Is the Trail 125 more your style?
First a little history
The CT series of bikes from Honda began life in the 1960s. Different countries had different names for them; in Japan, they are called the Hunter Cub; in the US and Canada, they were called the Trail Cub or just Trail. In Australia, they are widely known as the Postie Bike, because in a lot of areas the post/mail is delivered using them as a means of transportation.
Australian postie bike, image courtesy – ZDNet
The numbering system can get a little convoluted if you look at older models and think the number is related to the size of the engine (it isn’t).
- 1960–1962 C100H/C100T/CA100T was a 50cc
- 1962–1964 C105H/C105T/CA105T was 54cc
- 1964–1966 CT200 (technically the first CT) 54-87cc
By 1966 they finally called them what they were, almost!
- 1966–1979 CT90, was 89cc
- 1968 CT50 Hunter Cub was 49 cc and saw the introduction of the dual-range 3-speed transmission
- 1980-2008 CT110 was 105cc
If you want to read a little more on the history of them and weight/ dimension/ turning radius etc the Wikipedia page has a lot of good basic information.
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The new version is called the CT125 or Trail 125, a 124.9 cc fuel-injected, four-speed again with the standard centrifugal clutch like the older models and the Super Cub. Sadly, there’s no dual-range transmission.
Even though all the current Honda 125 range (Super Cub, Trail 125, Grom, Monkey) all have very similar engines, they don’t all perform the same.
As before on the Super Cub write-up, if you want the specs then jump over the Honda website and look at the numbers, what I’ll tell you here is ‘my opinion’, one rider to another.
The Good:
The overall retro look is a straight-up winner in my book.
The Trail 125 has a kick and electric start, which is nice and is very easy to kickstart, but for me, the kick starter is a little in the way even the peg is folded in or out. So a pro and a con, but ekes out as a pro because it will get you out of trouble if you end up with a dead battery.
The styling is very similar to the original, a little less chrome but middle-aged guys who had one as a kid will stop you at the gas station to ask “What year is that?”. Then he’s astounded when you say 2021 because he thought you’d say 1978 or something …
So when you fill up, expect random people to talk to you more than normal, and be asked questions at almost every other kind of stop too. So many people had one of these as the first bike you get to hear tales of “When I was a kid …” And to be honest most of them are amusing and involve a minor crash and lots of child-like smiles.
You can open the seat to get to the gas tank with the key. Just like the original, it has the rear rack, not chrome but now the color of the bike, Red in the US but other countries have white and Khaki variations. It is easy to use, and strong.
I think Honda conservatively says the rack can manage 44lb/20kgs, but they do sell a rear seat and rear peg option to go along with the rack, so that tells you the bike can hold a lot more.
ABS on the front is a nice touch, as is the rear disc brake, to vastly improve the braking.
The CT125 comes with real pegs; they’re smallish, but great for those times you want to stand.
The Neutral
Even though the Super Cub and CT125 both run a 125cc motor, the Super Cub has a slightly higher top speed due to gearing. That makes the CT125 feel like it’s lagging and just a little slow when you are riding in traffic.
Buying replacement sprockets other than stock dimensions are not easy to find, but they are out there.
Gearing can help with this to a certain extent, but as another rider posted online,
“if you want to go fast you bought the wrong bike!”
The fuel economy is as expected, great, and the tank is a decent enough size to get you close to 200 miles/320km range in non-spirited riding. Plus, the tank is slightly bigger than the Super Cub.
The suspension is OK. Western riders will probably max it out if they add too many bacon cheeseburgers or saddlebags additional to their body weight.
The wheels can take a 17×2.75 knobby tire. People have tried 3.00 but there is a possibility of rubbing which is a shame because that slightly wider tire would make the bike a little easier to ride in the loose stuff, especially sand.
Front fender clearance should be noted too. Dependent on your tire choice, it could be an issue.
The Bad:
The seat is not great, TBH. It looks like the Super Cub seat but it’s just not as comfortable, not even close.
The dash has decent functionality; it has an LCD which is very easy to read in direct sunlight, but that’s it. It’s bad in shadows; if you wear sunglasses or use a tinted visor, forget knowing exactly what speed you are doing—you just can’t see it at all. It doesn’t have any functionality to increase LCD brightness, which is a huge miss. A lot of riders look to the aftermarket for a replacement.
This bike tops out at an average around 45-48mph, so speeding tickets should be a rarity!
One other thing that I read, but have no personal knowledge of, is the side stand safety switch is the first thing to touch the ground in a fall on the left. If that happens you aren’t starting the bike unless you can create a jumper connection to bypass it.
What is the new version capable of in its new guise?
How about the TAT? Yep it’s done that already – Trans America Trail / TAT 2021: HONDA TRAIL CT125 Edition.
Ride it to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, yep been done already by the Revzilla guys.
Could you ride it further? Jump into my thread in planning- Utter Ridiculousness with 8hp I will be shipping my KTM back from Europe late summer and know I’ll have a little waiting time before I get it back, so I’m going to attempt riding the lower 48 states on my CT125 on as many small backroads and trails I can find.
My conclusions of the Super Cub vs Trail 125
- SC feels like a little moped, CT feels more like a motorbike
- Ergonomics on the CT is much better
- CT fuel tank size bigger, so better range
- CT is much better for carrying luggage
- SC fit and finish is much nicer, it feels like a more expensive machine (it’s $100 cheaper) but with that comes more delicacy and refinement
- SC gauge is much better, easier to read in all conditions
- The engines are very similar and they ride as smooth as each other
- The gearing (IMO) is better on the SC, both for acceleration and cruising speed
- There is a lot more room for knobby tires under the SC front fender than the CT, but the CT has more room in the rear
- SC has alloy wheels, the CT has spoked wheels; they aren’t interchangeable between models because the SC has a drum brake on the rear vs a disc
- The rear drum brake on the SC is FAR inferior to the CT rear disc!
- Wish there was a dual-range transmission option like the older version of the CT, neither has it
- SC is 24 lbs lighter than the CT, but it feels more like 50lbs because the center of gravity is so much lower
Honda if you are reading this you need to make MORE Trail 125’s…thousands of riders want them in the US and there are NONE available!
*All images rtwPaul unless noted
