Honda

After much speculation and anticipation, Honda has finally announced that the all-new Super Cub C125 ABS will be hitting U.S. dealerships in January 2019. This iconic ride brings the same 124.9 cc powerplant that drives the popular Grom coupled with a semi-automatic, clutchless shifter and four-speed gearbox that delivers the same ease of operation that helped to make the original such a hit. A disc front brake and ABS help bring the classic design up to modern standards, but the looks are straight outta’ the ’50s for a genuinely dated vibe that is impossible to imitate. Entry-level pricing provides the icing for this charming little cake in order to endear itself to that critical market segment, but I’d argue that this ride is good for more than just as a trainer. Don’t believe me? Read on.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Super Cub C125.

Honda gives its CRF1000L “Africa Twin” a complete overhaul for the 2018 model year, a rebuild so complete that the new version shares not a single part with the old, according to the factory. Engine improvements include both hardware and software that starts with a Throttle-by-Wire system that enables even more electronic wizardry under the hood, as it were. The improvements make their way into the gearboxes on both the manual tranny and the optional, auto-shifting DCT. Safety gets a buff as well with a handful of new features such as the Emergency Stop Signal feature that flashes the hazards during hard braking actions. There’s plenty more packed in there, so let’s go ahead and get into the details.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Africa Twin.

Just announced, Honda is bringing their iconic Monkey and Super Cub C125 to the U.S. market for the 2019 model year. Both bikes have deep roots in Honda history and both were unveiled as concept models at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show.

Continue reading for more on the Monkey and Super Cub.

William Shakespeare wrote, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” for a little play called Romeo and Juliet, maybe you’ve heard of it, but I would submit that the nicknames earned by motorcycles and manufacturers have much more in the way of a meaningful meaning than the simple labels we use every day. We just can’t help but come up with nicknames, sometimes for the manufacturer, sometimes for the bikes, and sometimes it applies to both. I want to take a look at some of the names that stand out among the detritus of history and try to shed some light on their origins. Just think of it as a bit of a semantic scavenger hunt. Some are pretty obvious to those in the know; this is for everyone else.

Continue reading for my exploration of manufacturers’ nicknames.

Honda puts out a lot of fun products, it’s true, but few machines can match the level of whimsy one gets from the Honda Monkey. That’s right folks, the iconic “Monkey Bike” that served as a mini self-Uber in Japanese amusement parks back in the ’60s is back with a new look and powerplant for what the factory surely hopes is a new era of monkey madness. The 2019 version of this little pocket bike bears the genetic markers of the original without being a slave to it with a 9.25-horsepower modern powerplant, larger wheels (thank goodness) and disc brakes. Join me whilst I take a trip down memory lane and take a look at this pint-sized icon destined to hit showroom floors this year.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Monkey.

Honda improves its Integra lineup yet again ahead of the 2018 model year. The Red Riders added two Special Edition paint schemes for this year, but it’s the Honda Selectable Torque Control that steals the show. Traction control is a rarity amongst scooters, but this isn’t your average scooter; in fact, it’s not even really a scooter in the traditional sense at all. A 745 cc, twin-cylinder engine delivers 40.3 kW — far beyond the vast majority of rides that identify as scooters — and Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission provides the same twist-and-go operation you’d expect from a scooter, but with some very important differences. Yeah, it’s an unusual combination of platform and features to say the least, so let’s dig in and see what all the Integra has going on over there.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Integra.

Honda blurs the line between the scooter and motorcycle worlds with its genre-bending X-ADV model. The X-ADV brings a scooter-like body together with a proper motorcycle drivetrain that delivers twist-and-forget operation not unlike a CVT-equipped, swingmount scooter. The Red Riders further confuse the issue with dual-purpose tires meant to turn in a decent performance on soft surfaces while maintaining a certain amount of roadworthiness for your urban commute. Chuck in the 745 cc powerplant and you’ve got one confused ride. Perhaps the confusion is all on my end? Let’s dive in and find out.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda X-ADV.

Much like Honda’s mid-size Forza125 got some love ahead of the 2018 model year with new body shapes paired with features that fans of the family will readily recognize. An all-new foundation supports the PCX125 from the wheels up through the suspension and frame with ABS as the icing on the cake. A more powerful, 12-horsepower engine drives the 2018 model that targets that hotly-contested, and all-important, entry-level market. Will it be enough to compete in this field? Let’s dig right in and see how it stacks up against the most likely contenders.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda PCX125.

Honda looks to cash in on the resurgent interest in café racers with its all-new “Neo-Sports Café” design family that includes the entry-level CB125R at the very bottom of the totem pole. The CB125R packs big-bike features into a decidedly small-bike package with many of the same details as its slightly bigger brother, the CB300R. It comes with its performance restricted to 9.8 kW (13 hp) in order to meet licensing requirements across the European Union and serve to bait the table to draw in and indoctrinate new riders at the earliest opportunity. Did they hit the mark? Let’s dig in and find out.

Continue reading for my look at the Honda CB125R.

The Forza family moves into its 18th year with the refurbished Forza 300 that brings revised dimensions and updated looks together for an overall sportier package. Pilot comfort gets a boost from the new, electrically-adjustable windshield, and safety got a buff as well with the addition of the Honda Selectable Torque Control. That’s right folks; this here is the first scooter to be blessed thusly by the factory, and that makes this ride very special indeed. Throw the 25-horsepower engine into the mix and it becomes apparent that the new Forza is both a worthy successor to the previous generation and a very definite threat to the rest of the mid-displacement scooter field.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Forza.

Honda had plans of sacking the original Z50 monkey bike last year with its completion of serving millions of customers for a good whole 50 years. But keeping that honor alive, the Japanese brand surprised all of us at the 45th International Tokyo Show when it rebooted the model albeit with a 125cc horizontal, single-cylinder engine that replaces the 4.5 hp 50cc mill.

Keeping up with the trend, the new Monkey 125 adopts features like the LED lights and digital instrumentation in a hope to keep the appeal alive and fresh. After what we thought of the-would be final-limited run of Monkey 50th Anniversary Special white and red model, this news of the 2018 model kindles all kinds of emotions attached to this iconic motorcycle.

Is being a woman and wanting to ride a motorcycle a big deal nowadays? It isn’t as much a ’big deal’ now as it was a few decades ago. Our culture is more open to folks of the female gender doing anything and everything we want to do, but there is still a certain barrier when it comes to riding a motorcycle. Why? Because traditionally, bikes were designed with men in mind, at least 5’ 8” tall and with enough upper body strength to wrestle the weight and pick one up if it ended up on its side. Women were generally relegated to cruisers because we are typically shorter than men and cruisers have the low seat heights. That is changing as more manufacturers recognize that there is a whole customer base out here with money to spend. So what shall we spend our money on if we don’t want a plain ol’ cruiser?

Continue reading for my top 5 motorcycle picks that aren’t cruisers.

Honda’s metro-tastic PCX150 scooter line gets an upgrade that we’ll get to see on U.S. showrooms come July of 2018. It includes a facelift from stem to stern that further polishes its ’luxe metropolitan looks to bring more of the swank and swagger associated with the marque, and it comes paired with a more voluminous underseat storage area to increase its ’commuterability’. Style and function is a tough combination to beat, so let’s dig a little deeper and see what else the Red Rider engineers have in store for us.

Continue reading for my look at the Honda PCX150.

Honda expands its Neo-Sports Cafè lineup with the new-for-2019 CB300R that brings more of the same cafè-tastic vibe that we got with the CB1000R, just in an entry level-size package. This naked little pocket crotch-rocket — or “Sport Naked” as the factory has dubbed the style — looks to pull in younger riders with a user-friendly, 286 cc powerplant and lightweight design. After a race to the bottom of the usable displacement range for the sport and naked genres, Honda is refining its bottom-tier rides, so join me while I take my first look at this all-new machine from the Red Riders and see how it stacks up against some of the other current pocket-rockets.

Continue reading for my look at the Honda CB300R.

Serving 100 million happy customers is a well-achieved milestone for any business, and no other manufacturer but Honda could have made it seem this easy. Being the first two-wheeler to cross such a mark is the Japanese Red Wing’s Super Cub that began its life way back in 1958. As a matter of fact, 2018 bears a distinct significance for the Super Cub, marking its 60th anniversary.

Celebrating this feat, Honda has been planning an electric version of this mighty scooter with the “EV-Cub” showcased first during the 2009 Tokyo Show and the second iteration at the 2015 show. This little scooter is touted to become the first electric production model from Honda to hit the streets and the recent patent images re-stores the same faith.

Prior to 2013, the PCX came with a 125 cc engine and a 1.6-gallon fuel tank. With a make-over in 2013, the PCX125 gave way to the PCX150 and a new chapter in the globally produced Honda scooter was launched. Since then, the scooter has received periodical updates to keep things fresh in the segment.

For 2018, Honda has given it yet another update to take satisfaction levels even higher. This update includes an all-new chassis, revised engine, updated comfort levels and ABS is now an optional package.

Honda entered the Indian market in 2001 with two scooters – a segment which was believed to be taking its last breath at the time of their arrival. Against all the odds, both the scooters – Activa and Dio – went on churning a large number of volumes for their parent company, which went on to become the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the Indian market.

The company has come a long way since then and is on fire to go reach even higher heights. In the process, the Japanese Red has, together with its allied suppliers, invested ₹ 5400 crores ($830.5 million) into the Karnataka plant in Narasapura that just became the biggest two-wheeler manufacturer for Honda in the entire world.

"JAPANESE CRAFTSMANSHIP" and the "Spirit of CAFÉ RACER". This is how Honda described its new Neo Sports Cafe motorcycle project that was unveiled to the world on November 6th, just a day before the EICMA Milan motorcycle show. Later what came of that is the CB1000R naked-retro along with the CB300R and the CB125R.

Honda started rolling the naked liter onto the streets soon after setting up the stage for to bring in a whole new flavor into motorcycling. Having the same classic design lines with modern underpinnings, the CBR300R is now making its way onto our shores, and we cannot be any less delighted for this honor.

Introduced in 2014, the Grom from Honda is a compact bike with sportbike styling, two-up capabilities if you don’t mind having to Fred-Flintstone the take-off, has amazing fuel economy, and offers a little something more for folks who might consider a scooter in this size-range. Marketed in other countries as the MSX125, the Motrac M3, and the Skyteam M3, the Grom is a spunky little — “little” being the operative word here — motorcycle, good for folks new to two wheels or for anyone else who wants a fun ride. It’s not fast, but that’s not the point.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Grom.

Honda carries its CBR1000RR superbike, a.k.a. ’Fireblade’, into 2018 with little in the way of changes from last year. That’s hardly surprising given the scope and scale of the revisions done prior to MY17 that brought us the newest gen of Honda’s Total Control initiative with a host of electronic goodies to help keep the 189-horsepower engine (10 more ponies than the previous gen) under control. It’s Honda’s first inline four-banger to run a throttle-by-wire induction control, and the factory piled on with Riding Modes, Wheelie Control and more to make the ’Blade serve as a model flagship for the affordable-supersport sector with plenty of influence from the racing department for the ’everyrider’. Today I’m going to take a gander at the new-since-2017 Fireblade and see how it stacks up against something of a more European persuasion.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda CBR1000RR.

What saw as Honda’s grand comeback to the ADV world, the CRF 1000L Africa Twin was one of the perfectly balanced machines from the Honda stable, a trait that is synonymous to a majority of the brand’s line-up. A lot of time had gone to engineer it and making it work better on multiple riding conditions and so it does effortlessly without any compromise.

Now, Honda is firing on all pistons to bring in newer products into the ADV segment, and we might have just stumbled upon the next big thing coming from the Japanese Red Winger. These patent images that fell on our lap recently showcasing a new Honda ADV model paying homage to the great ‘80s era where adventure motorcycling was a stigma in itself.

Auction house H&H Classics had put up the sale of their acquired 1969 Honda Z50A. A bike that was once used by John Lennon, the legendary English singer, songwriter, musician, and peace activist who also co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.

The auction was recently held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, a town in the West Midlands of England. Experts believed the bike will fetch at least £30,000 (more than $40,000), but to everyone’s surprise, the winning bid was almost twice of the estimated price, at £57,500 (about $79,600).