Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Honda Trail 125 coming to America in November

Jim Conrad: The original Honda Trail 90's weighed right at 100 pounds LESS than the current Yamaha TW200's!
That comes in handy when moving the bike on and off its transport to be put into use and when maneuvering in trail-less difficult terrain with an Elk quarter on the cargo platform.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Or pull them under fences, lift them over logs... yeah, that stuff
Used to rig up a tire chain for them back in the day. That woke them up!

You guys are killing me.

The trail 125 is a fun neighborhood bike, but it damn sure isn’t a real trail bike.

A CRF 125 weighs 50 pounds less, cost $700 less, has 2” lower seat height....and is about 10x as capable for actual trail riding.

I get the retro appeal gentlemen, but for function technology is well beyond this “new” machine.

Dave

p.s. I ride a Beta 300 personally, but at 48 my best riding years are behind me and I’ll be moving backwards in machine soon enough. When I do, it’ll be to a 125 of some variety.

Buzzkill.

Hahaha... guilty. That was a bit douchy of me. I hunt with a pre-64, so I should confess I rarely follow my own advice.

Yes, if someone wants a real off road motorcycle there are literally dozens and dozens of them out there that would outclass the Trail 125 for 100% off road riding. But a CRF125 isn't street legal and has no built in ability to carry anything. If you want to go dual sport you need to go up to a CRF250L which is more expensive, a lot taller and a lot heavier and still doesn't have any built in cargo capability. Other makers have decent dual sports but most of them are 80% off road with some provisions for street riding. The Yamaha XT250 is like the Honda 250 - taller, heavier and more expensive.

Then you get into the adventure bikes and such with 400cc or even 650cc engines. Great for touring on paved and dirt roads if you want to go long distances and carry a lot of gear. Not so great to carry around unless you put them in the back of a pickup.

The TW200 is an excellent little dual sport with decent to good on road capability. I had one briefly, and it has a very low first gear for hauling - you switch into second at 5 mph or it's screaming at 10. Top speed is about 55 to 60 mph. it might go faster but I wasn't real comfortable on it at that speed. With a cargo rack they're very versatile - you still need to buy an aftermarket cargo rack - but I'd see them as the biggest competitor to the Trail 125 for a country work horse that can legally travel on the street.

The old Trail 90 and 110 had a definite niche utility even though they were easily outclassed by larger street or off road machines if you want to go bombing through the countryside. But sometimes you don't need that, you just want something that will putt putt along, easy to ride and bullet proof if given even a little maintenance. Or not. They were definitely the RV'ers or car camper's friend. The handlebars turned 90 degrees to make them easy to carry in a rack behind a four wheel vehicle and their light weight made them easy to handle, load and unload from a rack, and they really would pull well over their weight class.

The new 125 without the dual range and without folding handlebars loses some of that utility but they're still smaller, dual sport motorcycles - more on road with the ability to go off road - that will be easy to ride and maintain and can carry a load. I'm really looking forward to seeing one in person.

Uhhh, OK.

What about the low gear?

(possibly)

I'm sure the 125 has its place somewhere, but I'll stick with this one.

Another deal that made the older Honda trails unique and handy at times was the automatic clutch. In low range you could walk beside of it and go from starts and stops with just one hand on the handle bars while stabilizing the bike and load with the other. They really were sort of in the utility vehicle realm in their own way. Kind of like a burro lol
My dad had one, I always rode bad ass trail bikes.

A new front sprocket on about any bike made runs about $15 for anyone that wants lower gears.

A bike doesn’t need a built in rack to carry stuff btw. That’s what a pack is for. Here is my son when he was 12 packing a quarter form the first elk he killed. He was 12 in this photo and riding a CRF100.

Dave

I'm looking forward to the second year production models (after Honda realizes they screwed up by not including low range and rectifies their error).

i had a brother in law in early 60's that bought a honda super cub. fairing came off easily enough, and a larger sprocket on the back it converted into a trail machine. I also had a tote goat.
later several trail 90's.
and i have in various states of repair three or four of the trail bikes waiting to get rebuilt.

Kudos to your boy Dave.

one drawback to a pack load on your back..............raises the center of gravity. I can remember delivering papers and I'm sure glad I had a rack. 50 papers in those bags over my shoulders was no fun on the few times I had to walk the routed, and sure would have made me less stable jumping curbs and stuff on the old paper bike. I've always loved a good rack (pun intended)

Don't think I've seen anyone address a benefit of the step thru design either. I've had one knee replaced, have arthritis all through my lower back along with a couple of bulged discs and I'm sure it would be much easier to mount up on the step thru bikes.

Thanks for the kind words about my boy. He’s turned into an elk-killing machine in the last few years, and he’s a damn fine young man (18 now).

The center of gravity isn’t all that tough to overcome. You just relax the shoulder straps enough to let the quarter rest on the seat if it really bothers a fellow. Sternum strap and waist belt stay tight of course. Having said that, my kid was able to overcome the issue at 12.

To each their own of course, but I’ve had more than a little success incorporating bikes into the equation and started clearing trails in the wilds of Idaho off of a dirt-bike as a job when I was 18.

Great photos iddave

Your boy has good taste! Ive carried a truckload of moose meat out of the woods with one of those Bullpacs!

Thanks bud. He’s a great kid. I just spent this last weekend scouting with him in fact.

Here he is last fall with his third bull with an OTC tag on public land. We hunted on foot, but packed this bull a large part of the way back with our bikes fwtw.

Dave

p.s. forgive me for bragging him up a bit too much. I’m just an extremely proud dad.

Ditto

These things even work in the snow!

A trip the boy and I made this last winter. Last one I’ll make you guys suffer through I swear...