Honda CBR 125R

Thanks to its big-bike styling, small-bike agility, and easygoing personality, the CBR125R has been making tons of friends on streets and race tracks right across the country.

It’s impossible. You simply can’t look at the Honda CBR125R and not start imagining all the fun you could have. Inexpensive to own and easy to operate, the CBR125R was designed to give novice riders confidence while they learn, while also being fun and practical for more experienced riders. The lightweight chassis, low-effort controls, comfortable seat height that makes it easy for your feet to reach the ground at stoplights, and responsive, hard-to-stall engine with PGM-FI electronic fuel injection, all help make the CBR125R the perfect choice for all types of riders, and all types of riding.
 

Convenient electric start gets you going with the push of a button, and disc brakes front and rear help provide strong stopping power while also being easy to modulate. Add a close-ratio six-speed transmission that’s super-smooth to shift and a fully featured instrument panel, and you’ve got a bike that’s a blast to ride, whether you’re heading downtown or way out of town with your riding friends.

The 125cc sportsbike class is where riding careers begin. For the vast majority of new riders, on the road and on the race circuit, these machines are the first step on a path that could lead anywhere, perhaps right to the top. For this reason 125cc sportsbikes have a huge responsibility. They must be just as rewarding to ride as bigger Supersports machines, particularly where engine power is less important, such as in town and on very twisty roads. They must be easy to ride too, patiently nurturing new riders and building their confidence on two wheels. If a 125cc sportsbike can put its rider at ease with the fundamentals of control then it has done its job.

Of course the perfect 125cc sportsbike is also huge fun to ride. Such machines are motorcycling's first chance to capture a rider's imagination; its opportunity to show just how exhilarating and rewarding riding can be, not to mention how much more practical it is as a means of travelling today's congested urban roads. This can only be achieved by offering a machine that's designed from the ground up as a sportsbike - delivering the crisp responses and thrilling performance young riders demand.

Reliability and low maintenance are all-important. Any rider's first bike is likely to be called upon to perform a huge range of tasks, from weekend leisure riding or track days to weekday commuting. Absolute reliability must be a given, while low running costs and hassle-free ownership are also critical. Ideally, it should also offer a comfortable pillion seat, allowing a young rider to share the fun with friends.

Since its introduction in 2004 the CBR125R has represented the ideal first sportsbike. Compact, lightweight and blessed with the refinement, ease of use and welcoming handling that have become synonymous with the CBR family, it has become a popular machine with young riders the world over. But the time has come for a more sophisticated 125cc sportsbike, a 125 with the quality feel associated with bigger machines. The CBR125R is ready to prove itself as the perfect first sportsbike for a new generation of riders.
 

Development concept

Supersport bikes are the ultimate road motorcycles - high performance machines boasting the very latest in chassis and engine development. To ride they are exhilarating in the extreme, offering a thrill no other type of bike can match. The 2012 CBR125R has been designed to offer similar riding dynamics, giving young riders the opportunity to develop sports riding skills from the very earliest days of their careers.

The existing CBR125R is an enormously popular motorcycle, one that has schooled a generation of riders in sports riding. But while its small size is a tremendous asset in many instances, guaranteeing easy handling, a low weight and the ability to slice through urban traffic, the demand has emerged for a 125cc machine that is in every way a full-sized sportsbike. Honda's response to this demand is a new small-capacity bike with big ambitions - the 2012 CBR125R.

The brief was simple: to create a 125cc sportsbike with the look and feel of a bigger and more expensive machine. The new sportsbike had to retain the current CBR125R's user-friendly handling characteristics and free-revving single-cylinder engine, but package them inside all-new bodywork with the sophisticated styling and full-size proportions demanded by the modern young sports rider. It was decided too that wider, more impressive wheel and tyre sizes should be specified, enhancing handling while also helping create the feel of a much bigger motorcycle. Finally, the latest advances in fuel injection and catalyser technology would make the 2012 CBR125R more efficient than its predecessor.

Review

Since its introduction to the Canadian market in 2007, Honda’s CBR125R has proven popular, both as a first ride among novice riders and as a second runabout machine among those with more experience. It was a machine that was long overdue, as market trends showed that aging baby boomers – a sector of society that had been heavily solicited by the motorcycle industry – began an exodus from the sport in recent years in pursuit of other, perhaps less exciting interests.
The industry needed newer, younger blood, and the inexpensive, approachable CBR125R succeeded in drawing the attention of people who would not otherwise have considered a motorcycle. It even introduced a new generation of young racers through the CBR125R Challenge, a spec road racing series open to riders aged 13 and up.

Aside from different color variations between model years, the bike has done relatively well in the showroom without any changes. But with CBR125R sales flattening, it was time to rejuvenate the tiny sport bike, so for 2011 it got an important facelift.
The most obvious change is in the bodywork, which now closely resembles the new CBR250R (itself taking styling cues from the VFR1200F). Although its bodywork looks identical to the 250’s, it is in fact unique to the 125. This is mostly because beneath the plastic is a steel, pentagonal-section twin-spar frame, as opposed to the tubular-steel twin-spar frame on the 250.
Also new is a one-piece exhaust with an angular, CBR1000RR-replica muffler, which incorporates a catalytic converter. Like on the CBR250R, the 125’s muffler features a protective cover that’s much cheaper to replace in a tip-over than the entire system.
Although the frame is unchanged, a number of other significant tweaks were made to the chassis. These include a lengthened swingarm that stretches wheelbase from 50.9 to 51.7 inches, and a move to wider 17-inch wheels, up from 1.85 and 2.15 inches front and rear to 2.5 and 3.5 inches, respectively. The wider wheels mount wider tires, going from an 80/90-17 and 100/80-17 front and rear to 100/80-17 and 130/70-17 rubber. Suspension travel has also increased from 4.3 and 4.7 inches front and rear to 4.7 and 5 inches, respectively.
The above-mentioned changes have transformed the littlest CBR from a toy-like novelty to a real-bike-like riding tool. The longer wheelbase allows for more roomy ergonomics, and the wider tires have eliminated the previous bike’s tendency to fall into turns, while increasing stability and grip.
 

We had the opportunity to ride the bike at Georgia’s Roebling Road raceway, and it did indeed feel much more like a real motorcycle than its predecessor. Handling was much more neutral and planted, and it was easier to move around on the bike thanks to the improved ergos. The bike still feels smallish, even when compared to the CBR250R, but it exudes a much more substantial presence than before.

Part of the bike’s more substantial feel derives from its increased weight. Somehow, it has gained 21 lbs, now tipping the scales at 302 lbs wet, though about 5 pounds can be attributed to the extra fuel the 2011 model carries, as its gas tank has grown from 2.6 to 3.4 gallons. Another change that may appeal to those who perform their own maintenance is that the fuel filter has been moved from inside the fuel tank to outside.
Its 125cc liquid-cooled, two-valve Single is unchanged, though EFI mapping has been revised for improved bottom-end response. Two teeth have also been added to the rear sprocket to shorten the overall gearing for better acceleration, though the shorter gearing is countered by a 21mm taller rear tire.
Despite these changes, a CBR125R rider will still hit the throttle-stop more often than not, as its claimed 13 horsepower at 10,000 rpm is just enough to keep the machine flowing with city traffic. Doing my best to tuck every inch of my winter-plumped body out of the windblast, I did see 74 mph on Roebling’s front straight.
The changes to the bike have been deemed by CBR125R Challenge organizers to provide an unfair advantage at the racetrack over the previous model and it will not be eligible to compete in the series this coming season.
On the positive side for street riders, fuel consumption is claimed to have improved by seven to eight percent, which when combined with the larger fuel tank, provides a theoretical cruising range of about 335 miles.

The good news for our northern neighbors is that despite all the changes, the 2011 Honda CBR125R lists for $3,499 (CDN), $100 less than the previous model. The bad news is that it will probably compete with Honda’s own CBR250R, which lists for $4,499 without ABS and is a much more versatile motorcycle.

Of course, when considering that most riders that are interested in the CBR125R are probably just out of high school and working a summer job to pay for further studies, $1,000 dollars can go a long way, not to mention the money saved insuring the bike, which falls into the least expensive premium bracket.
One curious observation made by Honda Canada’s staff during a special presentation they hosted to introduce the CBR250R to current 125R owners was that they were more interested in the updated 125R than the 250R. This was attributed to the 125R attaining a kind of cult following among owners who had a passing interest in motorcycles before it came along, and were nudged into making the two-wheeled leap by the bike’s simplicity, low cost, ease of operation and unintimidating presence. It’s believed that these riders are not likely to trade up to something bigger or faster, but they might trade up to a flashier 125R. 
How well the new CBR125R does is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain, it has carved its niche in the motorcycling world, or at least the one north of the border.

Source Motorcycle com