I bought my first ever motorcycle, a Honda CM125, just over one year ago. I had my heart set on one of these machines, mainly due to the relative street cred this learner legal bikes offers the novice (and of course bystanders). Obviously, one or two other people think the same way, hence the high values they command. After searching through the pages of my local Auto Trader for some time, and a couple of unsuccessful attempts (they’d been sold within a couple of hours of publication), I at last found the bike which I had been looking for. Was it all worth it? Well, read on.
It stood there gleaming in the mid afternoon sun, a C reg model in pretty much perfect condition with only 8000 miles on the clock. It was love at first sight and so I paid over the odds (£700). I wobbled the seventy miles home; even my mother had to admit that it was a pretty looking thing upon my arrival.
I clocked up 7000 miles in the year that I owned her and she never let me down. She did on average 80 miles to the gallon, so you can get 200 miles out of a full tank, including reserve. The worst ever figure being 70 and the best 90mpg, although I am sure you could get 100mpg if you really piddled along.
Oil consumption was negligible and I changed this every 1250 miles as per the Haynes manual; there was never any need for topping up. Every 1000 miles or so the air filter needs cleaning which is a simple operation, even to such a mechanical philistine as myself. Routine maintenance such as chain adjustment is also quite straightforward, which is just as well really as this needed doing quite often.
The final drive chain needed replacing at 13000 miles, although I could have got away with removing a link but at £15 it wasn’t worth the hassle. The rear sprocket also needed replacing at 15000 miles, although I left this to the dealer who bought it from me. The front tyre was new when I bought the bike and both Metzelers still had plenty of life in them when I sold her. The front tyre had only cost £30 but I imagine the rear would be fairly expensive to replace.
Both front and rear brakes are drums and need the shoes replacing every 5 to 7000 miles depending on how you ride. The front brake has a tendency to seize during the winter months but dismantling and cleaning this up is a fairly simple operation. The front could really do with a disc as you have to squeeze hard to stop and even harder in those small every day occurrences that crop up (like cars pulling out of junctions directly in front of you at 30 yards). Still, the rear brake is good and resulted in me failing my part two test the first time after doing a 180 degree turn for my emergency stop!
The only problem that I ever encountered with my CM was with the electrics. For some reason, never quite fully understood, the lights began to cut out on full beam but were fine on dip. A new bulb made no difference. So, knowing even less about electrics than I do about mechanics, I took the bike to an auto-electrician....after much testing and fiddling they solved the problem. For a while, then the lights began to cut out on dip but were fine on full beam. In retrospect, this was probably something to do with the switch. However, apart from this, the lights are quite good for the type of speeds attainable on a CM125 and rarely blow bulbs.
Handling was rather strange, as on all custom bikes, but okay provided corners were taken at sensible speeds (ie 30mph) and in the upright position! Straight line stability was good at most speeds, probably down to the fork rake and relatively long wheelbase for a 125. There wasn’t enough power to enjoy either fast A roads or motorways, but hugely expensive cars were put in their proper place in towns. Anyway, I had no problem getting around the cones on my part one and passed that first time, which wasn’t bad as I’m pretty useless at that sort of thing generally. The riding position is comfortable although I found the seat a bit too low for my 6’2" stature.
The seat itself was very comfortable - I’ve endured two 300 mile trips in one go without any aches or pains (although I’m young and agile) - and never split (the seat that is, not me) as some of the early models I’ve seen have tended to do. The rack on the back is also exceptionally useful and whilst the bike is capable of carrying quite large loads, two up makes the going very difficult, especially up hills and the handling becomes very weird if you insist on cornering at anything approaching a fast speed.
The only major expense ever necessary was that of replacing the exhaust at 15000 miles. Both split at exactly the same place and time, just after the seam welded between the silencers and pipes. This is common on CM125s (and CBs), due to moisture collecting in the silencer. A cheap solution would be to just replace the silencers but no aftermarket company does any pattern silencers (as they do for the CM250 at £60 a pair). A complete new exhaust system cost me £130. Beware, the gasket on the balancer pipe is an essential unless you want to sound like a tractor. The finish and quality was not so good as the original exhaust and one dealer tried to charge me £290 for the same thing....shop around!
The finish on the bike stayed very good despite the machine being left outside and being ridden through all weathers. The only places rust cropped up were under the tank and in the usual places such as the kickstart and underside of the frame, although this was minor. Incidentally, there is both a side and main stand on these bikes, the latter being very sturdy and useful for maintenance purposes.
The engine, a four stroke twin, is rather complex for such a small machine but never gave me many problems. It is nice and smooth at low speeds but one has to rev it hard to get any semblance of performance out of it and vibrations start to occur over 50mph, together with a strained whine. The bike is thus well suited to traffic speeds in and around town but not to motorways, where a long upward stretch can reduce top speed to 50mph and a real excess of vibration.
The gearbox is clunky but decisive and there is a useful neutral indicator light on one of the clocks (together with indicator and main beam lights) to save the novice those embarrassing kangaroo hops when stationary. At about 12000 miles the bike started to jump out of gear and get false neutrals occasionally, but this was just the valve clearances which needed adjusting (Well... ED). I got a friend to help me with this but it isn’t too difficult if you’ve got a Haynes manual handy.
All the finish on the cylinder heads and engine castings was beginning to wear off towards the end of my ownership. If you have the time and patience, you can strip this off completely with fine emery paper and polish it up with good results. I had a go on the casing to the rear wheel drum but it took ages and I wasn’t planing on keeping the vehicle much longer.
All in all, the Honda CM125 is a good bike (learner or not) since it is reliable, economical and has a big bike feel to it. The styling is a matter of taste but I liked it and the finish is better than average. My only complaints are the low seat height and lack of power, although the latter is no bad thing for someone new to motorcycling. I have just sold the bike to a dealer for £800 which would have given me a profit of £100 had it not been for the exhaust. However, this bike owes me nothing and I owe it a lot for never letting me down, being extremely economical and all the fun it has given me. I also never fell off it which, given my lack of experience, says a lot about the bike’s stability and general road worthiness.
Charles Pease
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There are lots of worse ways of getting around London than on a nice Honda CM125 Custom. This is a little 12hp twin with a single carb, that depends on revs for power, but has a large feel for a 125 and the luxury of an electric start. The Custom styling is very mild, with a large seat and high, high bars.
I bought the bike as a nearly new, immaculate 2000 miler back in '85 and in the last ten years haven't had many problems doing over 40,000 miles and keeping the CM in good shape. The primary purpose of the Honda was the ten minute commute back and forth to work (about an hour in the car) every day and the odd holiday saunter.
Top speed was about 70mph, which required some quite hard thrashing through the gears, although it would hold that speed against some quite harsh conditions if I was willing to contort myself around the ape-hangers. Someone at Honda must have a strange sense of humour to fit such huge bars, they made for awkward turning even in town.
However, the human body is adaptable and I was soon able to adopt a posture that suited them, at least in town, which is where the Honda spent the vast majority of its time. With 325lbs of mass, not even the slightly kicked out front end could make for heavy steering. The main obstacle to forward motion being the ease with which the bars would take off car mirrors.
You can imagine how angry that made car drivers who were already fuming from being stuck in traffic jams. There was absolutely nothing they could do as I roared off into the distance. Biking equals freedom even in snarled up cities. One time I was stopped by a cop stepping out into my path. I wasn't sure if I was going to stop or even if I could stop in time. I ended up with the front guard between his legs. He sort of quivered as he got himself under control.
The cager turned up then, waving the decapitated mirror under my nose. The cop was rather young and seemed at a loss with what he could charge me, probably overwhelmed with horror at the thought of all the paperwork he'd have to go through. I agreed to give the cager twenty quid to buy a new mirror and we all went our separate ways. I think I got the worst deal!
Later in the day I was in a luckier mood. I was offered a CM that had crashed after the motor had seized. I wanted to do a custom paint job to the tank and panels, which were all intact on the crashed machine. I could do the work at my leisure and there were bound to be lots of other bits I could salvage from the £30 bargain.
I was even happier when I realised I'd acquired a pair of nearly new Michelins with which to replace the nearly worn out OE tyres, which had some interesting reactions to damp roads. Tyres lasted well on the mild mannered CM, at least 12000 miles, sometimes more than 15000 miles.
The old fashioned chrome rims made tyre changes relatively easy and I even managed to replace an inner-tube at the side of the road. I was always relieved when I avoided holing the tube. Learning to change tyres was necessary because I either bought cheap mail order rubber or whatever nearly new stuff the local breaker had on offer. It saved a fiver a wheel if I did the work myself.
The only time I really messed up was when I forgot to tighten up the back spindle. It was just friction holding the wheel in place. The first time I gave the throttle some aggro I felt like I'd been gang-banged! The back tyre whacked against the swinging arm and the bike felt like it wanted to go in two different directions at the same time. A most unnerving experience but there was no long term damage.
The chassis was a bit of a mixed bag. The chrome, except on the exhaust, was good. The paint on the frame started peeling off after about five years but was easy to patch up. The engine alloy was good except on the side-cases which eventually lost their lacquer and went white. The only way to reclaim them was bead-blasting and much polishing. The suspension was never really brilliant, went off gradually with age but never, within the context of its minimal weight and speed, became very dangerous. Despite the lack of gaiters there was no fork pitting and the seals are still original. Not half bad on a bike that was used all year round.
One moment of madness occurred when the chain snapped. There wasn't much life left it in, admittedly, having lasted for over 20,000 miles. One of those cheap items that responded well to having links removed! It snapped at 60mph in the motorway slow lane. The chain completely destroyed the chainguard, which was preferable to having the crankcases or my leg wrecked!
It took me far too long to work out that free-wheeling in the motorway slow lane was not conducive to a long and happy life. The squealing brakes and desperate horns woke me up from my gormless state, allowing my escape to the hard shoulder. It was at moments like this that membership of the AA made perfect sense! However, a half mile push to the slip road and two hours worth of hitch-hiking overcame that particular lack of common sense. I now carry a spare chain (an ancient one) at all times.
The exhaust didn't actually fall off. The silencers came close to departing from the bike after six years of rusting through. The downpipes were covered in rust and didn't look like they would last much longer. Lots could be written about Japanese exhausts but I was lucky to find a complete new system for £75 via MCN's classified ads. I've kept it nicely polished and it's lasted well so far.
The spare engine from the crashed bike had few bits I could salvage, due to a broken camchain that'd caused valves to hit pistons and then bits of pistons to mash the rest off the mill. The alternator and a few gearbox parts were the most that I could extract that were still in a usable condition.
I've known some rotten old Honda twins in my time and wasn't that surprised when the gearbox started to go off as 30,000 miles were approached. The first to second change was almost impossible to complete without going into the real neutral. The rest of the box was rather vague. Lamentably, the engine did need rapid use of the box to move at even a moderate pace. If you missed a change a hell of a lot of the momentum was lost by the time the gear was found, making it necessary to change down and start the process all over again - an adequate definition of a vicious circle.
It took about three months of this abuse for it to dawn on me that I could use the selectors from the old motor, which I hadn't even bothered to remove. Happily, there was still enough oil left on them to stop them corroding away to nothing. That done, the gearchange was back to its normal notchy if precise self.
The rest of the motor was okay which I assume was the reward for my 750 mile oil changes. As I came across quite a few rat CM's that had done less than 20,000 miles, I think frequent oil changes are the answer to longevity. This is not progress, though, exactly the same could be said of sixties Honda twins!
For the kind of riding I do I'm perfectly happy with my CM. It's incredibly cheap to run, has hardly ever given me cause for concern and looks like it'll last for a few more years. It's also still quite valuable as they are very popular with learners!
Keith Waller