My 2024 Honda Trail 125

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– Posted on July 28, 2024

I don’t ride a motorcycle.  They have not been high in my thoughts for most of my life even though my dad had them and my wife currently owns a couple.  I had a Kawasaki 100 that barely ran when I was 12. When I was young, I rode a few of my friends’ mini and dirt bikes but wasn’t that enthused about it.  I am not a stranger to two wheels, I have been an enthusiastic mountain biker since the first day I got on the saddle of a Norco Bigfoot in 1986. And I still have the fitness to pedal so I am not feeling any desire to go e-bike at all. So how then did I end up at 58 years old as the owner of both a new motorcycle and a learner’s license in my pocket?  And why such an archaic choice? Logic and I have a tenuous relationship sometimes.

There is some motorcycle history in my family.  I found pictures of both my Granddads on bikes.

I kind of like the look of this military BSA.

And a few of my dad’s as well.

And my wife:

Despite this association, I have not really felt any calling to the two wheeled life.

As I get older a few things are happening to me.  I go to work each day to take my place in a kindly bureaucracy, that admittedly serves a useful purpose in society, but at a personal level seems to be intent on slowly murdering my soul.  The sitting and staring at the infernal pair of 24-inch monitors whilst making an endless series of inconsequential decisions is a pretty boring way to go through a day. I didn’t go to university to become some type of cubicle opossum but that’s what I am now. I’m too young to retire so this is my life for a few years yet.  However other than that 37.5 hours of boredom, the other 130.5 hours of my week are fairly decent. One of the things that keeps me going is that I am an avid outdoors enthusiast and in my own mind at least, an intrepid adventurer

A second thing that makes the job tolerable is that I decided to get fit again. My family hired me a rather demanding personal trainer who requires me to do about 2-3 hours of exercise every day. If I don’t comply, she barks at me through the kitchen window or alternately destroys various and sundry yard items until I acquiesce and get out exercising. With a winter of activity behind me, I found myself this spring easily ascending trails that would have had me wheezing in the last few years.  Here she is letting me have a brief rest before I expel a lung.

I already like exploring and my newly rejuvenated need for adventure might require some new wheels to get to more trailheads. I want to explore new places. I’m just not a quad fan, side by side fan, nor a backing up long box F150 on tight trail fan, fueling a 136 litre tank fan and I already ruled out e-bikes.  So, a motorcycle it was. I really liked the look of a Yamaha TW200.  I am not in a hurry to get anywhere, and the fat tires looked like they would make trails easier. Last fall I sat on one at the dealership when my wife was buying a street bike and for the first time in my adult life, I pictured myself actually riding a motorcycle.

 

The TW is old school, just like me, with lots of capability combined with a touch of eccentricity.  It seemed like a good choice for someone like me, who likes to have a very capable off roader.  But winter evolved my thinking.  When I finished off my COAL series on the saddest note possible, with a CrossTrek purchase instead of the Bronco I wanted, I was still a bit bummed out: COAL 20: 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Limited – Uba.  Over winter though,  I got used to not using as much fuel as the big truck did and being able to fit on narrow roads more easily and I ended up using the somewhat lame Subaru to have more adventures than ever.  And that’s when a vehicle even stupider than a Subaru caught my eye.

Here’s my dad in about 1958 –there was no writing on the picture so maybe it’s 1959. He is astride his BSA.  A speedy bike for the time.

Right about that time Soichiro Honda, a brilliant engineer had designed a small motorcycle that was about to have a very outsized impact on motorcycling and transportation in general.  There has been plenty written about the Honda Cub and its influences.  “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” was the tagline.

I have no idea what my 20-year-old father would have thought about such a rinky little bike; not much I suspect.  He was always telling tales of high-speed motorcycle trips on the motorways and country lanes during his younger days in England.  I do note he eventually came around owning a pair of small Hondas in the form of Trail 90s for exploring.

The various versions of the Honda Cub have now sold 100,000,000 copies. It’s the most produced vehicle on earth ever. Honda must have gotten something right.  It has been in continuous production since 1958. The recently reintroduced Trail 125 is very similar visually to the Trail 90s and 110s of my youth. Nostalgia, as illogical as it is, sometimes grabs a hold of me when I least expect it. There are a few vehicles from the past that I would love to be able to buy again brand new: 1980 Toyota pick-up, 1984 Landcruiser, 1990 Yamaha Bravo snowmobile, but that will never happen, those vehicles are never coming back.  So the ability to grab a brand new yet classic motorcycle was hard to ignore.  I contacted a dealer to put down a deposit on a Trail 125 as they were back ordered like crazy with long waiting lists, but to my surprise, he said to come on in and pick it up.

I read many a review and watched many YouTube videos on these bikes. I am under no illusions; the Trail 125 is not a very good motorcycle.  They were already outdated when I was watching first runs of The Six Million Dollar Man on TV in the 1970s and 40 some years later the design is even more anachronistic.   The 4-speed transmission with automatic clutch is clunky.  There is not much suspension travel. Even a medium breeze slows it down. Or slows it down more that is.  It tops out at 55 miles an hour. It looks dorky but that doesn’t bother me.  At my age, looking cool is at least 20 years in the past. Maybe 25 even.

As a new motorcyclist, I have already learned to hate sand, mud and snow.

There are some good features on this little bike.  It is beautifully made, has ABS disc brakes, fuel injection and a great cargo rack. It is very easy to ride. My daughters both hopped on it for their first ever motorcycle experience and within minutes they were puttering away down a dirt road.  It’s quiet and unassuming.

Lots of smiles.  A groovy little motorbike.

And the personal trainer even got in on the fun.

Another draw for me was the simplicity. One thing that became apparent during the most recent season of motorcycle shopping that was happening at my house, a season I have learned repeats itself annually, is that some otherwise modest motorcycles take a bit to service. For example, the neat little Kawasaki Versys 30o apparently needs a minor tear down to get to the valve adjustment that looks quite onerous and/or expensive every 7500 or so miles.  The Trail 125 valve adjustment seems to be a no-disassembly 15-minute job that if I found myself with 19 minutes available, could squeeze in an oil change at the same time.

The Trail 125 even has a center stand stock along with a modest skid plate and crash bars. The single toughest gas-powered machine I have ever owned, a Honda ATC200 trike, had an auto clutch and a small single cylinder engine.  This is the same.  I guess I could have trouble with it. But I doubt it. This thing will never visit a dealer. I can look after it myself.

I really doubt my ability to learn to ride anything bigger at my stage of life. Riding at speed and developing the skill set to safely do so I believe are skills that I would have had to have developed at a younger age.  I would hate to be that guy who buys a Harley at retirement time and then promptly kills himself on it.

I can ride this though.  It weighs 260 lbs. and is physically smaller than my mountain bike.  It is so docile and tractable.   It is way too slow to imagine taking on the highway.  I think I will be safe enough riding to work on my zero-traffic commute and on the side connectors between forest service roads.

The really interesting thing about this bike is just how much attention it draws. Everyone of a certain age knows what it is, and most are surprised that it is brand new. It draws onlookers in a parking lot and people will divert their path to look at it.   People are genuinely happy to see it.  I have one other new acquisition, an actual classic, that also draws a crowd like this but the comments are not nearly so positive.  I think Honda really hit the mark with keeping the look faithful to the Trail 110 of the 1980s.

There isn’t that much really visually different even with the Trail 55.

I have put it to good use already.  Despite it not being as good as a real dirt bike it will still go places that would severely test the best 4×4. It’s easy to just ride around most obstacles or walk beside the bike to get past really nasty stuff. Or put my feet down and duck walk.  I have been taking it on off highway jaunts while I go through the process of acquiring my full license.

I was eager to get out.  There were some cold rides.

It only has a 1.4 US gallon tank.  After a few rides I put some fuel in it and was tickled to see 1.4 l/100km consumption by my calculations. That’s 160 miles per US gallon.  Fueling my body for a bicycle ride with a donut likely costs more per km. I will have to do the calculation.

It was funny that just after my youngest acquired her full license I found myself with a study manual and an appointment to write my Class 6 test.  And while I sat there and did the test, I only felt a bit conspicuous while the 16-year-olds writing their test at the next desk.  I was way more worried about passing the eye exam than the touch screen computer multiple choice test but luckily, I managed to pass both. Once I get my full license, I plan on using this to go to the store and work sometimes, as well as for backcountry adventures.  Once I am on it, I forget how ridiculous it is and just enjoy puttering along at 30 or 40 miles an hour. Journeys may take a bit longer but that is the point.

I really will not be telling any stories about high-speed motorway runs and other feats of derring-do to anyone.  Partly because I don’t trust myself at speed and obviously an 8hp bike isn’t going anywhere that fast.  I am really having fun learning and exploring.

And as humble as it is,  I now ride a motorcycle.