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Tested/Written By: Michael Allen
At Keefer Inc. Testing we love ALL motorcycles, so before you even have a chance to say “why the hell is Michael writing a review on a street legal 125cc 4-stroke trail bike?” Let me cut you off by telling you that this may be one of the most fun bikes I’ve ridden in quite some time. Is it fast? No. Does it have good suspension? No. Does it handle well when ridden aggressively? No. But did it bring a smile to my face every time I rode it? You bet it did! I’m sure there are many readers that will swipe past this review without giving it a second thought and that’s fine with me, because the people that do click through to read it are in for a treat.
Everyone who rides or enjoys motorcycles remembers their first introduction to two wheels, and I’d be willing to bet there are more than a few that had that introduction with a Honda of some kind. More specifically I’m referring to a Honda “Trail” series of motorcycle. I personally remember riding on my family’s red Trail 90 through the Mojave Desert sometime in the early 90’s. Even my dad’s first motorcycle was a Honda Trail 55 that he bought from his optometrist sometime in the early 1960’s. The point that I’m trying to make is that this style of the Honda trail bike brings up fond memories for countless motorcycle enthusiasts. Over the past month I’ve had more people either stop me, roll down their window at a stop light, give me the thumbs up or literally flag me down and stop me to inquire about this Honda Trail 125 than any other bike I’ve ever had the pleasure of testing.
Although Honda released the Trail 125 in the US in 2021, its still visually and somewhat mechanically related to its great grandfather from the early 60’s, it’s just been (somewhat) modernized. A 125cc air cooled fuel injected four-stroke engine provides power through a four-speed semi-automatic transmission. The engine isn’t a fire breather by any means, but it gets the job done and like a lot of other Hondas, is bulletproof. The transmission is quite similar in function to what you find on a CRF50 with the pattern being 4 up from neutral and 4 back down to neutral. The shifter is also like the original in that it is a “rocker” meaning that instead of having to put your toe under the shifter for upshifts you can rock your heel backwards to complete an upshift. Although I wish it was a true manual transmission, there are still ways to manipulate the semi auto transmission into having more fun. In between every gear is what I call a “slipper neutral”. If you want to pop the front end up a curb or just plain pop a wheelie, you can slightly move the shifter down or up which acts like a slip of the clutch, then, when you want the front end to come up you can rev the engine and dump the shifter which acts pretty much like popping the clutch on a traditional manual transmission. (editor’s note: I don’t recommend this for reliability purposes, LOL)
The suspension is on the soft side for trail riding yet better than expected for overall riding comfort. Something that really impressed me was the braking capability. It has a disk brake up front and a rear disk as well asan ABS on the front brake which I was initially weary of but quickly became a fan of, on and off road. ABS on the street is great for obvious reasons of safety, but ABS off-road is a whole new concept for me. Since the tires are very street oriented traction is lacking off-road, especially when trying to slow down. There were multiple times when I applied too much front brake going down loose hills and would feel the ABS activate which initially scared me, but I soon found that it saved me from going down multiple times. Instead of the front end sliding and washing out, it would continue to track in the desired direction while reasonably slowing me down. The front brake is actually powerful enough to lift the rear of the bike when you really grab a handful on the street (editor’s note: I also don’t recommend this).
From what I understand the model I have is referred to as a “Postie” in Australia because it’s what the postal service deliver the postage on. It has a rack on the front over the headlight, a rack in front of the seat on the frame slope, and a heavy-duty rack behind the seat with pre threaded holes to mount various cargo. I actually ended up bolting a milk crate to the back rack so I could take my things to and from work. All of the controls are typical Honda meaning they are comfortable to use and made with quality materials. In contrast to the original Trail series bikes, the grips are actually grippy and quite comfortable on the 125. The headlight is impressive in both low and high beam settings as long as its properly adjusted. All of the switches are quality, work flawlessly and the instrument cluster is simple but informative as it tells the rider speed, fuel consumption, as well as an odometer with two trip functions. Other interesting notes on the 125 include the air intake up near the back rack in case the water crossings get a little extreme, the 1.2 gallon fuel tank is under the seat and it has a small tool box under the back rack for your most basic trail fixes.
In the month and a half that I have spent on the Trail 125 I’ve ridden over 600 miles and filled up the fuel tank eight times (that’s right it gets 80 mpg) for a grand total of roughly $50. This bike has taken me to work on freeways (not sure if that’s legal on a bike that only goes 60MPH with a tailwind), back streets, steep hills, trails, along railroad tracks and in drainage ditches. One of my favorite activities on the Trail 125 is to take my four year-old son Oliver on what he calls “adventures”. Although I know it’s illegal (I’ll tell you why I know that shortly), getting to show your child the fun, adventure and happiness that motorcycles can bring is priceless. He just sits in front of me on the cushy seat and puts his feet on the center rack (editor’s note: I don’t recommend this or condone this if you want to keep your child, LOL). I’ve gotten more thumbs up and waves on this bike with Oliver than I’ve ever experienced. The reason I know it’s illegal to have a child sit in front of you on the Trail 125 is because Oliver and I got pulled over a few weeks ago after running a red light right in front of and undercover cop (because it wouldn’t change for the little bike). The officer walked up and said “what the hell are you doing?” to which I replied “just enjoying a ride with my son” after talking back and forth for a minute or so he informed me that he was going to let me off with a warning, but made sure I knew that having Oliver on the front was a form of child endangerment (oops). (Editor’s note: EHHHHHHHH, BOY. Maybe I need to rethink allowing Michael to have a street oriented two wheeled machine)
For me, the only real “down sides” to the Trail 125 were a slight lack of overall power, the lack of having the option of a clutch, and not having a “low range” gear option. My dad informed me that the old Trail 90s had a lever that could be moved and the transmission had an extreme low range and could climb damn near anything as long as there was traction. I only bring this up because there were more than a couple times that either myself or Oliver and I were trying to make it up steep trails and firstgear wasn’t low enough so I had to get off and push with the throttle wide open to make it to the top.
My time on the Trail 125 may be coming to an end, but this won’t be the last time I ride one as I’m actually quite tempted to purchase one in the future. In fact I have had no less than five people reach out to me and ask about details as they intended to purchase one and wanted the inside scoop before making the purchase. This is the perfect bike to explore trails, the town and the pits, so if you get a chance I highly recommend you take one for a spin.