other reasons, too. Aside from perhaps a quicker accelerating CVT-equipped scooter, you’d be hard pressed to find a machine that will get you across town faster in the thickest of city traffic.

At its widest point, ’bar end to ’bar end, the CB125E measures 745mm, which makes carving through a clogged-up commute quick and easy. Perhaps more important, due to the ability to negotiate handlebars around inconveniently placed car mirrors, is its narrow waist. Where the low 767mm seat meets the tank, the width of the CB125E is just 350mm. So aside from resulting in a narrow bike which can slip through the tiniest of gaps, new riders will immediately feel confident and in control.

It weighs less than 140kg ready to ride, which only adds to a rider’s confidence, and it’s a full-size machine, too, placing you high enough to see and be seen on your city commute or weekend run to the beach.

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The fact that this bike is powered by a basic, low-tech engine, and that it rolls on relatively rudimentary running gear, is the very thing which has made this motorcycle so successful (more on that later). Because that's what ultimately allows Honda to price it so aggressively in a market which has never had more learner-approved options.

It’s powered by a simple 124cc air-cooled, single-cylinder engine which gets you off the line as quick as you need it to and which feels strong and robust all the way through to its 100km/h top-speed capability.

Matched to a positive-action five-speed gearbox, the engine is fed by a 24mm constant velocity carburetor. While the carb will take a bit of choke and a bit more time to get up to operating temperature on a cool morning, it also comes with a reserve tank – so you've got a couple of extra litres up your sleeve.

The diminutive engine sips fuel at a ridiculously low rate, which in real-world terms will see most people get somewhere around 400km out of the 16-litre tank.

There’s no tacho on the CB125E (though there obviously was on the donor bike from which the twin-faced instrument cluster was sourced, for the right-hand side of the CB’s gauge is oddly blanked out), but you quickly grow accustomed to the engine note and learn to sense where to shift gears to get the most out of it. And if you’re precise with your gear changes, you’ll have no problems keeping up with traffic in any urban situation.

Life is made a little easier with the inclusion of a gear indicator, though the red-coloured indicator lights are difficult to read in some light. Momentum is important and it's found and maintained rather easily on a paltry 140kg machine like this. With a smart head, the CB125E will happily cope with regular highway use.

Braking and suspension is adequate; basic, yes, but ideally suited to this bike's price point and design brief. There’s a twin-pot caliper biting a single disc up front which, while not offering a great deal of feel, does provide plenty of confidence and stopping ability, especially when it’s used in conjunction with the drum rear brake.

It’s a similar deal with the suspension. The conventional telescopic fork offers no adjustability but has 118mm of travel, and while you do tend to feel exactly what’s happening where the 18-inch front tyre meets the road, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The twin-shock rear end offers five steps of preload adjustability, which could improve the ride depending on your size or what (or who) you plan to carry on the back. There’s a decent-sized rear rack which increases its practicality and, according to the sticker, is rated to carry a maximum load of three kilograms. The rear suspension setup offers 70mm of travel and is suited to the bike’s capabilities.

Each quarter, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) releases new-bike sales data, revealing the best-selling machines over each quarter of the year. And while the CB125E ended the 2017 calendar year as the fourth-best-selling nakedbike (701 units) after recording a sales slump of 22 per cent over the year previous, it burst to the top of the heap in the first quarter of this year, recording a significant 208 per cent increase. And it was a position it maintained by the half-way point of 2018, with 637 new units sold – just 64 units shy of its entire 2017 result.

While I suspect a good very many of those units were filtered out to Honda’s five rider-training facilities on Australia's east coast, you’ve only got to look at any Australian city’s peak-hour commute to realise these things are being snapped up at a fair rate by both experienced commuters and new riders alike.

Perhaps what I love most about this machine is that it has remained so similar to the very first 125cc Honda to bear the same name – one that I just happen to have in my shed. It first appeared in 1973 as a CB125S and it is by no means a negative that it hasn’t swayed to far from the original concept, almost half a century on.

Just like the current-model CB125E, the early 1970s examples served as stepping stones for many a new rider, who went on to enjoy a life on and a love of two wheels. The original engine was a 122cc single-cylinder air-cooled affair – two cubic centimetres smaller than today’s, thanks to slightly different bore and stroke. In 1973 it was 56mm x 50mm, compared to the 2018 engine’s 56.5mm x 45.5mm. The engine was matched to a five-speed gearbox then as it is now, and both have chain final drive and a centrestand.

The 1973 model was the only model to employ a drum brake at both ends, switching to the disc front-end like the 2018 machine a year later in 1974. Both bikes roll on 18-inch wheels and both boast largely similar dimensions. The biggest difference is the fuel tank, which has almost doubled from its 8.7-litre capacity in 1973 compared to 16 litres today.

The other priceless byproduct of having a 45-year model legacy is dependability. When it comes to build quality and reliability, Honda has a reputation for being one of the best, and it’s probably sealed the deal for many of those 637 purchases made over the first half of this year.

For many people in the market for a first bike, it’s really hard to justify the price of buying brand new. But at $2299 (plus on-road costs), Honda’s CB125E moves the goal posts. For about the same price you could buy a secondhand LAMS-approved machine that might be bigger and have more poke, but it’ll also have plenty of kays put on it by, frankly, an inexperienced rider.

Your resale value will potentially be higher if it’s only had one owner and you’ve got the peace of mind that comes with a factory-backed warranty.

If cubes and power aren’t a priority and you’re looking for simple, inexpensive and reliable transport, it doesn’t really get much better than Honda’s entry-level nakedbike.

ENGINE
Type: Air-cooled, single-cylinder, four stroke
Capacity: 124.1cc
Bore x stroke: 56.5 x 49.5mm
Compression ratio: 9.0:1
Fuel system: Carburettor, 24mm CV
Emissions: Euro 3

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: 10hp (7kW)
Claimed maximum torque: Not given

TRANSMISSION
Type: Five-speed
Final drive: Chain

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Front suspension: Telescopic fork, 118mm travel
Rear suspension: Twin shocks, 70mm travel
Front brakes: Single 240mm disc, twin-piston caliper
Rear brake: Drum
Wheels: Five-spoke aluminium – 3.00-18 front, 1.75-18 rear
Tyres: Front 80/100-18, rear 90/90-18

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Rake: 29º
Trail: 103.6mm
Claimed kerb weight: 137kg
Seat height: 767mm
Wheelbase: 1286mm
Fuel capacity: 16 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $2299 (plus ORC)
Colours: Pure Red, Glint Wave Blue Metallic, Pearl White or Pearl Procyon Black
Test bike supplied by: Honda Australia, www.hondamotorcycles.com.au
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres