Honda

Honda teased us last year with a tantalizing glimpse of its CT125 Hunter Cub update as a concept model, and now it looks like the bike is going into production and coming to our side of the pond. Based on the legendary Super Cub that also recently saw a relaunch with an updated, modernized model, the Hunter Cub is built with a bias toward back-road/off-road work. Laced wheels and stealth knobbies join with the already handy little Super Cub platform and a specially-tuned, 8-plus horsepower plant to boost its terrain-tackling capabilities.

Honda expands its adventure-bike range downward into the scooter category with the early release of its 2021 ADV150. Subtle off-road touches join fairly robust rider-protection features to make this bike viable as both an urban commuter and a backroads explorer with long-stroke suspension and ABS protection to support those different modes of travel. All of this comes with the usual twist-and-go operation and a price tag under $5k.

Honda expanded its Neo-Sports Café lineup with the new-in-2019 CB300R that brings more of the same café-tastic vibe as 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.

Honda’s metro-tastic PCX150 scooter was on the receiving end of an upgrade last year. It included 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’.

If carving up terrains was your idea of motorcycling, adventure motorcycles are a bipartisan look at how to tackle paved roads and dirt. With long travel suspensions, and a higher riding position, these machines can take your motorcycling learning curve through a multitude of terrains, teaching you some of the biggest lessons travelling on two wheels can.

With having a lot to carry around to fight a multitude of terrains, they are usually an expensive affair (easily 14 grand or more for the latest top-spec models). Luckily, manufacturers have been recognizing this and have been tweaking things around to offer more affordable options to give not so fortunate riders and the young guns to experience the thrill of finding our way through the unknown on two-wheels.

Being the closest thing to flying without leaving the ground, Cruisers have been the incarnation of the ‘30s to ‘60s American lifestyles. And if this is the way you want to get into the world of motorcycles, I guess you have taken the first step in the right direction. Feeling the wind in the air, the smell of cut grass on the countryside, the constant changes in the temperatures, cruisers can show you all these feelings and more at the twist of the throttle.

These six machines are our top pick come with plenty of low-end torque, forward set footpegs, and a laid-back reclined riding position defining any modern-day cruisers. All of this without breaking our banks.

Starting with a sportsbike as your first might seem off-putting. Still, with technology and the manufacturers’ ability to make bikes as user-friendly as possible, it might just be the right entry for your motorcycling adventures. They are sleek with aerodynamic bodywork, top-spec suspension and braking setups, and ride with aggressive riding positions.

There are plenty of affordable bikes out there for every skill level matching the size of small wallets. These are our recommendations for young riders itching to feel the wind in the most stylish and flashy manner. And occasionally maybe want to drop a knee on a racetrack or zoom around your local canyon road.

A motorcycle with an upright riding position, lacking plastic fairings for that narrow lane splitting ability, and lightweight construction for the ease of flickability is what we are looking for folks entering the world of two-wheels.

Providing confidence before they can get on the big guns, these motorcycles are the perfect choice for urban hooligans, making it easier than the rest to move around traffic and obstacles. Small mistakes on these machines could be classified as affordable and will be a perfect linear learning curve onto becoming a responsible motorcyclist.

Every once in a while a machine transcends the constraints of time and taste to become a modern-day legend, and Honda’s Super Cub is just such a machine. From its humble beginnings back in 1958, the Super Cub (aka Honda 50 or Honda C100) has, according to sales numbers, grown into the most popular motorcycle. Ever. Back in 2018, the line passed the 100-million-unit mark, and I am old enough to remember when McDonald’s had served fewer burgers than that according to their sign out front, so that is a lot of units around the world.

Massive engines, aerodynamic bodywork, top-spec suspension and braking setups, aggressive riding positions, these machines have got it all to attack everything running on the street and the track. These sportbikes enter with the best of electronic packaging and power to just be the fastest one out there. Built for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering, they come equipped with components from the industry’s best names to achieve a little more speed every single time they get on the paved asphalt.

We here give you a list of machines in 2020 that do all that, without breaking your bank. For under $10,000, these machines will blaze the streets and sweep us off our feet in the most fashionable ways possible.

What saw as Honda’s grand comeback to the ADV world back in 2016, the CRF 1000L Africa Twin was one of the perfectly balanced machines from the Honda stable, and a lot of bike for your buck. The CRF”1000L” Africa Twin became the CRF “1100L” Africa Twin, courtesy a larger 1,084cc engine for more power and a lighter structure.

Being a Honda, it also comes along with a 6.5-inch color TFT “Multi-Information Display” that interfaces with the rider and the multitude of pertinent metrics and electronics. For some, this could turn out intimidating, and so, Honda Powersports America has a new interactive simulator on its consumer website for me and you to play along and get accustomed to.

After much speculation and anticipation, Honda finally released the all-new Super Cub C125 ABS to U.S. dealerships in January 2019, and will carry over into 2020. 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 delivering the same ease of operation that helped to make the original such a hit. A disc front brake and ABS bring the classic design closer 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.

The D-Type “Dream” of 1949 may have put Honda on the map, but it was the U.S. release of the Gold Wing in 1975 that eventually made the marque a power in the American touring market. Originally built as a power-cruiser, the domestic consumers had a different purpose in mind — long-distance touring — and with that a legend was born. The basic parameters had been established that would go on to create a family of bikes that, to this day, serve as a staunch competitor to American manufacturers Indian and Harley-Davidson, and enjoy a reputation for speed and agility as well as comfort.